50 Fun Facts About Korean War

On what date did North Korea launch its invasion of the South, starting the war?

South Koreans still call it the '625 War' after that date; the armistice came on 27 July 1953.

Korea was divided in 1945 into Soviet and American occupation zones along which line of latitude?

Two US colonels, Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel, picked the line in Washington on 11 August 1945.

Which future US Secretary of State was one of the two colonels who drew Korea's dividing line in 1945?

He said the aim was to make sure the capital, Seoul, fell within the American zone.

For how many years had Korea been a Japanese colony before its liberation in 1945?

Japan annexed Korea in 1910 after making it a protectorate in 1905.

Who led North Korea from Pyongyang at the outbreak of the war?

His communist forces had fought the Japanese in Korea and Manchuria; his southern rival was Syngman Rhee.

Which veto-wielding member's boycott let the UN Security Council condemn the invasion?

Moscow had walked out in January 1950 in protest at Taiwan holding China's permanent seat.

How many countries contributed to the UN Command, with the US supplying about 90% of personnel?

The war was never formally declared by the US; Truman called it a 'police action'.

President Truman initially described US involvement in Korea as what?

It is often called 'the Forgotten War' for the little attention it received compared with World War II and Vietnam.

By what name is the war officially known in North Korea?

China calls its part the 'War to Resist America and Assist Korea'; South Koreans say '625'.

At which town was the 540-man Task Force Smith beaten on 5 July 1950, the first US engagement of the war?

The men had no weapons capable of stopping North Korean tanks; the 24th Division's commander was later captured.

By August 1950, UN and South Korean forces held only a small south-east pocket known as what?

The breakout came on 18 September, three days after the Inchon landing.

MacArthur's amphibious landing at Inchon on 15 September 1950 had which code name?

Some 75,000 troops and 261 ships took part despite extreme tides; Seoul was retaken two weeks later.

Within a month of Inchon, roughly how many North Korean troops had the Americans captured?

The KPA collapsed so fast that UN forces were in Pyongyang by 19 October.

Chinese forces entered the war on 19 October 1950 by crossing which river on the Korean border?

They fought as the 'People's Volunteer Army', with Peng Dehuai as field commander.

Who was field commander of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army?

Mao named Zhou Enlai overall coordinator of the war effort on 13 November 1950.

At Chosin Reservoir, about 30,000 UN troops were encircled by roughly how many Chinese?

The survivors were nicknamed 'The Chosin Few'; frostbite and frozen weapons were as deadly as the enemy.

After Chosin, X Corps was evacuated by sea from which North Korean port, which it razed before leaving?

The evacuation was complete by Christmas Eve 1950.

Which general took over the Eighth Army in December 1950 after Walton Walker's death?

He launched Operations Thunderbolt and Killer, and later succeeded MacArthur as supreme commander.

On what date in 1951 did Truman relieve MacArthur of his command?

MacArthur had considered using nuclear weapons and believed the decision should be his, not the president's.

Which advanced Chinese jet fighter was countered by the American F-86 Sabre?

The war saw the first large jet-versus-jet battles, mostly over 'MiG Alley' in the north-west.

The US Air Force claimed an F-86 kill ratio against MiGs of better than what?

The figure is now regarded as inflated; the ratio was closer to even against Soviet pilots but dominant against Chinese and North Korean ones.

Armistice negotiations began on 10 July 1951 in which town, then in the North?

The talks later moved to Panmunjom; Kaesong had been in pre-war South Korea and is now North Korean.

The autumn 1951 battles of Bloody Ridge, the Punchbowl and Heartbreak Ridge aimed to do what?

The aim was better defensive terrain against the Chinese 'active defence'.

Which president-elect travelled to Korea in December 1952 to find out how the war might be ended?

The death of Stalin in March 1953 and the US test of a nuclear artillery shell that May also moved the talks along.

Which country proposed the December 1952 UN armistice plan that created the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission?

The thorniest issue was prisoners who did not want to go home.

Which leader's death on 5 March 1953 helped move the armistice talks into a new phase?

The armistice was signed less than five months later.

Which party refused to sign the 1953 Armistice Agreement?

President Syngman Rhee would not accept having failed to unify Korea by force; the UN Command signed on the South's behalf.

The armistice created a Demilitarized Zone along the front line roughly how wide?

It runs about 250 km across the peninsula, with the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom near its western end.

Officers from which two countries make up the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission at the Korean DMZ?

The armistice has never been replaced by a peace treaty, so technically the war remains a frozen conflict.

The famous huts at Panmunjom's Joint Security Area are painted what colour?

The buildings were designed so their blue roofs and white sides would stand out from the border.

Roughly how many tons of bombs did the United States drop on Korea, not counting napalm?

That exceeded the 503,000 tons dropped in the entire Pacific theatre of World War II; Sinanju was rated 100% destroyed.

Approximately how many military deaths did the war cause?

Civilian deaths are estimated at 1.5 to 3 million.

The mass killing of alleged communists by South Korean forces in summer 1950 is known as what?

A South Korean truth commission later excavated mass graves and confirmed the outlines of the political executions.

Which news organisation won a Pulitzer for exposing the 1950 No Gun Ri killings?

The story only reached the American public decades after the event.

Which UN commander, succeeding Ridgway in May 1952, saw heavy bombing of towns as a way to break North Korean morale?

He signed the armistice for the UN Command in July 1953.

How many stainless-steel soldier statues does the Korean War Veterans Memorial feature?

Frank Gaylord's figures are known collectively as The Column; the memorial was dedicated on the armistice's 42nd anniversary.

M*A*S*H's 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital was stationed near which South Korean town?

The show ran on CBS from 1972 to 1983, almost four times as long as the war itself.

The M*A*S*H finale 'Goodbye, Farewell and Amen' held what record from 1983 to 2010?

It remains the most-watched finale of any series and the most-watched scripted episode ever.

Which UN Command commander was relieved after alleging ammunition shortages in October 1952?

Van Fleet had commanded the Eighth Army from April 1951 and ordered Paik Sun-yup's anti-guerrilla campaign.

The Republic of Korea was formally established on 15 August 1948 with which man as president?

The North's Democratic People's Republic had been proclaimed on 10 July that year.

Which April 1951 battles, fought by British Commonwealth troops, blunted the Chinese spring offensive north of Seoul?

The offensive was halted at the 'No-name Line'; a second Chinese thrust in May cost the PVA and KPA over 73,000 casualties in one sector alone.

The DMZ Conflict, one of the flare-ups of the frozen war, took place in which years?

No peace treaty has ever been signed, so the Korean conflict is technically still unresolved.

Which participant in the Korean War went on to join NATO in 1952, partly on the strength of its contribution?

The war also laid the foundation for Turkish diplomatic and trade ties with South Korea.

The Korean War saw the first large-scale use of helicopters for what purpose?

The YR-4 had flown limited ambulance duty in 1944–45, but Korea's rough terrain made medevac routine.

Chinese tunnels let them hold which position in October–November 1952 despite total US air superiority?

The Chinese had dug some 55,000 yards of trenches along the front by then.

How many refugees were crossing the Hangang Bridge when South Korean forces blew it up on 28 June 1950?

Hundreds were killed in the demolition, ordered in a desperate attempt to slow the North Korean advance on Seoul.

Which UN offensive followed Thunderbolt in the last two weeks of February 1951?

Ridgway's revitalised Eighth Army staged it as a full-length, battlefront-wide attack.

Roughly what share of Far East Air Forces sorties in Korea were counter-air missions such as dogfights?

Four times as many sorties went to close air support and interdiction, despite the fame of the MiG Alley duels.

Before the war, Syngman Rhee's government crushed communist uprisings at Yeosu-Suncheon and which island?

The Jeju uprising cost some 30,000 lives, most of them civilians killed by ROK security forces.

In May 1953, UN bombers attacked three North Korean targets of what type?

Toksan, Chasan and Kuwonga were hit; by then most major Northern cities were already largely destroyed.