WHAT WAR BEGAN 75 YEARS AGO?

If you don’t know the answer to this question, or even if you had to think about it for awhile, you’ve proven my point: The Korean War (June 1950 – July 1953) is America’s forgotten conflict.

Of all the memorials on the Washington Mall, the Korean War Memorial is my favorite. In graphic detail, larger than life, it depicts in stainless steel 19 gaunt American soldiers in full battle dress as they grimly ascend a hill to commence an attack. Instead of being bunched together, they are spaced apart in accordance with military training (Why? So an enemy grenade can’t hit more than one soldier at a time).

Near the top is the Pool of Remembrance and inscriptions listing the numbers killed, wounded, missing in action, and held as prisoners of war. A central feature is a plaque that reads:

“Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met.”

And a granite wall bears the inscription, “Freedom Is Not Free.”

But what was the Korean War all about? What caused it, who were the combatants, and how did it end?

At the close of World War II, Korea was partitioned at the 38th parallel into North Korea and South Korea, Nort Korea under the Soviet Union and South Korea under the United States and its allies. The Communist powers were never content with this state of affairs, and on 25 June 1950 North Korea, aided by the Soviet Union and later by Communist China, launched an invasion across the parallel. Seoul, South Korea’s capital which lies near the 38th parallel, fell to the Communists within days, and the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) was driven to the southeasternmost corner of the Pusan Perimeter. At this point South Korea was close to collapse.

Led by the United States which supplied 90% of the non-Korean soldiers, United Nations forces launched a counteroffensive. In a daring move by General Douglas MacArthur, UN forces landed at Inchon (near Seoul), recaptured Seoul, invaded North Korea, and captured its capital Pyongyang. The Chinese counterattacked with a force of 200,000, recaptured Seoul in January 1951, and lost it again two months later.

[Please indulge me in a brief aside. Born in 1945, I was four years old when the Communists invaded South Korea. But I vividly remember one snatch from a radio broadcast that reported that an army of Communist guerrillas were closing in on a South Korean village. I knew nothing about guerrilla warfare, but I knew what gorillas were, and you can imagine what I was thinking!]

General MacArthur as supreme allied commander called for a full-scale invasion of North Korea, but President Harry Truman resisted. On 11 April 1951 President Harry Truman fired General MacArthur. Truman and his supporters insisted MacArthur had been insubordinate and his proposed invasion could have precipitated a world war. MacArthur and his supporters believed he had a duty to speak the truth and that, without an invasion, the war would become a stalemate and victory would be impossible. Although no peace treaty was ever signed, the parties did reach an armistice under which hostilities ceased and prisoners were exchanged.

For the past 73 years, the 38th parallel has been a place of tension between North and South Korea, with sporadic outbreaks of violence and numerous protests. On several occasions North Korea has complained that the South has lighted Christmas trees within sight of the parallel as a form of “psychological warfare”!

Korea has been part of my life. The division took place about the time I was born. While training to be a Third-Degree Black Belt with the American Taekwondo Foundation, I developed an appreciation for Korean culture, and my Air Force career gave me an appreciation for South Korean military prowess. As I made ten trips to South Korea to teach for the Handong International Law School (HILS), that appreciation grew into a great love for South Korea and its people. I will therefore make the following observations:

Although American soldiers were not allowed to win a victory in the Korean War, they did hold back the Communist advance. Communist domination of the Korean Peninsula would have endangered Japan, Australia, and much of the Pacific. [I know some will say, That’s the domino theory again. But if you think the domino theory is false, please explain why it is false.] Those who served, fought, and died in Korea, like those who served in other conflicts of the Cold War, deserve our respect and gratitude.

Under Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and now Kim Jong Un, North Korea is one of the most repressive nations in the world. The governing philosophy of North Korea, Juche, has morphed from Marxism-Leninism to something akin to National Socialism, stressing the North Korean master race, its nation-state, and its leader to whom absolute loyalty is due. Meanwhile, the average member of the North Korean “master race” is about three inches shorter than his/her South Korean counterpart, due largely to malnutrition.

South Korea’s republican system of government is far from perfect. Recently I took one of my South Korean law student interns to observe the Alabama Legislature in action. As the legislative debate degenerated into name-calling and meaningless rhetoric, I turned to my intern and said, “I bet this doesn’t happen in South Korea.” She answered, “In the South Korean Parliament they throw chairs at each other!”

Nevertheless, for all its flaws, South Korea does have a representative government with substantial freedom of speech and religion, as well as a thriving economy based mostly on private property and free enterprise. Night-time satellite photos of the 38th parallel show bright lights and activity in the South, and almost total darkness in the North.

When I lecture for the Handong International Law School, I tell the students and professors that the American constitutional system was founded on Biblical truth, but it is being corrupted by Darwinism and liberalism. Hold firmly to the principles, I tell them, but be careful to discern the errors.

The most strongly Christian country in Asia, South Korea sends missionaries throughout the world. As I travel at night, it is heartwarming to drive into a South Korean village and see lighted neon crosses atop the churches across the town.

But there are signs the church may be losing its zeal. When I speak for Korean churches, I often ask what is happening. The Korean Christians often reply, “The same as in America; we’re being spoiled by prosperity and success.”

South Korea has been one of America’s strongest and best friends. The North’s invasion transformed the South Koreans into perhaps the most anti-Communist people in the world. In Vietnam, the Republic of Korea soldiers (the ”ROKs”) were our fiercest and most dependable allies. But thanks to a liberal press and education system, that may be changing. The older generation looks to the North and says, “They’re Communist enemies! We must resist them!” The younger generation is more likely to think, “But they are our Korean brothers and sisters. Why can’t we be one people?” Just like Americans, Koreans forget their past. Just like Americans, they need to be reminded.

American prisoners of war (POWs) in North Korea were subjected to cruel torture, including Communist brainwashing. Some succumbed to this brainwashing, believing Communism was good and America was bad, and a few even refused to return to the United States. The late Dr. Jack Scott, Professor of Psychology at Cedarville University, served as an Army psychologist during the Korean conflict and was involved with interviewing and debriefing ex-POWs. He made two most interesting observations: (1) The Communist brainwashing tactics consisted mostly of the kind of “hate-America” propaganda that is standard fare in American schools and colleges today; and (2) Two types of American soldiers were almost impossible to brainwash: those with strong religious convictions, and those with a solid knowledge of American history.

Christian faith and American heritage -- this is precisely what the Left is trying to eradicate today! And it is precisely what we must restore if we would preserve America!

Colonel Eidsmoe serves as Professor of Constitutional Law for the Oak Brook College of Law & Government Policy (obcl.edu), as Senior Counsel for the Foundation for Moral Law (morallaw.org), and as Pastor of Woodland Presbyterian Church, Notasulga, AL (woodlandpca.org). He can be contacted for speaking engagements at eidsmoeja@juno.com.

THE VIEWS OF SUBMITTED EDITORIALS MAY NOT BE THE EXPRESS VIEWS OF THE ALABAMA GAZETTE.