Rare photos of the Korean War
The war broke out on June 25, 1950 when the North Korean army invaded the South Korean army in order to unify the peninsula by force.
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A few days after the war broke out, US naval, land and air forces, under the name of the United Nations, poured into South Korea to fight. In the initial stage, the strategy of the US and its South Korean allies was to defend the remaining territory in Pusan and gradually push back the North Korean army. After losing Seoul, the US-South Korean coalition counterattacked strongly and pushed the North Korean army back across the 38th parallel.In this photo taken on December 18, 1950, a South Korean soldier is saying goodbye to his mother at Daegu station. |
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| With the advantage of technology and firepower, the US-South Korean coalition quickly pushed the North Korean army to the Chinese border. Worried about the risk of US invasion, China then joined the war, sending volunteer units to North Korea to repel the coalition. The photo of a North Korean boy pouring coffee for US soldiers was taken on September 23, 1950. |
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| With 250,000 Chinese troops joining in late 1951, the war was at a stalemate as neither side gained a real strategic advantage on the battlefield and mainly engaged in attrition battles. The year-long stalemate led US President Harry Truman to want to end the war and seek peace negotiations with all sides. In this photo taken on July 8, 1951, the North Korean and United Nations delegations met for the first time in Gaesong to discuss a ceasefire. |
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| This photo was taken on July 8, 1951, showing a North Korean soldier looking at Time magazine (USA), next to two US soldiers during the ceasefire negotiations in Gaesong. This is one of 14 photos related to the Korean War at the National Institute of Korean History (NIKH) collected from the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). |
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| On July 27, 1953, at the negotiating room in the village of Panmunjom, located between the border of North Korea and South Korea, the armistice agreement was signed between General Nam Il, representing the North Korean army and the Chinese volunteer army, and US General William K. Harrison Jr., representing the United Nations forces. This agreement ended nearly three years of bloody fighting in the 1950-1953 Korean War. In this photo, North Korean workers repair a damaged railway track at an undisclosed location on April 27, 1954. |
