Korean War

The Korean War was an armed conflict fought primarily on the Korean Peninsula from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953, between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and its allies-principally the United States and other United Nations member states-and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. The war followed the post-World War II division of Korea along the 38th parallel and resulted in millions of military and civilian casualties without a formal peace treaty; the conflict ended in an armistice that established a demilitarized zone and left the peninsula divided. Interpretations of the war's origins, character, and historical significance remain contested; see korean-war-origins-debate.

Historians broadly agree on the war's chronology: North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel on 25 June 1950; UN forces, authorized by UN Security Council Resolution 83, intervened under U.S. command led by General Douglas MacArthur; Chinese forces entered the war in October 1950 after UN forces approached the Yalu River; and the front stabilized near the original border by mid-1951, followed by two more years of attritional fighting and negotiation. The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on 27 July 1953, but no peace treaty has been signed, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war. Debate continues over the war's origins, particularly the degree to which it was initiated independently by North Korea, encouraged by Soviet and Chinese leadership, or shaped by U.S. and Soviet Cold War strategy; see korean-war-origins-debate. Casualty estimates also vary significantly by source and methodology. ¹⁾

For a fuller historical account, see korean-war-history.

• Containment and Collective Security Viewpoint: holds that UN intervention was a necessary and justified response to unprovoked aggression and a defense of the postwar international order against communist expansion. See korean-war-containment-viewpoint.
• Civil War Viewpoint: holds that the conflict was fundamentally a Korean civil war rooted in pre-1950 division and competing claims to national legitimacy, into which external powers intervened. See korean-war-civil-war-viewpoint.
• Proxy War Viewpoint: holds that the conflict functioned primarily as a proxy confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union/China, with Korean actors' agency secondary to great-power competition. See korean-war-proxy-war-viewpoint.
• Revisionist/Critical Viewpoint: holds that U.S. and UN conduct, including bombing campaigns and treatment of civilians, warrants greater scrutiny and that official narratives have understated harms and complicity. See korean-war-revisionist-viewpoint.
• North Korean Official Viewpoint: holds that the war was a defensive struggle against South Korean and U.S. aggression and imperialism, a framing maintained in North Korean state historiography. See korean-war-north-korean-official-viewpoint.

• Disputed accounts surrounding the No Gun Ri incident, in which South Korean refugees were killed by U.S. forces in July 1950. See korean-war-no-gun-ri-controversy.
• The scale and legality of U.S. and UN aerial bombing campaigns against North Korean cities and infrastructure remain disputed. See korean-war-bombing-campaign-controversy.
• Allegations of biological weapons use by U.S. forces, raised by North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union during the war, remain a subject of historical dispute over evidence and credibility. See korean-war-biological-weapons-allegations-controversy.

• History: korean-war-history
• Debate: korean-war-origins-debate
• Controversy: korean-war-no-gun-ri-controversy, korean-war-bombing-campaign-controversy, korean-war-biological-weapons-allegations-controversy
• Related Main Topics: Containment, Proxy War, United States of America - 20th Century History, United States of America - History, Cold War

1. William Stueck, *The Korean War: An International History* (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995).
2. Bruce Cumings, *The Korean War: A History* (New York: Modern Library, 2010).
3. Allan R. Millett, *The War for Korea, 1950-1951: They Came from the North* (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2010).
4. Max Hastings, *The Korean War* (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987).
5. Sahr Conway-Lanz, *Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity after World War II* (New York: Routledge, 2006).