The 60th Anniversary of the 6·25 War

[samedi]

Yesterday (25 June) marked the 60th anniversary of the 6·25 War in Korea, more commonly known as the Korean War in English-speaking countries. This is a subject that I had wanted to write about on Thursday night before World Cup Fatigue took its toll, so please excuse the tardiness of this update.

Comments

[samedi]

The archival information for that photo places it at "Haengju, Korea" which should be near the city of Goyang and just north of Seoul. I used it in a post last year about the Korean War, but you may have come across it earlier than that.

Three days after the war began North Korea had captured Seoul (the capital) and by August they had advanced to the area around Daegu and Busan, leaving just 10% of South Korea under ROK (Republic of Korea) / United Nations control.

My impression after watching the movie (I decided to go and see it this afternoon) is that the ROK army was pulling back to the Busan Perimeter and collected schoolboys from the surrounding villages to aid in each battle as troops retreated.

At the very start of the movie the main character is tasked with running ammunition up to the forward ROK positions and I imagine the 'student soldiers' were often used in support functions. Training was anything you learned doing your duties and the main character was put in charge of the other students due to the fact that he had been through one engagement -- which was one more than everyone else at the time.

The students weren't expected to win, not by a long shot. But every minute they held up the North Korean army meant an extra minute for troops to cross over from Japan, dig in, and fortify at the Busan Perimeter.

I must have missed your post for me -- I'll check for that now. :)

[samedi]

Could it be something that was included in a history book or class you've had in the past? All in all I suppose it's not all that important to know where you first saw it.

Well, that's probably a big part of the reason why it's also known as the 'Forgotten War'. I can't recall hearing about it at all in high school, nor can I remember seeing any classes offered at my university that discussed the war.

I enjoyed the movie but can't really comment on the historical accuracy of it. It will probably be something I buy once it's released on DVD (ummm ... if I'm still in Korea or can easily get a hold of a copy overseas).

Didn't take too much effort to find the post you'd made. ;)

[samedi]

You're not the only one who wouldn't mind having the ability to remember all the tiny details with just a glance. ;)

I'm not sure that I have any great advice on where to go for information about the Korean War. I recently spotted The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cumings in a local bookstore and that might be worth a read. Otherwise I guess you could hit up the local library for reading material.

YesAsia ought to carry it at some point. They're usually pretty good about that sort of thing, even if the region code might not be compatible with Region 1 players.