Still a fateful conflict: the Korean War fifty years on.

FIFTY YEARS AGO the Korean War came to an end. The forces involved negotiated an armistice signed on July 27, 1953, though no permanent peace agreement ensued. The temporary nature of the settlement no less than the effects the war had upon the states and parties concerned are the keys to understanding the present crisis on the Korean peninsula.

The Korean War is an unjustly neglected conflict, though it had profound consequences for all involved, not least Australia. Nor is this only a matter of historical record. Australia was one of the sixteen nations that affirmed, on the same day as the armistice was agreed, that if there was a renewal of aggression in Korea "we should again be united and prompt to resist". That Australia remains one of the Republic of Korea's security guarantors is a little-known fact. With the Howard government currently co-operating with the United States-led "Proliferation Security Initiative" intended to pressure Pyongyang, involvement in another Korean War is a clear possibility.

THE COURSE OF THE WAR

COMMUNIST North Korea, with the backing of the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. After initial hesitation, the United States responded, using elements of the forces then in occupation of Japan to assist in the defence of South Korea. The United Nations Security Council, advised by UN representatives on the spot (two of them Australians), passed a resolution on June 25 condemning the invasion and calling for a withdrawal. A further resolution two days later recommended that UN members should provide military assistance to repel the continuing invasion. On July 7 a unified UN command, under United States leadership, was established. No aspect of this UN role would have been possible had the Soviet Union not been boycotting the Security Council. This was on the grounds that the UN had not admitted the newly established People's Republic of China to membership in place of the defeated Nationalist government (by then in Taiwan).

Initially the well armed and equipped North Korean forces swept all before them. An early intervention by elements of the US 24th Division resulted in an ignominious defeat. UN forces were soon confined to the south-eastern comer of the country, within what became known as the "Pusan perimeter". Command of the air, and the presence by this time of sizeable formations of US and other UN troops, prevented the perimeter from being overrun, but for a time the contest was a desperate one.

Under General Douglas MacArthur's direction, UN forces staged a major amphibious landing at Inchon, the port city of Seoul, on September 15. The tide of the war then turned quickly. The North Korean capital, Pyongyang, was captured a month later, and the UN forces advanced towards the frontier with China.

There had been debate regarding whether North Korea should be invaded once South Korea had been re-occupied. By degrees this objective was adopted, but as the UN forces proceeded north, China expressed concern that its own security was threatened. However, these Chinese warnings were not taken seriously, MacArthur assuring his political masters that there was no likelihood of China taking an active part in the war. In the late autumn of 1950, UN forces pushed forward up the peninsula towards the Chinese border. But China's new communist leadership had decided to intervene. Around 180,000 Chinese troops were infiltrated into mountainous areas over the border, and on October 25 they staged their first attacks on advancing UN troops.