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Korean War, conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. The war reached international proportions in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviet Union, invaded the South🎐🧧🧧🧧🏯🏯🇰🇷🇰🇷🇰🇷

The separated families are families who don’t know each other’s news at all because of the division of the two Koreas. The Korean War devastated the country, and many people were killed or injured. Among them, the biggest hurt and pain is that numerous families are scattered and doesn’t even know each other’s life or death. It's a shame to think that there are so many people who end up not seeing their families in their lifetime. In February 1983, the "10 million separated family reunion committee" was created, and this program was aired live for 138 days starting from June 30 of the same year. Of the 10,952 applications, 53,536 appeared and were introduced, of which 13,189 were reunited. After that, there are reunions of separated families scattered from the two Koreas every few years.

The war had lasted for three years and one month and resulted in roughly 4,000,000 casualties, including civilians. South Korean casualties were some 1,313,000 (1,000,000 civilians); communist casualties were estimated at 2,500,000 (including 1,000,000 civilians). The United States lost about 37,000 in action (the official figure, which had been recorded as some 54,000, was revised in 2000 after it was discovered that a clerk had incorrectly included military noncombatant deaths worldwide), South Korea some 47,000, and the UN forces 3,194; but the estimated losses of China in action were 900,000 men and of North Korea 520,000. During the war, two-fifths of Korea’s industrial facilities were destroyed and one-third of its homes devastated.

The Soviet delegate to the United Nations proposed a discussion of a cease-fire and an armistice in June 1951, and in July negotiations began between the United Nations and the communist commanders at Kaesŏng, later resumed at P’anmunjŏm (both about 30 miles [50 km] northwest of Seoul). Many issues stood between the two negotiators. The first was the Chinese demand that all foreign troops be withdrawn from Korea, which was met by a steadfast refusal by the United States. The second issue was the boundary: the communists demanded the restoration of the 38th parallel, but the United States insisted on the existing battle line. The third and most important issue was that of prisoners. The UN forces held 171,000 prisoners, 50,000 of them unwilling to return to their communist countries. The communists, not to lose face, were determined to have all prisoners back. On this matter the negotiations were deadlocked and did not resume until after the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953.

The North Koreans continued to advance, despite the presence of U.S. troops in the field. In early August the UN retreat came to an end in a defense perimeter along the Naktong River, forming a semicircular beachhead around Pusan in Korea’s extreme southeast. On September 15 MacArthur counterattacked, catching the communists on the flank by an amphibious attack on Inch’ŏn (on the coast west of Seoul). North Korean forces were trapped and either surrendered or fled in panic. By October 1 the UN forces were back at the 38th parallel. On September 27 the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had ordered MacArthur to destroy the North Korean armed forces, and two days later Truman authorized him to advance into North Korea. On October 7 the UN General Assembly approved the resolution to permit entry into North Korea and created a UN Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea. On October 20 the UN forces entered P’yŏngyang.

On June 26 (June 25 in New York City) the UN Security Council approved a resolution condemning the invasion of South Korea. The Soviet Union was unable to impose a veto, because its delegate had been boycotting the meetings to protest the fact that the People’s Republic of China had no representation in the United Nations. On June 27 U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman issued the order for U.S. air and naval forces to resist communist aggression in Korea; that afternoon the UN Security Council ratified Truman’s decision to send air and sea aid to Korea, calling upon UN members to render such assistance to Korea as might be necessary to restore peace. But Seoul fell on June 28, and most of the South Korean army was destroyed. On June 30 Truman ordered U.S. ground forces in Japan into Korea; the first U.S. troops reached the battlefield on July 4. The UN approved the creation of a unified command in Korea, and Gen. Douglas MacArthur was appointed commander.

November 18, 1947, the Supreme People’s Assembly of North Korea set up a committee to draft a constitution. The committee adopted the new constitution in April 1948, and on August 25 elections for members of the Supreme People’s Assembly were held with a single list of candidates. On September 3 the constitution was ratified by the Supreme People’s Assembly, which was holding its first meeting in P’yŏngyang. Kim Il-sung was appointed premier, and on September 9 the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was proclaimed, with the capital at P’yŏngyang. On October 12 the U.S.S.R. recognized this state as the only lawful government in Korea.

The United States presented the question of Korean unification to the United Nations (UN) in September 1947. In November the UN General Assembly in New York City adopted a resolution, proposed by the United States, that called for general elections in Korea under the observation of a UN Temporary Commission on Korea. Those elected were to make up a National Assembly, establish a government, and arrange with the occupying powers for the withdrawal of their troops from Korea. The U.S.S.R., however, barred the Temporary Commission from entering the northern zone. The south, however, held elections under the supervision of the Temporary Commission on May 10, 1948. The National Assembly convened on May 31 and elected Syngman Rhee as its speaker. Shortly afterward a constitution was adopted, and Rhee was elected president on July 20. Finally, on August 15, the Republic of Korea was inaugurated, with Seoul as the capital, and the military government came to an end.

The Moscow Conference of December 1945, which called for a four-power trusteeship, created a Joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. Commission of the rival U.S. and Soviet military commands in Korea to settle the question of establishing a unified Korea. When the commission convened in Seoul from March to May 1946, the Soviet delegates demanded that those Korean political groups that had opposed trusteeship be excluded from consultation. The United States refused, and on this rock foundered all attempts by the commission to prepare for the unification of Korea. The commission met again from May to August 1947, but it achieved nothing toward the creation of a unified Korea.

On September 6 the delegates attending a “national assembly” that was called by the committee proclaimed the People’s Republic of Korea. But the U.S. military government, under Lieut. Gen. John R. Hodge, the commanding general of the U.S. armed forces in Korea, refused to recognize the republic, asserting that the military government was the “only government” in Korea, as stipulated in General Order No. 1. The exiled Korean provisional government, on returning, also was compelled to declare itself a political party, not a government. U.S. policy in Korea was to establish a trusteeship that would supersede both the American and the Soviet occupation forces in Korea.