The Korean War

Find old Korean War articles here. We have great newspaper articles from the Korean War check them out today!

U.N. Gripes (Collier’s Magazine, 1950)

This editorial was one of the first of its kind and many more would follow on its heels. The opinions expressed would be repeated in American schoolrooms, barrooms, dinner tables and state houses all the way up to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It was not merely the parents of draftees who wondered aloud as to the whereabouts of the U.N. signatories in times of crises, but practically the whole nation:

For two months the American and South Korean ground forces fought it out alone. For two months they fought without even the promise of help from other major powers…

U.N. Gripes (Collier’s Magazine, 1950) Read More »

Things Were Not Right in Korea (’48 Magazine, 1948)

Written two years prior to the Korean War, this article is about the joint occupation of Korea – the Soviets in the industrialized North, the Americans in the agrarian South, and how poorly both regions were being served before the 1950 war:

The issue in Korea is not Communism vs. Americanism, but occupation-trusteeship vs. freedom. On that issue, both Russia and the United States would lose after a free vote of the people, because the two powers have, each in their own way, failed Korea.


The Soviet Army moved into northern Korea during the August of 1945, click here to read about it…

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American POWs in North Korea (United States News, 1953)

Here is a collection of interviews with the men who, just a week earlier, had all been POWs in North Korea. Each of them recall their own unique account as to how they had been captured, their forced march to the camp, the poor medical care, sanitation and the high death toll from exposure to the cold. The intense practice of Communist brainwashing is described in detail.

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The Reds Take it on the Chin (Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

United Nations patrols in Korea probed north last week seeking out an enemy that wouldn’t stand and fight. But early this week, after U.N. advance units had pushed to within eight miles of Seoul, the Communists suddenly stopped playing hide and seek and began to offer stiffer resistance…. The Communist reluctance to fight last week caused much speculation at Eighth Army headquarters. Some officers thought the Reds were regrouping for a major push down the center. Others felt the Chinese had pulled back to give weight to the cease-fire negotiations at Lake Success. But they all agreed on one point: the Communists have paid an appalling price for their Korean adventure.


In hindsight we can say that the musings of the first officers were correct: the Communists were indeed rearming for a major offensive that would begin the following May.


Click here to read an article about the American POW experience during the Korean War.

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The Continuing Crisis (Quick Magazine, 1950)

[In Washington] the U.S. defense effort snowballed. Looking beyond the Korea showdown, the U.S. had to plan against new Russian surprises… There would be no appeasement, even at the risk of W.W. III. U.S. intelligence indicated a ten year Russian military plan designed to bleed America white. The aim would be to keep the U.S. in a semi-mobilized state for years.


Click here to read an article about the American POW experience during the Korean War.

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The Stalin ”Peace Plan” (Quick Magazine, 1950)

This column will give you a quick understanding as to how 1950 ended:

Russian diplomats made valiant efforts. In Moscow, [Stalin’s adviser] Andrei Gromyko called Western envoys, urging Big Four talks to ‘unify’ Germany. In the U.N., Andrei Vishinsky protested Russia’s ‘devotion’ to peace and to the belief that capitalism and Communism could live in the same world… But while the Reds talked, Chinese Communists had swept into the Korea War. The Soviet military budget had soared . Russia’s submarine fleet had multiplied, it’s air force had expanded to 14,000 combat planes, its army was millions strong, and still growing.


Click here to read an article about the American POW experience during the Korean War.

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Mobilization (Pathfinder Magazine, 1951)

Attached is a report on President Truman’s efforts to intensify America’s wartime posture. When this article was first read the Korean War had been raging for seven months – with the fifth month bringing the promise of an expanded and very bloody war as a result of Chinese intervention. Compiled in these columns is a list explaining how the Truman administration, the Pentagon and the officials on the American home front had met the Korean challenge thus far.

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