Not all wars are fought with complete victory as the objective...
Often, one or both sides realise they lack the strength, or are unwilling to pay the price in lives and money, to occupy the enemy country and dictate the peace terms. After a period of fighting, it sometimes becomes apparent that a negotiated peace is the best that can be obtained.
Within months of the Chinese intervention in the war in October 1950, the United States (US) concluded that defeating the new and powerful enemy would be too difficult and that a negotiated peace was a better option. Its United Nations (UN) allies agreed, although South Korea opposed the decision.
The communist countries took another 6 months to come to the same conclusion.
Negotiations began on 10 July 1951 and continued for 2 years until a ceasefire was agreed to on 27 July 1953. By then, almost 1 million uniformed personnel from both sides and 2 million Korean civilians had died. Australia lost 339 dead and 1,216 wounded.
After the ceasefire, both sides exchanged prisoners and retreated to create a 4 km-wide demilitarized zone. The remains of more than 20,000 dead were exchanged. None of the 44 Australians missing in Korea was among them.
An agreement to halt military operations did not settle political questions. Negotiations for a permanent political solution in Korea continued for 2 years while both sides maintained strong forces on the border.
Defences were strengthened, and ceasefire violations led to fighting. At least for the first year, there was a feeling that the war could erupt again, but it never did.
The final conference to find a way to peacefully reunify Korea was held in Geneva, Switzerland from April to July 1954. The negotiations achieved nothing.
In late 1953, Australia had agreed to contribute a force to the newly proposed Far East Strategic Reserve in Malaya. To do this, Australia had to withdraw troops from monitoring the armistice in Korea. This began in late 1954, and by 1957 no Australian military units remained in Korea, ending a 7-year commitment.
There were still Australians in Korea in June 1956. Although the last infantry, 1st Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) had returned, the men of Signal Squadron, Commonwealth Contingent Korea were fulfilling Australia's contribution to the Commonwealth effort there by supplying all the communications for the force. Photographer Donald Meldrum. [AWM MELJ1417]
Peace negotiations
In the first, manoeuvre, phase of the Korean War both sides aspired to total victory to unify the country under either the northern or the southern government...
In December 1950, the US – by far the most influential UN country at war in Korea – abandoned this aim as it saw no prospect of complete victory now that China had intervened in the war.
China, the main player in the alliance between North Korea, the Soviet Union and China, took another 6 months to come to the same conclusion. After the defeat of the communist fifth phase offensive in mid-1950, it too decided the war would only end with a negotiated peace. Negotiations opened at Kaesong on 10 July 1951 and were later moved to Panmunjom.
The issues to be settled were where the ceasefire line – in effect the new border – would be, what would be the long-term arrangements to maintain the ceasefire, the exchange of prisoners of war (including 30 Australians) and arrangements for reaching a more detailed settlement of the conflict.
During the remaining two years of the war, fighting continued along the now reasonably static front as both sides sought to influence negotiations by winning battles. Operation Commando was one such battle, in which the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, took Maryang San, suffering over 100 casualties. The pattern of negotiating while fighting, along with periods when negotiations were halted in protest at the other side's actions, continued to the very end of the war. Australia's last battle, at the Hook, took place in the week before the ceasefire.
By 1953 both China and the United States were keen to find a solution to the impasse. President Dwight Eisenhower stepped up the bombing of North Korea and even considered threatening the use of atomic weapons if China did not agree to peace. However, the obstacle was not China but the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, who believed continuing the war served the Soviet Union's broader Cold War interests. His death on 5 March 1953 cleared the way for a ceasefire.
The parties agreed to a 4 km-wide demilitarised zone along the line held on the day the ceasefire came into effect. Prisoners of war were exchanged, and further negotiations for a comprehensive peace were planned but did not take place. A meeting between the concerned powers in Geneva in 1954 also failed to reach agreement, and all negotiations ceased in 1955. North and South Korea remain technically still at war. A Neutral Nations Supervisory Committee set up in 1953 continues to this day to monitor the ceasefire. Both sides maintain large military forces along the demilitarised zone where more than a thousand people have died in border skirmishes.
Educational activity
Ceasefire at Panmunjom: casualties
Part A
The photograph shows some of the 1584 Australians wounded in the Korean War. Examine the photograph closely. Think about it, then answer the following questions:
- Do you think the man without a hat is wounded? Can you see any evidence that he is?
- Look at the faces. Can you identify any particular emotion on them?
- What do you think happened immediately after the photograph was taken?
- Would you feel differently about the photograph if the wounded men were Koreans?
- How can you tell whether or not the photographer came across the scene by chance or posed it?
Part B
Now read the text and look at the list of casualties and write answers to these questions:
- The Australians fought in the 1st British Commonwealth Division with British (United Kingdom), Canadians and New Zealanders. What was the total number of casualties (dead, wounded and captured) for the whole division?
- Which country lost the most dead and which had the most captured?
- Koreans fought on both sides. What was the total number of Koreans wounded in the war?
- What kinds of casualties are not on the list?
- Why are some kinds of casualties only estimates? Why is it we will never know the accurate numbers in some cases?