Trouble in the peninsula

My uncle was a veteran of the Korean War, a Sergeant with the 10th Battalion Combat Team (BCT) that engaged in the worst battles in 1950. He was part of the Philippine Expeditionary Force in Korea (PEFTOK) that was part of the UN forces that sought to defend South Korea from the invading North. It was the 10th BCT that was attached to several American units including the 1st Cavalry, which is credited with the liberation of Manila in 1945, and fought fiercely and gallantly against the perceived threat of communism at the time.

He told us many stories of the horrors of war and prayed we never had to experience such horrors again in our lifetime. Among the stories he related was the time they had pushed the North Koreans back behind the 38th parallel and were on the brink of victory when the Chinese army armed by the Soviets came pouring in to support the Northerners. In one battle, they had to withstand wave upon wave of Chinese and North Korean assaults to the point that they were running out of ammunition but the enemy troops kept on charging. He said they couldn't count how many lay dead on the ground and piled on top of each other. And when it snowed, there was the eerie sight of what looked like mounds of snow but were actually piles of bodies coated or buried by the snow. At one point, the charges almost overwhelmed them despite not needing to target anyone because they only had to shoot and were sure to hit a charging soldier. 

Winter, my uncle related, was particularly bad not because it got very cold and it snowed hard at the time. One freezing afternoon, they got intelligence reports of troops marching towards their position and they prepared for another onslaught. Overnight they waited despite the inclement weather only for the morning to come and with no enemy in sight. Reconnaissance later revealed that enemy troops perished in the freezing weather, literally freezing to death as they marched as they were poorly dressed and equipped for the cold. UN forces were more fortunate to have cold weather gear.

History now shows us that the decision to defend the South's freedom was the right thing to do and ensured that Koreans would be able pursue the development, progress and quality of life that they are now enjoying. Contrast to this is the famine and suffering that most of the North is experiencing. People in the North are deprived of basic necessities including food, of which the supply is prioritized for the North's armed forces, one of the few remaining armies numbering more than 1 million regulars. After the Second World War, the USSR thought the north to be the prize catch because Korea's industries were there while the south was mainly agricultural and poor. Fast forward to the present, investments, sacrifices and hard work by those in the south has produced one of the most vibrant economies in the world. In fact, South Korea is well known for high quality products such as the electronics (e.g., Samsung phones and TVs) and automobiles (e.g., Hyundai and Kia), and of course, there is K-Pop. It remains a tragedy that the country has not been unified for the good of most Koreans even after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the transformation of China's economy.

-