June 25 - Pyongyang: Kim Il Sung declares war and N. Korean Peoples Army invades S. Korea in force. At the same time, Radio Seoul says S Korean army units are advancing rapidly towards Pyongyang and will liberate N. Korea very soon. Radio Pyongyang claims major victories and widespread uprisings throughout S Korea. We are confused but want to believe the Seoul's version of what's going on and expect S Korean units to reach our town at any time.
Photo: N Korean tanks cross the 38th
June 25 - The invasion starts at 0400 hours on the Onjin Peninsula. N Koreans start shelling Kaesong at 0500 hours. The ROK 12th Regiment panics and runs south. By 9:30 a.m., Kaesung is in N Korean hands. Several US military advisers (KMAG) are taken captive. The main thrust is spear-headed by the N Korean Army 3rd and 4th divisions at Cholwon. The ROKA 7th Division collapses at Cholwon and the N Korean tanks race toward Seoul.
June 25 - 9 a.m., John Muccio, the US ambassador to S Korea, cables the State Dept. - "an all-out offensive against the Republic of Korea has begun" It has taken the US and S Korean governments five full hours to realize what's happening.
June 25, 10 a.m. - Washington, DC: Gen. Bradley, Chairman of the US JCS, hears about the invasion from United Press reporter Dayton Moore. Bradley is stunned and speechless. He is caught with his pants down. The general informs his chiefs of staff - "I am of the opinion that South Korea will not fall in the present attack unless the Russians actively participate in the operation. Therefore, if Korea falls, we may want to recommend even stronger action in the case of Formosa in order to offset the effect of the fall of South Korea on the rest of East Asia."
June 25, 5 p.m. - Tokyo: MacArthur states
"This is probably only a reconnaissance in force. If those asses back in Washington only will not hobble me, I can handle it with one arm tied behind my back."
He will send a few fighter planes to the S Korean Air Force although those gooks won't know what to do with them. About at this time two N Korean YAK fighters strafe Rhee's residence. Rhee is set to flee for his life. US CIC people monitoring Rhee's phone notify Muccio. Muccio warns Rhee that the entire ROK Army will quit fighting if Rhee fled Seoul now. Rhee agrees to stay in Seoul with Muccio. Muccio makes arrangements for evacuation of American civilians.
June 26 - 6 a.m., Syngman Rhee phones MacArthur at his house. An aid tells Rhee that the general is not to be disturbed and tells Rhee to call back in late in the morning. This drives Rhee into a rage -
"American citizens will die one by one while you keep the general asleep in peace."
Rhee demands to talk to the general now. Finally, MacArthur takes the phone and hears an enraged Rhee -
"Had your country been a little more concerned about us, we would not have come to this! We've warned you many times. Now you must save Korea."
MacArthur assures Rhee that he will take care of Korea.
June 26 - 9:30 am, Pyongyang: Kim Il Sung speaks to the nation -
"Dear brothers and sisters! Great danger threatens our motherland and its people! What is needed to liquidate this menace? Under the banner of the Korean People's Democratic Republic, we must complete the unification of the motherland and create a single, independent, democratic state! The war which we are forced to wage is a just war for the unification and independence of the motherland and for freedom and democracy."
June 26 - 11 a.m., Radio Seoul (HLKA) says that the "Fierce Tiger" unit (Maengho Dae) of the 17th Regiment has liberated Haeju City on the Onjin Peninsula. It goes on to say that S Korean soldiers have killed 1,580 N Korean soldiers. Maengho Dae is led by Col. Kim Chong Won, formerly a sergeant in the Japanese Imperial Army, who fled N Korea in 1945.
The 17th Regiment and the ROKA 1st Division are made of Japanese collaborators who fled the North. These units are commanded by two brothers (formerly with the Japanese Imperial Army) - Paek In Yop and Paek Sung Yop, respectively.
US Ambassador Muccio orders evacuation of all American civilians. Some 700 Americans are loaded onto a Norwegian fertilizer ship at Inchon.. MacArthur is not worried - he believes that the ROKs will regroup and throw back the invaders. He is angry at Muccio for ordering the American evacuation. At this very moment, Muccio hears North Korean Army artillery closing on Seoul.
Later into the night, Rhee Syngman decides to flee Seoul without asking Muccio's permission. A special train is requisitioned to carry Rhee and his close associates (and their relatives). The train leaves in the dark of the night. Somehow, the American CIC fails to inform Muccio of Rhee's flight This "easy' flight of Rhee gives rise to a conspiracy theory which claims that Rhee and MacArthur have connived to seduce Kim Il Sung into the Korean war.
June 27, 1950 - Muccio flees Seoul. He drives his jeep south looking for the S Korean Government and Rhee. For the first time, MacArthur realizes the gravity of the Korean situation. He tells Foster Dulles "The only thing we can do is get our people safely out of the country." A courier delivers an urgent message from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. MacArthur tells the courier -
"Tell them I'm engaged in seeing Ambassador Dulles off.. If I don't get back in time, have the chief of staff talk to the secretary."
June 27 - A general panic hits the Seoul citizens and tens of thousands of refugees clog all roads leading south. Two days earlier, the ROK army engineers placed explosives on all bridges on the Han River. There are much debates on when to blow up the bridges. Gen. Chae and the US advisers want to wait - there are more than 10,000 ROK troops yet to cross the Han River - in addition to the countless refugees. The Deputy Minister of Defense orders the bridges destroyed promptly but Gen. Chae refuses - Gen. Chae is bodily removed from his command. Radio Seoul HLKA is still saying that S Korean troops are marching on to Pyongyang.
Chae was killed a few days later in a mysterious circumstance and Gen. Jung Il Kwon (a former captain in the Japanese Imperial Army) takes over and obeys the command to blow up the bridge. The chief of the S Korean Corps of Engineers blows up the Han River bridge at 2:15 a.m. and kills several hundreds soldiers and refugees still on the bridge. He cuts off the main escape route for the retreating S Korean troops and refugees. The poor engineer was executed. Kim Paik Il and the Deputy Defense Minister who issued the order were untouched.
June 27, 1950 - Washington, DC: The US JCS finally realizes that S Korea is about to fall without US ground troops. The much vaunted ROK Army is in full rout and there is little hope that it is about to regroup on its own. How could all those experts at the CIA and the military brass have missed their mark so badly? At a war council, Pres. Truman and Dean Acheson propose sending ground troops. Gen. Bradley opposes military intervention - "if we committed our ground forces to Korea, we would have to have a mobilization, at least a call-up of some National Guard divisions.". The meeting adjourns without any decision. The following day, Gen. Eisenhower urges the military and Pres. Truman to intervene in Korea.
US Ambassador Muccio at last finds the missing S Korean government in Taejun. Rhee is holed up in a house virtually isolated from the world around him. Muccio is angry at Rhee for fleeing Seoul without his approval and Rhee is mad at Muccio for not providing US troops.
June 29, 1950 - 8 a.m., Muccio picks up Rhee Syngman to meet MacArthur at Suwon. MacArthur's plane (Bataan) is attacked by a N Korean YAK fighter, but no damage is done. Rhee meets with MacArthur in private for two and half hours. No one knows what they have discussed. Big Mac states - "Give me two American divisions and I can hold Korea." Upon completion of the secret meeting, Rhee and Muccio head back to Taejun. Their plane narrowly escapes from another YAK fighter.
June 29 - N. Korean Army takes Seoul - It is weird. We see pictures of N Korean soldiers marching in Seoul and yet Seoul Radio is still claiming some fantastic victories!! How can this be?
Photo: N Koreans tanks are welcomed by the Seoul citizens.
At last the sad truth emerges. A column of S. Korean POW's passes through our town. Some are wounded and being carried by fellow POWs. The column is lead by a S Korean army officer still proud with his head held high. But the rest seem to be dejected and scared. Two women from the crowd throw rocks at the column. A N Korean army officer runs toward the women shouting something and the women run away. The crowd is quiet and sad. Some people are crying openly. So this is what our 'liberators' look like?
June 29 - Washington: Dulles reports to Truman on the confused status of MacArthur and advises Truman to fire MacArthur now. But Truman is scared of MacArthur, who "is involved politically in this country and he cannot be recalled without causing a tremendous reaction. He has been built up to heroic stature." Dulles agrees with Truman, but promises his full support if Truman decided to fire MacArthur in the future.
June 30 - Seoul: Kim Kyu Sik welcomes the Korea People's Army. Kim was one of the founding fathers of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) in China. He was named its foreign minister in 1919 and he went to Paris (Treaty of Versailles) to petition for Korean independence - in vain. After liberation, he tried with other patriots to form a coalition government for all of Korea but failed. He managed to escape Rhee's assassins. Gen. Song Ho Song, former commander of the ROK 2nd Division, organizes the People's Volunteer Army manned by South Koreans.
The US CIA reported:
"The ROK government's past failure to win the support of its restless student class could account for more than half of Seoul's students actively aiding the Communist invaders, with many voluntarily enlisting in the Northern army.
Apparently attracted by the glamour of a winning army, the morale of these recruits may suffer rapidly if the going gets rough...The working class generally supports the Northern Koreans, while merchants are neutral and the intelligentsia continue to be pro-Southern...The streets are crowded, especially with youths engaging in Communist demonstrations."
I am bewildered by the easy victory over the S Korean Army. Newspapers are full of combat stories: S Koreans trying to stop tanks with hand grenades; S Koreans surrendering at the sight of a tank; S Korean soldiers turning against their own officers and so on. The US intelligence agents were well aware of the impending invasion. As early as 1949, these agents routinely warned MacArthur of the invasion plan. But these warnings went either ignored or unreported to the US decision makers. Kim Ilsung caught the US intelligence guys with their pants down. The CIA, the State Dept., the Army Dept. and the Far East Command were in " agreement that the possibility for an attack on the Korean Republic existed at this time, but they were all in agreement that its launching in the summer of 1950 did not appear imminent", said Gen. Bradley (chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff).
June 30 - MacArther reports to Washington -
"The only assurance of holding the present line, and the ability to regain later lost ground, is through the introduction of US ground forces into the Korean battle area."
The Army Chief of Staff (Gen. Collins), is taken in by MacArthur (and earlier by Ike) and changes his mind about not sending troops to Korea. Earlier MacArthur was given the authority to send a regimental combat team to Pusan to safeguard it for evacuation of US citizens.
However, MacArthur wants Gen. Collin's approval to send one or two regimentals teams to the front lines. Collins goes over Bradley's head and gets Truman's approval and tells MacArthur -
"Your recommendation to move one regimental combat team to combat area is approved."
Thus the US intervention in the Korean War begins without the knowledge of its top military brass, Gen. Bradley. MacArthur has manipulated a weak president and gotten himself a chance for glory at the expense of the Korean people.
MacArthur's personal ambition finds lofty justifications in a CIA recommendation for military intervention in Korea: -
"Voluntary or forced withdrawal would be a calamity. US commitments abroad no longer would be trusted. Friendly nations might lose political control or feel compelled to seek an accommodation with the USSR. The USSR will proceed with limited aggressions. It would be politically and psychologically more advantageous for the US to mobilize in support of US and UN intervention in Korea rather than to mobilize after a withdrawal."
Pres. Truman pays little attention to the CIA - he thinks the CIA has bungled the Korean affair and wants a more capable man to head the organization.
