The US Imperialists Started the Korean War Front Cover: South Korean puppet army men going over to general armed attack against the northern half of Korea on the instruction of the US imperialists The US Imperialists Started the Korean War Candidate Academician Ho Jong Ho, Doctors Kang Sok Hui and Pak Thae Ho Foreign Languages Publishing House Pyongyang, Korea 1993 On the Second Impression of This Book More than 40 years have elapsed since the provocation of the Korean war by the US imperialists. The war inflicted intolerable misfortune and suffering on the Korean people. Their peaceful labour was suspended and the building of a new Korea, which was progressing with dynamic force, was interrupted. The historians of our country have published many books exposing the true nature of the US imperialists as the provokers of the war and giving detailed accounts of their preparations to start it. The matter of who started the Korean war was revealed by progressive scholars and reporters in the United States during the war and afterwards in Japan and other countries the world over. Nevertheless, the US imperialists were and are desperate to avoid responsiblility for the outbreak of the war. As for the grounds for their assertion they refer to the fact that as soon as the war broke out the Korean People’s Army rushed south at a remarkable speed. In addition they cite some rigged up incidents, what they call secret talks and parleys. But the first ground is not a matter relating to the outbreak of the war but one of strategic superiority. As for the second ground, it is more wild talk, with no documentary evidence at all to support it. In consideration of this, our editorial board has decided to reprint the book The US Imperialists Started the Korean War that was first published in 1977. This reissue contains some new data. April 1993 The Editorial Board CONTENTS Foreword ············································································································· 1 1. US Imperialism’s Policy of World Domination after World War II, Its Occupation of South Korea and Enforcement of “Military Government” ············································································· 4 1) US Imperialism’s Policy of World Domination and Korea ·························· 4 US Imperialism’s Policy of World Domination ·············································· 4 US Imperialism’s Sinister Design to Turn Korea into Its Outpost for World Domination ························································································· 9 The Accursed 38th Parallel············································································· 13 2) Occupation of South Korea by the US Imperialists and Their Establishment of a Colonial Military Rule··················································· 18 Occupation of South Korea by the US Imperialist Aggressor Army ·············· 18 Colonial Enslavement and Military Base Policies of the “US Military Government” ··················································································· 22 3) Concoction of the Puppet Government in South Korea ······························ 35 4) Consolidation of the Revolutionary, Democratic Base in the Northern Half of the Country; Struggle of the Korean People for the Independent, Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland ························ 48 2. Undisguised Preparation for an Aggressive “March North” War········ 58 1) Economic Crisis in the United States···························································· 58 2) Puppet Army Organized, Its Equipment Improved ···································· 64 “ROK Army” Organized ··············································································· 64 Seizure of Command of Puppet Army by US Imperialism, Modernization of Equipment of “ROK Army”······································································ 72 3) Frantic Outcry for a “Northward Expedition”–Prelude to War ················ 80 4) Program for the “Northward Expedition” Mapped Out····························· 85 5) “Small War” along the 38th Parallel····························································· 94 (1) Armed Intrusions into the Area of Pyoksong County, Hwanghae Province················································································· 98 (2) Armed Intrusions into Yangyang Area, Kangwon Province ····················· 99 (3) Armed Intrusions into the Area of Mt. Songak········································100 (4) Armed Intrusions into the Area of Mt. Unpha ·········································101 (5) Armed Intrusions into the Territory North of the 38th Parallel from the Sea···············································································102 (6) Murder, Terrorism and Destruction by South Korean “Special Units” Aimed at “Stirring Up Public Sentiment” ····································103 6) Refrained Plan for War Provocation ··························································108 7) Large-scale “Purge” Campaign for “Stabilization of the Rear” ···············125 Fascistization of South Korean Society·························································125 Campaigns for “Purge in the Rear” and “Purge in the Army” ·······················128 8) War Preparations in the US Mainland and Japan ·····································136 War Preparations in the Mainland of the United States·································137 War Preparations in Japan ············································································142 The Abortive Plot for the Formation of the “Pacific Alliance” and MacArthur’s “Eleven-Point War Instruction” ······················································ 150 3. Provocation of the Korean War by US Imperialism ·······························157 Silence before the Storm ····················································································157 Pressing Situation That Brooks No Further Duration ··········································160 Four-Bigwigs Talk in Tokyo and Dulles’ Tour of South Korea···························166 The 38th Parallel on the Eve of June 25·······························································173 Start of War by US Imperialism, All-out Armed Intervention by US Ground, Naval and Air Forces ·································································178 4. US Imperialism’s Thrice-cursed Atrocities against Korean People ····197 1) Atrocity of Mass Murder Committed by US Imperialism against the Korean People ···········································································197 2) US Imperialism’s “Scorched-Earth” and “Strangulation” Operations·····208 “Scorched-Earth” Operations ·······································································208 “Strangulation” Operations···········································································213 3) US Imperialism’s Germ Warfare································································219 5. US Imperialists’ Serious Military, Political and Moral Defeats in the Korean War ··········································································229 1) US Imperialists’ Crushing Military Defeat in the Korean War·················229 2) The Politico-Moral Defeat of US Imperialism in the Korean War ············235 Conclusion ············································································································241 Foreword Many years have already elapsed since the provocation of the Korean war by the US imperialists. Mankind keeps the memory of this war that caused inestimable losses in manpower and material values to the Korean people and reduced to ashes the brilliant national culture they had built up in a corner of the Eastern Hemi- sphere by their diligent efforts and extraordinary talents through an historical period of several thousand years. The US imperialists set their huge propaganda machines in motion and strove to lay the blame for the war on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and no small number of the world public were, in fact, misled by their false propaganda. But, this tampering with history was short-lived, and the truth could not be withheld indefinitely. As the days went by, the true colours of the criminal were exposed all the more clearly, and the cause of the Korean war and the objective of its provokers, too, became apparent. In less than one year after the outbreak of the war, progressive-minded foreigners had already found inconsistencies in the US government’s propaganda and begun to suspect it. In spite of unfavourable conditions prevailing at that time, they strove to clear up the truth through an unbiased comparison and analysis of the data and laid bare the true colours of the aggressors by their incisive pens. Among them were well-known American and Japanese journalists and scholars. Today, as a considerable amount of data has been dug up and a deep study made, it has been brought into bolder relief, as an unshakable fact, that the Korean war was ignited by none other than the US imperialists. 1 Moreover, in substantiating the actual igniter of the war, scholars and journalists at home and abroad drew all their arguments from indisputable graphic materials such as official statements and secret documents of the US ruling circles and Syngman Rhee clique and well-grounded news reports of those days. As is known, one of the most important outcomes of the Second World War was the aggravation of the general crisis of capitalism due to the emergence of many socialist