Korean War Remembered

In the heart of South Korea's capital, nestled on the side of a hill lay the remains of some of country's fallen heroes.

Grave after grave, row after row are victims of the brutal and devastating Korean War.

It began in the summer of 1950 when North Korean founder Kim IL Sung sent troops to invade his southern neighbor.

The Korean peninsula had been divided after World War II following 35 years the Japanese occupation.

Russia took control of the north; the United States - the south -- with the border marked along the 38th parallel, also known as the DMZ.

"it was the first hot war of the cold war, the first UN war, the first time free world troops invaded a Communist country and the results of that were absolutely horrific."

The North Korean regime invaded and pushed all the way to the southern tip of the peninsular before US and UN reinforcements pushed them back.

And then the Chinese arrived with a tactic that still haunts surviving allied soldiers to this day.

"The Chinese used a tactic called the human wave, a very large mass of men attack at very short range. Most of the fighting took place on hills, rugged terrain at night at very close range. It was traumatic and some guys I know 6 decades later still can't sleep without the lights on."

One man who still has nightmares is In-Joon Chang.

He joined the South Korean military at the age of 20 desperately wanting to defend his country.

The most brutal thing was watching my friends die and I wasn't able to save them. My scars remind me of this every single day.

Shot in the leg, the 82 year old tells me a story about how he managed to escape after coming under attack one night.

"I couldn't see anything in front of me and suddenly there were bodies everywhere. There was no way to avoid stepping on them. I tried not to step on their faces but rather their arms and legs because there stomachs were soft as tofu. I kept falling but we had to keep going otherwise we would have been killed."

"While the Korean War lasted for only 3 years, the loss of life here on the Korean Peninsular was extraordinary. Conservative estimates put the number of dead at around 2 million but with no official records out of North Korea, experts believe the total figure could be as high as 5 million."

In the end, North Korea was devastated and at midnight on the 27th July 1953 the armistice agreement was signed - effectively ending the Korean War.

And as Pyongyang now threatens to nullify the cease fire, this grandfather of 8 says the stories of the Korean War are now more important than ever.

"We must teach the younger generations because they know nothing about the suffering we endured. God forbid they need to prepare in case there in another war."

Thursday 14 March 2013

http://www.wltz.com/story/21570681/korean-war-remembered