Two countries in Australia's neighbourhood are at war.
It's a war without open hostilities; a war that's not a war.
It's now 60 years since the Korean War ended in 1953.
But it ended with only an armistice to hold the peace, leaving the two neighbours technically still at war - and still uneasy with each other.
Nikki Canning has the story.
In the summer of 1950, military forces from the north of Korea invaded the country's south.
Just why they would do this has its beginnings, as is so often the case, in decisions made in the closing phases of another war.
Occupied by Japan during the Second World War, control of the Korean peninsula after the war was entrusted to the Allies, and the United States and the Soviet Union divided responsibility for the country between them at the 38th parallel.
Over the course of the next few years, the Soviet Union fostered a strong communist regime in the north, while the US supported the government in the south.
By mid-1950, tensions between the two zones had escalated to the point where two hostile armies were building up along the border.
On the 25th of June, a North Korean army crossed into the south and advanced towards the capital, Seoul.
The city fell in less than a week, and North Korean forces continued their southward drive towards the strategically important port of Pusan.
Inexperienced and geared up only for defence, the South Korean army was forced to retreat.
Within a week, it had lost about half its force.
Within two days of the invasion, the US had offered air and sea support to South Korea, and the United Nations Security Council asked all its members to assist in repelling the North Korean attack.
Twenty-one nations, including Australia, responded by providing troops, ships, aircraft and medical teams.
That immediate response lives vividly in the memories of four veterans from the South Korean army, now board members of the Korean War Veterans Association in Seoul.
The Association's Vice Chairman is retired Major-General Ro Moo-Sik.
"I joined the Korean war when I was 19 years old in 1950 - that's in Korean age; 18 years old in American years. I joined the war as a cadet in the end of August in Pohang city, which is in the southern part of Korea. After I got military training I offically joined the Infantry division, 5th Battalion of the 11th Brigade. The first battle I attended was Tokjon."
Chinese forces entered the war in numbers in November of 1950, taking the allied forces completely by surprise.
Major-General Ro says it was at the battle of Tokjon that he first realised the sheer size of the Communist forces' attack.
"Chinese soldiers were attacking our company, I was so amazed at the number of these Chinese soldiers invading us and how powerful their artillery was - I was so shocked at the unexpected numbers of these Chinese soldiers attacking us."
Despite the surprise, Major-General Ro says the international forces rallied quickly.
"Soldiers from 16 different nations who were backing us and the medical services they were providing, and [I was impressed by] how these 16 different armies were so organised in their support of us." [Ro ends]
[I Pong Nei then translation] "My name is I Pong Nei and I joined the Korean war as an artilleryman. When the war began I was a university student. I joined up at the age of 20 in the infantry division on May 24 in 1952. Since I was a university student I had to take an examination to become a 2nd Lieutenant. The first unit I joined was the 50th Battalion. ... I would like to thank a lot the Australian and New Zealand government and citizens for sending their soldiers and supporting us during the Korean War. I would like to thank you so much for this support while we were in a bad situation during the war." [I Pong Nei ends]
Veteran Soong Jeon Dar was a gunner in the South Korean army.
"June 25 I was a high school student. I had to move away from the front line, [the war] divided my family. So I joined the army in August 1950. I was a student soldier, no rank, just a student soldier. ... I can speak English [only] a little! haha ... When I first joined this Korean War I was first sent to this frontline battlefield in the Nakdong River in the far north. At that time I was still a student soldier so I wasn't properly trained to become a soldier. I wasn't even able to identify the enemies or my own army members. I can remember I was so afraid."
For those already serving when the invasion came, their training had prepared them for most situations.
"My name is Park Hi Bo and I was already in the army when the war began. I had already joined the military as a regular soldier, not an officer. Since I wasn't an officer I was placed in the soldier registration team, so when the Korean war happened, people would volunteer to fight so I had to register these people."
But there were some things they couldn't be prepared for.
"When I was in Toksan Mountain, I was shocked at the way the North Koreans were killing our soldiers. Let me explain: they stood the prisoners one by one and they would hit with this sledgehammer on the back of their heads. And that's how they killed. They were thrown away in a pit on Toksan Mountain. I was amazed at the cruelty in the North Korean soldiers."
Park Hi Bo says it's his belief that the Communist North Koreans were too short of ammunition and food to keep prisoners of war, so they killed them.
"After it happened I had to come and my job was to take out all these bodies and identify each of these people and make a cemetery. Then I investigated why this happened and how this happened. Then this witness told about how the North Korean soldiers killed these people - it was 124 dead people - and these 124 dead people, some of them were soldiers but most were civilians. South Korean civilians. Not just normal civilians, they were intellectuals who were fighting against North Korean and Chinese governments. They knew what was going on while rural people in the countryside didn't know what was going on or why the war was going on. The North Korean government officials and Chinese government officials took these people to Toksan Mountain and they dug a hole and they killed them by hitting them with a sledgehammer from behind. The reason why they did not use guns or artillery was they had bullets, but they needed them for fighting. They didn't want to waste bullets on civilians."
And now, 60 years on, what do these veterans feel about their war service?
Each man is silent, reflective.
But then the answers come, and they talk about honour, and sacrifice, and their pride in their mission - the fight for freedom.
Soong Jeon Dar sums it up.
"I feel very much honoured to have been part of the Korean War. It was more than worth it to serve in the war by seeing how Korea has developed in such a short time. Korea has made tremendous achievements in such a short time. Korea used to be one of the poorest countries, getting so much support from other nations immediately after the war ended. But now Korea has grown up a lot and is now providing support to other different nations. So I think my sacrifice was worth it."
However not all South Korea's war veterans are quite so happy with the outcome.
After the Armistice was signed on the 27th of July 1953, those who returned to homes near the 38th Parallel felt the lack of a declared peace particularly keenly.
On South Korea's Yeonpyeong island, where North Korea is visible to the naked eye, a mere armistice felt a little tenuous.
Yeonpyeong-do is a group of islands in the Yellow Sea.
They're home to poor fishing communities whose existence today, in economic and security terms, is almost completely dependent on the presence of a South Korean military base which occupies the northern part of the main island.
The events of 2010 revived the insecurity felt by the islanders and remain an issue.
It was in 2010 when the navy ship Cheonan was sunk, blamed by a South Korean-led team of international researchers on a torpedo fired from a North Korean midget submarine.
Thus provoked, South Korea responded with a show of strength in the form of an artillery exercise in the Yellow Sea.
North Korea saw that move as provocative, and responded by firing artillery and rocket shells at Yeonpyeong island, striking civilian homes, killing four South Koreans and injuring 19 others.
[Kim, then translator] "About two o'clock he was watching television and his second son woke up." [Kim continues then translator] "They shot, like two to three times. They thought actually that maybe the navy had made a mistake."
For two local veterans, 85-year-old Kim Han Seon and Kim Yu Seon, who's 82, those events triggered fears that their battles of 60 years ago may have to be fought again.
Whether or not they're called upon to defend their island again, the Kim brothers say in the meantime they are struggling.
They say their war pension is only worth $200 a month, and medical and other government services are inadequate.
The men say this is forcing older people to the mainland for medical treatment, and steadily draining the young people from the community.
[Kim then translator] "He says, not much support from the government so he says, you've got to help us." [Kim then translator] "We're asking just to provide services to us so not only old people but young people can live (on the island)."
(Incidental sound effects courtesy of Chongdong Theatre's musical "Miso")
And World News Australia Radio will be broadcasting a special program-length feature on Thursday July 25, at 6.10 am and 6.10 pm, to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended hostilities on the Korean peninsula.
Share
