For other conflicts and wars involving Korea, see List of Korean battles.

For the ongoing conflict,

see Korean conflict.

Korean War
In South Korea: ()

In North Korea: ()

Part of the Cold War and the inter-Korean conflict

Clockwise from top: A column of the U.S. 1st Marine

Division's infantry and armor moves through Chinese lines

during their breakout from the Chosin Reservoir; UN landing

at Incheon harbor, starting point of the Battle of Incheon;

Korean refugees in front of a U.S. M26 Pershing tank; U.S.

Marines, led by First Lieutenant Baldomero Lopez, landing at

Incheon; F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft

Date 25 June 1950 27 July 1953

(3 years, 1 month and 2 days)
Location Korean Peninsula, Yellow Sea, Sea of
Japan, Korea Strait, ChinaNorth Korea
border
 Result
Military stalemate

North Korean invasion of South Korea

repelled
Subsequent U.S.-led United Nations
invasion of North Korea repelled
Subsequent Chinese invasion of South
Korea repelled
Korean Armistice Agreement
Korean conflict ongoing
Territorial Korean Demilitarized Zoneestablished
changes Division of the Sovereign States of North
Korea and South Korea
North Korea gains city of Kaesong but
loses a net total of
3,900 km2(1,500 sq mi) to South Korea[10]

Belligerents

North Korea
South Korea[a]

UN Command:[a] China

Soviet Union
United States Medical support[show]
United Kingdom
Other support[show]
Canada

Turkey

Australia

Philippines

New Zealand

Thailand

Ethiopia

Greece
France

Colombia

Belgium

South Africa

Netherlands

Luxembourg

Medical support[show]

Other support[show]

Commanders and leaders

 Syngman Rhee Kim Il-sung

Chung Il-kwon Pak Hon-yong

Paik Sun-yup Choi Yong-kun

Shin Sung-mo Kim Chaek

Son Won-il Mao Zedong

Harry S. Truman Peng Dehuai

Dwight Eisenhower Chen Geng

Douglas MacArthur Deng Hua

Matthew Ridgway Joseph Stalin

Mark Wayne Clark Nikita Khrushchev

Clement Attlee

Winston Churchill

Louis St. Laurent

Cell Bayar
Robert Menzies

Elpidio Quirino

Nikolaos Plastiras

Sophoklis Venizelos

Alexander Papagos

Strength

602,902[11] 1,350,000[18]

326,863[12] 266,600[19]

14,198[13][14] 26,000[20]

8,123[15] Total: 1,642,600

5,453 [13]
Note: The figures vary by source;

2,282[13] peak unit strength varied during

1,496 [13]
war.

1,385[13]

1,290[16]

1,271[17]

1,263[13][17]

1,185[17]

1,068[13]

900[13]
826[13]

819[13]
170[16]
 105[16]

100[16]

72[16]

70[16]

44[13]

Total: 972,214

Casualties and losses

Total: 178,405 dead and Total: 398,000750,000+

32,925 missing dead and 145,000+ missing

Total wounded: 566,434 Total wounded: 686,500

789,000
Details[show]

Details[show]

Total civilians killed/wounded: 2.5 million (est.)[16]

South Korea: 990,968

373,599 killed[16]

229,625 wounded[16]

387,744 abducted/missing[16]

North Korea: 1,550,000 (est.)[16]

[show]

e
Korean War

The Korean War (in South Korean Hangul: ; Hanja: ; RR: Hanguk Jeonjaeng,
"Korean War"; in North Korean Chosn'gl: ; Hancha: ; MR: Choguk
haebang chnjaeng, "Fatherland Liberation War"; 25 June 1950 27 July 1953)[36][b][38] was
a war between North Korea (with the support of China and the Soviet Union) and South
Korea (with the principal support of the United States). The war began on 25 June 1950 when
North Korea invaded South Korea.[39][40] The United Nations, with the United States as the
principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the
Soviet Union also gave some assistance to the North.
Korea was ruled by Imperial Japan from 1910 until the closing days of World War II. In August
1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Imperial Japan, as a result of an agreement with the
United States, and liberated Korea north of the 38th parallel. U.S. forces subsequently moved
into the south. By 1948, as a product of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United
States, Korea was split into two regions, with separate governments. Both claimed to be the
legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither accepted the border as permanent. The
conflict escalated into open warfare when North Korean forcessupported by the Soviet Union
and Chinamoved into the south on 25 June 1950.[41] On 27 June, the United Nations Security
Council authorized the formation and dispatch of UN forces to Korea to repel what was
recognized as a North Korean invasion.[42] Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually
contributed to the UN force, with the United States providing 88% of the UN's military personnel.
After the first two months of war, South Korean and U.S. forces rapidly dispatched to Korea were
on the point of defeat, forced back to a small area in the south known as the Pusan Perimeter. In
September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was launched at Incheon, and cut off
many North Korean troops. Those who escaped envelopment and capture were forced back
north. UN forces rapidly approached the Yalu Riverthe border with Chinabut in October 1950,
mass Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and entered the war.[41] The surprise Chinese intervention
triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-1951.