Even though it was never “officially” a war, 68 years ago today (July 27, 1953) the Korean Was ended with the signing of an armistice by U.S. and North Korea delegates at Panmunjom, Korea. The war had lasted just over three years.
Without getting into the history of the conflict, it should be noted that the United States never formally declared war on North Korea (or its allies China and the Soviet Union.) The U.S. military led the United Nations’ expeditionary force, but it was only acting on a UN Security Council resolution, and the UN itself cannot declare war.
It’s also interesting that no peace treaty was ever signed, so North and South Korea are technically still at war.
In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives in the “war,” that is sometimes referred to as “the forgotten war” because it drew much less media attention than other conflicts like World War I and II and the Vietnam War. Someone noted that the most famous representation of the Korean War is the television series “M*A*S*H.”
But call it what you want, all those that served deserve to be remembered…
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