The korean war armistice was signed in july 27, 1933 and here to reflect on that event is Gregg Brazinsky. Professor of history of International Affairs at George Washington university. Welcome to the program. Guest thank you for having me. Host lets start with when the korean war began. When did it start and the events that led up to it . Guest to understand the origins of the korea war you have to look at korea during the period between 1910 and 1945 when it was under japanese colonialism. The reason you have to look at that period is because japanese colonialism created very deep social and political divisions between koreans because there were many koreans who suffered in a lot of different ways under japanese colonialism, but there were also some koreans who benefited in different ways. When world war ii inns in 1945, korea ends in 1945, korea is a very Different Society and even if you take out china, u. S. , and the soviet union, it is likely it would have been some type of civil comput in korea but e ld war got to superimpose and korea with the United States occupying southern korea in 1945 and soviet union occupying northern korea and soviets helping the left to come to power in their Occupied Zone and u. S. Helping conservatives come to power in their Occupied Zone. You have a situation where you have these two very different groups of koreans that come to power and gain prominence in different Occupied Zones. The United States had actually never intended to divide korea. They always thought eventually the occupation would in and they will come up with a formula for unifying the entire peninsula but then the cold war sets in and becomes more difficult to come up with any kind of arrangement with the soviet union for unified korea state. This is what leads in 1948 to the creation of two separate and hostile korean states with the new north korean state saying that south korea has no legitimacy and is a puppet of american imperialism, and the south korean government led by syngman rhee saying that north korea has no legitimacy and is a puppet of the soviet union and communism. The two states do not like each other and syngman rhee and south korea want to have a war with the north but the United States is firmly opposed. North korea wants to invade the south but initially stalins very opposed and at the time north korea is very dependent on soviet leadership and stalins aid, but stalins calculation starts to shift. Host first i want to remind our viewers if they would like to call in and ask a question or make a comment, our phone lines are regional. Eastern central timezones, 2027488000. Mountain pacific timezones, 2027488001. If you are a korean war veteran or a Family Member of a korean war veteran, we would love to hear about you and your experience. That number is 2027488002. You can text us at 2027488003. And all social media. Lets talk about the actual combatants. He was fighting and where . Who was fighting and where . Guest the main combat as well as United Nations command and it is organized under the leadership of the Truman Administration. It is the Truman Administration that brings the korea issue to the United Nations. There is a total of i believe 22 nations that participate in the United Nations command and of course you have south korea as one combat along you un command. On the communist side he had the the chinese volunteers who served under the leadership of the Chinese Communist party. Host what were some the turning points of the war . Guest there are a lot of turning points especially when you talk about the military conflict. One of the key turning points is the battle of inchon because during the early stages of the war, the north koreans were tually quite successful. They pushed u. S. And south korea forces all the way back to an area in southeastern korea is known as the pusan perimeter they occupied for a period of several months most of what we considerou korea. In september 1950, macarthur decides on the inchon landing and with data landg, and with data landing, the Korean Forces are trapped in a Pincer Movement and they are ford to retreat. Another key turning point would come in the fall of 1950, the u. S. And south korea counteroffensive is very successful. For a period of time, you have u. S. And south Korean Forces occupying northern korea. The reason that collapses is because of the entry of Chinese Forces into the war in the fall of 1950 and it is really december 1950 that they start to enter in full force and american and you u. N. Troops are forced to evacuate from north korea. Host forwarding to the freedom armistice that was signed, how did that come about . How did the parties come together . Guest gabby negotiations over the armistice for quite a while there have been negotiations over the armistice for a while and of the contentious issues was the geograph where would you draw the dividing line between the two koreans stays . States . There waa lot of debates about the issues. Tharmistice negotiations come out because there are a couple of significant political changes that occur in early 1953. One is in u. S. , president Dwight Eisenhower is elected and in november 1952 election. He is determined to end what is an increasingly unpopular war in United States. It also relates to the death of stalins can be soviet union. Stalin had a sort of wanted the war to continue. He thought it occupied the United States and force them to commit resources to a very difficult because. Host which it did. Guest right, which it did, but after stalins death, the leaders who come to power in the soviet union after him start saying it is time to try to pursue peace on the Korean Peninsula. Host this is agreement is only an military agreement. It is not political. So technically the war has not ended. Guest that is absolutely correct. Technically the u. S. And north korea have still been at war since 1950. The armistice calls for armtice even to this day, north korea is one of a hanul of may 4 or five countries that neither states still does not cognize and has no form of relations with the. It is not and in ap streatery. It does not end in a piece treaty. In armistice is different from a peace treaty. Host lets go to andy first in texas. Are you a korean war veteran . Caller yes, i am a korean war vet. Along with my younger brother. We were on the battleship. He is now deceased. I am also a wwii that any vietnam that. Wwii vet and vietnam vet. Host what did you experience . Caller we ran up and down the coast for nine months. My one experience wasmy one expe anchored the harbor and we spent the night insulation to the shore. The daylight passed the word to see an anchor detail and my station was running the anchor up and down. The show started popping over our his and alongside shells started popping over our heads. I thoroughly break off threw the break off. It took a bite out of the ship. We took a direct hit. My kid brother was injured and i thought we have a big problem here. After we scared from bouts detail, i rounded up my kid brother and he said he did not even care that the shell hit. Host im glad you guys are ok. Guest yes, thank you for your service. I would say, i think a lot of his experience sounds somewhat familiar to me as a historian of the war, although of course i never experience it myself, but the chaos that surrounded a lot of the operations. American shoes were rushed to the Korean Peninsula in 1950 because the north korean invasion went so sudden and unexpected. The other thing in terms of the korean war and how it was followed, there was this initial period between 1950 and early 1951 where territory is Getting Exchange were north Korean Forces make rapid process and then they have to do a hasty retreat but a lot of the war exposure between 1951 and 1953 is a war of attrition fought over very small amounts of territory. It is hard to know exactly from your description if that is what was happening in your case, but it sounds like it may have been the case. Thank you very much for your reflection and your comments. Host tony in chicago, illinois. Good morning. Caller hi. Good morning. Glad we are having this segment. Very interesting. Littleknown part of history i guess you could say in u. S. Earlier you mentioned the country already, the Korean Peninsula, was already somewhat divided and i would like you to expand on that because to my knowledge after Imperial Japan had been defeated that there was a Popular Movement within the Korean Peninsula. It was kim ii sung. His movement was very popular among the country and it was the u. S. Who built up the webcam the south Korean Military by training and utilizing a lot of the former generals and soldiers who were fighting for the japanese against trees during the occupation to prop up the military using those socalled traitors to the country. I feel like there is somewhat unification already on the island when it became apparent it was kim ii sung movement that was the Popular Movement, it was the opportunity for u. S. To start what will become centuries of imperial influence and military influence of Popular Movements around the world. Also did not neglect to mention that u. S. Bombs killed over 3 million, roughly a third of the population of korea. Guest those are a couple of very good points and interesting place. I think according to many historical interpretations, the left was actually more popular on the Korean Peninsula then the conservatives were in part because conservatives were more tainted by some history of collaboration with japanese colonialism. There were some genuinely conservative nationalists in korea at the time. I think it is important to remember that. Somebody like segment three syngman rhee was difficult for u. S. To deal with but one think you couldnt that say about him he was projapanese or had no popular basis. But nonetheless i do think that in many places the left was more popular and there were a number of instances, especially between 1948 and 1950 where left this movement and uprisings were suppressed either by u. S. Military occupation of korea or by some combination of United States and syngman rhee forces. The most notorious of these would be the the massacre. I would the last comment about the american aerial bombings of north korea is also very much correct. I have spoken with chinese veterans of the war and it is just incredible how traumatizing they can still remember it and they would say even a dog could not escape from american bombings of north korea during the war. By saying this, i am not really saying United States was completely in the wrong, i do think ultimately the reason that these minor and civil conflict between north and south korea that occurred between 1948 and 1950, the reason that parents into a larger military war is because kim ii sung besides debates of korea in june 1950. Host do we have numbers of civilian deaths on the Korean Peninsula during the war . Guest we do not have exact numbers but we do have estimates. All of the estimates point to the number of civilian deaths being pretty devastating may be a total of Something Like 3 million. Consider the total population of korea at the time is probably no more than 30 million, that is a pretty significant share of the population. You have thousands of war orphans in north korea and south korea. You have massive devastation of infrastructure, schools, virtually everything, not only in north korea, but on both sides of the Korean Peninsula. Host how Many American troops killed or wounded . Guest i think the estimates on the number of troops is never exact but i think the latest estimates i have heard on american troops is about 30,000 u. S. Forces lost their lives in the korean theater. Host after the korean armistice was signed in 1953 the commander of u. S. Forces and u. N. Forces was general mark clark. [video clip] it will allow some of the groovy wounds of korea to hill. I am thankful. It is however only a step forward what must yet be done. The path now is up at the ceasefire agreement into full effect as quickly as we can get down to working out settlement of the korean problems. I cannot find it in me to in this hour, rather it is a time for prayer. We may succeed in our difficult endeavor to turn this armistice to the advantage of mankind. If we extract hope from this occasion, it must be diluted with the recognition that our salvation requires an relaxing vigilance and effort. Host i wonder what actually changed after that armistice was signed. Military hostility ended. What else . Guest military hostilities in but aside from that, i think the korean war actuay has a very big impact on the world. First of all, the United States and south korea become allies as a result of this, a mutual Security Agreement is signed briefly after the war. United states also ratchets up his commitment to the security of east asia in general. Another consequence is that taiwan and china remain divided. I think before the korean war, the Truman Administration had assumed that the c i eventually going to conquer taan, but during the early stages of the korean war, the u. S. Moved the seventh fleet in the taiwan straight. All of a sudden the u. S. Is building up a new Security Architecture in the asiapif and a lot of that is a direct consequence of the korean war and you also have north korea becoming very deeply entrenched in the communist geo strategic structure. That is sort of how the war changes the overall geopolitical picture. I think for koreans the war was devastating and the end of the fighting, if it did anything, it finally gave them a chance to start to reconstruct, which is very needed after the war. Host lets talk to marcus who is a korean war veteran in western virginia. Good morning. Caller i am not about my dads older brother served in the korean war. I never actually met him. He defected. As a black man in you as he was not really dealing with grace of great stuff. One think he consistently mentioned the massacre was something that stuck out with him and he said there is like 30,000 people American Military killed before the war even started. My started hearing what was happening by the u. S. He just left. The something ive not thought about. I am a veteran myself. I serving in the marine corps does in the seventh fleet and now that i think back on it i was in the child sign in as an american and may be all of this is just like empire self, may be korean war vietnam war, iraq and going to stand war, may be although tt s just america trying to impose its will on the rest of the world. I do not know y think theresruth to that . It is hard for me to rectify service in military why did not feel like i was defending my country when i learned about all of these atrocities. Host what do you think . Guest whatever your feelings, thank you for your service. I would say the sinchon massacre was something i alluded to earlier and absolutely it was a horrific event. What had happened is after, as japanese colonialism ended, koreans had tried to create these autonomous governmenta; units called Peoples Committee and they assume control over local Administrative Functions in different parts of the Korean Peninsula. It is a small island located off of south koreas look at off the coast so it always been one of the hardest parts of the peninsula for the new government to establish its authority over what happens is when the new south korean government tries to establish its authority there there is an uprising that is against this. The United States does oversee the suppression of this. They have built up a south korean constabulary at the time. This constabulary is basically it plays a function of the military but because south korea is not an independent state until august 1948, you cannot officially say it is a south korean army. There was a massive suppression of this uprising. It is still an extremely controversial issue in south korea today with the conservatives and the left having very different perspectives on whether it was necessary to suppress it, and whether the level of brutality that was use to suppress it was necessary. I think the broader questions you ask, is this part of a broader american empire and american effort to impose his will on the rest of the world, i think to a degree, yes, but i think i guess taking a slightly different perspective, i think south korea has also benefited in some ways from this. I think at the communist had taken over all of the Korean Peninsula he would not have had the wealthy prosperous diver democracy you have in south korea today. I do think United States to intervene did intervene in a lot of civil wars and it is certainly good as americans to question whether we should be doing that and whether it is right to be doing that. But i also think in korean case, we should also keep in mind u. S. South Korean Alliance has been far from a failure in a lot of ways. Host juanita in ohio. Good morning. Caller good morning. I want to give a shout out to my uncle john lewis junior who was a bactrian war veteran. Korean war veteran. He was air force in 1950. He hung the telephone wire. He was responsible for communications. That war was the first war that saw integrated units, black and whites, together. The second thing, to point out we must remember that the russians did not stop fighting in korea until one week after the japanese side the armistice in 1945. He said that is why we ended up at the 38th parallel. That is why it was. My uncle is still alive and lives here in cincinnati. When the chinese came over and heard that, he said it was frightening, but at that time the American Military had matured and most guys could check each others back. I want to give a shout out to my uncle and all the better is to live and let them know that we love you. Thank you. Guest yes, i have a couple of comments about that. First of all, you are right, the integration of the armed forces does start after world war ii under the Truman Administration. It was a very important and significant Historical Development even if it took several decades for there to be true equality. I want to elaborate on the point you made about the soviets not getting, not moving into the Korean Peninsula. This is an interesting point. The soviets towards the end of world war ii, even though the soviets are fighting on the side of the allies, they actually do not declare war on japan and japan is not declare war on the soviet union. Theres this period of strange neutrality. The United States was hoping that the soviet union would declare war on japan because the war against japan was so costly to the United States. Then in 1945, u. S. Jobs the omic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki and japan surrenders much more quickly than anybody thought it would. That has an important effect becae eviously the u. S. Had more or less assumed the soviet unio would occupy manchuria and all of korea and u. S. With need to give the soviet union some role in the occupation ojan but when it becomes clear they do not need the soviets in e war against japan and u. S. With unilaterally with unilaterally occupy japan, the Truman Administration starts to become more ambitious. If you look at history, there is no reason that korea should have been divided at all or occupied after world war ii. Korea had to function as a single political and economic unit for centuries. But u. S. Was worried about securing the occupation of japan. They propose this rather arbitrary dividing line along the 38th parallel to stalin and stalin accepted much to the gym and administration surprise and that is the origins of how you got separate occupation zones and eventually south and north korea stays. It is important point to bring up. Host joel in new mexico. Are you a creation veteran . Korean war veteran . Caller no, but i am a lawyer who prosecuted the government to locate the whereabouts of a prisoner of war and left behind in 1983. The trial went on for quite some time and we ended up winning the trial. The judge found in our favor they had left him and by talking to johnson, the ambassador at the armistice signing, he was partly responsible for it, that we had left him behind. Guest yes. I think there is still a lot of questions about what happened to some of our gis in korea. I forget the exact number but probably says of thousands of pows who were captured by communist forces during the korean war, most of them are accounted for but there is also the question of the remains of a lot of the people who fought in korea. Just identifying the remains and having these remains repatriated was a major issue between the u. S. And north korea and the communist side during the korean war for a long time. We have seen some Movement Towards resolution that recently but it is still an outstanding issue in some ways. Host must the armistice was signed admitted all pows were repatriated . Guest there was an interesting issue with the repatriation of the pows because not all of them wanted to be repatriated. You had the u. S. And you u. N. Command captured more pows than the communist forces. These pows were subject to constant anticommunist propaganda over the course of the korean war. By the time the whartons can we have a number of korean and a cream pows that did not want to go back. Some of the stay in south korea. Have a number of chinese pows who do not want to go back to communist china created the want to go back to taiwan so that it was a contentious issue throughout the negotiations. The chinese and north korean cytosolic as an embarrassment that the pows did not want to be repatriated. According to the terms of the armistice, every pow is given a chce. They can either repatrted to their native country. They could stay where they are captured or they can cose to go to a neutral country. Most of the pows choose to be repatriated to their home countries but many do not. There is a large numr of anticommunist pows who are not repatriated or who stay in south korea go to taiwan. Theres a small number of american pows who choose not to go back to the United States and is that stay in communist china after the korean war ended the. It is a small group but it does happen. Host steve in new york. Good morning. Caller good morning. My father was a world war ii endocrine veteran. I was curious if the north koreans could do a really good gesture and release the ship they captured there. The peblo. Guest the chances probably are not very good. I do not know what the value the ship itself would be to the United States today but the reason chances are not good is because it is sort of red article of pride in north korea that they captured this american spy ship. I believe they actually turned it into a museum where they take visitors from china or even the trickle of visitors from the west and other countries and they proudly display the pueblo as a triumph of north korea over the u. S. Imperialist. I do not think that is going to happen. I also think theres a number of other good gestures that the north koreans could make that would alleviate frictions on the Korean Peninsula sufficiently. Significantly. Guest recently we have seen a barrage of missile test and i think that is something that i did not think anybody likes it when north korea carries out these missile tests except for maybe north korea itself because it is a destabilizing influence in the region. The test ive been on and off over the years and the north koreans the test has been on and off over the years in the north koreans says u. S. Should make a goodwill gesture by stopping military exercises but i think those are the kinds of things that might mitigate friction on the peninsula a bit. Host robert in tennessee. Good morning. Caller good morning. I was about four years old, my uncle came from mississippi to fly to the army base. He was driving. Instead of catching a plane, they had one extra guy in mississippi platoon. He did not go with the mississippi unit and that whole unit was wiped out. I was in korea in the 70s, 71, the reason im in the same category as a vietnam veteran as far as the Army Air Force is concerned, i was in the air force, but on the korean airbase in northern, south korea, at that time, the soviet union was a very interested in south korea. They were building up tanks to go into invade south korea from north korea. It was a part of the think most people miss in vietnam war how close soviet union was getting to invading the south. But i believe the name of the ship that was mentioned was the pueblo that north korea captured. Thank you for listening. Guest yes, thank you very much and i think you your general point about the history is correct. Although i think it was more north korea that is building up and considering an invasion of south korea during the early 1970s. I think this period between 1968 and early 1970s exactly a period of increase north korea adventurism on the Korean Peninsula as a whole. You have not only the capture of the pueblo but you also have another incident in which the north koreans shot down an american spy plane. This occurred at the beginning of the nixon administration. You have an ax murderer incident in demilitarized zone. You also have multiple north korean efforts to try to assassinate the president of south korea. In one of the reasons for this is because he had been so extraordinarily successful in lifting south koreans out of poverty and the north koreans were very well aware that south korea was making Enormous Economic strides under his presidency. There is this period of heightened also maybe now would be the best possible time to invade the south because u. S. Is so preoccupied with vietnam and it does not want to fight two wars at once. Host at an event on thursday marking the 70th anniversary of the armistice heres representative Mark Gallagher from wisconsin discuss what he sees as the best way to remember the war. [video clip] time and time again we are reminded at great cost that would allows us to live in peace and freedom is strength. It is our investment in a robust military deterrent and the korean war stands as a reminder of the enormous costs when deterrence fails. If we remember anything else, on this day, is that we should dedicate ourselves to the cause of peace and peace is best achieved through strength. Strength is not just a matter of how many weapons we have or how distract of the weapons, but the fighting spirit, the esprit de corps of a young man and woman that we asked to stand on the walls of freedom and the fighting spirit and esprit de corps of the allies we ask to fight with us. Certainly as the audience here demonstrates, we are stronger when we fight hand in hand with our allies. While we pray whenever forced to fight again, we must do Everything Possible to prepare for the outcome to prevent it from happening. I reminded eisenhower said in his famous i should go to korea speech. If one were to tell us anything is this, to hesitate, to appease even bite really betraying purpose, to invite or itself war itself. Lets learn the lesson of today of all days and make sure the forgotten war is not forgotten. Host want to ask you about that phrase the forgotten war sometimes referred to that way in u. S. How is it seen today both his and of korea, and i know that might be hard to gauge, but also in south korea . Guest both koreans see the war as a horrible tragedy that led to the Permanent Division of their country and to the loss of millions of lives. I think first and foremost when koreans look at the war, that is how they think about it. It is definitely not the forgotten war in korea. It is really the war that shape the National Identities a korean stays in many ways. In north korea, it is sort of viewed the way we may view our war of independence. It was a war in which from the north korean perspective, the imperialists were doing everything they could to topple their regime and to destroy north korea, but they were able to resist that with help from the chinese volunteers wish the north koreans often play it down in their contemporary discourse about the war. In south korea because you have more democratic society, there is room for more honest debate about the korean war. There is a lot of debate about what the word meant and what the what roles different powers played and whether they could have been done better and i think this very much still an ongoing debate but it is definitely not a forgotten war in either of the two koreas. Host darrell calling from maryland. Good morning. Caller good morning. I want to mention your guest called it the korean war. I refer to it as the korean conflict. My father fought in korea back in i think 1952. He was wanted he was wounded. It is not until Matthew Ridgway came about that i think operation killer that after the debacle at the charles on chosin the fog back made it to a stalemate because is about a two year stalemate. Other than that, i would say, macarthur was a great general, however, he was a little bit arrogant because they kept telling him the chinese were coming over the border but he did not listen. You had what she called the great retreat with what happened at chosin. All right i will listen to your guest now. Guest what you said is basically right. In terms of operation killer and operation ripper, what had happened there, this occurs in the spring of 1951. The chinese have entered the war in the winter of 1950 and they actually try with the north koreans to push the you and u. N. And south Korean Forces off of the Korean Peninsula so seoul falls again in 1951 but then what happens is Matthew Ridgway does launch this very successful counteroffensive in spring of 1951 if you wish destroy chinese and communist in which they destroy chinese and communist forces along seoul. In terms of your point about macarthur, this is also sort of one of the criticisms that macarthur would make of the Truman Administration. One of the reasons that macarthur would eventually be dismissed because macarthur was talking about launching a more general invasion of the chinese mainland. The Truman Administration said that it goes too far. That would get us into world war iii. Were not going to do that. Eventually the disagreements between the Truman Administration and macarthur over how to wage the war became too great. Despite the success of the inchon landing, macarthur is ultimately forced to resign. Host george in michigan. Good morning. Caller hi. Hows it going . Guest hello. Caller i want to talk about my experience when i was in korea 1966. I had a secret clearance. There is a north korean patrol they came down through the dmz. We got a patrol because we patrolled there. They came down. They went in there and the soldiers stole their wallets and weapons they had. There was one guy that left. He is the one that tells the story but this is years ago. Host you are breaking. Are having trouble making out what you said. Guest a kindest estimable he was saying about border incidents along the dmz i could understand some of what he was saying about border incidents among the dmz. It is still one of the i think bill clinton called it the scariest place on earth. If you visit, you can see you have south korea and north Korean Forces staring each other down. The protocols there need to be very strictly observed. When theres even a slight deviation from that, it often is leased to an incident. I did not catch all the details of what he said but i would surmise it might be something along those lines. Host speaking of border incidents, you have the travis king situation with him going across the border into north korea. What do you make of that . Guest that is a very unusual situation because he was not abducted as has been the case in the past. But he went voluntarily. I think this is a relatively new diplomatic circumstance that the Biden Administration will have to grapple with. What do you do when you have someone who was not forcefully abducted, but decisively, but he decisively, my understanding there is pending investigation, trials. It is definitely an unusual circumstance and it can be resolved in any of a number of ways. Host you wrote a book called nationbuilding in south korea, koreans, americans, the makings of a democracy. Guest my book mostly picks up after the armistice. What i look at in the book is this important phenomenon in south korea. The vast majority of countries that were subject to colonialism, at one point in their history, the socalled global south if you look at them today, there are very few that become prosperous democracies. I look at this process that occurred mostly during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s where south korea goes through rapid Economic Growth and and eventually democratize this in the 1980s. I try to analyze what role u. S. Place in this process. Host sadie in virginia. Good morning. Caller good morning. Are you able to hear me . Host yes. Caller i want to say your comment about the number of people that died in korea it concerns me of what albright said to come she said we have heard have a one million iraqi children have died. There are more children that died in hiroshima. The price we think is worth it, the price of children and kids dying is never worth it. I want to recommend the movie battle of it is a really good movie. I have a question. There is a scene where ballots struggle around and shoot the people pilots shoot the people. That really happen . Travis king ran to the rather than go back to texas. Guest i have not seen the film. I believe that is a chinese movie to my recent chinese movie about the korean war. In terms of that the u. S. Carry out bombings of people who were lying low . Yes. The u. S. Bombings of north korea were intense and horrific. North koreans built an extensive system of underground tunnels. Living anywhere above ground was dangerous at the time. There is no question that it was horrific. I think if youre going to look at the korean war in general and youre going to look at what was morally justified and what was not morally justified, it is always a difficult question. I think especially in the context of the korean war because it was kim ii sung who i think historical evidence is clear that it was kim ii sung who took the actions that led to the larger war in the peninsula but if youre going to look at things that United States did wrong and question the moral justifications, i do think the extensive bombings of north korea where they were not only bombing military targets but they were balmy infrastructure, they bombing civilian infrastructure. There are really punishing the country. I think that would be one of the first things that come to my mind. Host what do you think is the legacy of the korean war . Guest i think theres a lot of legacies. One of them is that the Korean Peninsula has remained divided. It has been a very tragic legacy when you talk about we look at it from that perspective. Another legacy has been long standing bitterness between s another legacy is that it took more than 20 years after the korean war for us to even open up relations with communist china and i still think it is one of the things that the chinese go to today in terms of when they criticized the United States. A lot of it does go back to the lingering role that the korean war has all the the mentality of Chinese Communist leaders. The war legacies were vast and complicated. Host will end with a tweet we got from mlb who says this, my father served in the Aircraft Carrier valley forge in the korean war. He was faced with the reality they were bombing korea while his brother was serving as an Army Infantry soldier on the ground they were bombing. My uncle was wounded but they both came home alive. That is all the time we have for this Program CreateGregg BrazinskyGeorge WashingtonUniversity Professor and also author of the book nationbuilding in south korea koreans, americans commended the thank