Democratic republic. Two years ago, a United Nations commission supervised free elections south of the 30th parallel and the republic of korea, a sovereign, democratic nation, was born. In may 1950, the citizens of this young republic went to the polls again to exercise their democratic rights to choose their government under their democratic constitution. Even as the citizens of the korean republic voted in free the north korean communist leaders were boasting of their intention to unify the country by force. And this was the target, they partly mountainous peninsula and the 20 million peaceloving citizens of the republic of korea. The attack by the north korean communists came suddenly and without warning. The heroic Republican Army rallied to the defense of the republic, improvising quickly to meet the unprovoked aggression, korean republican troops were thrown against the invaders south of the 38th parallel, against a prepared army armed with tanks and guns, they were illequipped to meet the onslaught. Back in the United States, an emergency session of the United Nations security is called. Ambassador chang of korea heres the secretarygeneral say the present situation is a serious one and a threat to international peace. In mycurity Council Opinion is the competent organ to deal with it. The council needs to take steps necessary to reestablish peace in that area. A vote on the United States demand that the North Koreans halt their aggression is carried 90 with the soviet union absent. Korea, the saddest victims of a treacherous aggression by the communist north korean puppets are women and children. This is not new. These tragic and bewildered refugees are always the first proof of wanting aggression w anton aggression. Host Charles Hanley is joining us from naples, florida. He is a former a. P. Correspondent out with a new book, ghost flames, life and death in a hidden war. We thank you for being with us american and cspan3s history tv. Guest thank you. Good to be with you. Host the historical significance of the korean war , often viewed as the forgotten war, what is it 70 years later . Guest we can see it simply and invest in i think we can see in the tension that still exists on the peninsula with the nuclear crisis. It is sometimes called the forgotten war because it was an indecisive conflict in a faroff place. It came just five years after the good war, the great war world war ii. , eventually, it was overshadowed by the vietnam war. But when we look back, we can see this was a watershed moment in 20thcentury history. It militarized the cold war between the communist and capitalist worlds. And it also was the first undeclared war by the United States in its history. And of course, that is all we have had since. It remains the last conflict between great powers, in this case, america and china with soviet help. It permanently militarized the United States within just a couple of years. The Defense Budget quadrupled in the early 1950s as the war was being fought. And in that sense, the pentagon never looked back after that. But we can see, as i said in the nuclear crisis, this is rooted in that war. Because the United States threatened, in various ways, to use Nuclear Weapons against the North Koreans, against the chinese. And as a result, china realized it needed its own deterrent and went to work on it. And by 1964, the chinese had a nuclear weapon. And now, we can see the North Koreans as well, who suffered such tremendous devastation nowng the korean war, they have their own nuclear arsenal, ach they consider deterrent against another devastating conflict with the u. S. Host we have a line set aside for those of you who are veterans of the korean war. But are you saying that the underlying issue in the conflict 70 years ago was the cold war tensions that resulted in the war . Guest yes. At the end of world war ii, korea, which was a japanese colony, was divided by the soviet occupation and American Occupation forces in the north and south. Consequently, each followed divergent paths communist and capitalist. And then, although in december of 1945, washington and moscow reached what is called the moscow agreement to reunify the koreas within five years, bickering and hostility between the great powers doomed that to failure. By 1948, the whole idea had been dropped and the two, south and north, declared themselves independent nations. So yes, we can find the root of the korean war very directly in this hostility between the soviet union and the United States. , you your upcoming book really try to personalize those on the front lines, including citizens, in the war. Walk us through what you learned. Guest i learned even more than i already knew. I had been working on this as a journalist for many years. But i learned even more about the complete devastation of two societies. Not just north korea, which suffered tremendous bombardment, but also south korea. My characters, the featured individuals, and these are real people of course with real experiences, but i called them characters, my characters witnessed much of the horror of the war, some of the worst of it, from the atrocities to the era of bombardment in north korea in particular. And so, this is a way i thought to bring home to the reader the real meaning of any war, and this war in particular, which is so neglected it seems on bookshelves in america in particular. And so, i have characters ranging from a little northern refugee girl in seoul, who opens thebook with awakening to start of the war, on through various soldiers and civilians, even an american nun who runs a clinic for refugees in south korea during the war, on up to people at the top channels, generals, matthew ridgway, who ended up early on as overall commander on the American South korean side, and the chinese general who was the overall commander from 1950 onward on the chinese north korean side. I follow their experiences through the war. Goodhrough them, we get a big picture, overview, of the strategy and the concept of the war. In the meantime many of my , ordinary people are going through these battles, are fleeing, refugees, are under strafing from american airplanes and such. Host our guest has won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting with the associated press. He is joining us from naples, florida. Before we get to the first calls, what specific event led to the initial conflict . Guest of course, there was an invasion on june 25, 1950. I believe it was seven north korean divisions coming across the 38th parallel. But there had been skirmishing along the 38th parallel, the separation line, for a couple years before that, some of them pretty serious. And so, when war broke out on june 25 that morning, a rainy morning in korea, many people in the south thought we hope it is just another skirmish. Well, it turned out to be a fullscale invasion. Actually, on the northern side, the people in north korea were told that south korea had attacked. And this fiction is still maintained by the North Koreans officially in their museums and such, but it was a surprise attack and there was a failure on the south korean american side, an intelligence failure, ofnot detect the movement troops across the north of the 30th parallel was preparation for invasion. The North Koreans cleverly maneuver,ocalled which was actually a hoax. The movements were not a maneuver. Not a practice. But rather a fullscale invasion. Host lets take your phone calls. Bo is first up from sylvester, georgia. Good morning. Welcome to the conversation. Caller i had a relative that served during the longest artillery duel in naval history with an opposing enemy force. President truman called it a Police Action even though it was undeclared. And the second question i have was that the armistice ended the fighting on the peninsula in 1953, but there has been no formal treaty. To many of the North Koreans, the war has never been forgotten, even though we have forgotten the war itself in a lot of American History. Thank you. Host thank you. Two very important points. Guest i call it a war on hold. There has been no peace treaty. There was to be a political settlement. This was called for within the original armistice agreement in july, 1953, that there be a political conference that would reunify the two koreas. But the hostilities were just so great that by 1954 when the meeting took place in geneva it , did not go very far. I think it lasted two or three months. Finally, the United States over thet disagreements over who would oversee elections and such. The United States proposed that the United Nations oversee elections, but the United Nations with considered by the to be a belligerent in the war. The United Nations had adopted a countries toging support south korea during the war. That was something the North Koreans could not abide. They and the soviets and the proposed the commission but theal nations, americans rejected that and so it ended in failure. So, we continue to have a war on hold. No peace treaty. No war, no peace. I am sorry. Your first question related to . Host it is a war that has never there has not been a ceasefire formal agreement. , a guest the caller brought up the undeclared aspect of the Police Action. This is interesting. And as a journalist, i see it happen often. That was raised in a question by a journalist to president truman. Would you consider it a Police Action . And truman said, yes, he went along with it, but this was not his formulation initially. And this was very early on when there was some thought from of theton that the entry United States forces in the war, which ended quickly, would become a peacekeeping operation. But that proved not true. As we see, it went on for three years at a tremendous cost. You may have mentioned the casualty toll for americans, which was over 36,000 dead. But the total dead for the others involved was tremendous and very indefinite. It is believed that between 200,000 and 400,000 south korean troops and the same number of north korean troops were killed and even more chinese killed in that war, approximately 500,000. But the real toll was on civilians in north and south korea. It is believed that probably one side,n civilians on each north and south, were killed during that war. I think it is still considered the war with the most costly casualty toll america has ever fought. In other words, by the proportion of the total death toll. Host we are looking at the start of the korean war in 1950, 70 years ago, here on cspan. Sam is next up from hillsdale, michigan. Thanks for waiting. Good morning. Caller i got so mad toward the end of this book i had to quit reading it. It seemed to me that the Truman Administration was just clicking its tongue and shaking its head watching macarthurs crazy behavior. Why didnt somebody do something about that man . Host to his point, and it may be a broader question, some of the key players involved in this conflict. Charles hanley . Guest the key players . You are asking the key players . Host he mentioned General Macarthur, but also some of the other key figures in the conflict. Guest on macarthur, his behavior really came to the fore during the war itself, not leading up to it. And during the war, he was the overall commander in the far east. And so, he was the one who ordered troops in after getting the ok from truman in an undeclared war, ordered the troops into korea. And had a very hard time. To summarize the early backandforth seesawing, the north korean invasion pushed the south korean army and the american troops there into the southeastern quadrant of south korea. Then, later, in september 1950, macarthur landed a huge Amphibious Force at inchon. And that effectively cut off the North Koreans in the south from their resupply. And at the same time, the American South Korean Forces in the south broke out from their perimeter and drove the north Korean Forces north. The North Koreans were very weakened at that point. And then, macarthur sent his forces across the 38th parallel, capturing pyongyang, and all the way to the chinese border. Now, the directives from the joint chiefs of staff in washington were that he should not send american troops to the chinese border because the chinese would consider that a threat, but he disobeyed that. And the whole u. N. Command at seoul moved toward the border, and some reached the border. And that resulted in disaster for the americans. At the same time, macarthur made a strategic error splitting his forces up the east coast and west coast of north korea. Him so, the chinese could kick off the two split forces more easily that way. The attacks were a great surprise to macarthur and his generals. They went into essentially a headlong retreat all the way back to seoul. And eventually even south of seoul. The real thing that got to president truman about macarthur was that he was speaking out geo strategically, not just militarily. But he kept pushing for a wider war against china, attacking chinese bases, attacking china itself, and even mustering troops from taiwan, Chinese Nationalist troops that had fled to taiwan, getting them to reinvade china for a second front in the war. My character, general ridgway, one of the featured individuals in my book, he could see early on that macarthur was making a great strategic mistake on the ground in north korea. And also, he understood, when he was told he was taking over from macarthur, that macarthur had been fired. And ridgway would leave the pentagon. Ridgway was already in korea in command of the eighth army, but he would leave korea and go to tokyo as far east commander. Ridgway knew that macarthurs ideas were mistaken and the American People would not stand for another global war. This time, against communism. Truman simply became too impatient with macarthurs insubordination speaking out publicly on geopolitical matters. And so, he fired him. Host we welcome our cspan Radio Audience and those listening on sirius xm. Our guest is Charles Hanley. He is a Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter for the associated press. And his new, upcoming book titled ghost flames, life and war, as we hidden look back at the korean war 70 years ago. Bob is up next from arlington, texas. Good morning. Caller my brother got killed over there august 5, 1952. And what bothers me the most is the fact that most people over here these days do not know china was the biggest part of why we lost that war. And we still disrespect it. The second thing is that on memorial day everybody says, happy memorial day. Well, it is not very happy for me, i will tell you that. The second thing is guys like Colin Kaepernick who disrespect the flag really burns it. I tell you what, that is the lowest point we can ever, respect the honor of the people that died. That is what memorial day is about, but you get a guy like Colin Kaepernick or these other celebrities and whatever. This is our flag, and theyre disrespecting it. I would love to disrespect one of their relatives in the same way. Host bob, tell us about your brother. What happened . Caller he waited to get drafted. And he was ready to come home and evidently a sniper got him. [crying] he was with the 5th Regimental Combat Team and evidently it was behind the lines, but they had the snipers out there picking people off right and left. He had been promised to be able to come home. He had already served his time and they kept promoting him. He got promoted. They did not know how to manage the peace. Everything was quiet, everybody was just waiting for the next move. Host how old was he when he passed away . Caller 22. Host bob, thank you for the call and thank you for sharing your story. Guest i am very sorry to hear about your loss. And obviously, steve, the mention of china earlier, there are possibly as many as 600,000 chinese soldiers lost in the war and they were the deciding factor in the war. They saved north korea. Otherwise, we would have a unified korea back in the 1950s. But the chinese still view the war as a great victory because they saved north korea, and they pay close attention to the history of that particular war. In fact, one of my characters is the overall commander of the communists. Soon after he entered the war zone and set up headquarters, he oldest son ons his staff as a russian translator. Soon after the chinese army entered north korea, the headquarters was attacked. And the general had just left reason,n, and for some his son had returned to the cabin. American planes came in and ed an area of the headquarters and killed his son. Maos son, who some considered a potential successor, is buried in north korea and honored on their memorial day so to speak. The connection between china and north korea is quite close historically. They have their animosities, but the Chinese People and north Korean People recognize their relationship is deep and long. Host our guest is joining us from naples, florida. And our next caller is from key biscayne, florida. Bill, good morning. Caller good morning to you. It is a privilege to talk to mr. Hanley. My question is two parts. How did north and south korea originally become separated . As two distinct countries. My second part is, do you think north korea thinks in terms of what drives them today is not selfpreservation but the desire to unify the peninsula . Host thank you. First, on the division between north and south korea along the 30th parallel. Charles hanley . Guest yes. As i noted earlier, there was an agreement between the United States and soviet union to after the endreas of world war ii, but the discussions fell apart after a couple of years because of their growing animosity over so many other matters, particularly in europe. They simply went ahead in mentoring and fostering the creation of separate governments. In 1948, the republic of korea was declared in seoul. And later in 1948, the democratic republic of korea would be declared in north korea. As far as the attitudes towards i can say the Korean People are very, lets say, nationalistic, very proud of their culture, their history, their unity over centuries. Back in 1950, this was the first time koreans fought koreans in a millennium. It had been unify for about 1000 years before the soviets and americans brought about this war. So i think of their heart and hearts, all koreans would love to see reunification, but i know in the south there are misgivings because of the great burden that the self would have to undertake if there were to be reunification, and supporting a very impoverished north korea and very politically troubled north korea. As far as the northn attitude, they consider themselves the legitimate and thent of all korea people have been fed propaganda there whole lives. I think at this point they think it is their rightful place to be reunified and be the rulers of korea. War legacyorean foundation putting together a series of conversations. Those on the front lines of the battle between 1950 and 1953 and among them was alan clark. First, this has visit on the on the back and it is real thick. The godsend we had. This was an overcoat and it has an insert which is here. And everybodyog had one of these and everybody wore them. You slept in them, you walked in them. In addition to that we had a wonderful which was because you could put it around your face and that wind, which was really cold, he could put it under your helmet and have your eyes out. That was wonderful. Was blowinge wind we were out near the communicatingwere with our headquarters. As i stood there with the wind blowing and, at the time it was 42 degrees below zero, the wind was blowing like crazy and if i faced the wind, i could not close my eyes. That is alan clark reflecting what he remembers from the war in korea 70 years ago. Al is joining us from new york. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for the program and your guest. I have two questions. Book startsough the in 1950, if he could deal a little bit more with the history of a korean resistance to the Japanese Occupation that started in 1905, and also the establishment of the greek regovernment in the south. The Korean Independence Movement was declared a party very early in september 1945 and the u. S. Made thenstituted or regovernment come into existence. Thank you for your research. Host thank you. He goes back to the start of the century. Guest history is very interesting as you know. 1905, there was a settlement in which Teddy Roosevelt played a mediating role. As part of the agreements there was a secret agreement between the United States and japan in which the United States would sovereigntyjapanese over the entire Korean Peninsula and in exchange the japanese would not interfere with the american role in the philippines. The japanese very quickly turned this into a colonial situation. Koreaeclared they annexed and declared a colony. They even tried they did impose the japanese language, the required them to take japanese names, and they became a hated colonial power over korea. The caller is correct there was some resistance, armed resistance, but it never amounted to much. There were fairly peaceful protests that broke out, but they were crushed ruthlessly by the japanese. Ultimatelynce manchuria andard east where foar there were many koreans. Organized as a gurill guerilla force. They got training part of a rush guerilla unit in carrying out sabotage. So, this also established the dichotomy between people in the caller is correct that people in the south tried to form a south wide and even ae Movement Structure for government. The American Occupation force simply eliminated that ended in fact, there was a Korean Workers Party in the south that was outlawed, made illegal, by general hodge who was the commander. There is a deeper history than simply what happened in 1945 with the division by the soviets and americans. I mentioned the with theto my book flame but ghost this is what i tried to present. The hidden aspect of the korean war, many of which did not come to light for half a century. Involved mass political executions in the south. , butd several aspects 2010 there were investigations into what happened in 1950. That theened was government had jailed tens of thousands of political prisoners. The north korea invaded military police and civilian police simply took these people hadinto the outlying areas, them dig mass graves, and then executed them by the thousands. One of my featured individuals journalist of the london daily worker and he was the first outsider to happen upon, while traveling with the , to these massmy graves and reported the killing of thousands of political prisoners. Reported american officers were present in u. S. Truckss were used were used. That it wased denounced as an atrocity by the u. S. Embassy in london and no western reporter ever followed up on this. Year 2000 until the that it turned out the u. S. Army officers at the scene of this mass killing, although there were many over south korea, had taken photographs and sent them to the pentagon. They were a classified secret for half a century until a researcher had them declassified. The reporting turned out to be true and there were other hidden aspects of the war that ghost flames goes into. Some of my characters were brought up in these atrocities. Lostis a young mother who her two children. They were killed by the american troops in late july 1960. We follow her through that ordeal. Andwas badly wounded through the rest of the war she is haunted. The husband began to find out who killed these hundreds of refugees. Orders that turned up at the national archives. By theered Division Commander that the ugees [indiscernible] ordering tor was shoot all refugees across the river. There were mass killings of refugees and civilians, not just by bombardment, but by Ground Forces and aerial strikes as well. We will never know how many. Girlaracters, the little with her widowed mother, they are caught in one of these on the road where the girl sees the first People Killed in the war by american aircraft. Randomly chasing civilians along the road outside of seoul. I hope this book will bring home, in very real terms, the real people who the reader gets to know. Think, theng home, i true horrors of the korean war. Host Charles Hanley, we have a lot of callers who still want to chat with you, but quickly, who was the president of the republic of korea . Guest he was a well educated christian korean. Very early on during the agitated,olonial era for decades, for korean independence from japan. Conference at the end of world war i advocating for korean independence. The japanese were allies of the western powers in that war and so he got nowhere with that. Lobbiedquent years he for koreanon independence and also during world war ii. Divided two koreas were he had become known to the washington establishment and the. Ia in particular they wanted him installed as the president of the new south korea. Tokyo flewarthur in him over to take over in south impetuous he was very and became very unpopular the people who had to work with them, the politicians and members of the general assembly. It is interesting there was a the north before korean election. [indiscernible] the invasion, in effect, had him maintain popularity among the people because of his insistence on [indiscernible]. By 1953 reed was so angry over the armistice he began toling stunts that tried sabotage the south. For example, prisoners who were in the south the one to stay in the south. He was a very difficult person for the americans to deal with, but in the end, he had to act west to the armistice acquiesce to the armistice. Host our guest is the coauthor of another book. Our caller is a veteran of the war. Hermann is calling from baltimore. Caller hello. Inm 89 years old and was korea for the last three months of the war. As anin the signal corps intercepted Radio Operator 10 miles behind the line. Things i remember also, i was stationed right alongside the highway leading north. Troops were fresh being trucked north and all night long there were ambulances coming south. That i do remember. I was not close enough to the line to be shot at, but i could see the flashes in the sky and hear the rumbles from the bombings and artillery. My first question is what is the relationship between north and south korea before the invasion . About thest talk dictatorship. In maybe did he play having the invasion jet started . Host can you stay on the line . I want to follow up with you. Can you be with us for a moment or two . Hermann, please stay on the line. It is very interesting. Is themy characters north korean general, the operations chief, and i follow him, the reader follows him through the war. War about late in the the genesis of the war. He learned from an old comrade of his who happen to be the russian interpreter. Ofwas told that in march moscow andng went to thatsed to Joseph Stalin to invade and reunify. Stalin was extremely cautious because he was worried about the americans. The Occupation Army was still in korea and he said that was not a good idea. He also pointed out to kim, the southern president seems very eager to invade you, to invade the north. Why dont you just let him do willand the whole world come in your defense . Stalin indicated he would support him in that. Learned that after to go back told kim and never raise the issue of invasion again. Then the American Army pulled out of south korea and in communistshe chinese won the civil war in china in october of 1949. The conditions on the ground were changing. The soviet union had developed its own atomic bomb to match the americans. 1950at point in april of stalin gave the goahead for the invasion. It turns out that just two weeks before or 10 days before the john foster for truman was in korea assessing the situation. General was still begging to invade north korea. The told him no because Truman Administration was leery of starting a war with the soviet union. Stage, and as i have said earlier, there were skirmishing along the border half of which had to be blamed on the south. They were fighting each other for a couple of years before the fullscale invasion occurred. You know, you were there the last three months and we think of the action in the war taking place in the first year from the invasion in june to the following spring. War,hinese entering the but the final two years were quite a bloody, grinding, trench warfare type of war and i not surprised to hear that there were trucks going north with trips and ambulances coming south. The chinese launched a gigantic withinve as punishment months of the end of the war. There was an attempt to gain one inch more territory and so there and patrols sniping going on. Casualties continue day by day. Host hermann, let me go back to you. Are you still with us . Caller yes. Host you were 19 years old at the time. What was going through your mind as you left the u. S. , traveled to korea, and became part of this conflict . What were you thinking personally . Caller well, i was in college and not doing well. I was at the university of North Carolina and after my junior year i dropped out and i had no choice other be drafted or enlist. They said if i enlisted i would not have to go to korea. [laughter] and isted for three years ended up there anyway. I was nonpolitical. You say 19 years old or whatever, i just had to do what i had to do, that was it. I never thought about the war in particular. Calling fromou for baltimore, maryland. A veteran of the korean war. Lets go to james joining us from michigan. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you for the book. 1968 i was is in based in japan when the north pueblo. Seized the u. S. Years whoife of 51 was born in north korea in 1949. Over the years i had concluded she would not have been in south korea if General Macarthur had. Ot disobeyed orders host we are losing you. Caller if you could comment on the number of refugees who were. Ble to get out of north korea host thank you. Making reference to his own wife who he met in 1968. Caller i did not catch all of. Hat, but he mentioned his wife interesting and sad situation. Kaesong before the war was much fought over, but in the end the demarcation line ends up in north korea. Song is an old capital, loyal capital, of north korea. You may note that it is also the center for the interkorean cooperation whenever it does happen. Here is an Industrial Park [indiscernible] the whole refugee story is just one of the great tragedies of the 20th century. It is estimated 10 million fromns were separated their immediate family members. My featured individual, my characters, have many examples of this. Is a young medical student in north korea who dodged the draft by the north once the war broke out. His grandmother hit him away and eventually with all of this back and forth over the territory of north and south korea he gets seauated to south korea by and goes into the south korean army. North, this ise when the chinese entered in the American Army had moved to deep into north korea including past his hometown, and he thought korea will now be unified. Then he returned from his day and sees one the south korean army marching south. He asks a military policeman what is going on and he says, this is just a technical retreat, young man. He goes home and tells his mother, i better leave. I will be back in three days. This is just a typical example. He never saw his mother again. Late 1950 ande this young student survived as a soldier in the south korean army. School in to medical the south and emigrated to california and became a wellknown cardiologist. He was finally able to return to north korea in the 1980s, but by then his mother had died. There are so many stories, so many heartbreaking stories, a family that thought they were temporarily separated just to find out it is for the rest of their lives. This is just another little explored area of the tragic war. Host chronicled in the upcoming and keyghost flames sunre in all of this, park yung. Mother in was a young central south korea. She and fellow villagers were chased by american troops from the village as the americans were retreating. This is in july of 1950. Road and thewn the regiment made them leave the and very quickly american planes bombed this. In this attack. Nearbyed under a concrete railroad bridge. The troops of the seventh cavalry regiment proceeded to machinegun these people. This was not confirmed until half a century later in 1999. She lost her two children. Her twoyearold girl was killed fairly immediately in the tunnel and the next night she tried to with herark sunyoung, and as the sunoy rose an american soldier shot at them pointblank. See it was aearly mother and child. Killed the boy and badly wounded her. As with the inconsistencies of war the americans took our away to an Army Hospital and she recuperated. She had been separated from her husband who left earlier and gone farther south. It took weeks before they could reunite and try to make a new life back in their home village. Host let me make one final point because we only have about one minute left. This is another individual involved in the war, the korean war resulted in the integration of the armed forces, and james sharp reflecting on what he remembered from the conflict. I have a photograph of that. And i am the only africanamerican in my platoon. Been 120 people. 120 . I was the only africanamerican. Company,rrived in fox marinebattalion, seventh 5. Had two of them were two of whom were killed. At one time we spent 83 days on line, which was an exceptional online. F time to be while youre onlirningse youre defending the trench line, but youre also out on patrol every night in front of you to cross your own barbed wire, cross your own minefields and go out and go out into the open areas in front of the line in order to protect it. Host from the korean war legacy foundation, and again, joining from us florida is Charles Hanley. Bottom line, with only a half a minute left, what is the legacy of that conflict . Guest well, it clearly is the on le fact that 38 parallel the peninsula is probably the piece of explosive war on the road still, and we have a Nuclear North Korea at this point, as pointed earlier, essentially at the rufflet war, and they need to establish a eterrent, and we have an american port, American Allied force in the south as well, and it simply remains a tinderbox that we see almost every day along with the 38th parallel north and south. But also, it changed the United States into a permanently militarized nation. We fought many wars after that, first time the korean war establishing a precedent for everyone thats followed, and it still is not the original piece, were still at war technically on the peninsula, and so it really was a watershed moment in american istory and global history. Host a Pulitzer Prizewinning reporter for the associated press, his book ghost flames life and death in a hidden war, korea 19501953, thank you very much for joining us on washington journal and on announcer you are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend, on cspan 3. Announcer the korean war began seven years ago on june 25, 1950. It ended with an armistice agreement about three years later in july 1953. Next, an oral history interview with veteran allen clark, recorded in fallbrook, california in 2015. He talks about his experiences serving two tours in korea with the u. S. Marine corps. Now a teacher in fullerton, california, she conducted the interview with the korean war legacy foundation. It was underwritten by south koreas ministry of patriots and veterans affairs. Allen d. my name is clark. My age is 92. September, is 10 1923. And where were you born . Mr. Clark where was i born . I was born in virginia. Will you tell me brief information about your famil