246-407: [REDACTED] United Nations Operation Ripper , also known as the Fourth Battle of Seoul , was a United Nations (UN) military operation conceived by the US Eighth Army , General Matthew Ridgway , during the Korean War . The operation was intended to destroy as much as possible of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) and Korean People's Army (KPA) forces around Seoul and
492-641: A "systemic failure". In 2010, the organization suffered the worst loss of life in its history, when 101 personnel died in the Haiti earthquake . Acting under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in 2011, NATO countries intervened in the First Libyan Civil War . The Millennium Summit was held in 2000 to discuss the UN's role in the 21st century. The three-day meeting was
738-502: A PVA/KPA offensive was an immediate threat. In evaluating the PVA/KPA's most likely course of action Tarkenton predicted that they would defend the line he had described at the first of the month, but with changes in the frontline order of battle. The PVA 39th and 40th Armies appeared to have withdrawn from the front. This withdrawal left the KPA I Corps and PVA 50th Army in the western sector of
984-508: A Party member or a Party candidate. Group meetings were frequently used to maintain unit cohesion , and within the meetings public shamings and criticisms were conducted to raise morale and to indoctrinate soldiers. The by-product of the tight political control within the PVA is that it relied on the presence of the Party members within its ranks to be combat effective. A PVA unit could disintegrate once
1230-601: A UN official, negotiated an armistice to the resulting conflict , with the Security Council deciding that “an armistice shall be established in all sectors of Palestine”. On 7 November 1956, the first UN peacekeeping force was established to end the Suez Crisis ; however, the UN was unable to intervene against the Soviet Union's simultaneous invasion of Hungary , following the country's revolution . On 14 July 1960,
1476-519: A campaign promise by going to Korea to find out what could be done to end the war. With the UN's and PVA's acceptance of India's proposal for an armistice , fighting ended 27 July 1953, by which time the front line was back around the proximity of the 38th parallel. A demilitarized zone was established along the Military Demarcation Line , which is patrolled to this day by North Korean troops on one side and South Korean and American troops on
1722-591: A cat-and-mouse affair lasting ten days. During the evening of the 13th Ridgway ordered the next phase of the advance to begin the following morning. In the west, the 25th Infantry Division was to advance toward a segment of the Buffalo Line bulging 4 miles (6.4 km) above the Seoul-Chunchron road in a zone confined to the west side of the Pukhan River. In the main attack, IX Corps was to make its major effort in
1968-762: A conference discussing military preparations for the Korean Conflict. Another conference took place on 10 July. Here, it was decided that the Thirteenth Army Corps under the Fourth Field Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), one of the best-trained and best-equipped units in China, would be immediately transformed into the Northeastern Border Defense Army (NEBDA) to prepare for "an intervention in
2214-476: A deep salient into PVA/KPA territory, a successful advance to it would carry the Eighth Army, in particular IX Corps in the center, into an area believed to hold a large concentration of PVA/KPA forces and supplies. Prize terrain objectives in the central zone were the towns of Hongcheon and Chuncheon. Both were road hubs, and Chuncheon, nearer the 38th Parallel, appeared to be an important PVA/KPA supply center . In
2460-703: A direct assault across the Han River into the capital (although plans had been prepared for such an operation), Ridgway hoped to gain a position from which he could take Seoul and the ground to the north by a flanking attack from the east or simply by posing a threat that would induce enemy forces to withdraw from that area. Ridgway published the Ripper plan on 1 March but deferred setting an opening date because of forward area supply shortages, particularly in food, petroleum products, and ammunition. The shortages resulted partially from conscious efforts during February, especially during
2706-573: A drawn out series of independent movements by subordinate units to the Wonsan area, closing there by the end of February. In the same time VIII Corps, with the 42nd , 45th and 46th Divisions , reentered Korea at Manp’ojin and, without the 45th Division, moved across the peninsula to the Hungnam area. The 45th Division proceeded to Inje , just above the 38th Parallel in eastern Korea, to join KPA III Corps as
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#17328449992202952-480: A dual chain of command within the PVA, and this arrangement could be found as low as the company level. Political officers were in charge of the control and the morale of the troops, and they were often expected to act like role models in combat. Unlike other communist armies of the same period, although the political officers had authority over military officers on combat decisions, the military officers could issue orders without political officers' approval. Similarly,
3198-402: A five-day level of supplies established at all forward points. The best estimate at the beginning of March was that this level could be reached in about five days. Regardless of success in meeting this logistical requirement, Ridgway intended to cancel the operation if in the time taken to raise forward supply levels new intelligence disclosed clear evidence of an imminent PVA/KPA attack. Neither
3444-433: A fourth division. The extra divisions had been inactivated, and their troops were being distributed as replacements among the remaining units. By 1 March the 26th Army had begun to move into an area near the 38th Parallel behind the central sector of the front. The Eighth Army intelligence staff quickly picked up the move of the 26th, but even at mid-March the staff had only a few reports-which it did not accept-that any part of
3690-434: A minimum supply of power and water, and local food supplies were insufficient even for the estimated remaining two hundred thousand of the city's original population of 1.5 million. Soon after Seoul was reoccupied, therefore, a concerted, but not entirely successful effort, began via the press, radio, and police lines to prevent former residents from returning to the city while it was made livable again and while local government
3936-969: A myriad of autonomous, separately administered funds, programmes, research and training institutes, and other subsidiary bodies . Each of these entities have their own area of work, governance structure, and budgets such as the World Trade Organization (or the WTO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (or the IAEA), operate independently of the UN but maintain formal partnership agreements. The UN performs much of its humanitarian work through these institutions, such as preventing famine and malnutrition (the World Food Programme ), protecting vulnerable and displaced people (the UNHCR ), and combating
4182-539: A permanent member to block adoption of a resolution, though not debate. The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms, with five members elected each year by the General Assembly on a regional basis . The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month. The UN Secretariat carries out the day-to-day duties required to operate and maintain the UN system. It is composed of tens of thousands of international civil servants worldwide and headed by
4428-585: A plane crash . Months later he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . In 1964, Hammarskjöld's successor, U Thant , deployed the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus , which would become one of the UN's longest-running peacekeeping missions. With the spread of decolonization in the 1960s, the UN's membership shot up due to an influx of newly independent nations. In 1960 alone, 17 new states joined
4674-666: A recent change, Lieutenant general Nam Il replaced General Lee as chief of staff. Nam, about forty years old, had a background of college and military training in the Soviet Union and World War II service as a company grade officer in the Soviet Army . A close associate of Premier Kim Il Sung , Nam had a solid political, if not military, foundation for his new post. Nam's headquarters was in Pyongyang, where in December Lee had reassembled
4920-506: A regiment on the phase line on 13 March. At Corps' center, the ROK 5th Division reached the line on the following day. Immediately east, ROK III Corps reached and at some points passed above Route 20 by dark on 13 March. With forces already well above the Idaho Line in the coastal zone, ROK I Corps meanwhile made only minor adjustments to consolidate its forward positions. As of the 13th, a regiment of
5166-526: A replacement for the 3rd Division , which the III Corps had left in the Wonsan area when it moved to the front. Once in Wonsan, VII Corps commander Lt. Gen. Lee Yong Ho assumed command of the 3rd Division and also the 24th Division , which was defending the coast in that area. Similarly, on arriving in Hungnam with two divisions, Lt. Gen. Kim Chang Dok, commander of VIII Corps, accumulated two other units already in
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#17328449992205412-492: A small valley 3 miles (4.8 km) above the Hongcheon River. Major Lee Hong Sun, commander of the 2nd Battalion, swiftly deployed forces on three sides of the enemy unit and attacked. Lee's forces killed 231 PVA, captured two and took a large quantity of weapons without suffering a casualty. On 18 March, as the rapid PVA withdrawal became evident, Ridgway ordered IX Corps to continue its attack and take Chuncheon. Hoge opened
5658-528: A stalemate. The KPA that invaded in 1950 had been much better supplied and armed by the Soviets than the PVA had been. The main arms of the PVA were captured Japanese and Nationalist arms. Historian and Korean War veteran Bevin Alexander had this to say about Chinese tactics in his book How Wars Are Won : The Chinese had no air power and were armed only with rifles, machineguns, hand grenades, and mortars. Against
5904-601: A surge of fresh Chinese units from Manchuria had begun. During the last two weeks of February the XIX Army Group, with the 63rd , 64th and 65th Armies , crossed into Korea at Sinuiju, and during the first half of March the group commander, Yang Teh-chih, assembled his forces not far above the 38th Parallel northwest of Seoul in the Kumch’on-Kuhwa-ri area between the Yesong and Imjin rivers. Also entering in late February were
6150-458: A transient effect. Both researchers found that the Chinese mainly used coercive persuasion to disrupt the ability of the prisoners to organize and maintain morale and hence to escape. By placing the prisoners under conditions of physical and social deprivation and disruption, and then by offering them more comfortable situations such as better sleeping quarters, better food, warmer clothes or blankets,
6396-445: A two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required. All other questions are decided by a majority vote. Each member has one vote. Apart from the approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council. Draft resolutions can be forwarded to
6642-834: A wide variety of complex tasks. The UN comprises six principal operational organizations: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice , the UN Secretariat , and the Trusteeship Council , although the Trusteeship Council has been suspended since 1994. The UN System includes a multitude of specialized agencies , funds, and programmes, including
6888-991: A wide variety of topics. These include the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues , which advises UN agencies on issues relating to indigenous peoples , the United Nations Forum on Forests , which coordinates and promotes sustainable forest management, the United Nations Statistical Commission , which co-ordinates information-gathering efforts between agencies, and the Commission on Sustainable Development , which co-ordinates efforts between UN agencies and NGOs working towards sustainable development . ECOSOC may also grant consultative status to non-governmental organizations. as of April 2021 almost 5,600 organizations have this status. The UN Charter stipulates that each primary organ of
7134-568: A wide zone at the Corps' left the 24th Division attacked through the Yongmun Mountain mass, while in narrower zones in the eastern half of the corps area the US 1st Cavalry , ROK 6th and US 1st Marine Divisions moved toward Hongcheon. Advancing steadily against light to moderate resistance, all but the ROK 6th Infantry Division, which the cavalrymen and Marines on either side gradually pinched out, were on
7380-461: Is defined in the UN Charter as the organization's chief administrative officer. Article 99 of the charter states that the secretary-general can bring to the Security Council's attention "any matter which in their opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security", a phrase that secretaries-general since Trygve Lie have interpreted as giving the position broad scope for action on
7626-636: Is widely recognised as the world's largest international organization. The UN is headquartered in New York City , in international territory with certain privileges extraterritorial to the United States, and the UN has other offices in Geneva , Nairobi , Vienna , and The Hague , where the International Court of Justice is headquartered at the Peace Palace . The UN was established after World War II with
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7872-522: The 18th , 19th and 36th Divisions , crossed the Yalu River at Ch’ongsongjin, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Sinuiju . Avoiding Route 1 in favor of lesser roads nearby, Corps' commander Lieurenant general Choe Yong Jin took his divisions south into Hwanghae Province and assembled them in the Namch’onjom- Yonan area northwest of Seoul. On arriving there in mid-February, Choe assumed command of
8118-492: The 38th parallel , citing national security interests. On 15 October Truman traveled to Wake Island to discuss with UN Commander General Douglas MacArthur the possibility of Chinese intervention and his desire to limit the scope of the Korean War. MacArthur reassured Truman that "if the Chinese tried to get down to Pyongyang there would be the greatest slaughter." The PVA soldier was reasonably well clothed, in keeping with
8364-701: The 40th and 45th , were soon to leave the United States for duty in Japan. In an attempt to enlarge the amphibious threat, he proposed to MacArthur that the departure of the divisions be publicized and a deception plan be developed to indicate that the two units would make an amphibious landing in Korea. Extending the idea further, Ridgway also proposed creating the illusion of forthcoming airborne operations by having three replacement increments of 6,000 each put on 82nd Airborne Division patches after arriving in Japan and wear them until they reached Korea. He made this second proposal on
8610-629: The Albany Line between the 11th and 13th. The 35th Infantry Regiment , first to reach the phase line, cleared a narrow zone on the east side of the Pukhan River. On the west side the 24th and 27th Infantry Regiments occupied heights in the Yebong Mountain mass within 2–3 miles (3.2–4.8 km) of the Seoul-Chuncheon road and on line with the northern outskirts of Seoul to the west. In the main attack, IX Corps advanced four divisions abreast. In
8856-496: The Albany Line by dark on 12 March. Accompanying forces of the 1st Marine Division attacking astride Route 29 above Hoengsong was a recovery team from the 2nd Infantry Division detailed to search for the bodies of men and the equipment lost in that area by division forces who had been supporting the X Corps’ Operation Roundup when the PVA attacked in mid-February . By 12 March the team recovered more than 250 bodies, mostly of men who had been members of Support Force 21, and retrieved
9102-637: The Battle of Mogadishu . The UN mission to Bosnia faced worldwide ridicule for its indecisive and confused mission in the face of ethnic cleansing. In 1994, the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan genocide amidst indecision in the Security Council. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, international interventions authorized by the UN took a wider variety of forms. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 authorised
9348-526: The Chinese Fourth Phase Offensive in mid-February, to hold down stockpiles in forward dumps as a hedge against losses through forced abandonment or destruction. In addition, as stocks were expended in the Killer advance, the damage to roads, rail lines, bridges, and tunnels caused by the rains and melting ice and snow severely hampered resupply. Before setting a date for the operation Ridgway wanted
9594-514: The Four Power Declaration on General Security which aimed for the creation "at the earliest possible date of a general international organization". This was the first public announcement that a new international organization was being contemplated to replace the League of Nations. The Tehran Conference followed shortly afterwards at which Roosevelt, Churchill and Joseph Stalin , the leader of
9840-531: The Group of 77 under the leadership of Algeria, which briefly became a dominant power at the UN. On 10 November 1975, a bloc comprising the Soviet Union and Third World nations passed a resolution , over strenuous American and Israeli opposition, declaring Zionism to be a form of racism . The resolution was repealed on 16 December 1991, shortly after the end of the Cold War. With an increasing Third World presence and
10086-466: The ICJ Statute , which forms an integral part of the UN Charter, and non-members may also become parties. The ICJ's rulings are binding upon parties and, along with its advisory opinions, serve as sources of international law . The court is composed of 15 judges appointed to nine-year terms by the General Assembly. Every sitting judge must be from a different nation. The Economic and Social Council (or
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10332-565: The IV Corps , whose location and composition Eighth Army intelligence at mid-March had yet to discover. Operating in northeastern Korea until late December, the headquarters of the IV Corps had then moved west to the Pyongyang area. Since that time, under the command of Lieutenant general Pak Chong Kok and operating with the 4th , 5th and 105th Tank Divisions and the 26th Brigade, the IV Corps had had
10578-401: The Idaho Line . Inland, ROK III Corps would have to move about 10 miles (16 km) north through the higher Taebaek ridges to get onto the Idaho Line some 5 miles (8.0 km) above Route 20. In the I Corps' zone at the west end of the army front, General Frank W. Milburn was to retain two divisions, the ROK 1st and US 3rd , in his western and central positions along the lower bank of
10824-514: The NATO -led Kosovo Force beginning in 1999. The UN mission in the Sierra Leone Civil War was supplemented by a British military intervention . The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was overseen by NATO. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq despite failing to pass a UN Security Council resolution for authorization, prompting a new round of questioning of the UN's effectiveness. Under
11070-786: The Paris Peace Conference . The League of Nations was approved and started operations, but the United States never joined. On 10 January 1920, the League of Nations formally came into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations , ratified by 42 nations in 1919, took effect. The League Council acted as an executive body directing the Assembly's business. It began with four permanent members—the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Japan . After some limited successes and failures during
11316-610: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) under the name "volunteer army". About the name, there were various opinions. According to some scholars during the mid 1990s, after the PRC made the strategic decision to send soldiers to Korea, the first name of this army was "support army." However, Huang Yanpei , the vice premier of the Government Administration Council of the Central People's Government at that time, suggested that
11562-433: The Politburo agreed to intervene in Korea. On 4 August, with a planned invasion of Taiwan aborted because of heavy U.S. naval presence, Mao had reported to the Politburo that he would intervene in Korea when the PLA's Taiwan invasion force was reorganized into the PLA North East Frontier Force. On 8 October, the day after UN troops crossed the 38th parallel and began their offensive into North Korea , Chairman Mao issued
11808-567: The Sino-Soviet split . Stalin initially agreed to send military equipment and ammunition but warned Zhou that the Soviet Air Force would need two or three months to prepare any operations. In a subsequent meeting, Stalin told Zhou that he would only provide China with equipment on a credit basis and that the Soviet Air Force would only operate over Chinese airspace, and only after an undisclosed period of time. Stalin did not agree to send either military equipment or air support until March 1951. Mao did not find Soviet air support especially useful, as
12054-411: The Soyang River valley and then located only a few troops who scattered when the force opened fire. During this search to the northeast a second task force from the cavalry division reached Chuncheon in midafternoon, just in time to greet Ridgway, who, after observing operations from a light plane overhead, landed on one of the town's longer streets. As a precaution against any PVA/KPA attempt to retake
12300-424: The Taoist custom of "cleansing/washing the heart" (洗心, xǐ xīn ) prior to conducting certain ceremonies or entering certain holy places. Hunter and those who picked up the Chinese term used it to explain why, unlike in earlier wars, a relatively high percentage of American GIs defected to the enemy side after becoming prisoners-of-war. It was believed that the Chinese in North Korea used such techniques to disrupt
12546-459: The White House in December 1941 for the Arcadia Conference . Roosevelt is considered a founder of the UN, and coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries . Churchill accepted it, noting its use by Lord Byron . The text of the Declaration by United Nations was drafted on 29 December 1941, by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Harry Hopkins . It incorporated Soviet suggestions but included no role for France. One major change from
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#173284499922012792-446: The World Bank Group , the World Health Organization , the World Food Programme , UNESCO , and UNICEF . Additionally, non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and other agencies. The UN's chief administrative officer is the secretary-general , currently António Guterres , who is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. He began his first five-year term on 1 January 2017 and
13038-628: The aim of preventing future world wars , and succeeded the League of Nations , which was characterized as being ineffective. On 25 April 1945, 50 nations assembled in San Francisco , California, for a conference and initialised the drafting of the UN Charter , which was adopted on 25 June 1945. The charter took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. The UN's objectives, as outlined by its charter, include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights , delivering humanitarian aid , promoting sustainable development , and upholding international law . At its founding,
13284-406: The secretary-general , who is assisted by the deputy secretary-general . The Secretariat's duties include providing information and facilities needed by UN bodies for their meetings and carrying out tasks as directed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other UN bodies. The secretary-general acts as the spokesperson and leader of the UN. The position
13530-423: The 15th instructed Milburn to occupy the nearest commanding ground above Seoul. The general line to be occupied, which Milburn later designated Lincoln , arched across heights 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west and north of Seoul, then angled northeast across the ridge holding Hill 348 to join the Buffalo Line in the 25th Division's zone. Ridgway left it to Milburn to decide the strength of the forces who would cross
13776-454: The 15th to wait for the Marines to come up on its right. Strong PVA positions on a ridge due east of Hongcheon stalled the Marines in that area, but at the far left of the Marine zone the town itself fell to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines , at noon. A motorized patrol, first to enter, found the town ruined and undefended. On the return trip, following an explosion that damaged a truck, the patrol discovered that FEAF bombers had liberally sprinkled
14022-568: The 1920s, the League proved ineffective in the 1930s, as it failed to act against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1933. Forty nations voted for Japan to withdraw from Manchuria but Japan voted against it and walked out of the League instead of withdrawing from Manchuria. It also failed to act against the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , after the appeal for international intervention by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I at Geneva in 1936 went with no avail, including when calls for economic sanctions against Italy failed. Italy and other nations left
14268-423: The 1st Marine Division as IX Corps prepared to move forward toward Chuncheon. On the morning of 16 March the Marines held up the day before by strong PVA/KPA positions east of Hongcheon discovered that the occupants had withdrawn during the night. They encountered only light resistance as they continued toward the Buffalo Line north and northeast of Hongcheon. In the western half of the IX Corps' zone, patrols from
14514-498: The 24th Division and ROK 6th Division searching above the Chongpyong Reservoir and Hongcheon River encountered almost no opposition. Immediately west of Hongcheon, however, the 1st Cavalry Division since reaching the Hongcheon River on 14 March had run into heavy fire and numerous, if small, PVA/KPA groups while putting two battalions into position just above the river and sending patrols to investigate farther north. This resistance and aerial observation of prepared positions indicated that
14760-409: The 24th Infantry and 27th Infantry reached the Seoul-Chuncheon road at the left and center of the division zone while the attached Turkish Brigade , having taken over a zone bordering the Pukhan at the far right, moved about 2 miles (3.2 km) above the road adjacent to the newly-won positions of the 24th Division. In the Hongcheon area, the 1st Cavalry Division stood fast along the Hongcheon River on
15006-420: The 38th, the 42nd also passed to Headquarters, PVA control. The 66th had seen its last day of battle in Korea. En route to Hebei Province, its home base in China, the army paraded through Antung, Manchuria, on 2 April. As these frontline changes were made, another complement of fresh Chinese forces began entering Korea. First to enter in March was the independent 47th Army , commanded by Zhang Tianyun . The army
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#173284499922015252-412: The 3rd Division and ROK 1st Division crossed the Han during the afternoon of 14 March. One from the 3rd Division discovered that PVA/KPA forces had vacated an important defensive position on Hill 348, the peak of a prominent north-south ridge 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Seoul. Nearer the city, another patrol moved as far north as the Seoul-Chuncheon road without contact; a third found that Hill 175, one of
15498-446: The 9th Independent Artillery Regiment and the 11th Artillery Regiment of the 7th Motorized Artillery Division . As these forces entered, the IX Army Group, which had been seriously hurt in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir and which now had been out of action for two months, was well along in refurbishing its three armies, the 20th , 26th and 27th . At the time of this group's entry into Korea, each of its armies had been reinforced by
15744-445: The Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom , which Stalin approved after Roosevelt insisted. Roosevelt's idea of the " Four Powers ", refers to the four major Allied countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China , emerged in the Declaration by the United Nations. On New Year's Day 1942, Roosevelt, Churchill, the Soviet Union's former Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov , and
15990-469: The Ch'ongch'on bridgehead. The discipline of the PVA was strict by Western standards, a notable improvement when compared to the Nationalist and warlord armies that ruled the country from 1912 until 1949. Discipline was applied universally within the army, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members expected to be punished more than non-Party soldiers for the same infraction. Beatings and abuses were forbidden by regulations. Although capital punishment
16236-400: The Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council : the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union and China — and by a majority of the other 46 nations. The first meetings of the General Assembly , with 51 nations represented, and the Security Council took place in London beginning in January 1946. Debates began at once, covering topical issues such as
16482-404: The Chinese 8th Route Army in north China and more recently had led the KPA I Corps in the main attack during the initial invasion of South Korea. A solid tactician, he was currently the ablest KPA field commander. The PVA forces in Korea also were under new leadership, in either January or February Peng Dehuai had replaced Lin Piao as commander of the PVA. In company with the change in command,
16728-518: The Chinese Army's good treatment of prisoners is completely different from the KPA's policy of abusing prisoners. He positively praised the Chinese army as a disciplined army and a respectable enemy. During the Korean War, the US front-line combat forces also spoke highly of the fighting will of the PVA. Prisoners-of-war (POWs) played a major role in the continuation of the war past 1951. The US accused China of implementing mind control , coined "brainwashing", on US prisoners, while China refused to allow
16974-428: The Chinese Premier T. V. Soong signed the " Declaration by United Nations ", and the next day the representatives of twenty-two other nations added their signatures. During the war, the United Nations became the official term for the Allies. In order to join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis powers . The October 1943 Moscow Conference resulted in the Moscow Declarations , including
17220-513: The Chinese attacks, generally unaided by any weapons larger than mortars. Their attacks had demonstrated that the Chinese were well-trained disciplined fire fighters, and particularly adept at night fighting. They were masters of the art of camouflage. Their patrols were remarkably successful in locating the positions of the U.N. forces. They planned their attacks to get in the rear of these forces, cut them off from their escape and supply roads, and then send in frontal and flanking attacks to precipitate
17466-476: The Chinese claimed that U.S. bombers had violated PRC national airspace on three separate occasions and attacked Chinese targets before China intervened. The collapse of the North Korean Korean People's Army (KPA) in September/October 1950 following the Battle of Inchon , the Pusan Perimeter offensive and the UN September 1950 counteroffensive alarmed the PRC government. The PRC had issued warnings that they would intervene if any non-South Korean forces crossed
17712-632: The Chinese communists during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War . It also managed to deceive the U.S. intelligence and the UN about the size and nature of the Chinese forces that entered Korea. They later realized that the PVA was the PLA's North East Frontier Force (NEFF), with other PLA formations transferred under NEFF's command as the Korean War dragged on. But the result
17958-454: The Chinese did succeed in getting some of the prisoners to make anti-American statements. Nevertheless, the majority of prisoners did not actually adopt Communist beliefs, instead behaving as though they did in order to avoid the plausible threat of extreme physical abuse. Both researchers also concluded that such coercive persuasion succeeded only on a minority of POWs, and that the end-result of such coercion remained very unstable, as most of
18204-501: The Chuncheon area. The landing plan, code-named Hawk, called for the 187th with the 2nd and 4th Ranger Companies attached to drop north of the town on the morning of 22 March and block PVA/KPA movements out of the Chuncheon basin. IX Corps' forces coming from the south were to link up with the paratroopers within 24 hours. Easy progress by Hoge's divisions on 20 and 21 March and the continuing rapid withdrawal of PVA forces made it evident that
18450-477: The ECOSOC) assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social co-operation and development. It was established to serve as the UN's primary forum for global issues and is the largest and most complex UN body. The ECOSOC's functions include gathering data, conducting studies and advising and making recommendations to member states. Its work is carried out primarily by subsidiary bodies focused on
18696-573: The Eighth Army's central zone early in March. It also now appeared that the KPA VI Corps , one of the units that had withdrawn into Manchuria the past autumn, had returned to Korea and was moving toward the front in the west. At last report the VI Corps, or a part of it, was approaching the 38th Parallel northwest of Seoul and thus was near enough to join an offensive. Tarkenton concluded, however, that although
18942-420: The General Assembly by its six main committees: As well as by the following two committees: The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. While other organs of the UN can only make recommendations to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25. The decisions of
19188-558: The General Headquarters staff from Manchuria and Kanggye . Front Headquarters, the tactical echelon of General Headquarters, was again in operation (apparently in the town of Kumhwa , located in central Korea some 30 miles (48 km) north of Chuncheon). General Kim Chaek , the original commander of this forward headquarters, had died in February. Now in command was Lieutenant general Kim Ung , who during World War II had served with
19434-588: The HIV/AIDS pandemic (the UNAIDS ). People%27s Volunteer Army#Fourth Phase Campaign (January 30 – April 21, 1951) The People's Volunteer Army ( PVA ), officially the Chinese People's Volunteers ( CPV ), was the armed expeditionary forces deployed by the People's Republic of China during the Korean War . Although all units in the PVA were actually transferred from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) under
19680-509: The Han and moved more than 5 miles (8.0 km) north before running into PVA/KPA fire. Aerial observers saw no PVA/KPA activity immediately above the northern limits of Seoul but observed extensive defensive preparations and troops disposed in depth east and west of Route 3 beginning at a point 5 miles (8.0 km) to the north, roughly halfway between Seoul and Uijongbu . Assured that the KPA had withdrawn from Seoul and adjacent ground, Ridgway late on
19926-408: The Han to secure the army flank and protect Inchon, where 500 to 600 tons of supplies were being unloaded daily thanks to Task Force 90 and the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade. East of Seoul on the Corps' right, the US 25th Infantry Division , now commanded by Brigadier general Joseph S. Bradley , was to attack across the Han on both sides of its confluence with the southward flowing Pukhan River . Above
20172-597: The Han, Bradley's division was to clear the high ground bordering the Pukhan to protect the left flank of IX Corps and to threaten envelopment of PVA/KPA forces defending Seoul. The opening phase of Operation Ripper gave promise that the Eighth Army might reach its final ground objectives almost by default. Employing only a delaying action by small forces, the PVA/KPA line units frequently offered stubborn resistance, including local counterattacks, but more frequently opposed approaching Eighth Army forces at long range, then withdrew. In
20418-473: The Han. Tarkenton also believed that PVA/KPA forces were now prepared, or nearly so, to make some form of strong counter effort and that they well might open it out of the Hongcheon area when Ridgway's forces arrived in that region. But on this count, as well as in his estimate of enemy defensive plans, the continuation of Operation Ripper would prove Tarkenton in error. The evidence of a PVA/KPA buildup collected by
20664-559: The Hongcheon area, as Tarkenton thought possible, nor was it imminent. The movement and positioning of reinforcements from Manchuria would continue through most of March; the remainder of the IX Army Group would not be fully ready to move south until the turn of the month; and the refurbishing of other units, both North Korean and Chinese, would require even more time. In line with the doctrine of elastic, or mobile, defense, small forces meanwhile would continue to employ delaying tactics against
20910-467: The I Corps advance and by the ROK 6th Division at the right to protect the flank of the forces attacking Hongcheon. To the east, X Corps and ROK III Corps were to continue toward the Idaho Line while, on the flank, ROK I Corps had only to maintain its forward positions in the coastal slopes while other Corps' forces concentrated on eliminating the KPA 10th Division. Against the continued advance, according to estimates prepared by Eighth Army intelligence as
21156-400: The I Corps' zone, the 25th Infantry Division made a model crossing of the Han River before daylight on 7 March. Attacking with three regiments abreast following heavy preparatory fires on the northern bank of the river and in company with simulated crossings by other Corps' forces, the division reached the northern shore almost unopposed. Joined quickly by tanks that forded or were ferried across
21402-541: The IX Corps' commander to take the town by double envelopment, not by frontal assault. Accordingly, Hoge directed the 1st Cavalry Division to envelope it on the west and the 1st Marine Division to move around it on the east. Hongcheon actually lay in the Marine zone near the boundary between the two divisions. As Hoge's forces attacked north on the morning of the 14th, it became steadily clearer that they would meet little resistance in
21648-620: The KPA 23rd Brigade previously stationed in the area to defend the Haeju sector of the Yellow Sea coast. Eighth Army intelligence identified and caught the southward movement of KPA VI Corps by 1 March but remained in the dark, even at midmonth, about the reentry of KPA VII and VIII Corps . Crossing the Yalu at Sinuiju in January, VII Corps, with the 13th , 32nd and 37th Divisions , proceeded across Korea in
21894-514: The Killer advance in the IX and X Corps' zones were moving into defensive positions just above the Arizona Line . Eighth Army intelligence officer Colonel Tarkenton, believed these forces would tie in with the existing PVA/KPA front tracing the north bank of the Han River in the west and passing through the ridges above Route 20 in the east. Lending support to this judgment, the PVA 39th Army had moved up on
22140-624: The Korean War if necessary". On 13 July, the CMCC formally issued the order to establish the NEBDA, appointing Deng Hua , the commander of the Fifteenth Army Corps and one of the most talented commanders of the Chinese Civil War, to coordinate all preparation efforts. On 20 August Zhou informed the UN that "Korea is China's neighbor... The Chinese people cannot but be concerned about a solution of
22386-526: The Korean question". Thus, through neutral-country diplomats, China warned that in safeguarding Chinese national security , they would intervene against the UN Command in Korea. U.S. President Harry S. Truman interpreted the communication as "a bald attempt to blackmail the UN", and dismissed it. Mao ordered that his troops should be ready for action by the end of August. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin , by contrast,
22632-757: The League. When war broke out in 1939 , the League effectively closed down. The first step towards the establishment of the United Nations was the Inter-Allied Conference in London that led to the Declaration of St James's Palace on 12 June 1941. By August 1941, American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had drafted the Atlantic Charter ; which defined goals for
22878-449: The PLA's guerrilla origin and egalitarian attitudes. All ranks wore a cotton or woolen green or khaki shirt and trousers combination with leaders' uniforms being different in cut. The nominal strength of a PLA division was 9,500 men, with a regiment comprising 3,000 and a battalion consisting of 850. However, many divisions sent to Korea were below-strength while the divisions stationed opposite Taiwan were above-strength. There
23124-476: The PVA commenced the second impulse of the offensive and attacked the ROK and the X Corps in the east, and initially were successful, yet they were halted by 22 May. On 20 May the Eighth Army counterattacked the exhausted PVA/KPA forces in the UN May-June 1951 counteroffensive , inflicting heavy losses. The destruction of the PVA 180th Division of the 60th Army during the counterattack has been considered to be
23370-484: The PVA included 38th, 39th, 40th, 42nd, 50th, 66th Corps; totalling 250,000 men. About 3 million Chinese civilian and military personnel had served in Korea throughout the war. Although the United Nations Command (UNC) forces were under United States command, this army was officially a UN "police" force. In order to avoid an open war with the U.S. and other UN members, the People's Republic of China deployed
23616-426: The PVA planned to offer a strong delaying action in the ground bordering Route 29 between Hongcheon and Chuncheon. To assist the advance above Hongcheon, Ridgway on the 16th authorized Hoge to move all of his divisions forward. The intention was that advances by the two divisions in the western half of the Corps' zone, in particular by the ROK 6th Division in its zone adjacent to the 1st Cavalry Division, would threaten
23862-477: The PVA struck again along the entire Korean front. In the west, at the Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River , the PVA overran several UN divisions and landed an extremely heavy blow into the flank of the remaining UN forces, decimating the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division in the process. In December 1950, Chinese forces captured Pyongyang. The city saw a massive evacuation of refugees alongside UN forces heading south in order to avoid
24108-444: The PVA to attack the UN forces along the 38th parallel. On the last day of 1950, PVA/KPA forces attacked several ROK divisions along the parallel, breaching the UN defenses in the process. To avoid another encirclement, UN forces evacuated Seoul on 3 January, and PVA/KPA forces recaptured the city on 4 January. Both the Eighth Army and the US X Corps retreated another 50 miles (80 km), but
24354-531: The PVA/KPA forces withdrew before they suffered extensive damage. Chuncheon, a major PVA/KPA supply hub, was empty by the time UN forces finally occupied it. As the UN troops ground forward, they were constantly descending sharp slopes or ascending steep heights to attack enemy positions that were sometimes above the clouds. By the end of March, US forces reached the 38th Parallel. As Operation Killer had entered its final week with limited results already predictable, Ridgway published plans for another attack, again with
24600-472: The PVA/KPA high command was preparing an offensive, its opening was not imminent. He reached that conclusion mainly on grounds that the bulk of their reserves were too far north for early employment. Amid efforts to acquire fuller information on PVA/KPA preparations and plans, Ridgway arranged an amphibious demonstration in the Yellow Sea in an attempt to fix PVA/KPA reserves and to distract their attention from
24846-494: The PVA/KPA troops from Seoul on 16 March, destroying much of the city with aerial and artillery bombardments in the process. The PVA counterattacked on 22 April 1951 in a major offensive with three field armies (approximately 700,000 men). The offensive's first thrust fell upon U.S. I Corps and IX Corps which fiercely resisted, blunting the impetus of the offensive, which was halted at the No-Name Line north of Seoul. On 15 May
25092-444: The PVA/KPA's Han River positions between Seoul and the 25th Division's bridgehead saw a large number of troops moving northwest out of that area. Patrols from the 3rd Division, which held positions along the Han opposite, crossed the river on the night of the 12th and found shoreline positions vacant. On the following night 3rd Division patrols moved more than 0.5 miles (0.80 km) above the Han without making contact. Patrols from both
25338-406: The Party members were either killed or wounded in action. Also, the tight political control created a general dissatisfaction amongst the Chinese ranks. Constant political indoctrination and high peer pressure were required to maintain high morale for each soldier. According to The Korean War, written by Matthew Bunker Ridgway , the commander-in-chief of the UN forces, the positive evaluation of
25584-406: The ROK 1st Division and the shorter portion east of the city to the 3rd Division, Milburn instructed General Paik Sun-yup to occupy his sector with a regiment, General Robert H. Soule to hold his with a battalion reinforced by not more than two platoons of tanks. Paik was to send combat patrols in search of PVA/KPA forces to the northwest while Soule sent armored combat patrols to regain contact to
25830-593: The ROK 2nd Division thereafter to destroy the unit in the Pohang - Andong - Yongdok area, the division had maintained a formal organization of a headquarters and three regiments and with a surviving strength of about 2,000 had managed by the opening of Operation Ripper to slip north through the Taebaek Mountains to the Irwol Mountain region, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Andong. Easily withstanding further efforts of
26076-602: The ROK 2nd Division to eliminate it, the division by 13 March reached the Chungbong Mountain area, about 25 miles (40 km) miles south of Gangneung. As the KPA unit approached the ROK I Corps' rear, General Kim sent two regiments of the ROK 9th Division and a battalion of the Capital Division south to intercept it. The two forces clashed briefly in the Chungbong heights on the morning of the 13th to open what would become
26322-497: The ROK 9th Division and two regiments of the Capital Division occupied a line reaching northeastward from the Hwangbyong Mountain area to the coast near the town of Chumunjin . A problem meanwhile had arisen in rear of ROK I Corps when the KPA 10th Division , isolated behind Eighth Army lines since January, opened a bid to return to its own lines. Though much reduced by efforts of the 1st Marine Division until mid-February and
26568-421: The Ripper advance. With some exceptions, the delaying forces would give ground even more easily than they had during the opening phase of the operation as they fell back toward the concentrations of major units above the 38th Parallel. In ordering the second phase of Ripper to begin, Ridgway allowed for the possibility that the PVA would set up stout defenses in the ground immediately below Hongcheon and instructed
26814-611: The Soviet Union or were available from stocks left behind by the KMT forces who also used German ammunition. On 19 October Pyongyang was captured by UN forces . On the same day, the PVA began crossing the Yalu River under strict secrecy. The initial PVA assault began on 25 October under the command of Peng Dehuai with 270,000 PVA troops (it was assumed at the time that Lin Biao was in charge, but this notion had been disproved). The PVA assault caught
27060-547: The Soviet Union, and the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953. On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly approved resolution 181 , a proposal to partition Palestine into two state, with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime. The plan failed and a civil war broke out in Palestine, that led to the creation of the state of Israel afterward. Two years later, Ralph Bunche ,
27306-615: The Soviet Union, before all the issues were resolved. By 1 March 1945, 21 additional states had signed the Declaration by the United Nations. After months of planning, the UN Conference on International Organization opened in San Francisco on 25 April 1945. It was attended by 50 nations' governments and a number of non-governmental organizations. The delegations of the Big Four chaired
27552-575: The Soviet Union, met and discussed the idea of a post-war international organization. The new international organisation was formulated and negotiated amongst the delegations from the Allied Big Four at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference from 21 September to 7 October 1944. They agreed on proposals for the aims, structure and functioning of the new organization. It took the conference at Yalta in February 1945, and further negotiations with
27798-422: The U.S. to occupy all of Korea... we must be prepared for the U.S. to declare... war with China", he told Stalin. Mao delayed his forces while waiting for Soviet help, and the planned attack was thus postponed from 13 October to 19 October. Soviet assistance was limited to providing air support no closer than 60 miles (97 km) from the battlefront. The MiG-15s in PRC colours would be an unpleasant surprise to
28044-549: The UN authorized a US-led coalition that repulsed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait . Brian Urquhart , the under-secretary-general of the UN from 1971 to 1985, later described the hopes raised by these successes as a "false renaissance" for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed. Beginning in the last decades of the Cold War , critics of the UN condemned the organization for perceived mismanagement and corruption. In 1984, American President Ronald Reagan withdrew
28290-587: The UN established the United Nations Operation in the Congo (or UNOC), the largest military force of its early decades, to bring order to Katanga , restoring it to the control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 11 May 1964. While travelling to meet rebel leader Moise Tshombe during the conflict, Dag Hammarskjöld , often named as one of the UN's most effective secretaries-general, died in
28536-562: The UN had 51 member states ; as of 2024 , it has 193 sovereign states , nearly all of the world's recognized sovereign states. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its initial decades due in part to Cold War tensions that existed between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies. Its mission has included the provision of primarily unarmed military observers and lightly armed troops charged with primarily monitoring, reporting and confidence-building roles. UN membership grew significantly following
28782-482: The UN itself and operate with almost complete independence from it". These include specialized agencies, research and training institutions, programmes and funds and other UN entities. All organizations in the UN system obey the Noblemaire principle , which calls for salaries that will attract and retain citizens of countries where compensation is highest, and which ensures equal pay for work of equal value regardless of
29028-460: The UN pilots; they would hold local air superiority against the F-80 Shooting Stars until newer F-86 Sabres were deployed. The Soviet role was known to the U.S., but they kept quiet to avoid any international and potential nuclear incidents. It has been alleged by the Chinese that the Soviets had agreed to full scale air support, which never occurred south of Pyongyang, and helped accelerate
29274-436: The UN troops by surprise, and employing great skill and remarkable camouflage ability, the PVA concealed their numerical and divisional strength after the first engagement with the UN. After these initial engagements, the Chinese withdrew into the mountains. UN forces interpreted this withdrawal as a show of weakness; they thought that this initial attack was all that the Chinese forces were capable of undertaking. On 25 November
29520-517: The UN's focus on promoting development, peacekeeping, human rights and global security. The Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) were launched in 2015 to succeed the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to addressing global challenges, the UN has sought to improve its accountability and democratic legitimacy by engaging more with civil society and fostering a global constituency. In an effort to enhance transparency, in 2016
29766-459: The UN's primary mandate was peacekeeping , the division between the United States and the Soviet Union often paralysed the organization; generally allowing it to intervene only in conflicts distant from the Cold War . Two notable exceptions were a Security Council resolution on 7 July 1950 authorizing a US-led coalition to repel the North Korean invasion of South Korea , passed in the absence of
30012-470: The UN, 16 of them from Africa. On 25 October 1971, with opposition from the United States, but with the support of many Third World nations, the People's Republic of China was given the Chinese seat on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China (also known as Taiwan). The vote was widely seen as a sign of waning American influence in the organization. Third World nations organized themselves into
30258-466: The US to repatriate POWs to Taiwan. In contrast with their KPA counterparts, executions committed by the PVA were rather few in number. According to author Kevin Mahoney in his study of the PVA, executions of POWs did occur during the heat of the battle. Most of the executions appeared to have been committed by the lower commands without the upper echelons' knowledge, and it is often carried out to prevent
30504-631: The United Nations can establish various specialized agencies to fulfill its duties. Specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations and each other through the coordinating machinery of the Economic and Social Council. Each was integrated into the UN system through an agreement with the UN under UN Charter article 57. There are fifteen specialized agencies, which perform functions as diverse as facilitating international travel, preventing and addressing pandemics, and promoting economic development. The United Nations system includes
30750-600: The United States' funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (or UNESCO) over allegations of mismanagement, followed by the United Kingdom and Singapore. Boutros Boutros-Ghali , the secretary-general from 1992 to 1996, initiated a reform of the Secretariat, somewhat reducing the size of the organisation. His successor, Kofi Annan , initiated further management reforms in
30996-474: The X Corps' zone, the 2nd, ROK 5th, and 7th Divisions advanced abreast, the 2nd moving through the P’ungam-ni corridor on the left, the 7th along Route 20 on the right, and the ROK 5th over the ridges in the center. In a well-fought delaying action, KPA forces kept gains short until 11 March, when they began to withdraw above the Albany Line . Against the diminishing resistance, the 2nd and 7th Divisions each placed
31242-628: The XIII Army Group. Following these units into Korea was a far larger force, the III Army Group, with the 12th , 15th and 60th Armies. At mid-March this group was still in the process of entering the peninsula and assembling in the Koksan-Sin’ggye-Ich’on region north of the area occupied by the newly arrived XIX Army Group. The final force due to enter Korea in March made up the bulk of the 2nd Motorized Artillery Division . Entering late in
31488-508: The XIX Army Group had entered Korea. As part of the buildup, four armies of the XIII Army Group, all in need of restoration, were replaced at the front during the first half of March. By the l0th, the 26th Army moved southwest out of its central reserve location to relieve the 38th, and 50th Armies, which had been opposing the 25th Division and 24th Division. Upon relief, the 38th withdrew to the Sukch’on area, north of Pyongyang, where it came under
31734-503: The ability of captured troops to effectively organize and resist their imprisonment. British radio operator Robert W. Ford and British army Colonel James Carne also claimed that the Chinese subjected them to brainwashing techniques during their war-era imprisonment. After the war, two studies of the repatriation of American prisoners of war by Robert Lifton and by Edgar Schein concluded that brainwashing (called "thought reform" by Lifton and "coercive persuasion" by Schein) had
31980-576: The advancing PVA. The resulting UN retreat from North Korea was the longest retreat of an American unit in history. In the east, at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir , Task Force Faith —a 3,000 man unit from the 7th Infantry Division —was surrounded by the PVA 80th and the 81st Divisions. Task Force Faith managed to inflict heavy casualties onto the PVA divisions, but in the end it was destroyed with 2,000 men killed or captured, and losing all vehicles and most other equipment. The destruction of Task Force Faith
32226-476: The aftermath of the spring offensive stabilized the front roughly along the 38th parallel. The rest of the war involved little territory change, large-scale bombing of the population in the north, and lengthy peace negotiations , which started in Kaesong on 10 July 1951. Even during the peace negotiations, combat continued. For the UN forces, the goal was to recapture all of what had been South Korea before an agreement
32472-446: The army intelligence staff was nonetheless valid. At the same time, it was incomplete and off the mark in the identification and location of units. What the intelligence staff had reported in mid-February as the entry of seven new PVA armies into Korea was largely the return of the three KPA corps and nine divisions that had withdrawn into Manchuria for reorganization and retraining the past autumn. Beginning in January, KPA VI Corps, with
32718-637: The assembly gathers at annual sessions at the General Assembly Hall , but emergency sessions can be summoned. The assembly is led by a president , elected by the member states on a rotating regional basis, and 21 vice-presidents. The first session convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and comprised representatives of 51 nations. When the General Assembly decides on seminal questions such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters,
32964-431: The availability of the required ammunition and the increasing difficulty of re-supplying across the Yalu River because of numerous UN-conducted air interdiction operations. In addition, there was also a local copy of the U.S. Thompson submachine gun being produced by the PRC, based on the type of which had already been exported to and used in China since the 1930s and by UN troops during the Korean War. Later on, after
33210-512: The basis of intelligence indicating that the PVA/KPA thought the 82nd was in Japan. Nothing came of either proposal. A continuing interdiction campaign opened by the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) in January and about to be joined by the carriers and gunnery ships of Task Force 77 offered possible help in blunting PVA/KPA offensive preparations. In laying out this campaign FEAF commander General George E. Stratemeyer had emphasized attacks on
33456-517: The basis of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations , the UN and its agencies are immune from the laws of the countries where they operate, safeguarding the UN's impartiality with regard to host and member countries. Below the six organs are, in the words of the author Linda Fasulo, "an amazing collection of entities and organizations, some of which are actually older than
33702-437: The battle. They also employed a tactic which they termed Hachi Shiki, which was a V-formation into which they allowed enemy forces to move; the sides of the V then closed around their enemy while another force moved below the mouth of the V to engage any forces attempting to relieve the trapped unit. Such were the tactics the Chinese used with great success at Onjong, Unsan, and Ch'osan, but with only partial success at Pakch'on and
33948-577: The body's former headquarters in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands , making it the only principal organ not based in New York City. The ICJ's main function is adjudicating disputes among nations. Examples of issues they have heard include war crimes, violations of state sovereignty and ethnic cleansing. The court can also be called upon by other UN organs to provide advisory opinions on matters of international law. All UN member states are parties to
34194-409: The capture of new ground nor the retention of ground currently held were essential features of Eighth Army operations as Ridgway conceived them. "Terrain," he maintained, "is merely an instrument... for the accomplishment of the mission here," that of inflicting maximum losses on the PVA/KPA at minimum cost while maintaining major units intact. Intelligence indicated that those forces giving ground before
34440-430: The central region. To add substance to this possibility, agents recently returning from behind enemy lines brought back reports that the PVA/KPA high command at one time had planned to open an offensive on 1 March, then had postponed the opening date to the 15th. During interrogation, recently taken prisoners of war partially substantiated the agent reports by stating that their forces were preparing to launch an offensive in
34686-464: The central zone in which the main Ripper attack was to be made. Minesweepers of Task Force 95 began the demonstration with sweeps along the west coast and into the Taedong River estuary in the vicinity of Chinnamp’o . A cruiser and destroyer contingent followed to bombard pretended landing areas. Troop and cargo ships next left Inchon , steamed part way up the coast, then reversed course. On 5 March
34932-603: The century prior to the UN's creation, several international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross were formed to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and strife. During World War I , several major leaders, especially U.S. President Woodrow Wilson , advocated for a world body to guarantee peace. The winners of the war, the Allies , met to decide on formal peace terms at
35178-504: The city on the 15th, the ROK discovered only a few KPA deserters who had been away from their units too long to provide information of value. Outside Seoul, a patrol from the Belgian Battalion , recently attached to the 3rd Division, checked the ground along the eastern edge of the city without making contact; two companies of ROK troops moved unopposed through the ground just west of the city; and still farther west, an ROK patrol crossed
35424-474: The control of Headquarters, PVA. The 50th returned to Manchuria, reaching Antung by the end of the month. The 39th and 40th Armies, which had left the line before the start of the operation and had assembled in the Hongcheon area, meanwhile began relieving the 42nd and 66th Armies in the central sector, completing relief on or about 14 March. On being replaced, the 42nd moved north to Yangdok, midway between Pyongyang and Wonsan, for reorganization and resupply. Like
35670-530: The council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions . The Security Council is made up of fifteen member states: five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and ten non-permanent members (currently Algeria , Ecuador , Guyana , Japan , Malta , Mozambique , the Republic of Korea , Sierra Leone , Slovenia and Switzerland ). The five permanent members hold veto power over UN resolutions, allowing
35916-471: The days following, the reduced division moved to Ch’ongju , deep in northwestern Korea, and began reorganizing under the control of the KPA IV Corps as a mechanized infantry division. Still later, while continuing to reorganize and retrain, the unit was assigned to defend a sector of the west coast. It would not again see frontline duty. The inability of ROK forces to eliminate the KPA 10th Division reflected
36162-498: The division to rejoin ROK III Corps and reestablishing ROK I Corps with the ROK 9th and Capital Divisions in the coastal zone. The ROK 5th Infantry Division , having reorganized after being hurt in the mid-February offensive, meanwhile rejoined X Corps. During the Ripper advance the two ROK Corps were to secure Route 20. In the coastal area, ROK I Corps forces already were well above this lateral road-in fact, were already on or above
36408-522: The east of the city threatened them with encirclement. Following the recapture of Seoul the PVA/KPA forces retreated northward, conducting skilful delaying actions that utilized the rugged, muddy terrain to maximum advantage, particularly in the mountainous US X Corps sector. Despite such obstacles, Operation Ripper pressed on throughout March. In the mountainous central region, US IX and US X Corps pushed forward methodically, IX Corps against light opposition and X Corps against staunch enemy defenses. Hongch'on
36654-400: The east, IX Corps reached its first phase line on 11 March. Three days later the advance proceeded to the next phase line. During the night of 14–15 March, elements of the ROK 1st Infantry Division and the US 3rd Infantry Division liberated Seoul, marking the fourth and last time the capital changed hands since June 1950. The PVA/KPA forces were compelled to abandon it when the UN approach to
36900-452: The east, X Corps and ROK III Corps had reached the Idaho Line by 17 March. KPA forces had offered stiff resistance to the attack on only one day, the 15th, and then only in the X Corps' area. Prisoners taken during the advance indicated that the KPA V, II, and III Corps were withdrawing above the 38th Parallel to reorganize and prepare for offensive operations. Searching to confirm this information, Ridgway on 18 March ordered all three corps on
37146-556: The eastern front to reconnoiter deep beyond the parallel in the area between the Hwach’on Reservoir , located almost due north of Chuncheon, and the east coast. As Ridgway's forces in the east consolidated positions along the Idaho Line and sent patrols north, the problem of the KPA 10th Division remained. On 20 March Ridgway pressed the ROK chief of staff and the Korean Military Advisory Group chief to eliminate
37392-441: The eastern half of the town with small bombs set to explode when disturbed. A company of Marine engineers began the uncomfortable task of clearing these explosives while the 1st Battalion passed through and occupied high ground immediately northeast of the town. By the time Hongcheon fell, Ridgway discerned that the PVA/KPA high command had decided to abandon Seoul. The first sign appeared on 12 March when aerial observers flying over
37638-420: The eighth secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon , the UN intervened with peacekeepers in crises such as the War in Darfur in Sudan and the Kivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sent observers and chemical weapons inspectors to the Syrian Civil War . In 2013, an internal review of UN actions in the final battles of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 concluded that the organization had suffered
37884-405: The employee's nationality. In practice, the International Civil Service Commission , which governs the conditions of UN personnel, takes reference to the highest-paying national civil service. Staff salaries are subject to an internal tax that is administered by the UN organizations. The General Assembly is the primary deliberative assembly of the UN. Composed of all UN member states ,
38130-420: The enemy unit. But in the difficult Taebaek terrain, the retreating division, although it lost heavily to air and ground attacks, separated into small groups and managed to find ways northwest through the mountains. After a flurry of small engagements while infiltrating the Idaho Line fronts of ROK III Corps and ROK I Corps, the remnants of the division, less than 1,000 men, reached their own lines on 23 March. In
38376-459: The escape route of the Americans, the others struck both the front and the flanks in concerted assaults. The attacks continued on all sides until the defenders were destroyed or forced to withdraw. The Chinese then crept forward to the open flank of the next platoon position, and repeated the tactics. Roy Appleman further clarified the initial Chinese tactics as: In the First Phase Offensive, highly skilled enemy light infantry troops had carried out
38622-437: The face of threats from the US to withhold its UN dues. Though the UN Charter had been written primarily to prevent aggression by one nation against another, in the early 1990s the UN faced several simultaneous, serious crises within Somalia, Haiti, Mozambique, and the nations that previously made up Yugoslavia. The UN mission in Somalia was widely viewed as a failure after the United States' withdrawal following casualties in
38868-445: The failure of UN mediation in conflicts in the Middle East , Vietnam , and Kashmir , the UN increasingly shifted its attention to its secondary goals of economic development and cultural exchange. By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its peacekeeping budget. After the Cold War, the UN saw a radical expansion in its peacekeeping duties, taking on more missions in five years than it had in
39114-403: The far left of the Corps' advance moved without opposition to the lower bank of the Chongpyong Reservoir while the ROK 6th Division in the zone between the 24th and 1st Cavalry Divisions also advanced against no resistance to high ground overlooking the Hongcheon River. The 25th Division at the right of the I Corps' zone moved just as easily through the ground west of the Pukhan. By dark on the 15th
39360-415: The far left, Hoge's other divisions attacked toward Lines Buster and Buffalo on 17 March. Much as anticipated, the Marines on the right and the ROK on the left met negligible resistance while the 1st Cavalry Division in the center received heavy fire and several sharp counterattacks in a daylong fight for dominating heights just above the Hongcheon River. On the 18th, with all four divisions moving forward,
39606-404: The far side of the city, and the 2nd Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment occupied the Hill 348 area. Seoul, as it changed hands for the fourth time, was a shambles. Bombing, shelling, and fires since the Eighth Army had withdrawn in January had taken a large toll of buildings and had heavily damaged transport, communications, and utilities systems. Two months of work would be required to produce even
39852-519: The fighting was going to take place on the south side of the Yalu. Soviet shipments of matériel, when they did arrive, were limited to small quantities of trucks, grenades, machine guns, and the like. In a meeting on 13 October, the Politburo decided that China would intervene even in the absence of Soviet air support, basing its decision on a belief that superior morale could defeat an enemy that had superior equipment. Immediately on his return to Beijing on 18 October, Zhou met with Mao, Peng and Gao, and
40098-452: The first year of the Korean War, the Soviet Union began to send more weapons and ammunition to the PRC, which started to produce licensed copies of some types of Soviet weapons, such as the PPSh-41 submachine gun, which was designated as the Type 50. In addition to surplus WWII Soviet arms, the Soviet Union also provided some WWII German small arms to the Chinese like the Karabiner 98k rifle. Surplus Mauser ammunition were also supplied by
40344-449: The five 155-mm. howitzers left behind when the support force withdrew. (The air strikes the support force commander had requested on the abandoned weapons either had not been flown or had not found their targets.) The team also retrieved the six M5 tractors left behind by the support force artillery, evacuated four of the six tanks that had been lost, and recovered a number of damaged trucks that were of value at least for spare parts. In
40590-476: The five principal organs are located at the main UN Headquarters in New York City, while the International Court of Justice is seated in The Hague . Most other major agencies are based in the UN offices at Geneva , Vienna , and Nairobi , and additional UN institutions are located throughout the world. The six official languages of the UN, used in intergovernmental meetings and documents, are Arabic , Chinese , English , French , Russian and Spanish . On
40836-410: The flank of the PVA in front of the cavalrymen. Accordingly, Hoge ordered his two divisions in the west and the 1st Cavalry Division to advance 5–6 miles (8.0–9.7 km) beyond their current river positions to the Buster Line , which was almost even with the Buffalo Line objectives of the 1st Marine Division on the Corps' right. While the 24th Division completed preparations for crossing the Pukhan at
41082-420: The former Soviet Union. In a summary published in 1963, Edgar Schein gave a background history of the precursor origins of the brainwashing phenomenon: Thought reform contains elements which are evident in Chinese culture (emphasis on interpersonal sensitivity, learning by rote and self-cultivation); in methods of extracting confessions well known in the Papal Inquisition (13th century) and elaborated through
41328-409: The future escapes or rescues of the POWs. As the PVA rarely executed prisoners, the Chinese considered themselves to be more lenient and humane than the KPA. However, the Chinese were unprepared for the large influx of POWs after their entry into the war and a large number of prisoners were crowded into temporary camps for processing. Mass starvation and diseases soon swept through those camps during
41574-443: The ground below their objectives. Long range small-arms fire and small, scattered groups of PVA who made no genuine attempt to delay the advance toward Hongcheon were the extent of the opposition the 1st Cavalry and 1st Marine Divisions encountered during the morning. The 24th Division and the ROK 6th Division, which had rejoined the advance in a new zone on the right of the 24th, met no resistance at all in making their short advances in
41820-424: The group ordered 200,000 PVA troops to enter North Korea, which they did on 19 October. UN aerial reconnaissance had difficulty sighting PVA units in daytime, because their march and bivouac discipline minimized aerial detection. The PVA marched "dark-to-dark" (19:00–03:00), and aerial camouflage (concealing soldiers, pack animals, and equipment) was deployed by 05:30. Meanwhile, daylight advance parties scouted for
42066-453: The individuals reverted to their previous condition soon after they left the coercive environment. In 1961, they both published books expanding on these findings. Schein published Coercive Persuasion , and Lifton published Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism . More recent writers including Mikhail Heller have suggested that Lifton's model of brainwashing may throw light on the use of mass propaganda in other communist states such as
42312-411: The initial assault concluded, the PVA delaying forces backing away from the 25th Infantry Division and the four divisions of IX Corps were expected to join their parent units in defenses in the next good system of high ground to the north located generally on an east-west line through Hongcheon. Presenting something of a barrier to this ground in the IX Corps' zone was the Hongcheon River, which flowed into
42558-445: The initiative, the PVA counterattacked at the Battle of Hoengsong on 11 February, stopping X Corps' advance in the process. But without proper rest and recuperation, the new offensive soon fizzled out at the Battle of Chipyong-ni on 15 February. With the entire PVA incapable of any further offensive operations, the Eighth Army launched Operation Killer on 21 February, followed by Operation Ripper on 6 March. The Eighth Army expelled
42804-429: The lack of a competent logistics system. The UN POWs, however, pointed out that a lot of the Chinese camps were located near the Sino-Korean border, and claimed that the starvation was used to force the prisoners to accept the communist indoctrination programs. The starvation and the POW deaths finally stopped by the summer of 1951 after the armistice talks started. During the Korean War, Edward Hunter , who worked at
43050-399: The largest gathering of world leaders in history, and it culminated in the adoption by all member states of the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs), a commitment to achieve international development in areas such as poverty reduction , gender equality and public health . Progress towards these goals, which were to be met by 2015, was ultimately uneven. The 2005 World Summit reaffirmed
43296-411: The left third of the Corps' zone. Responsibility for the remaining ground to the east was once again divided between ROK III and ROK I Corps. Believing that the ROK sector needed to be strengthened, particularly after the Capital Division lost almost 1,000 men in the ambush at Soksa-ri on 3 March, Ridgway had detached the ROK I Corps headquarters and the ROK 3rd Infantry Division from X Corps, sending
43542-421: The line between military and political officers were often blurred in the PVA, since the political officers often had extensive military experiences while most military officers were senior Party members within a unit. Besides the political officers, Party members and Party candidates also enforced political controls within the ranks. Squads were often divided into three-man fireteams , with each fireteam led by
43788-412: The line in front of IX Corps, and the KPA III Corps , less its 3rd Infantry Division , had entered the line before X Corps. Thus, as of 1 March six PVA armies and four KPA corps were arrayed between Seoul and the spine of the Taebaek Mountains . On the 1st, as he had earlier, Tarkenton carried the PVA 37th Army in his enemy order of battle, locating it immediately behind the center of the PVA/KPA front in
44034-429: The line, the 38th , 42nd and 66th Armies in the central area, and the KPA V , III and II Corps and 69th Brigade in the remaining ground to the east. With supply requirements all but met, IX and X Corps finishing their advance to the Arizona Line , and no clear indication of an imminent enemy offensive at hand, Ridgway on 5 March ordered Operation Ripper to begin on the morning of 7 March. The final objective line of
44280-442: The lower peaks of South Mountain hugging Seoul at its southeast edge, also was vacant. Five patrols from the ROK 1st Division entered Seoul itself. One moved all the way through the western portion of the city to the gate on Route 1 while another reached the Capitol Building near the city center and raised the South Korean flag from the dome. None of the patrols received fire or sighted PVA/KPA troops. In continuing to search
44526-501: The main effort in his central zone, but with all units on the Eighth Army front involved. As in Operation Killer, the primary purposes of the attack, which Ridgway called Operation Ripper, were to destroy PVA/KPA forces and equipment and to interdict their attempts to organize an offensive. A secondary purpose was to outflank Seoul and the area north of the city as far as the Imjin River . Aware of UN commander General Douglas MacArthur ’s interest in recapturing Seoul, but preferring to avoid
44772-434: The major Ripper effort, IX Corps, now commanded by Major General William M. Hoge , was to seize the two towns as it moved some 30 miles (48 km) north to the deepest point of the Idaho salient. The 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (187th RCT), currently undergoing refresher training at Daegu , was to assist IX Corps attack should an opportunity arise to employ airborne tactics profitably. To Hoge's right, X Corps
45018-415: The mission of defending the Yellow Sea coast between Chinnamp’o and Sinanju. With the return of forces from Manchuria, KPA reserves by early March altogether numbered four corps, 14 divisions, and three brigades. These and the units at the front, including the 10th Division currently attempting to return to its own lines, gave the KPA an organization of eight corps, 27 divisions, and four brigades. This force
45264-427: The month, the division would join its 29th Regiment already in Korea. When all Chinese movements in March were completed, the strength of the PVA would have risen to four army groups with 14 armies and 42 divisions, these supported by four artillery divisions and two separate artillery regiments. As sensed by Eighth Army intelligence, the buildup was in preparation for an offensive. But the offensive would not originate in
45510-404: The move by instructing his divisions on the 19th to proceed to the next Ripper phase line, Cairo , 4–6 miles (6.4–9.7 km) above their Buster-Buffalo objectives. Once on the Cairo Line , the 1st Cavalry Division would be on the southern lip of the basin in which Chuncheon was located and within 5 miles (8.0 km) of the town itself. Ridgway meanwhile alerted the 187th RCT for operations in
45756-458: The much more heavily armed Americans, they adapted a technique they had used against the Nationalists in the Chinese civil war of 1946–49. The Chinese generally attacked at night and tried to close in on a small troop position—generally a platoon—and then attacked it with local superiority in numbers. The usual method was to infiltrate small units, from a platoon of fifty men to a company of 200, split into separate detachments. While one team cut off
46002-474: The name "support army" might cause the international community to assume that China was sending soldiers as an act of direct aggression against the United States. Therefore, the army's name was modified to "volunteer army" while different unit designations and footings were used instead, to give the impression that China did not intend to declare war against the U.S. but rather that Chinese soldiers were only present on Korean battlefields as individual volunteers. On
46248-466: The new Chinese social system. To that end the regime developed techniques that would break down the psyche integrity of the individual with regard to information processing, information retained in the mind and individual values. Chosen techniques included dehumanizing of individuals by keeping them in filth, sleep deprivation , partial sensory deprivation , psychological harassment, inculcation of guilt and group social pressure . The term punned on
46494-509: The next bivouac site. During daylight activity or marching, soldiers were to remain motionless if an aircraft appeared, until it flew away; PVA officers were under order to shoot security violators. Such battlefield discipline allowed a three- division army to march the 460 km (286 mi) from An-tung , Manchuria, to the combat zone in some 19 days. Another division night-marched a circuitous mountain route, averaging 29 km (18 mi) daily for 18 days. China justified its entry into
46740-412: The north. Meanwhile, as bridges were put across the river, one in each division zone, Paik could place a second regiment on the Lincoln Line and Soule could increase his bridgehead force to a full regiment. As expected, there was no opposition when the two division commanders sent forces across the Han on the morning of the 16th. By early afternoon the ROK 15th Regiment moved through Seoul into position on
46986-443: The operation, the Idaho Line , was anchored in the west on the Han River 8 miles (13 km) east of Seoul. From that point it looped steeply northeastward through the eastern third of the I Corps' zone and almost to the 38th Parallel in the IX Corps’ central zone, then fell off gently southeastward across the X Corps and ROK zones to Hap’yong-dong, an east coast town 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Gangneung . Since Line Idaho traced
47232-413: The order for the NEFF to be moved to the Yalu River, ready to cross. Mao redesignated the NEFF as the People's Volunteer Army. To enlist Stalin's support, Zhou and a Chinese delegation arrived in Russia on 10 October. They conferred with the top Soviet leadership, which included Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov , Lavrentiy Beria and Georgy Malenkov . Mao saw intervention as essentially defensive: "If we allow
47478-519: The orders of Chairman Mao Zedong , the PVA was separately constituted in order to prevent an official war with the United States . The PVA entered Korea on 19 October 1950 and completely withdrew by October 1958. The nominal commander and political commissar of the PVA was Peng Dehuai before the ceasefire agreement in 1953 , although both Chen Geng and Deng Hua served as the acting commander and commissar after April 1952 following Peng's illness. The initial (25 October – 5 November 1950) units in
47724-402: The organization are five principal organs established by the UN Charter: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretariat . A sixth principal organ, the Trusteeship Council , suspended its operations on 1 November 1994 upon the independence of Palau ; the last remaining UN trustee territory. Four of
47970-435: The organization held its first public debate between candidates for secretary-general. On 1 January 2017, Portuguese diplomat António Guterres , who had previously served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees , became the ninth secretary-general. Guterres has highlighted several key goals for his administration, including an emphasis on diplomacy for preventing conflicts, more effective peacekeeping efforts, and streamlining
48216-411: The organization to be more responsive and versatile to international needs. On 13 June 2019, the UN signed a Strategic Partnership Framework with the World Economic Forum in order to "jointly accelerate" the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . The United Nations is part of the broader UN System, which includes an extensive network of institutions and entities. Central to
48462-428: The other hand, some recent studies show that the change was not only Huang's advice. On 7 July 1950, the name had already been changed to "volunteer army" by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai on his manuscript about the decision of the army's clothing and flags. Despite arguments on the changing from "People's Support Army" to "People's Volunteer Army", the name was also a homage to the Korean Volunteer Army that had helped
48708-454: The other. PVA forces used rapid attacks on the flanks and rear and infiltration behind UN lines to give the appearance of vast hordes. This, of course, was augmented by the PVA tactic of maximizing their forces for the attack , ensuring a large local numerical superiority over their opponent. The initial PVA victories were a great morale booster for the PVA. However, by late 1951, overextended supply lines and superior UN firepower had forced
48954-460: The overextended PVA were completely exhausted after months of nonstop fighting. The overextended PVA were forced to disengage and to recuperate for an extensive period of time, but the UN forces soon returned to the offensive. On 23 January 1951 the Eighth Army launched Operation Thunderbolt , attacking the unprepared PVA/KPA forces south of the Han River . This was followed up with Operation Roundup by X Corps in central Korea. Hoping to regain
49200-417: The plenary meetings. Previously, Churchill had urged Roosevelt to restore France to its status of a major power after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. The drafting of the Charter of the United Nations was completed over the following two months, and it was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, upon ratification of
49446-429: The post, but over the years it has become accepted that the position shall be held for one or two terms of five years. The current secretary-general is António Guterres of Portugal, who replaced Ban Ki-moon in 2017. The International Court of Justice (or ICJ), sometimes known as the World Court, is the primary judicial organ of the UN. It is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice and occupies
49692-400: The post-war world. At the subsequent meeting of the Inter-Allied Council in London on 24 September 1941, the eight governments in exile of countries under Axis occupation , together with the Soviet Union and representatives of the Free French Forces , unanimously adopted adherence to the common principles of policy set forth by Britain and the United States. Roosevelt and Churchill met at
49938-440: The presence of Russian troops in Iranian Azerbaijan and British forces in Greece . British diplomat Gladwyn Jebb served as interim secretary-general. The General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN. Construction began on 14 September 1948 and the facility was completed on 9 October 1952. The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie , was the first elected UN secretary-general . Though
50184-406: The previous four decades. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, and the peacekeeping budget increased by more than tenfold. The UN negotiated an end to the Salvadoran Civil War , launched a successful peacekeeping mission in Namibia , and oversaw democratic elections in post- apartheid South Africa and post- Khmer Rouge Cambodia. In 1991,
50430-494: The projected airborne operation would not be profitable. Ridgway canceled it on the morning of the 21st as the 1st Cavalry Division came up on the Cairo Line without opposition. Moving ahead of the main body of the division, an armored task force meanwhile entered the Chunchon basin and at 13:30 on the 21st entered the town itself. It was empty of both PVA/KPA troops and supplies. The task force made contact only after moving 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Chuncheon over Route 29 in
50676-429: The rail net since its capacity for troop and supply movements was much greater than that of the roads; he had stressed in particular the destruction of railroad bridges. To date, results had been less than originally hoped for, because of both an overestimate of FEAF capabilities and an underestimate of PVA/KPA countermeasures. But as the attacks continued, a principal point in the selection of targets remained that dropping
50922-417: The railroad bridges and keeping them unserviceable would leave the PVA/KPA with no usable stretch of rail line more than 30 miles (48 km) long. On 5 March Ridgway had his five-day forward supply levels in all items except petroleum products. Severely taxed railroad facilities would need two more days to complete petroleum shipments. In the meantime, intelligence operations provided no confirming clues that
51168-403: The regiments fled in all directions. Soldiers either deserted or were abandoned by their officers during failed attempts to wage guerrilla warfare without support from the local people. Finally, out of ammunition and food, some 5,000 soldiers were captured. The division commander and other officers who escaped were subsequently investigated and demoted on return to China. The UN counterattack in
51414-404: The resistance faded out, and it became clear that the PVA were withdrawing rapidly. Advancing easily against minor rearguard action, Hoge's forces were on or near the Buster-Buffalo Line by day's end on 19 March. The highlight of the advance on the 19th occurred in the zone of the ROK 6th Division after a patrol in the van of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment, discovered a PVA battalion assembling in
51660-404: The right half of the Corps' zone, sending the 1st Cavalry and 1st Marine Divisions to clear Hongcheon and then to occupy the Buffalo Line above town to block Route 29 leading northwest to Chuncheon and Route 24 running through the Hongcheon River valley to the northeast. Only short advances were required in the western half of the IX Corps' zone, by the 24th Division at the left in conjunction with
51906-417: The river line. In continuing the attack on Hongcheon, the 1st Cavalry Division advanced against scant resistance and reached the Hongcheon River west of town late in the afternoon. The 1st Marine Division, moving more slowly in descending the Oum Mountain mass on the eastern approach, advanced to within 3 miles (4.8 km) of Hongcheon before organizing perimeters for the night. On 15 March the 24th Division at
52152-418: The river, and helped by good close air support after daybreak, the assault battalions pushed through moderate resistance, much of it in the form of small arms, machine gun, and mortar fire and a profusion of well placed antitank and antipersonnel mines, for first-day gains of 1–2 miles (1.6–3.2 km). Averaging similar daily gains against opposition that faded after 10 March, Bradley's three regiments reached
52398-423: The river, but restricted their forward movement, once they were on the Lincoln Line , to patrolling to the north and northwest to regain contact. The restriction on further advances applied to the 25th Division as well. The principal objective at the moment, Ridgway explained to Milburn, was not to attack the enemy but simply to follow his withdrawal. Assigning the segment of the Lincoln Line encompassing Seoul to
52644-506: The same ships made an ostentatious departure from Inchon to continue the illusion of an impending amphibious landing. In the Sea of Japan , Task Force 95 had placed the Wonsan area under bombardment in February and continued the campaign into March. This bombardment, coupled with the occupation of an offshore island by a small party of South Korean Marines , added to the impression of imminent landing operations. Ridgway had learned that two recently federalized National Guard infantry divisions,
52890-441: The start of the Chinese spring offensive . UN forces in northeast Korea withdrew to form a defensive perimeter around the port city of Hŭngnam , where an evacuation was carried out in late December. Approximately 100,000 military personnel and material and another 100,000 North Korean civilians were loaded onto a variety of merchant and military transport ships. Hoping to pressure the UN into abandoning South Korea, Mao ordered
53136-405: The supplemental squeeze play Operation Courageous . United Nations The United Nations ( UN ) is a diplomatic and political international organization with the intended purpose of maintaining international peace and security , developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and serving as a center for coordinating the actions of member nations. It
53382-420: The suspected PVA/KPA supply center, had been bare when entered; although numerous caches of materiel had been captured elsewhere, these had been relatively small. In sum, the PVA/KPA high command so far had succeeded in keeping the bulk of frontline forces and supplies out of range of the Ripper advance. As Chuncheon fell, one area in which there appeared to be an opportunity to destroy an enemy force of some size
53628-458: The time both as a journalist and as a U.S. intelligence agent, wrote a series of books and articles on the allegations of Chinese mind control, which he coined as "brainwashing". The Chinese term 洗腦 ( xǐnǎo , literally "wash brain ") was originally used to describe methodologies of coercive persuasion used under the Maoist regime in China, which aimed to transform individuals with a reactionary imperialist mindset into "right-thinking" members of
53874-424: The total result of Operation Ripper to date. For although the Eighth Army had taken its principal territorial objectives, it had had far less success in destroying PVA/KPA forces and materiel. Through the period 1–15 March, which included most of the harder fighting, known enemy dead totaled 7,151; as the PVA/KPA accelerated their withdrawal after the 15th, that figure had not increased to any great extent. Chuncheon,
54120-418: The town during the night, Ridgway before leaving instructed both task forces to return to the cavalry division's Cairo Line positions by dark. The precaution was unnecessary. Chuncheon remained vacant until the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment , set up a patrol base in the town on the following day. With the capture of Chuncheon, all major ground objectives of Operation Ripper were in Eighth Army hands. To
54366-416: The towns of Hongch'on , 50 miles (80 km) east of Seoul, and Chuncheon , 15 miles (24 km) further north. The operation also aimed to bring UN troops to the 38th Parallel . It followed upon the heels of Operation Killer , an eight-day UN offensive that concluded February 28, to push PVA/KPA forces north of the Han River . The operation was launched on 6 March 1951 with US I Corps and IX Corps on
54612-437: The use of Route 1 and its crossing over the Imjin near the town of Munsan-ni ; thus, if this withdrawal route could be blocked in the vicinity of its Imjin crossing, the KPA below the river would find it extremely difficult to escape attacks from the south. With this in mind, Ridgway enlarged Operation Ripper with plans for an airborne landing at Munsan-ni by the 187th RCT in concert with overland attacks by US I Corps. He called
54858-452: The vicinity of Chuncheon. In his earlier estimate he tentatively had placed the 43rd Army in the same area, but had since decided that this unit was not in Korea at all. Tarkenton now also had reports that two PVA armies, the 24th and 26th , had moved south from the Hungnam - Wonsan region to a central assembly just above the 38th Parallel north of Chuncheon. Thus three reserve armies might be immediately available for offensive operations in
55104-416: The vicinity, the 41st Division and 63rd Brigade. Thus, by the beginning of March KPA reserves in the Hungnam-Wonsan area totaled two corps with eight divisions and a brigade. As late as the middle of the month Ridgway's intelligence staff was aware only of the two divisions and brigade that had been in the region for some time. Besides the recently arrived VI Corps, KPA reserves in western North Korea included
55350-456: The war as a response to what it described as "American aggression in the guise of the UN". Chinese decision-makers feared that the American-led invasion of North Korea was part of a U.S. strategy to invade China ultimately. They were also worried about rising counterrevolutionary activity at home. MacArthur's public statements that he wanted to extend the Korean War into China, and return the Kuomintang regime to power reinforced this fear. Later,
55596-414: The west near Seoul and Hoengsong and US X Corps and Republic of Korea Army (ROK) III Corps in the east, to reach the Idaho Line , an arc with its apex just south of the 38th Parallel in South Korea . Operation Ripper was preceded by the largest artillery bombardment of the Korean War. In the middle, the US 25th Infantry Division quickly crossed the Han and established a bridgehead . Further to
55842-459: The western half of the Corps' zone. Prompted by the easy morning gains, Hoge recommended to Ridgway that the 24th and ROK 6th Divisions extend their advances to the lower bank of the Hongcheon River and to the Chongpyong Reservoir , located within a double bend of the Pukhan just west of the mouth of the Hongcheon. Ridgway approved, and through the afternoon the two divisions continued to advance, still unopposed, within 2–4 miles (3.2–6.4 km) of
56088-416: The widespread decolonization in the 1960s. Since then, 80 former colonies have gained independence, including 11 trust territories that had been monitored by the Trusteeship Council . By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and social development programmes vastly exceeded its spending on peacekeeping . After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the UN shifted and expanded its field operations, undertaking
56334-604: The winter of 1950–51, while numerous death marches were conducted by the PVA to move the prisoners into permanent locations. Although the situation started to improve after permanent camps were established by January 1951, death by starvation still continued until April 1951. About 43 percent of all US POWs died from November 1950 to April 1951. In comparison, only 34 percent of all US prisoners died under Japanese captivity during World War II. The Chinese have defended their actions by stating that all PVA soldiers during this period were also suffering mass starvation and diseases due to
56580-404: The world stage. The office has evolved into a dual role of an administrator of the UN organization and a diplomat and mediator addressing disputes between member states and finding consensus to global issues . The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly, after being recommended by the Security Council, where the permanent members have veto power. There are no specific criteria for
56826-411: The worst Chinese defeat during the entire Korean War. Roughly 3,000 men managed to escape (including the division commander and other high-ranking officers), but the majority of the division were killed or captured. During the final days of the Fifth Phase Campaign, the main body of the 180th Division was encircled during a UN counterattack, and after days of hard fighting, the division was fragmented, and
57072-416: The zone from the northeast to a bend below Hongcheon town, then meandered west to empty into the Pukhan. Tarkenton expected the KPA forces in the higher ridges to the east to withdraw to positions on line with those of the PVA in the IX Corps' zone, but did not expect the KPA defending Seoul and the ground west of the city, all of whom were outside the zone of the Ripper advance, to abandon their positions along
57318-484: Was also variation in organization and equipment as well as in the quantity and quality of the military equipment. Some of the PLA's equipment was from the Imperial Japanese Army or were captured from the Kuomintang military forces. Some Czechoslovak -made weapons were also purchased on the open market by the PRC. During the PVA's First Phase Offensive in the Korean War between October and November 1950, large quantities of captured U.S. weapons were widely used because of
57564-405: Was assigned to the XIII Army Group but not given a combat mission. Its divisions, the 139th, 140th and 141st, were sent to the area above Pyongyang to construct airfields at Sunan, Sunch’on and Namyang-ni, respectively. Coming into Korea at the same time was the 5th Artillery Division , which because of its means of transportation was known also as the "Mule Division." This unit, too, was assigned to
57810-417: Was considerable resistance among many leaders, including senior military leaders, to confronting the U.S. in Korea. Mao strongly supported intervention, and Zhou was one of the few Chinese leaders who firmly supported him. Mao appointed Peng Dehuai commander of the Chinese forces in Korea. Peng made the case that if U.S. troops conquered Korea and reached the Yalu River , they might cross it and invade China;
58056-454: Was considered by the PVA to be their biggest success of the entire Korean War. The 1st Marine Division fared better; though surrounded and forced to retreat, they inflicted heavy casualties on the PVA, who committed six divisions trying to destroy the Marines. Although the PVA were able to recapture much of North Korea during the Second Phase campaign, 40% of the PVA was rendered combat ineffective—a loss which they could not recover from until
58302-402: Was enforced for disobeying certain orders, it was rarely used in accordance with the Chinese traditions. Normally, public shamings and political indoctrination camps were the preferred methods for dealing with serious infractions such as desertion, and the punished were expected to return to frontline duty with their original units. Like the Soviet Army , political and military officers formed
58548-399: Was in the west above I Corps. According to patrol results and intelligence sources, KPA I Corps and the PVA 26th Army occupied that area, generally along and above a line through Uijongbu. Appearing most vulnerable were the three divisions of KPA I Corps in the region west of Uijongbu with the lower stretch of the Imjin River at their backs. Any withdrawal by these forces would require primarily
58794-446: Was not nearly so strong as its numerous units would indicate. Most divisions were understrength, and many of those recently reconstituted were scarcely battle worthy. Before March was out, in fact, two divisions, the 41st and 42nd, would be broken up to provide replacements for others. Nevertheless, the KPA had recovered measurably from its depleted condition in early autumn of 1950. There was also fresh leadership in to KPA high command. In
59040-447: Was re-elected on 8 June 2021. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. The UN, its officers, and its agencies have won multiple Nobel Peace Prizes , although other evaluations of its effectiveness have been contentious. Some commentators believe the organization to be a leader in peace and human development, while others have criticized it for ineffectiveness, bias, and corruption . In
59286-428: Was reached in order to avoid loss of any territory and the PVA attempted similar operations. A major issue of the negotiations was repatriation of POWs. The Chinese and North Koreans insisted on forcible repatriation, while the UN insisted on voluntary repatriation. The war continued until the Chinese and North Koreans eventually dropped this issue. On 29 November 1952 U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfilled
59532-510: Was reluctant to escalate the war with a Chinese intervention. On 1 October the Soviet ambassador forwarded a telegram from Stalin to Mao and Zhou requesting that China send five to six divisions into Korea, and Kim sent frantic appeals to Mao for Chinese military intervention. At the same time, Stalin made it clear that Soviet forces would not directly intervene. In a series of emergency meetings that lasted from 2 to 5 October, Chinese leaders debated whether to send Chinese troops into Korea. There
59778-403: Was restored under the guidance of civil assistance teams and ROK officials. Pusan meanwhile remained the temporary seat of national government . This time there was no ceremony dramatizing the reoccupation of Seoul as there had been at the climax of the Inchon landing operation the past September. MacArthur visited Korea on 17 March but elected not to enter Seoul and limited his inspection to
60024-407: Was taken on the 15th and Chuncheon secured on the 22nd. The capture of Chuncheon was the last major ground objective of Operation Ripper. UN forces had advanced north an average of 30 miles (48 km) from their start lines. However, while the Eighth Army had occupied their principal geographic objectives, the goal of destroying PVA forces and equipment had again proved elusive. More often than not,
60270-450: Was that they still admitted the name, "People's Volunteer Army", in order to minimize the war within the Korean Peninsula and prevent escalation of the war. On 30 June, five days after the outbreak of the war, Zhou decided to send a group of Chinese military intelligence personnel to North Korea to establish better communications with Kim as well as to collect firsthand materials on the fighting. One week later, on 7 July, Zhou and Mao chaired
60516-419: Was to move to a segment of the Idaho Line whose most northerly point lay about 20 miles (32 km) above the present Corps' front. In clearing PVA/KPA forces from this territory, Almond was to pay particular attention to the two principal north-south corridors in his zone, one traced by the Soksa-ri-Pangnim-ni segment of Route 20 at the Corps' right, the other by a lesser road running south out of P’ungam-ni in
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