[imText1]Describing the beginning of the War, General Paik Sun Yup explained, “The North Korean military attacked us all of sudden, while we were not ready for war. We had no tanks or heavy weapons. Our soldiers did their best, but it was not enough.”
He continued, “After four days, Seoul was occupied. At that time, General McArthur came from Japan, arriving at Suwon airfield on June 29th. He received a report on the war situation, and immediately suggested to President Truman that four divisions be committed to the war effort.”
After the famous landing at Incheon, Paik led the First Division as it entered Pyongyang.
“I can’t put into words the feeling I got when I arrived in Pyongyang. It was beyond description. Around 100,000 Pyongyang citizens welcomed President Rhee in front of Pyongyang City Hall.”
The Eighth United States Army and the South Korean Second Army Corps headed for Hamkyung Province while the First Army Corps moved towards the East Sea and then advanced north towards the Yalu and Tumen rivers. At that moment, I thought unification was just around the corner.”
“However, the Chinese army intervened in the war, crossing the Yalu River. They concealed themselves for fear of U.S. bombers and came down at night, beating gongs. The famous ‘human sea tactics.’”
Once the Chinese entered the War and began pushing the U.N. forces into retreat, General McArthur asked President Truman to use atomic bombs on 26 major cities in China. President Truman was forced to discharge him. His replacement, General Matthew Ridgway, made a similar request but kept his job, and the War dragged on.
Becoming the First General in Korea
General Paik Sun Yup, who was born in Kangseo, South Pyongan Province in 1920, entered the South Korean Garrison in 1946 and became the Army Chief of Staff in July 1952 when the Korean War was at its peak. In 1953, he became the first four-star General in Korean military history. He recalled, “I became a four-star General at the official residence of the provincial governor of South Gyeongsang Province on January 31, 1953. When President Rhee Syngman pinned the badge of rank to me, he said ‘Now, you have become the first General in our country. Originally, the king was the general and there were no generals among the people of our country in the past. However, now it is a republic. You should remember that.’”
General Paik is an active 89-year old is still working actively on national security. In March, the U.S. Army Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia invited him to speak and recorded his testimony on the Korean War. The Infantry School plans to preserve his testimony in the Korean War Memorial.
The Ministry of National Defense plans to make him an Honorary Marshal, again for the first time in Korean history, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War in 2010.
He said, “Without the sacrifices of those veterans who participated in the Korean War, how could we be blessed with the freedoms and economic abundance which we think so natural? Their sacrifices are so dignified, but their rewards for them too meager.”
He ended his long interview by commenting about the people’s awareness of security, “The people should be combined together in order to strengthen our security and improve our human rights and economic conditions. And we should never lose our appreciation of the North Korean regime’s pernicious influence.”
