Great Battle of Korea Strait
There were two very sad stories involving Korea in the last century: one was of the country’s colonzation; and the other, the tragic fratricidal Korean War (1950-53), just less than five years after independence had been gained.
The Korean Peninsula was divided into two along the 38th Parallel as soon as the harsh colonial rule of nearly 35 years ended. During the extreme turmoil following independence in 1945, the Korean Peninsula was actually governed by the two superpowers, the United States and the then Soviet Union, which stood respectively for the South and the North.
I had once read that the dividing line at the 38th parallel had been decided by an American army colonel in consultation with his
Soviet counterpart in reference to a World Atlas published by National Geographic. They might have concluded that the peninsula could be roughly divided into half along the 38th line. It showed that when a nation lacks power, it lies vulnerable to being taken advantage of by superpowers.
Many historic incidents or events like the general election and the launch of new governments took place. With so many political parties with different ideologies, there seemed to be no end to the extreme confusion.
Then, on June 25, 1950, the North invaded the South. The South’s forces were lacking in arms, outnumbered and unprepared; it had no other options but to retreat to the line of Daegu until Aug. 1. Even Task Force Smith under the 24th Infantry Division of the United States Army was defeated in the first battle in Osan on July 5. The commanding general of the division, William Dean, went missing in Daejeon on July 20 and was eventually captured by a North Korean sympathizer about one month later and imprisoned by the North Korean authorities for the next three years. All these occurrences are well documented.
But we should not forget that without the Battle of the Korea Straits and the decisive victory by the southern sailors of the warship Baekdu Mountain, the war would have likely ended in less than one month and in the North’s favor. Then we all might have lived under the last three generations of North Korean dictatorship.
The battle broke out in the strait lying between Busan and Japan’s Tsushima around midnight of June 26. The southern warship sailed into the Sea of Japan after embarking from the port of Jinhae early June 25. About 60 Navy officers and sailors were on board. They detected a mysterious ship without ensign, flag or specific number shown in large block numbers on the ship’s starboard and port sides. The courageous sailors fired massive quantities of rounds into it. The North Korean warship was completely wrecked and sunk with some 600 enemy combatants aboard.
If the North’s specialized forces had landed in Busan, they could have taken over the city which was not ready for any battle, and began the push north. The war might have ended right there.