The Korean War

The Korean Conflict occurred shortly after WWII. For 40 years previous to the war Korea had been under Japanese rule and it was agreed by the Allies that Korea would be freed to be an independent nation. It was decided that Russia would accept the surrender of Korea north of the 38th parallel and the U.S. would accept it in the south for symbolic purposes. However, once the surrenders were accepted the Soviets claimed that the 38th parallel was a division of two states and would not let Korea unite as one nation. Soon afterwards the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea were created.

• North Korea is the unofficial name of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea. Use of this term started in 1940 but really took off in 1950. It dropped in the next two decades but has since increased.
• South Korea is the unofficial name of the Republic of Korea. Usage follows that of North Korea except in the 1980s where usage spiked especially in 1983.

In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea and the UN Security Council decided that they needed to be repelled and so the member nations of the UN were called upon. While a number of the nations did send some forces to assist, it was understood that America would be responsible for most of it.

• United Nations Forces were comprised of the soldiers from the UN nations. This term began in the 1940s, spiked in the 1950s, then dropped and steadily decreased since then. The usage in the 1950s is comprised mainly of one magazine but from different articles throughout the years.
• Congress called this time of fighting the Korean Conflict because we had not actually declared war. Usage has decreased steadily since its creation in the 1950s.
• Because we were not fighting a war as defined by congress, our actions were called police action under the UN’s authority. The phrase was in use before this time when referring to regular police officers. In the 1950s it began to be used in reference to the Korean War with scare quotes.
• Within a year of fighting America was calling it the Korean War, not a conflict like congress insisted. Usage for this is higher though it also is decreasing.

As the war went on Chinese volunteers joined the North Koreans and were named an aggressor too. Unfortunately, our forces were not allowed to go beyond a certain point and into China. General MacArthur disregarded this rule and the forces fought past those points.

• President Truman was determined not to start WWIII with China and Russia (since Russia also had atomic bombs by that point) and so settled for a divided Korea and to fight a limited war. Limited war had 7 occurrences in the previous 2 decades and spiked in the 1950s and 60s. Since then its use has been low.
  
• China called America a paper tiger. This is basically equivalent to our expression of his bark is worse than his bite.

In 1952 we began truce talks with the Communists.

• The UN suggested voluntary repatriation. Basically all prisoners that did not want to return to the country they were from would be released and all the remaining prisoners would be able to be sent back for repatriation at any time. They were interested in this but ultimately rejected it because over half of the 170,000 Communist POWs did not want to return home and would forcibly resist any attempt to send them. Some were allowed to go their way but 50,000 of them were forced home with the 75,000 who wanted to go in order to make a truce. Usage is minimal.
  
• A cease-fire was signed and Communist and UN forces called truce teams began to police the demilitarized zone. Usage is limited from the 1940s to 70s.
  
• DMZ was the abbreviation of demilitarized zone referring to the 38th parallel and the space on either side of it. Usage begins in the COHA in the 1960s speaking of Vietnam and drops the after 1980s.

Other terms became well known during the Korean War but many of them are actually from our postwar occupation of Japan.

• Brainwashing [brain wash*] was rather intense. It was first used “to refer to a combination of physical torture, threats, intimidation, promises, and around-the clock- indoctrination used by Communists to break down the loyalties of anti-communist resistance fighters” (Flexner). Usage started in the 1950s, increased until the 1970s, and then dropped and remained stable from then on.
  
• Some Americans were brainwashed to join China; others falsely confessed to carrying out germ warfare. During this time epidemics were sweeping through North Korea and the Communists were being blamed by the population so the communists brainwashed our pilots to shift the blame. Usage of germ warfare spiked in the 1950s and 70s but has otherwise remained low.