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LIFE in Korea: Rare and Classic Photos From the ‘Forgotten War’

5 minute read

In Korea, it’s known as the “6-2-5 (yug ee oh) War,” a reference to June 25, 1950, when the North Korean People’s Army invaded the South. Among North Koreans, it’s “the Fatherland Liberation War.” In America, however, the Korean War is often called “The Forgotten War” a jarringly dismissive, imperfectly accurate phrase to describe a conflict that killed millions of combatants and civilians on both sides, including close to 40,000 Americans.

The brutal conflict lasted for roughly three years, from June 1950, until 1953, when the United Nations Command, the North Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People’s Volunteers signed an armistice agreement. South Korean president Syngman Rhee refused to sign the document, however meaning that, technically, North and South Korea have been at war (or, at the very least, have not been at peace) for the past six decades.

Here, LIFE.com remembers the Forgotten War with a selection of pictures none of which originally ran in LIFE magazine from Korea by three of the era’s finest photographers: Margaret Bourke-White, Carl Mydans and Michael Rougier.

Throughout the war, as it had during World War II and as it would, again, in Vietnam, LIFE published articles, essays and editorials as well as matchless photographs in an effort to provide its readers with as complete a picture of the horrors, triumphs and plain, grinding realities faced by troops on the ground and by the civilians caught between the conflict’s implacable forces. Below, as a glimpse into the various ways the war was reported and “positioned” in the magazine’s pages in the early Fifties, are excerpts from first-hand reports from the battler zones as well as editors’ commentaries that appeared in LIFE while the Korean War raged half a world away:

“Sitting in a jeep, watching [refugees] march by without escort of any kind, I knew the constricting doubt and fear that every American in Korea comes to know as he watches those silent strangers, to whom he can not speak, filing down the roads, across the paddies and through the cities of the south.” — From “Report From the Orient: Guns Are Not Enough,” by John Osborne, LIFE, August 21, 1950

“From the hilltop where we now stand, soldiers of an American machine gun squad had seen the repulsed enemy retire beyond range and then, in plain sight of our men, calmly change form the green uniforms of the North Korean army to the white trousers and blouses of Korean peasants. And then they had walked back into the hills, looking like any of the lines of refugees who on this and every other day come down from the hills, across the paddies and along the roads past our lines and command posts. The soldiers watching from the hill do not forget; they remember the tiny figures in the distance, changing from green to white, every time they see a column of peasants coming toward them, and they reach for their guns, and sometimes they use their guns.” — From “Report From the Orient: Guns Are Not Enough,” LIFE, August 21, 1950, describing the horrible uncertainty faced by troops in the war, not knowing when refugees were really refugees, and when they were communist guerillas from the North

“No sound came from the land except the low snoring of the Marine curled up in the next foxhole. Then in an area that the Army had assured us was cleared, a Red artillery barrage burst among us, and it became a night of trying to worm deeper, tail first, into the earth. The heavy stuff [artillery] was the worst when it came walking along our ridge seemingly bent on shoving its stinking fist into every hole … We cursed our carelessness, for we had dug our hole too short, and there was no place else to go as the explosions moved all around us … [in] that dismal world of whistling steel.” — From “Where 27th Held, Marines Launch Attack,” LIFE, August 21, 1950

“The morale of our troops is ‘good’ if resigned point-counting, and bravery whose sole motive is self-preservation, can be called morale. . . . Our plan for getting a cease-fire is simply to apply more pressure. The recent stepped-up bombings were a step in the right direction. We need a series of such heightened pressures, spaced at two or three week intervals, like the turns of a thumbscrew; and each turn should be preceded by an ultimatum. . . . The millions of Americans who want a Korean truce are not military experts and are easily silenced by their own ignorance. In this case, however, their instinct for a truce seems to represent a higher political and strategic wisdom than Washington’s pussyfooting. Where there is no will, there is no way. If Washington has the will for a truce, it has not exhausted the ways to get it.” — From “An End to the Korean War,” an editorial in LIFE urging U.S. politicians to negotiate a truce, Sept. 15, 1952

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Not published in LIFE. An American serving in Korea, 1952.Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
South Korean and American officers pore over maps in a 1952 Margaret Bourke-White photo.
Not published in LIFE. South Korean and American officers pore over maps in a 1952 Margaret Bourke-White photo.Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Turkish soldiers attend to a wounded prisoner, Korea, 1951.
Not published in LIFE. Turkish soldiers attend to a wounded prisoner, Korea, 1951.Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Slaughtered South Korean prisoners and peasants, 1952.
Not published in LIFE. Slaughtered South Korean prisoners and peasants, 1952.Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Troops on patrol in Korea, 1952.
Not published in LIFE. Troops on patrol in Korea, 1952. Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Bullets and gunpowder, Korea, November, 1952.Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
South Korean troops, 1952
Not published in LIFE. South Korean troops, 1952.Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
LIFE's Margaret Bourke-White shares a meal with South Korean troops in the field, 1952.
Not published in LIFE. LIFE's Margaret Bourke-White shares a meal with South Korean troops in the field, 1952.Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Wounded South Koreans, 1952.Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
American and United Nations troops enjoy a Jack Benny performance at a USO show in Korea, July, 1951.
Not published in LIFE. American and United Nations troops enjoy a Jack Benny performance at a USO show in Korea, July, 1951.Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Refugees cross into South Korea, March, 1951
Not published in LIFE. Refugees cross into South Korea, March, 1951.Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Not published in LIFE. Turkish Army soldier on duty in Korea, 1951. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
F-86 Sabres from the Fifth Air Force in Korea, 1953
Not published in LIFE. Fighter jets, F-86 Sabres, from the Fifth Air Force in Korea, 1953. The Korean War was the first conflict in which the Sabre saw action.Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Three soldiers, Korea, June, 1952
Not published in LIFE. Three soldiers, Korea, June, 1952.Michael Rougier—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
American soldier takes a nap, Korea, 1951
Not published in LIFE. An American military man takes a nap, Korea, 1951.Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Hand of unseen South Korean holding severed head of North Korean Communist guerrilla by his hair as a member of the South Korean National Police, smiles broadly, w. an axe over his shoulder.
A member of the South Korean National Police holds the severed head of a North Korean communist guerrilla during the Korean War, 1952.Margaret Bourke-White—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

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