In remembrance of a true hero with guts

Lee Ha-kyung

The author is a senior columnist of the JoongAng Ilbo.

South Korean military leaders were drunk after a party to celebrate the opening of an army hall just a day before the breakout of the Korean War on June 25, 1950. The Army Chief of Staff was briefed about the invasion while suffering a hangover. According to the memoir of the 8th graduating class of the Korea Military Academy, “A methodical campaign to weaken our combat capabilities continued until the North’s aggression.” General Lee Hyung-geun (Retired) recalled that there had been spies within the Army leadership. President Syngman Rhee was alerted to the crisis at 10:30 a.m., more than six hours after the invasion at 4 a.m. The defense minister was away as it had been Sunday.

The U.S. ambassador advised Rhee to stay in Seoul as his flight could demoralize the South Korean people. The commander of U.S. Forces in Korea insisted on buying time by keeping the fight in the capital. The South Korean military was ordered to defend Seoul, but had to give up fighting against the enemy after circumstances worsened, which was a shame, according to the excerpt from “Syngman Rhee’s Life and Country,” written by Oh In-whan, a former head of the Bureau of Public Information.

But a miracle happened. At 3 a.m. on June 26, President Rhee called up General Douglas MacArthur stationed in Tokyo to oversee post-war Japan as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, roaring at him to save South Korea immediately. Rhee also ordered the ambassador to the U.S. Chang Myon to inform President Harry Truman that the enemy had arrived at his door and implore what had happened to the $70 million in military aid approved by the U.S. Congress and signed by Truman. Rhee turned the invasion into an urgent issue for Washington and the United Nations, drawing immediate military engagement from the U.S. even without Congressional approval. Apart from the mistake of deserting Seoul without telling citizens at the urging of military commanders — and except for blowing up a bridge over the Han River after his escape — Rhee was a great wartime leader.

Crisscrossing the battlefields, he urged forces to push forward so that their offensives could draw more aid from allies and drive the enemy off. The president pleaded with the U.S. for more weapons for Korean soldiers fighting bare-handed, not to mention having interviews with foreign journalists. The U.S.-educated former independence fighter put all of his resources — connections with U.S. politicians, excellent English skills, patriotism, and boldness — into use. The presidential couple had a pistol above their bed in case they had to choose to end their own lives.

Gen. MacArthur, who flew into Korea, assured that the war would end by Christmas. But MacArthur’s campaign scheduled for Nov. 24 to Dec. 3 lasted only two days due to counterattacks by the Chinese. The U.S. discussed withdrawing its forces from Korea, judging that they could not defeat the Chinese. The U.S. military leadership advised a fast withdrawal if China really intervened in the war to push Allied forces out of the Korean Peninsula. U.S. State Secretary Dean Acheson opposed it, as it would lead to a massacre of South Koreans. Truman also agreed with Acheson.

In early 1951, the Truman administration decided to propose a ceasefire, as it would cost an extra 200,000 regular troops and $900 million to continue the war in Korea. Rhee refused a ceasefire that did not guarantee a unified Korea and vowed that South Korean forces would march northbound alone if they had to. Even if the country had ammunition to last only a few days, Rhee resisted the U.S. strategy of preventing a third world war with the communist Soviet Union and China.

When the UN and China agreed to a provisional ceasefire on June 17, 1953, Rhee released 27,000 anti-Communist POWs on the following day without any consultation with Washington. Dwight Eisenhower, who won the presidency with a promise to end the war in Korea, was enraged that a friend (South Korea) had become an enemy. The U.S. administration considered ousting Rhee, but it was stopped by Congress, which disagreed with the purge of a hero on a crusade to fight Communists. In the end, Washington sent its assistant secretary of state to Seoul, who agreed to Rhee’s terms for accepting an armistice, including the historic signing of the Mutual Defense Treaty, $200 million in aid, and the expansion of the Korean Army to 20 divisions. The U.S. had come up with plans to remove Rhee four times, but it could not put them into action.

If not for Rhee’s brinkmanship that won a mutual defense treaty from the U.S., what might have happened to South Korea? It could have ended up like South Vietnam, which fell to the North Vietnamese just two years after the peace treaty signed in Paris between Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho. Eisenhower disliked Rhee, but nevertheless respected his capabilities. He told the French that what South Vietnam needed was a leader like Rhee.

Rhee stopped the U.S. from abandoning South Korea for its little strategic value and succeeded in drawing the best possible alliance pact. Could a leader like Rhee appear in South Korea in the 21st century? The giant from seven decades ago demands South Korea have the courage to speak up to global powers for its national interests and stick to principles that can win trust from allies. Both Washington and Beijing are pressuring Seoul to take their side. The wisdom of Rhee is what South Korea needs today to win an uphill battle against the geopolitical risks the country faces in tumultuous times.

0613-COL-A 사진

Korea’s founding President Syngman Rhee, center, watches his defense minister Pyon Yong-tae, left, and U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles sign the Mutual Defense Treaty on Aug. 8, 1953, 19 days after the singing of the Korean Armistice Agreement by the Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations Command, the Supreme Commander of the (North) Korean People’s Army and the Commander of the Chinese People’s volunteers. [JOONGANG ILBO]