A Deep Dive into the DMZ War

The DMZ War:
What military historians now refer to as the DMZ War denotes the military conflict that raged along the Korean DMZ from 1966-69, exploding briefly again in the summer of the 1970 before finally subsiding, in which North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung attempted to take advantage of South Korea’s relative poverty and political instability—along with America’s massive military commitment in Vietnam—to decapitate the government, drive the Americans from the peninsula, and reunify Korea under the communist flag. 

This chapter in history is significant not merely because it is here—with the 2nd Infantry Division formally returning and unfurling its colors in Korea in ‘65—that the modern-day Korean/American alliance was forged; but also, because the U.S. military’s critical role in the DMZ War was so rigorously concealed by order of the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara feared that public knowledge of the conflict on the Korean DMZ, at the very height of the Vietnam War, would undermine support for America’s efforts in Vietnam, with the result that news about the DMZ War was strictly classified. It is long since overdue that this story was finally told.