On the early morning of June 25, 1950, the US ignited the fuse of war of aggression against the fledgling DPRK, only five years after Korea’s liberation from Japanese military rule.

As the American book The Modern History of the United States said that never before had it (US) prepared so perfectly like the Korean war before the start of war, the US provoked the war in full preparations, asserting that the DPRK’s fate would end in 72 hours.

But the reality the world saw was quite the opposite.

The myth of “mightiness” of the US, which had boasted about only victories in over 110 wars from its birth to the time of WWII, was shattered to pieces in the Korean war. In the three-year war the US suffered so disastrous a defeat unprecedented in its history.

It sustained terrible losses of human lives and war materiel: 1 567 128 casualties including over 405 000 US troops, more than 12 000 airplanes, over 3 250 tanks and armoured cars, over 13 350 trucks, 564 warships, 7 695 guns and over 900 000 firearms.

The American US News and World Report newspaper deplored what had happened in the war, saying the losses it suffered in the Korean war more than doubled those in the five big wars it had fought, namely the War of Independence, the War of 1812 and those in the wars with Mexico (1846-1848), Spain (1898) and the Philippines (1899-1901).

The US was brought to its knees by the indomitable spiritual strength, united power, peerless self-sacrificing spirit and bravery of the Korean people to defend their beloved country, thereby experiencing the bitter defeat for the first time in its history.

The world displayed unreserved admiration for the DPRK’s victory describing it as a “real miracle which had never happened in any war in the world history”.

And the US high-ranking officers admitted their defeat. Bradley, former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US waged “the wrong war at the wrong place, at the wrong time and with the wrong enemy”.

It has been over 60 years since the sound of gunfire died down in Korea.

But the Korean war has not ended and the US’ anti-DPRK policy and its product, DPRK-targeted war drills, persist year after year.

The Korean people have hardened their enemy-annihilating will to punish the invaders resolutely without the slightest mercy and the DPRK has developed the invincible defence capacity with a powerful nuclear deterrent.

The US ruling circles, however, cling to the anachronistic policy of hostility towards the DPRK oblivious of the history of defeat in the 1950s. They are well advised to always keep in mind the bitter lesson of the past history.

ByJong Sun Bok PT