Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea

by Sheila Miyoshi Jager

"The most balanced and comprehensive account of the Korean War." ― The Economist Sixty years after North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea, the Korean War has not yet ended. Sheila Miyoshi Jager presents the first comprehensive history of this misunderstood war, one that risks involving the world’s superpowers―again. Her sweeping narrative ranges from the middle of the Second World War―when Korean independence was fiercely debated between Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill―to the present day, as North Korea, with China’s aid, stockpiles nuclear weapons while starving its people. At the center of this conflict is an ongoing struggle between North and South Korea for the mantle of Korean legitimacy, a "brother’s war," which continues to fuel tensions on the Korean peninsula and the region. Drawing from newly available diplomatic archives in China, South Korea, and the former Soviet Union, Jager analyzes top-level military strategy. She brings to life the bitter struggles of the postwar period and shows how the conflict between the two Koreas has continued to evolve to the present, with important and tragic consequences for the region and the world. Her portraits of the many fascinating characters that populate this history―Truman, MacArthur, Kim Il Sung, Mao, Stalin, and Park Chung Hee―reveal the complexities of the Korean War and the repercussions this conflict has had on lives of many individuals, statesmen, soldiers, and ordinary people, including the millions of hungry North Koreans for whom daily existence continues to be a nightmarish struggle. The most accessible, up-to date, and balanced account yet written, illustrated with dozens of astonishing photographs and maps, Brothers at War will become the definitive chronicle of the struggle’s origins and aftermath and its global impact for years to come. 95 illustrations; 16 maps

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Asia, Politics, Military Fiction, China

608 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

American historian and Professor of East Asian Studies.

She is the author of two books on Korea and the co-editor of a third book on Asian nations in the post-Cold War era. She is a well-known historian of Korea and East Asia.

In the 1980s, she lived with the later American president Barack Obama.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The irresolution of the Korean War, owing to the lack of a peace treaty…stoked the fire of simmering confrontation and tension between North and South Korea as well as their Great Power overseers. But the most important fuel that kept the flame of confrontation alive was the implacable nature of the two Korean regimes. This is all the more remarkable as Korea had been unified since the seventh century. Today, the essentially continuous war between the Koreas threatens to reach beyond their borders, as North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. How did we get to this point? This book is the story of Korean competition and conflict – and Great Power competition and conflict – over the peninsula: an unending war between two ‘brothers’ with ramifications for the rest of the world…”
- Sheila Miyoshi Jager, Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea

On July 27, 1953, in the border village of Panmunjom, an armistice was signed by representatives of the United Nations Command, the North Korean People’s Army, and the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army. This document ended the open conflict of the Korean War, with the peninsula still divided at the 38th Parallel.

The ceasefire imposed by the armistice was meant to hold until a formal peace treaty could be implemented. This never happened, and so the Korean War – in ways both literal and figurative – is still ongoing to this day.

As Shiela Miyoshi Jager notes in Brothers at War, Korea has been a unified nation for much of its long history. Following its occupation by Japan, however, and as a consequence of growing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War, it was cut in half. The North fell under the sway of the Soviet Union, which handpicked its eternal leader. In the South, the United States took a leading role.

Ever since that moment, there has been an ongoing – and evolving – lethal-stakes competition between North and South. This has manifested in full-on warfare, border skirmishing, an arms race, and endless propaganda about which of the two Koreas is legitimate. Meanwhile, the consequences of the war – and the potential consequences of a flare-up – have reverberated far beyond the Korean Peninsula. Jager’s purpose is to take us on a circular journey that starts at a dividing line and ends at a dividing line.

***

Brothers at War has an ambitious scope. It begins in 1945, and goes all the way to the book’s 2013 publication date. Jager divides this huge, unwieldy mass of material into four sections, corresponding to the different stages on what she describes as a single, unending, always-shifting war.

This is a lot of ground to cover, even with a page count that comes close to five-hundred. As a result, there are some really splendid segments, some that feel undeveloped, and some that are extremely tangential. There are also odd gaps, where Jager skips over periods that seem vital to overall understanding. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, it also felt like a missed opportunity. All the ingredients – strong research, sharp insights, good writing – are there, but the final product is not quite the sum of its parts.

***

The first, largest section encompasses the initial division of Korea, Kim Il Sung’s near-victorious 1950 invasion of South Korea, the stunning reversal caused by General Douglas MacArthur’s landing at Inchon, the momentous intervention of China, and the brutal slugfest that followed. This is probably the strongest sequence in the book. Given space constraints, Jager does not attempt a comprehensive retelling, choosing instead to highlight certain aspects. For example, she does a good – and balanced – job regarding the atrocities committed by all sides against civilians and prisoners-of-war.

While never uninteresting, there are times when Jager veers off course a bit. There is an interlude, for instance, in which she engages a discussion of the composition of the United Nations forces, including the difficulties of providing culturally/religiously appropriate rations for all different contingents. This is fascinating, but more properly belongs in a book solely dedicated to the Korean War. That said, Jager’s does a thorough, meticulous job explaining the long negotiations that finally resulted in the armistice.

***

The second part of Brothers at War focuses on the Cold War, and especially the impact of the Korean War on the similarly-divided nation of Vietnam. There is some good stuff here, especially regarding South Korea’s support for the American War effort, including sending combat troops. This is something I really hadn’t heard about before.

The issue, though, is that Jager sometimes ends up losing the thread of the Korean experience, and views events through the Great Power prism. Specifically, Jager argues that the Korean War was one of the big turning points in American history, and that President Harry Truman’s quick decision to fight in 1950 represented the final nail in the coffin of isolationism. Though worth pondering, I think that Jager could have better spent her time giving a clearer picture of South Korea’s trajectory from dictatorship to democracy, and North Korea's trajectory from dictatorship to worse dictatorship.

***

The third section covers the tail-end of the Cold War, including the Sino-Soviet split, Richard Nixon’s visit to China, and Kim Il Sung’s erratic responses to those development. In particular, Jager briefly narrates the Blue House Raid – when Kim sent assassins to kill South Korean leader Park Chung Hee – and spends a bit more time on the capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo by North Korea, and the captivity of her crew.

Jager also delves into the efforts of President Jimmy Carter to withdraw American troops from the region, due to South Korea’s human rights violations. This predictably caused an uproar and – in keeping with the theme of Carter’s tenure – ended in well-intentioned failure. By this point, the presence of American troops had come to be seen as a necessary component to regional stability.

***

Finally, Brothers at War closes with a description of the two different paths taken by the two separate Koreas. Jager charts North Korea’s growing isolation from the community of nations, with its famines, prison camps, and its devotion to militarization. On the other hand, South Korea shifted to a democracy, hosted the Olympics, and became a model of economic progress. As I mentioned above, I wish this part had been longer and more detailed.

In any event, Jager takes us to the then-present, with Seoul - one of the world’s great cities – sitting uncomfortably in the shadow of roughly ten-thousand North Korean artillery pieces.

***

Whatever complaints I have about Jager’s sometimes idiosyncratic choices, Brothers at War is engaging throughout. Even when she is off-topic, she is off-topic in stimulating ways. The writing is clear, uncluttered, and accessible. At the same time, this comes with serious academic credentials, and there are ninety-one pages of endnotes in the back, many of them annotated.

Jager is something of an expert in this field, is a professor in East Asian studies, and just came out with a new book – The Other Great Game – about Korea in the nineteenth century. That’s a pretty good pedigree. She also has a compelling backstory as an American of Japanese and Dutch ancestry who – according to the internet – received a proposal of marriage from Barrack Obama.

***

When Kim Il Sung invaded South Korea, he wanted to unify Korea according to his own conception of what that meant. When South Korean President Syngman Rhee refused to sign the armistice, he did so because he wanted to unify Korea according to his conception of what that meant. Neither got what he wanted. As the years have gone by, the two Koreas have grown farther – not closer – apart. It does not seem likely that the two will become one during our lifetimes.

At the time of Brothers at War’s publication, Jager suggested a large role for China in perhaps solving – or at least easing – the tensions between North and South Korea. That does not appear super likely right now, as China has its own problems, and Kim Jong Un is one of them. He is relatively young, has supreme power, and is incredibly enamored with nuclear weapons. As long as North Korea exists mainly for his personal benefit, there is unlikely to be a rational, peaceful resolution. And so the war that never ended continues in its latent state, a condition that can go from predictably unstable to catastrophic in an instant. Brothers at War does a very fine job showing how we got here.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jager traces Korean history from the end of WWII to the 21st century. She explains the factors that led to the war and offers workmanlike coverage of the military aspects of the war. Her focus is on the geopolitical context and strategies of the prominent leaders such as Kim Il Sung, Stalin, Mao, Truman, General MacArthur and General Ridgeway. Jager also gives special attention to the plight of the Korean people, the POWs and the many atrocities committed by both sides. She skims through the rest of the century with an emphasis on politics, both internal and international. Her analysis details how both Koreas have been constrained by US, Chinese, and Russian policy. In turn, the Korean impact on US policy extended well beyond Korea. I found Jager’s account of US foreign policy particularly interesting. This is also a history of a strategic game between China, The Soviet Union/Russia, and the US. My notes follow.

The Lead-up to the Korean War

When the Japanese surrendered, Korea was given hardly a thought by the US. The first American troops went there primarily to disarm the Japanese and send them back to Japan. As American troops advanced up the Korean peninsula from the south and Soviet troops descended from the north, the US offered to divide the country into two administrative zones at the 38th parallel with the idea that eventually there would be elections and a unified Korea. The Russians accepted, but they and their Chinese Communist allies were intent on setting up a communist government in Korea they could control. The US did not understand that it was in for a cold war with the Soviets and their allies.

The communists chose a young Korean soldier, Kim Il Sung, to lead North Korea. Kim had fought for the Soviets against the Japanese in Manchuria. The North filled government posts with Koreans who had worked and fought for the Soviets and Chinese in WWII. Thus an orderly government was quickly established in the North. Stalin was the final arbiter of North Korean policy. Both Mao and Kim Il Sung followed his orders. The Americans soon realized that dealing with the Soviet administered North would be difficult when they sent a train north with supplies to trade for coal. The North not only didn’t send back any coal, they kept the train. Americans had no experience with the Koreans and after numerous missteps finally relied on conservative Christian Korean groups choosing Syngman Rhee as the Korean leader.

The first Soviet plan was to destabilize the South. They instigated riots and strikes led by sympathizers and infiltrators hoping to start a revolution and drive the Americans out. In response, the US brought in more troops, reestablished stability, and realized they needed a South Korean government. In 1948, the Republic of Korea was formed in the South and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the North. In 1949 Mao drove Chiang Kai-Shek out of mainland China. Mao’s China would be pivotal in Korea’s future, but for now Kim Il Sung took his orders directly from Stalin.

The Korean War

Kim convinced Stalin to let him invade the South. The Korean War started on June 25, 1950 with an all-out North Korean attack. The US went to the UN. The Soviets, Security Council members, had walked out of the UN in a dispute. Thus the US was able to avoid a Soviet veto and get a UN resolution authorizing the use of force to repel the North Koreans. The North’s attack quickly pushed back South Korean forces. The South Koreans were able to maintain a toehold on the peninsula until American troops and contributing UN members reinforced them. General MacArthur, commander of the UN forces, then pulled off a very risky but very successful amphibious landing at Inchon behind the North Korean lines that sent the North Korean forces reeling back. MacArthur’s next moves were far less successful. He pursued the North Koreans close to the Chinese border against much advice. As many feared, Mao then decided China would enter the war. The Chinese attack was massive and caught the Americans off-guard. The mostly American and South Korean UN forces reeled back.

The conflict was bloody. There were numerous mass executions and atrocities mainly at the hands of Korean forces on both sides. The North’s treatment of POW’s was brutal and many died. Refugees were everywhere escaping from harsh conditions in the North and the battles. The front lines meandered back and forth with the Americans now reluctant to approach the Chinese border. MacArthur became increasingly erratic bouncing back and forth from despair to overconfidence and wanting to use atomic bombs on Chinese supply lines which some feared would lead to WWIII. MacArthur took his positions directly to the press. President Truman fired MacArthur for ignoring his superiors and politicizing the war. The popular MacArthur was thinking of running for president. It was General Ridgeway who turned the war around for the UN forces, first when he took command of the US Eighth Army under MacArthur and later when he replaced MacArthur.

As the war dragged on, entering a stalemate, Truman became increasingly unpopular and his administration a target of anti-communist conservatives. A diminished Truman decided not to run again. Eisenhower became president in 1953. Eisenhower promised to end the war but had no new ideas about how to move the negotiations forward. Then, in March, Stalin died. The new Soviet leadership wanted out of the Korean War. They softened their terms agreeing to an armistice that is still in effect. The Korean War cost the US 36,000 dead, 100,000 wounded. China lost 600,000 men killed or missing. The two Koreas combined lost 600,000 military and 1.6 million civilians. (Statistics from CNN.) Returning POWs often found themselves reviled In America as failures or worse, collaborators. Korean POWs found themselves viewed with even greater suspicion upon return.

Korean War Impact on US Policy and Viet Nam

The war shaped US foreign policy. The Soviets and Chinese were seen as seeking worldwide domination. Eisenhower decided on a military strategy that relied on airpower and nuclear weapons. He believed that fear the US would use atomic bombs caused the communists to negotiate seriously. Rather it was Stalin’s death. Stalin had been the one who insisted Mao prolong the war. US Viet Nam policy also was influenced by the experience in Korea. The French asked for air support for the battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. General Ridgeway, then Army Chief of Staff, objected vehemently to getting involved. He didn’t buy into Eisenhower’s new policy. Ridgeway held that airpower and naval power alone could not win. Ridgeway believed, as in Korea, it took troops and a lot of them. The US ended up only providing limited covert support to the French. When JFK became president in 1961 he reversed Eisenhower’s policy adopting the policy of Flexible Response. It meant building up the army which gave the US more options than an all or nothing response. Another outcome of the Korean War was the establishment of a permanent military-industrial complex that Eisenhower insightfully warned about.

LBJ took a different lesson from Korea when he decided to commit the US in Viet Nam. He saw that Truman had been excoriated for losing China and the stalemate in Korea. For LBJ Viet Nam was a domestic political issue. He thought leaving Viet Nam to its fate would cost him his job. Mao also learned a lesson from Korea. He did not want to suffer the heavy losses that he had in Korea. He decided that unless the US invaded North Viet Nam, China would not send in troops. Park Chung Hee, who took over South Korea in a coup in 1961, saw South Korea’s opportunity in Viet Nam. By readily offering troops to the US, he secured prodigious amounts of US military and economic aid. In 1968 South Korea had 50,000 military and 15,000 civilians in Viet Nam. 20% of the infantry under US command was South Korean. When these battle-tested troops returned home they formed a strong deterrent to North Korean attack.

The Koreas after the War and the Pueblo

At the end of the Korean War, North Korea was devastated and disease was rampant. In the last six months of the war, more North Korean soldiers died from tuberculosis than combat. But Kim Il Sung’s first instinct as always was political. He immediately concentrated on eliminating all opposition including elements of Chinese and Soviet influence. Purges, show trials, executions and imprisonments of any even remotely suspect of disloyalty ensued. The Soviets were concerned, but preoccupied with Eastern European instability such as the 1956 Hungarian revolt. Firmly in control in the 1960s, Kim turned his attention to a growing disparity in economic progress between the North and the South. Park Chung Hee leveraging the US predicament in Viet Nam was building a strong South Korean economy while Kim’s seven year plan was a disaster. Fearing being eclipsed by Park, Kim made his move.

In January 1968 Kim sent commandos to the South to assassinate Park in what is known as the Blue House Raid. The raid failed with the commandos all killed or captured. Later that month, without notifying the Soviets, Kim ordered the capture of the US intelligence ship, Pueblo. After the failed commando raid, Kim felt he needed to demonstrate strength at home. The end result was a little propaganda for Kim and $100 million in additional US military aid for Park, who again leveraged his Viet Nam commitment. The Tet Offensive was just underway in Viet Nam. In 1972 Park declared martial law and made himself president for life. Nixon’s rapprochement that year with China on top of the tepid US response after the Pueblo and Blue House Raid convinced Park he had to build up even more South Korea’s military and economy.

In 1976 after the fall of Viet Nam Jimmy Carter campaigned on removing all US troops from South Korea. Understandably South Korea felt that like Viet Nam it was now to be abandoned. But President Carter ran into stiff opposition inside his own administration and everywhere else. Even China and the Soviets opposed US withdrawal. Everyone feared the US leaving Korea was a green light to Kim to start a new war. Carter was never able to deliver on his promise, but Park leveraged it into another massive military and economic aid package. In 1979 Park was shot by his own security chief in a personally motivated murder. Soon there was a military coup. Student unrest followed. Many were shot and many also blamed the US and naively became sympathetic to North Korea. In 1984 a financially strapped Soviet Union stopped financial support for the North. North Korea without outside money soon became a failed state. In 1987 South Korea, now economically vibrant, finally held free elections and in 1988 hosted the Olympics. The contrast between North and South was never greater.

The Nineties: A Nuclear North and Famine

North Korea began its nuclear program in 1985. The US recognized North Korea had secret nuclear installations in the early 1990s. The US demanded international inspections. North Korea refused. By 1994 North Korea had enough plutonium to build four bombs. President Clinton considered all options including war, but Jimmy Carter intervened, visiting Kim Il Sung as a private citizen. Kim agreed to in essence freeze his nuclear program, but not dismantle it, in exchange for no sanctions, no war, continued negotiations, indefinitely delayed inspections and free fuel oil from the US. Clinton signed off on what was called the Agreed Framework. Kim bought time at no cost. Clinton’s critics in the US lambasted the deal. Kim Il Sung died later that year of a heart attack. His son Kim Jung Il succeeded him. He too was happy with the Agreed Framework which did nothing to stop North Korea’s nuclear program.

Famine killed between 600,000 and one million North Koreans from 1995 to 1998. Most deaths were in the hinterlands where the lowest class, called the hostile class, of North Koreans had been sent. North Korea divided its citizens into three classes, hostile (lowest), wavering (middle), and core (highest). The core class was allowed to live in or near Pyongyang which was served well by the country’s food distribution network. The North’s disastrous collective farming was responsible for the famine as was its inefficient and politically directed food distribution system. The famine led to black market activities, widespread stealing and people trying to escape to China. These people were tracked down arrested and sent to gulags usually holding about 200,000 people in the 1990s. They were brutally treated in these work camps and many died making room for new prisoners.

Jager ends with a cursory look at Korea in the 21st century. She particularly notes the rise of China and China’s interest in cementing an economic relationship with the North including the lease of its port at Rajin and investment in North Korean mines. China wants to integrate the North into its economic system. The book published in 2013 does not cover the dramatic recent turns with President Trump or the new dovish South Korean president Moon. Although Jager mentions the nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009 she offers little on the progress and implications of the North’s nuclear program. She finishes with the death of Kim Jong Il and the succession of Kim Jong Un in 2011.

Final Thoughts

All in all Jager paints a picture of competing political interests with each involved country playing one against the other. North and South Korea, China, Russia and the US all make their moves. Yet these typically are not decided strategically. Rather it is how the issues play in current domestic politics. Eisenhower’s campaign pledge to end the Korean War, Jimmy Carter’s campaign pledge to withdraw American troops from Korea, Bill Clinton’s Agreed Framework, and Donald Trump’s summit with Kim Jong UN were all driven by domestic US politics. So too were decisions by the Korean leaders. Now we have an impulsive Trump and a Kim Jong Un armed with one hundred nuclear bombs and building more. The Chinese and Russians as always stir the pot. History as well as common sense tells us Kim will never denuclearize. What will happen after Trump’s and Kim’s love fest ends?

[Sweetwilliam · Rating 5 out of 5]

If your goal is to have a better understanding of the Korean War and current events occurring on the Korean Peninsula today and all the things that happened in between, than you need to read this book. Read it twice. I started highlighting all the paragraphs that I thought worthy and I nearly highlighted the entire book!

I enjoyed the in-depth account of the shooting war. I was particularly moved by the stand made by the Gloucester regiment and the Belgian BTN that fought to the last man. I hadn’t realized the commitment and sacrifice that our allies had made during the Korean War and the ROK made during the Vietnam War. I was thoroughly disgusted to learn that the South Korean government was at times equally efficient at committing mass atrocities as the Communists.

This book also does a great job covering the post –shooting war year on the Peninsula in a very entertaining and informative manner. For me, it was full of surprises. My favorite part of the book is when Jimmy Carter won the election in 1975 and vowed to fulfill a campaign promise of removing all US ground troops from the Korean Peninsula. Yes, of course the South Koreans and the Joint Chiefs were appalled. And yes, our allies in Asia such as Singapore, Japan, and Taiwan were appalled. And yes responsible members of the Democratic Party were taken aback and urged President Carter to reconsider. The surprise to me is that when Democratic Senators John Glen and other US envoys made secret trips to Red China and the Soviet Union and learned that the both Communist allies of North Korea wanted the US troops to remain in the Peninsula because removing them would upset the world order. The Russians didn’t trust the Chinese and vice versa and both had no idea what Kim Il Sung was going to do either. He was an unpredictable nutcase.

The South Koreans and Capitalism have emerged as the clear winner of the war. Meanwhile, the North Koreans have degenerated into a state that’s economy is based on loan defaults and foreign aid that is little more than tribute extracted in the same manner as the Barbary pirates of the 18th Century.

I learned after reading the book that the author, Sheila Miyoshi Jager, is a former fiancé of ex-president Obama. If you are not an Obama fan I wouldn’t let this deter you. Sheila is a professor of East Asian studies at Oberlin and she was also a visiting research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College from 2006 to 2008. I felt that this was a very even-handed account of events on the Korean Peninsula and I found it very entertaining to boot.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I'm smarter and sadder for the past. I've followed North Korea's nuclear craziness a little bit and made fun of Kim Jong Il, but I really had no idea. Remember how Psy had to apologize for some anti-American stuff he had sung in the past--even though he's from South Korea--as he toured the US making $$$ from Gangnam Style? Find out why. Did you realize that South Korea was mostly a US supported military dictatorship until the late 1980's? I didn't. Ever scoff at how implausible the strange totalitarian regimes in dystopian fiction are? Well, truth is stranger than fiction folks.

The Korean War makes 1000% more sense now, and it's very sad stuff. There were no good options for the US and South Korea. We supported a messed up bad regime against a horribly messed up Soviet puppet regime. The suffering of the soldiers on all sides, the POW's, and the poor peasants of Korea is heart breaking.

The politics of that war and their lingering influence on Vietnam and throughout the Cold War are fascinating and sadly messed up. You learn some about internal Soviet politics, and lots about Mao's horrible dictatorship in China as well because the three Communist powers both support and compete against each other.

The US has done some dumb stuff in Korea, but some crazy intellectual reactions to that led them to embrace the philosophies of the crazy communist North at times. The North had a veneer of prosperity until the Soviet Union collapsed because they were basically able to extort billions and billions of aid from the Soviets and Chinese each year in order to assure that they wouldn't restart the Korean War. Kim Il Sung and his son stopped being a puppet regime and became the crazy relative you feed and supply cash to because you're convinced they're going to get arrested in a flagrantly public way if you don't. The three generations of Kim leaders define themselves as "independent" even though they have the most dependent, crappy economy in the world that is drastically worse than before the Korean War.

Once the Soviet sugar daddy went away, the people started starving in earnest, and things have not gotten better, especially because the government has nuclear weapons to wave around in angry tantrums.

As I said earlier, Kim Il Sung and Mao Zedong join Stalin and Hitler as real world regimes in the last 70 years that make plausible the crazy dystopian scenarios that are so popular these days. Mao and Kim repeatedly manufactured provocations by the US or South Korea as an excuse to...slaughter their own people. Seriously. The weirdest bit was the "attack" by the US on Korea and China when we supposedly dropped plane loads of disease-infected insects and small mammals in rural areas. Mao killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese in his push for better "hygiene," and some nutty socialist professors from the West declared the attack was real from studying some animals the Chinese provided as proof. "This diseased vole was dropped from a plane. It survived and was rampaging across the countryside. This one farmer totally saw it happen. The American devils have gone too far this time!"

The book is very well-written, but it's not quite 1776-level smoothness. Some of my Goodreads friends would love this, others would find it too long and detailed. If you have an interest in world history, I highly, highly recommend this one. It runs from 1945 until 2012, so it's easier to connect to the end of this as we have heard a lot about North Korea in the news.

[Jeremy Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a paradox to me. It took 6 full months to finish because I kept picking up other books I was more interested in. It is not an exciting read but it is a fascinating one, and I really appreciate everything I learned.

I think the main reason it read so slowly is that almost everything here is politics. There is so much context to unpack: the histories of Korea, Japan, China, and Russia in the area; Japanese colonialism; WWII; US-Soviet tensions; the UN; the North Korea-USSR-China triangle; and North-South Korea. It's all a tangled mess of feelings over a relatively tiny peninsula that amounts to very little actual combat, even in the 3 year fighting period.

Again: I LOVED learning so much.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant and well researched history of the Korean War. Although I read a few books dealing with the war, most of them described the aftermath. Ms. Jäger filled in all the blanks and more. If you are interested at all in this conflict this is a must read.

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a feat of research and analysis from which I learnt:

1. The Korean War was brutal - to the UN Forces, ROK, North Koreans, Chinese Army , civilians and North Koran infrastructure.

2. The political whims and egos of the major players meant hundred of thousands of people suffered.

3. The more successful that South Korea gets, the weirder North Korea will behave as it attempts to prove to its domestic population that it is the leader in Asia.

4. China never forgets.

A very sad example of the way our governments behave.

[Al Lock · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent account of the political manipulations and ramifications of the War in Korea from the end of World War II until the present day. The author does a great job of examining the actions and pressures on each of the major players - South and North Korea, the United States, Japan, the Soviet Union and Russia and the People's Republic of China. This book is a must read for those interested in the Korean War as well as how the Korean Peninsula got to where it is now, and how it may move forward. Highly recommended.

[Casper Veen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toen de Verenigde Naties met een leger van ruim twintig nationaliteiten ingreep in de Koreaanse Oorlog wachtte een onverwachte uitdaging om in de eetgewoonten van alle militairen te voorzien. Voor de Turken werd een dieet zonder varkensvlees geregeld via een Japanse visconservenfabriek. Grieken wensten op het orthodox paasfeest vijftien levende lammeren voor hun feestmaal. De meeste Indiërs wilden weer alleen een vegetarisch potje. Ook de kleding was soms een probleem: een Thailander mat gemiddeld korter dan een Nederlander.

In Broederstrijd in Korea gaat historica Sheila Miyoshi Jager in op hoe de opsplitsing van Korea in 1945 uiteindelijk zou uitmonden in de Koreaanse Oorlog (1950-1953) en hoe dit conflict zeven decennia sinds de wapenstilstand continu na blijft etteren. Hoewel het het eerste grote ‘hete’ conflict van de Koude Oorlog was en een van de meest vernietigende slagvelden van de twintigste eeuw opleverde, staat de strijd bekend als de ‘Vergeten Oorlog’.

De tekst begint in 1945 bij de dekolonisatie én opdeling van Korea. Besproken wordt hoe Washington en Moskou beide Korea’s inrichtten naar hun eigen voorbeeld – met uiteindelijk desastreuze gevolgen. De helft van de totale tekst is vervolgens gewijd aan de Koreaanse Oorlog, waarna nog hoofdstukken volgen over de Koude Oorlog en de periode sindsdien.

Broederstrijd in Korea bevat veel interessante analyses en anekdotes, die zelfs voor veel kenners nog onbekend zullen zijn. De voorbeelden van lomp gedrag waarmee de Chinese dictator Mao Zedong Sovjetleider Nikita Chroesjtsjov treiterde, zijn bijzonder geestig. En bij vredesbesprekingen kreeg de Amerikaanse onderhandelaar een kinderstoeltje en de Noord-Koreaanse vertegenwoordiger een extra hoge stoel. ‘Generaal Nam Il [stak] een goede 30 centimeter boven mijn onwillig verlaagde positie uit’, memoreert de Amerikaan.

Interessant is ook hoe de complexiteit van het ‘Koreaanse vraagstuk’ aan de oppervlakte komt wanneer de Amerikaanse president Jimmy Carter voorstelt de tienduizenden Amerikaanse troepen terug te trekken uit Zuid-Korea. Niet alleen was de Zuid-Koreaanse president Park Chung-hee (die zelfs Amerikaanse congresleden omkocht om de aftocht te voorkomen) hiertegen gekant, maar ook vijanden China en de Sovjet-Unie bleken de ‘imperialistische’ militairen toch liever op het schiereiland te houden – om de impulsieve Kim Il-sung in toom te houden. Miyoshi Jager zet verder uitstekend uiteen hoe het ook niet altijd koek en ei was tussen bondgenoten Washington en Seoul.

De ongekende wreedheid van de Koreaanse Oorlog komt in het bijzonder aan bod in het hoofdstuk over de krijgsgevangenkampen. Voor dit deel put Miyoshi Jager uit persoonlijke ervaringen van geïnterneerden, waaruit uitgebreid geciteerd wordt. Daardoor wordt het leed van de veelal jonge militairen voelbaar.

Jammer dus dat elders in het boek de persoonlijke ervaringen dun gezaaid zijn. Er worden soms citaten aangehaald van burgers, maar de focus blijft op de machthebbers en gezagvoerende militairen. Dit resulteert erin dat het boek een prima overzicht geeft van het verloop van de strijd en de politieke ontwikkelingen in beide Korea’s, de VS, China en de Sovjet-Unie – maar dat het maatschappijbeeld in Noord- en Zuid-Korea weinig aan het licht komt.

Broederstrijd in Korea verscheen in 2013 al in het Engels, maar is nu voor het eerst in Nederlandse vertaling beschikbaar. De flaptekst belooft dat het boek is bijgewerkt ‘tot de ontmoeting van de Koreaanse leiders met de Amerikaanse president Trump in 2019’. Frappant en slordig dus dat Trump na de derde alinea van het voorwoord nergens in het boek meer genoemd wordt.

Zulke uitglijders bevat het boek verder niet. Wel overheerst vaker het gevoel dat gebeurtenissen van enorm belang voor de Koreaanse Oorlog wel héél kort besproken worden. De amfibische landing bij Incheon moet het met twee luttele alinea’s doen. Dat terwijl dit een van de meest imposante (en riskante) militaire manoeuvres van de twintigste eeuw was, die bovendien de intrede van het VN-commando in de Koreaanse Oorlog inluidde en de volledige verovering van Zuid-Korea ternauwernood wist te stoppen. Ook de wapenstilstand van 1953 die na twee jaar onderhandelen eindelijk zorgde voor een einde van de strijd wordt in anderhalve alinea afgedaan.

Dat terwijl andere zaken die hooguit zijdelings betrekking hebben op het inter-Koreaanse conflict in paginalange beschouwingen uiteen worden gezet. Zo wordt lang uitgeweid over de slechte persoonlijke band tussen Mao en Chroesjtsjov, terwijl maar matig duidelijk wordt gemaakt hoe dit de Noord-Koreaanse leider Kim Il-sung de kans gaf beide communistische heersers tegen elkaar uit te spelen. Vaker passeren lange historische bespiegelingen over China, de Sovjet-Unie en de VS de revue, zonder dat duidelijk wordt wat dit betekent voor het Koreaanse broedervolk waar het boek eigenlijk over zou gaan.

De vertaling van het boek is uitstekend verzorgd. Ondanks de informatiedichtheid en soms bijna academische formuleringen leest de tekst vlot weg.

Door het te kort uiteenzetten van cruciale gebeurtenissen en het juist lang uitweiden over bijzaken is het soms niet geheel duidelijk wat de auteur nu eigenlijk wil bespreken in haar boek. Lezers die een heldere studie van het conflict zoeken, zijn beter af bij Max Hastings standaardwerk De Koreaanse Oorlog. Toch levert Miyoshi Jager een mooie monografie af met veel interessante analyses en nieuwe informatie, die voor liefhebbers de moeite waard is.

Deze recensie verscheen op 16 oktober in NRC: https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2020/10/15/...

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would give a 2.5 if I could. It’s fine as an introduction and for the most part I’m glad I read it but there is much here that rubs me the wrong way. There’s whole sections dedicated to the work camps or famines in North Korea but only sentences in passing to “President Park’s human rights violations”. So much time is spent on Sino-Soviet relations which of course is crucial context for understanding the North Korean political situation post 1953 but I can’t help but feel that some of this could have been trimmed down and greater focus applied to life in both north and south post armistice.

[Douglas Trent · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent account of the Korean War and it’s aftermath. Extremely thorough and includes a lot of excellent maps to further explain battles and troop movements.

I came away with a much better understanding of Korea and the issues that created the War and why the United States, Russia and China are so invested in the region.

Very well written and researched. I really enjoyed how the author told the facts and accounts, it made for a very enjoyable read.

[Shawn Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, frankly, exhausted me. In terms of the information presented, it's very good; you're not going to find a better English-language one-volume history of the entire period in which the Two Koreas have existed. She places the war itself in the proper context of the long-view of Korea's divided history, and gives much more focus to Korean impetus and sources than you'd usually get in the American-centric histories that dominate the reading lists here. That said, though; it's just a bit of a slog to _read_. The level of detail occasionally approaches overwhelming, and Jager doesn't provide the best narrative flow in which to situate, comprehend, and retain that detail.

To start with, if you don't already have a good grounding in the war itself, this book is not going to give it to you. For example, there's much more in this book about the rebellion of POW's at Koje-Do than there is regarding, say, the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. The latter is covered, but not to the depth of events elsewhere. And that's FINE; I believe her whole point is to restore the agency the Koreans usually lose in English-language histories of the conflict, and therefore she chooses to focus more on events that haven't been covered well before. Arguably, in terms of KOREAN history, the rebellion at Koje-Do mattered more than the retreat from Chosin. Just know that going in, and read something like Halberstam's "The Coldest Winter" to get grounded on the war itself.

More problematically, even though she does present a lot of detail overall on the war era, it's provided in a weirdly staggered way that makes it hard to follow the actual chronological flow of events. Or at least it was for me.

That said, the book also succeeds on a lot of fronts, particularly on the level of new information presented regarding the domestic South Korean front and the entirety of the Communist side. While again obviously focused on presenting the Koreans as their own actors with their own methods, she does not shrink away from showing that the Rhees and Il Sungs of the time had their actions strongly circumscribed by what their ideological big brothers would allow. For all of the loud trumpeting of the North Korean autarkic ideal of "juche" they have subjected everyone to over the decades, the historical record makes it clear that, at almost no times throughout its history, has North Korea been able to decide entirely on its own course. Rather, the South Koreans have had more success making their American patrons react to their own actions than the North Koreans ever did at getting the Chinese or the Soviet/Russians to theirs.

Jager also does well in presenting an honest picture of the economic race of each Korea in the post-war era; it sounds surprising to consider that North Korea was actually probably ahead of the South Koreans economically until the mid-1960's, even after being bombed mostly flat by the American Air Force in the war, but the South Korean leadership was that bad at caring about or knowing how to improve the lot of the average citizen for quite some time.

I enjoyed Jager most when she discusses how the poor economic performance of early South Korean governments led to civilian dissatisfaction with western-style democracy and, instead, resulted in support for the Communist cause that seemed to be doing a better job of raising the standard of its people at the time. This carries into the reaction and repression that stripped away rights from the South, but also provided the stability necessary for genuine economic growth to finally occur. In turn, that increasing wealth empowered the people to where they were able to force a return of democracy. Meanwhile, throughout, the North simply became increasingly poor, isolated, and unstable.

Overall, I can give Brothers at War a qualified recommendation; if you're well-versed in the war itself that is the dominating event of this entire era, and can deal with the occasionally confusing and meandering nature of the narrative, this book will fill in the periods before and following the war better than anything else you're going to find in English today. If not, I'd recommend reading some dedicated histories of the war itself first, and/or waiting to see if anybody else decides to try and replicate Jager's work here in the next few years in a clearer, more cohesive fashion.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jager's book is excellent, a thorough and thought-provoking look at the Korean War and its aftermath to the present day. What I found really fascinating (aside from the fact that live tadpoles are apparently rich in vitamins and were used by the North Korean and Chinese soldiers as a sort of dietary supplement) was her account of the world powers' interventions on the Korean peninsula, and the ways in which North and South Korea continue to have an outsized impact on world affairs. Highly recommended.

[K C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since the extent of my knowledge of the Korean War was the TV series MASH, and considering we may soon be in a war with North Korea, I decided it was time to learn a bit more about the peninsula. This book was an excellent primer of the military and political history of Korea since it was divided in WWII. Not exactly a light read, but still accessible to to those of us who are (or were) ignorami on the subject.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this!
You will find here an updated presentation of the ups and downs, combat and long, cold war surrounding the Korean peninsula, going back to a time in third - 6th century AD. The history here is insightful, up-to-date, and current, though concise in portrayal of the years 1950-1953; it's even better before and after.
Highly recommended.

[Mikey B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author gives a thorough history of the Korean War from June/1950 to when the armistice was signed in July/1953; but the war and the hostilities continue to this day.

Page 286 my book

Although the killing had stopped, the war continued, solidifying cold war arrangements for the next fifty years. The Korean War has officially outlasted the cold war, since no formal peace treaty between the belligerents has been signed and it persisted in influencing global events.

The author correctly points out that ever since the demarcation line was established at the 38th parallel to separate North and South Korea at the conclusion of the Second World War there has been a continuous civil war between them – and it has been vicious, with atrocities on both sides. These are slowly coming to be realized, much more so in South Korea.

This war is viewed in the book from different perspectives: South Korea, North Korea, China, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Many historical changes since the armistice have affected both South and North Korea; like the demise of the superpower status of the Soviet Union, the tremendous growth of China onto the world stage, the changing strategies of the U.S. during the years that was wavering in its military commitment to South Korea.

South Korea after the signing of the armistice in 1953 was one of the poorest countries in the world. North Korea was basking in the economic, military and financial support it received from the Soviet Union and China – on loans it never repaid.

The author demonstrates how both China and the Soviet Union (later Russia) tried to rein in the aberrant leadership of North Korea, which became essentially a monarchical kingdom where total control was passed from father to son. Kim Il Sung, his son Kim Jong Il, and grandson Kim Jong Un have all played a wily balancing act between the Soviet Union (Russia) and China to get what they want to maintain their power. The author speculates both China and Russia realize that the presence of the U.S. military in South Korea has a restraining effect on the demented warrior mentality of the North Korean leaders. For example, the Soviet Union was not at all happy with the seizure of the USS Pueblo by North Korea in January/1968 – and they did not send any Soviet personnel to inspect the ship.

There has always been a contentious relationship between the U.S. military presence in South Korea and the government and people of South Korea. There have been demonstrations against the U.S. presence in South Korea – and Jimmy Carter wanted to withdraw the bulk of American forces from South Korea, but was prevented from doing so by congressional opposition.

In the early years there was always conflict in South Korea between who was running the government: Syngman Rhee (South Korea’s leader), the United Nations, or the United States. This has altered over the decades as South Korea became more and more economically and financially viable (in fact, lending (donating) money to North Korea). The increasingly despotic and aggressive behavior of North Korean leadership has made many in South Korea come to doubt the value of reunification. Why should a prosperous and modern South Korea attempt to integrate a poverty-stricken and indoctrinated North Korea?

This book was published in 2013, so during this age of Trump there is much uncertainty about U.S. military commitment.

China is now the dominant economic force – and South Korea is becoming concerned as to whether China is trying to annex impoverished North Korea. The North Korea totalitarian regime incarcerated thousands which can be used for cheap labour by the Chinese.

Page 571 (note20)

The primary source of discrimination in North Korean society is defined by the regime to be one’s presumed value as a friend or foe to the Kim regime (often based on one’s family history).

This book does much to broaden one’s understanding of this contentious peninsula which historically has been colonized by so many outside countries – Japan, Russia, China, and to some extent the U.S. South Korea is now a dominant economic force, but it is surrounded by dangerous antagonistic nations.

[Clem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I love history, I don’t really pay too much attention to current events. I guess I mistrust the news media too much. The country of North Korea never seemed to be a major player in my head until President George W. Bush, in a State of the Union address shortly after 9/11, stated that the country, along with Iran and Iraq, was part of the “Axis of Evil”.

Is the country that bad? I know they are a communist country that the United Nations fought in a war a half-century ago, but I didn’t really know too much about the history before then. Nor am I aware of many of the current affairs of the country since 1953. Sheila Miyoshi Jager does a brilliant job giving her readers a brief (600 pages) history of North and South Korea, beginning around 1910, when the two countries were united, but subjugated by their bully neighbor, Japan.

Being geographically smack-dab in the middle of aggressive neighbors Japan, China, and Russia can only hurt such a country, and history tells us Korea has been mauled over for millennia by neighboring aggressors. So what to do with the country after World War II ends? From a U.S. perspective, Japan are now the ‘good’ guys and Russia are now the ‘bad’ guys. Russia wants it. The U.S. says no way, and the country is basically split in two.

In June 1950, the Korean War, or ‘Police Action’ begins. About half of this book is devoted to 1950-1953. It’s not an exhaustive account of the war, yet Jager tells us all we really need to know. Yes, North Korea under Kim Il-sung is a brutal place and he is a ruthless dictator, but many in the South ain’t exactly saints either. Such is the psychology of the masses that have lived in turmoil for so many centuries.

My favorite part of the book is the second-half, that deals with the two countries at the end of the conflict through present day (2014). I think this is because I considered myself well-versed on the Korean War, so most of what I read was familiar. It was what has happened since then that was an interesting learning experience for me.

In fact, I really wanted more. That’s always a compliment to a book when it’s 600 pages in length and you feel it’s not enough. Again, though, Jager knows how to summarize well and keep her readers interested. It’s fascinating to find out that nothing is ever as simple as it should be. We see many instances of neighboring countries switching alliance from North to South and vice-versa. Why? Because all countries are basically selfish and look out for themselves before anyone else. Example: When Mao took over China and turned it into a communist nation, it might seem obvious that he would ally with fellow tyrant Joseph Stalin. Together, they could rule the world. Right? Well, no. Evil dictators are incredibly arrogant people, and the concept of ‘working together’ just isn’t appealing to such despots. So North Korea finds itself bouncing around from communist-country to communist-country in terms of alliance.

Although this book is about both countries, the focus seems to be more on the northern neighbor. I’m guessing because it makes more interesting (yet horribly depressing) reading. I can’t imagine even the most curious person every wanting to visit such a place. The Kim dynasty (Il-sung was succeeded by son Kim Jong-il, then by grandson Kim Jong-un) are truly evil oppressors that ooze terror and malevolence. The worse things get in the country, the more temper-tantrums they throw, resulting in mass killings, starvation, and colossal concentration camps throughout the country. It’s a sad sad tale.

Of course, as I write this review, the country’s turbulent activities continue. What will happen in the future? Sometimes, the thought truly horrifies me. Maybe that’s why I don’t watch the news much. Very interesting, yet incredibly depressing.

[Doug Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the threat of war (or the crazy rantings about war) with North Korea, I thought I should learn more about the history of the conflict. I realized that most of what I knew about Korea and the Korean War I had learned from MASH. In browsing through books to read on the issue, I came across this book in a review in The Economist.

The book starts with the end of World War II. Japan had invaded the Korean peninsula in 1910. With Japan’s loss of the WWII, the Soviet Union and US divided the spoils and each took half of Korea, with the 38th parallel as a dividing line. Japanese troops to the North of this line were to surrender to the Soviet Union and troops to the South of this line would surrender to the United States.

The division was not intended originally to be a partition. But the Cold War between the US and the USSR made negotiations difficult. The separate administration quickly led to two separate governments arising. In the North, the Soviets were happy to allow a communist government to take control. The US was not wiling to let the South turn to communism and kept control.

In June 1950, troops from North Korea invaded South Korea to free it from American imperialism. China encouraged the confrontation with the United States. The Soviet Union also supported the invasion, but less enthusiastically. It was this triad of communism that continued in the North for decades.

After three years of fighting, the war ended with an armistice agreement. The cease fire line was back to the 38th parallel. No peace treaty was signed, nor has one been signed.

For a decade after the war, the North was more prosperous than the South. It was not until the 1980s that the countries’ prosperities turned sharply in different directions. North Korea had devoted too much of its production to the military, causing stagnation. Then the Soviet Union, its financial benefactor, collapsed. The South was under autocratic leadership until a democracy movement resulted in an elected president in 1987.

The South continued on a path of democracy and capitalism.

Meanwhile, the North turned into a dynastic communist state. When Kim Il-sung died in 1994, his son, Kim Jong-il, continued the dynasty. When he died in 2011, his son, Kim Jong-un, took control. That dynasty became focused on developing nuclear weapons to ward off the perceived threat from the United States to attack the North and once again occupy the South.

That leaves us 67 years later still dealing with a poorly thought out post-war division of the Korean peninsula, where the threat of war has persisted over those decades.

If you are interested in learning more about the Korean War and how that legacy of that war has continued to toady, this is an excellent book to add to your reading pile.

[Ish · Rating 5 out of 5]

considering how big of a cultural influence south korea has in asia, i picked up this book to understand the dynamics between the two koreas better. it was quite unexpected to learn the role that the great powers have played in the korean war, beginning with splitting the peninsular shortly after the end of the second world war. not only did the korean war become a coming of age for american military intervention and foreign policy, it was also a site of many mistakes by int. powers, and still is watched carefully for how the shift in dynamics can change powers in east asia in the long run. more importantly, the korean war showed the heights of cold war communist/anti-communist paranoia, and how that lead to unbelievably harsh conditions on the korean peninsula.

the writing is engaging, clear and to the point, and includes a lot of interesting anecdotes. i do wish they’d highlighted the current situation of south vs north a bit more, especially following the korean wave in asia, but for an isolationist country like north korea that does not matter as much as economic reform or aids.

the underlying struggle for both koreas has been how to avoid imperialism and the right to self determination - to this end this is a really sad history of necessities for cooperating with foreign powers, and how developing countries can end up in dependencies.

there’s also a lot of lessons on how communist economies didn’t fare well and the additional challenges they posed, and also an understanding from the vietnam war that even communist governments that are left to self regulate can open up their economies to capitalist forces more, which also opens the question of how korea may have developed without intervention to begin with.

anyway! it’s also a good book just to put asian history into context.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheila Miyoshi Jager's extremely readable, well written, deep yet easily comprehensible history of the Korean War (both the shooting war in the 50's through to when it was published in the early 2010's) with a focus from the perspective and emphasis of the two Korea's interactions in it. It tactfully maintains a tight focus despite it's broad scope in the second half/final two thirds that takes place after the ceasefire which is a feat in and of itself. Though it does make it worth noting this is not a broad history of the Korea's since the second world war but very much focuses on the interactions between the two nations, weather that be conflict, thawing, or freezing. In that way it might seem more geopolitical than one would want, hoping for a broader look at North/South conditions since the armistice but I think an already large work benefits from attempting not to go to far outside it's bounds. This focus also extends to the Great Power history and involvement in the peninsula. And on top of that it's one of the easier histories of the actual shooting war in the 50's for a layman to follow that I've read.

With great images and maps (that are much better noted than a standard non-fiction work) and an easily follow-able narrative backed by copious citations and end-notes I think you will be hard press to find a better look at the aggressive Korean division that has drug itself along into the 21st century with no end in sight.

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid overview of the Korean War and the aftermath of the original conflict as it relates to the two Koreas and their allies. A key fact to note is that North and South Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Republic of Korea) never officially ended hostilities. The DMZ is still the most heavily armed/defended border in the world, long after the Panmunjom Meeting in 1953. Jager covers enough of the key points of the war, but doesn’t dwell too much on the conflict itself. Of note, she highlights an opportunity in 1951 when perhaps US forces, had they acted decisively enough and quickly enough, could have broken the Chinese lines in Korea, but it didn’t come to pass.

The analysis of the post-conflict Koreas generally follows accepted knowledge. It is key to note that North Korea was far more beholden to the USSR than China, and with its fall, led to the ruination of the North Korean state. South Korea’s existence was not assured and Kim Il Sung’s perceptions of opportunities to reunify the peninsula until the 1980s were not too off-base.

A solid history that is readable and not too wrapped up in academic analysis. Worth the read for one wanting an overview of not only the war, but also the aftermath and the backstory for how relations are today on the Korean Peninsula and between the key stakeholders.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Korean War is often discussed as one of the first major events of the Cold War, with the USSR and the USA and their allies coming to blows in the Korean Peninsula. Even now, the conflict is often discussed more often as an American foreign policy problem than as a problem for the Korean people. Sheila Miyoshi Jager is able to get past many of these layers that have been applied to the Korean conflict and presents a more human and more complicated view of the division of the Korean people.
Jager spends time discussing what lead to the war, the basic military actions, and then the continuation of the conflict into the early 2000's. I was unfamiliar with how complicated the relationship of South Korea/Republic of Korea and the United States has been and continues to be. Both ROK and DPRK need their external allies as long as the other has external aid. The most chilling aspect, which I wished that Jager had spent more time on, was her forecast that as economic difficulties continue to ground down the infrastructure of the DPRK, that the collapse of the North Korean regime will not result in unification of the peninsula, but in the expansion of China into the power vacuum.

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that could have been given a long, descriptive title of the sort popular in the eighteenth century, something like: “Unintended consequences and recurrent miscalculations of political powers great and small in the origination, conduct, and consequences of the Korean War.”

The book is not really about the Korean War per se, though the conflict’s multinational and Korean components are appropriately emphasized in the fine summary that comprises its first half. Nor does Jager flinch from recounting the misdeeds committed by Americans and South Koreans during that war.

Nevertheless, I believe her emphasis on realpolitik inclines her to underestimate the revolutionary power of capitalism in the South and the cultural and religious factors that play their own roles in today’s divided peninsula. While South Korea is home to the Unification Church and the million-member Yoido Full Gospel Church, North Korea has persecuted Christianity with brutal relentlessness rivaled only by Islamic states. The North Korean “chuch’e principle” is as much a religious as a political philosophy, one that can brook no otherworldly rivals.

[Helen Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happened upon this book because when reading about Barack Obama, read that he had proposed to and been turned down twice by someone named Sheila Miyoshi Jager, who was a professor of East Asian Studies at Oberlin College. Who can turn down looking into that when you further learn that she has a Japanese mother and is married to a Korean history instructor at the college?

So I have plowed through this book for almost two months and learned a great deal about WWII, the Korean War, Kim Jong Un, and why he keeps sending those missiles up into the sky.

Absolutely fascinating reading! So why the four stars? Couldn't make heads or tails out of the maps of troop movements during WWII and the Korean War.

But what a massive undertaking to write this book! So glad she exists and writes.

[MissBleuu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I finished this book in 5 days, this is a very fast pacing, not boring history book, especially if you are interested in East Asian history after WW2. Although this is a book about Korea peninsula, it also mentions a lot of Chinese and American domestic politics at that time. Now I understand a little more about why certain things look crazy now, and no matter what happens in the future, I just hope it’ll be a peaceful one.

[robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Military History Book Club selection. Very informative and broad coving the forming of Korea, military conflicts and geopolitical situations. I learned a great deal about the geopolitics between Korea, China, Russia and the USA. I would have liked to have learned more about how the regime manages to keep the people under control outside of the massive detention camps. Also more about North Korea's development of nuclear weapons.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The political accounts of the history are the most engaging and strongest aspects of this book. Great scope to follow all the way to present day, although much of the focus is up to the end of the Vietnam war. I would read double the pages if there was more detail in the more modern times. Well written.

[Wayne C. Bannister, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well sourced and edited.

The author paints a vivid history of both Korea's, but spends more time on the North's history and politics. A much needed insight on the Hermit Kingdom

[Zoë · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive overview of the Korean war and its historical context

[Dale Huntington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave me a better understanding of the history and future of the Korean Continent. A primer for the other books I ended up reading and very helpful even to me understanding the world.