A/HRC/25/CRP.1 Koreans had been killed. Around 600,000 Chinese and over 36,000 United States combatants died.37 Other nationalities’ fatalities include over 1,000 from the United Kingdom, and hundreds from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Thailand and Turkey. Grave breaches of international humanitarian law were reportedly committed on both sides.38 United States military historian S.L.A. Marshall called the Korean War the “century’s nastiest little war”. It has also been referred to as the Forgotten War in the United States.39 The conflict, however, is far from forgotten in the DPRK where the war sacrifices were used to bolster the narrative of Kim Il-sung’s “forging of the nation”. In the DPRK, the authorized history remains that the Fatherland Liberation War was started by the United States, and that Kim Il-sung not only defended the nation but wrought devastation on the American military. This rhetoric continued for decades. For example, food aid from the United States provided during the mass starvation in the 1990s was reportedly explained to the population as war reparations.40 106. The legacy of the Korean War remains unresolved. The Armistice Agreement recommended a political conference within three months of the ceasefire. The 1954 Geneva Conference was attended by the Republic of Korea, the DPRK, China, the Soviet Union, and 16 of the 17 states that had contributed forces under the United Nations Command. After two months, these talks collapsed and have not resumed. There has not been a comprehensive peace treaty. On both sides of the border, there remains fear of invasion and infiltration. In the DPRK, this fear has been instrumental in maintaining a state of emergency invoked to justify harsh governmental rule and its accompanying human rights violations. In this context, perceived political dissidents have been branded as spies in the service of foreign powers. Shortages in food and other essential means of survival have been blamed on a hostile outside world. The ROK likewise experiences the insecurities of the unresolved war, which the country addresses through general conscription and other security measures. These security measures include restrictions that appear to infringe on the human rights of its citizens in particular respects such as the freedom of expression.41 107. The United States by 1954 was disassociating its forces from the United Nations Command and continued its engagement in the ROK through the United States-ROK Mutual Defence Treaty. At the same time, the other states that had committed troops to the United Nations Command withdrew most or all of their forces. The United States maintains a military presence in the ROK of about 28,500 people. 108. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, there were daily exchanges of fire along the demilitarized zone killing some 900 soldiers and civilians. In 1967, the DPRK sought to destabilize the ROK by utilizing its secret services. In 1968, 31 men from Unit 124 of the 37 38 39 40 41 26 Casualty figures still vary significantly by source. These figures come from the United States Department of Defense in 2000 and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Bruce Cummings, The Korean War: A History (New York, Modern Library, 2010), pp. 172, 187 and 190. Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall was a chief United States Army combat historian during World War II and the Korean War. David Halberstam, The Coldest Winter, pp. 1-2. Seven million bags with American logos were used to distribute food aid provided by the United States in response to the food crisis of the 1990s; these bags were seen by DPRK citizens as they were re-used and appeared in markets. Andrew Natsios, Washington Public Hearing, 31 October 2013, morning (01:48:00). The ROK’s own domestic legal framework is influenced by its ongoing conflict with the DPRK. Among the ROK’s own human rights challenges are the government’s interpretation of the sixdecade-old National Security Law and other laws to limit freedom of expression as well as the jailing of conscientious objectors to military service. See the report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (A/HRC/17/27/Add.2).