A/HRC/25/CRP.1 concerning the Korean War. The debate on Korea then shifted to the United Nations General Assembly.32 104. The ensuing months yielded a string of successes for the forces of the DPRK. By the end of August 1950, the DPRK’s military controlled 90 per cent of the Korean peninsula. However, an amphibious landing of United States troops under General Douglas MacArthur in Incheon in September 1950 turned the tide. With the support of the United Nations now behind them, the ROK forces marched northward and recaptured Seoul. General MacArthur pushed UN-backed forces up to the Chinese border despite warnings from the Chinese. By November 1950, the ROK supported by the United Nations Command controlled 90 per cent of the peninsula. The People’s Republic of China then sent hundreds of thousands of troops to bolster the Korean People’s Army. They succeeded in pushing United Nations and ROK forces back beyond the 38th parallel. The DPRK in its subsequent accounts of the war has minimized the decisive role played by the Chinese “volunteers”.33 Nevertheless, Chinese forces carried the main military burden for the rest of the war.34 The DPRK has consistently downplayed the extent of outside assistance that it received not only during the war but in rebuilding after the war and then sustaining its postwar economy. The counter-offensive by United Nations forces reduced the gains made by the Korean People’s Army and caused massive destruction in the North. Thereafter, two years of bitter stalemate ensued. During this time, more bombs were dropped on the DPRK than had been deployed in the entire Pacific theatre during World War II.35 The devastation caused to all parts of the Korean peninsula was enormous.36 105. The Korean War ended in 1953 in a ceasefire. On 27 July 1953, the Armistice Agreement was signed by Lieutenant General of the United States Army William K. Harrison, Jr., for the United Nations Command, and General of the Korean People’s Army Nam Il for the Korean People’s Army and the Chinese People’s Volunteers. Over 2 million 32 33 34 35 36 On 3 November 1950, the General Assembly adopted the “Uniting for Peace” Resolution (377 A) stating: “that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security.” The resolution affirmed that the General Assembly may recommend collective action including the use of force, despite the UN Charter which gives power to the Security Council on all matters relating to international peace and security. On 1 February 1950, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 498, finding that the People’s Republic of China was “engaging in hostilities against United Nations forces” in the DPRK and called on “all States and authorities to continue to lend every assistance to the United Nations action in Korea”. The People’s Republic of China also characterized participation by Chinese soldiers in the Korean War as action by “volunteers” in keeping with its depiction of the conflict on the peninsula as an internal armed conflict. Andrei Lankov, From Stalin to Kim Il Sung, pp. 61-62. Hwang Jang-yop notes in his memoirs, “In the November of 1953, I came back to Pyongyang from life in Moscow. Pyongyang was not what it had been before I left. There was literally not a single decent house on the ground; only huts filled the city.” From Hwang Jang-yop Hoegorok (Hwang Jang-yop’s memoirs) (Published in Korean by Zeitgeist, 2006, translated by Daily NK), 21. A report issued by the Ministry of External and Inter-German Trade of the German Democratic Republic indicated that the steel, non-ferrous metal, cement and fertilizer industries of the DPRK were entirely destroyed and that the overall capacity of state businesses had been reduced to 15-20 per cent. The report is cited in Liana Kang-Schmitz, “Nordkoreas Umgang mit Abhängigkeit und Sicherheitsrisiko”, PhD dissertation, The University of Trier, 2010, pp. 59-60. Also available from http://ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/volltexte/2011/636/pdf/Nordkorea_DDR.pdf. 25