By Tom Dare
SHOCKING images showing the brutality of the Korean War have resurfaced as tensions continue to rise between America and North Korea once again.
Harrowing pictures show American troops treating a wounded marine as he waits to be evacuated following fighting on Hook Ridge, as well as North Korean prisoners being marched single file across a rice paddy after surrendering to US forces.
In another shot a small Korean child is seen crying alone in the street in the aftermath of an American offensive on the city of Inchon in 1950.
The Korean War began in 1950 when thousands of Soviet-backed North Korean soldiers invaded the American-backed South Korea, with America sending thousands of troops to the area in response.
They faced stiff opposition at first, becoming overwhelmed by the speed of the advance by North Korea, before assistance from other United Nations countries including Britain helped to stem the flow.
Chinese intervention soon brought the war to a stalemate and eventually lead to a ceasefire which resulted in the division of Korea that we see today, with dictatorship North Korea now separated from the South by the 38th parallel.
No official death toll was ever recorded from the conflict, though most estimates put the number of dead at over 500,000, with approximately 40,000 Americans and over 1,000 Britons amongst the deceased.
An official peace treaty was never signed between the North and the South, however, meaning the two are technically still at war.
Recent events have led many to fear that the feud between America and North Korea may be resurfacing, with the despotic North Korean leader Kim Jong Un testing several intercontinental ballistic missiles since he gained power in 2011.
Since launching his first test, Kim Jong Un has tested more missiles than both his father and grandfather combined.
Experts say that their last test, launched on the anniversary of America’s Independence Day, was capable of reaching Alaska. This has prompted fear in the US that they could now be the victim of a nuclear strike by the North Koreans, with Kim Jong Un proclaiming that the “American bastards would be not very happy with this gift sent on the July 4 anniversary”.