Page 550 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

550 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

The coalition warfare within the United Nations
framework, the case of UN Command in Korean War

Enrico MAGnAnI *

Introduction
n 15 August 1945, after the Tokyo unconditionally surrendered, US and USSR
O agreed to disarm the Japanese forces in Korea. The dividing line between the two
th
occupying forces was the 38 Parallel. The Soviet troops entered in North Korea on
22 August 1945, while US forces were in Seoul on 8 September 1945; both countries
established military governments in their respective occupied territory. US withdrew
its forces three years later and handed over the Korean issue to the UN after the failure
of a political agreement with Moscow on a process for restoring a united Korea, on 17
September 1947, while the Soviet forces remained in the Asian peninsula till 1950.
The General Assembly established the UN Temporary Commission on Korea
(UNTCOK) to witness the general election for the peninsula.
The UNTCOK was denied access to North Korea by USSR and therefore it observed
the general election only in South Korea. As a result of the election, the Republic of
Korea (ROK) was established on 15 August 1948, but North Korea established the
DPRK, supported by the Soviet Union and several of its Eastern European allies, in 9
September 1948. The UN General Assembly declared the newly born Government of
the Republic of Korea as only lawful government on the Korean peninsula. The General
Assembly decided to withdrawn the UNTCOK and replaced it with the UN Commission
in Korea (UNCOK), tasked to monitor the withdrawal of both the US and Soviet forces
and the increasing tensions between the two Koreas. 1
On 3 November 1950, during the counteroffensive of the UN forces, which crossed
th
the 38 parallel against the North Koreans, the General Assembly replaced the UNCOK

* The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of UN
1 The Colonel Alfred G. Katzin (UK) was the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the
UNC and Chairperson of the UNCOK and UNCURK (and later, first ever UN Under Secretary-Gener-
al); UNCOK and UNTOCK where bodies consisting around 30 individuals, in majority diplomats and
a small group of military observers from Member States; Member States of UNCOK where: Australia,
Canada, China, El Salvador, France, India, Philippines, Syria, Ukraine (which did not participated in
the works of the Commission); the UNCURK Member States where Australia, Chile, the Netherlands,
Pakistan Philippines, Thailand and Turkey; it should be noted that was common practice of the UN field
operations (as it was for the League of Nations field activities) in the early times, like in the ones in Indo-
nesia/Netherlands East Indies, /Israel/Palestine, India/Pakistan/Kashmir, Greece/Balkans, that not only
the military personnel was seconded, but the civilian staff of the bodies dispatched on the field were, in
quasi totality, diplomats of the Member States due also to the limited numerical strength of UN regular
staff at time; now, the civilian staff on the UN operations (field missions and/or diplomatic missions) is
fully formed by Secretariat personnel and/or ad hoc recruited while the uniformed personnel (military
and police) is seconded by the Member States;