History of Korea

The use of bombs on North Korea was extensive and tremendous. U.S air forces destroyed everything in sight: communication lines, bridges, cities, villages, roads, and railways.

When General MacArthur wanted to create a wasteland between the American front line and China's Yalu river, he ordered tons of bombs to be dropped on Sinuiju and only a week later, hit Hoeryong with napalms.

Aerial bombing was used to bring the North Koreans to their knees. But the North Koreans were expedient in repairing whatever the U.N forces managed to destroy. They rebuilt bridges and communication lines during the night when bombing was less concentrated. Additionally, ditches and underground tunnels were built to withstand aerial bombing. Therefore, aerial bombing was not very effective because it could not penetrate or weaken North Korean's forces dramatically. For this reason, more than anything else, aerial bombing was used to break people's morale. In other words, the war was not only a military warfare but it also became a "psychological warfare".

This kind of warfare intensified as talks for an armistice continued. On June 23, 1952, four vital dams in North Korea were targeted. The Supung dam on the Yalu river which supplied 90% of the North Korea's power was destroyed. Consequently, most parts of North Korea had a blackout for almost two weeks. Furthermore, ten thousand litres of napalm and 679 tons of bombs were dropped on Pyongyang on July 12-13 and August 29 which resulted in the deaths of almost 8,000 people.

Dams near Pyongyang which supplied most of the irrigation for rice agriculture in North Korea were one of the last attacks on North Korea. On May 13, 1953, Toksan dam was attacked. And on May 15-16, Chasan dam was destroyed. This caused damages to Pyongyang and flooded the cities. Moreover, it destroyed the agriculture for rice production. And this meant starvation for many innocent North Koreans.

Liberation and the Korean War