The North Korean Axe Murders (training, stationed, soldier, deployed)
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A relatively obscure incident in 1976 that could easily have escalated into something far worse and devastating. Thanks to the internet more people are becoming aware of it.
A clash on the DMZ over a tree literally resulted in murder. This incident would send America and South Korea into high alert, and could have spiraled into war.
The American and South Korean soldiers went off to chop down a poplar tree.
Instead, they were chopped into pieces by ax-wielding North Korean soldiers. And what should have been a case of routine landscaping nearly triggered a second Korean War.
Thousands of lives could have been lost, and the Korean peninsula devastated as it had been in 1950. All because of a tree, a hot-tempered North Korean lieutenant and the most heavily armed border zone on Earth.
A relatively obscure incident in 1976 that could easily have escalated into something far worse and devastating. Thanks to the internet more people are becoming aware of it.
Visited the JSA about 20 years ago and they definitely presented the tree incident as something that rapidly escalated.
It was the brutality of the incident that stopped it from being more than it could have been. At least that is my impression. I love the country and the craziest part of that is I found my better half there on that deployment in 1976-77. I was pretty worried about entering the service but found life to be quite enjoyable once I got there. I got very lucky and was stationed right in Seoul working the MARS station there.
We worked some extra long hours for a few weeks because of that.
The situation in North Korea was more volatile than most people thought because the Soviets were pulling back their support of North Korea (the Vietnam war had actually weakened the Soviets more than people realized), and Kim Il Sung may have been close to a "use it or lose it" situation with the Soviet-supplied weapons that he had.
I’ve also visited the DMZ many times, after all, I did 7 years total in the ROK.
I always assumed that this story was very well known by all. But I guess it makes sense that as time goes by, the story gets lost to history.
Obviously, this happened long before I started my career, but there have been many incidents over the years. The most memorable to me, the fishing wars of the late 90’s. The ocean was unseasonably warm, so it pushed the fish south of the NLL, so North Korean fishing boats went south after them. This caused a serious situation. But it all died down. The NLL has always been a serious bone of contention.
Later, the North Koreans sunk the Choenan, killing 46. Ironically, I went on a DMZ tour a couple days after this happened. I was thinking that they were going to cancel the tour, but they never did. It was business as usual, people taking tours on the DMZ, the KIC operating normally. The KIC is the Kaesong Industrial Complex, where South Korean companies have a joint venture with the North Koreans to manufacture products.
Which leads me to believe that this whole North Korean-South Korean conflict is nothing more than theater. Nobody wants war on either side, to include China and the US. Also, everyone knows where the proverbially line is drawn. The North Koreans can shell outlying islands and even sink a ship. The South Koreans will retaliate, but it won’t cause an all out war. But what the North Koreans can’t do is shell across the DMZ towards Seoul. That would spark an all out war. So that’s why they don’t do that.
I know the 70’s were different, and war was more likely back then, but it still seemed like a bit of theater. Tiny little skirmishes within the DMZ, for what purpose? Nobody was going to do anything. I’ve read all the stories about how war was imminent on a few occasions, but I’m not sure I buy that we were ever that close.
However, this incident, the axe fight, did result in a massive deployment for US forces, and it’s possible that if the North Koreans didn’t blink, we might have escalated this incident into a shooting war across the DMZ. But again, maybe both sides knew that it just wasn’t going to happen?
I’ve also visited the DMZ many times, after all, I did 7 years total in the ROK.
I always assumed that this story was very well known by all. But I guess it makes sense that as time goes by, the story gets lost to history.
Obviously, this happened long before I started my career, but there have been many incidents over the years. The most memorable to me, the fishing wars of the late 90’s. The ocean was unseasonably warm, so it pushed the fish south of the NLL, so North Korean fishing boats went south after them. This caused a serious situation. But it all died down. The NLL has always been a serious bone of contention.
Later, the North Koreans sunk the Choenan, killing 46. Ironically, I went on a DMZ tour a couple days after this happened. I was thinking that they were going to cancel the tour, but they never did. It was business as usual, people taking tours on the DMZ, the KIC operating normally. The KIC is the Kaesong Industrial Complex, where South Korean companies have a joint venture with the North Koreans to manufacture products.
Which leads me to believe that this whole North Korean-South Korean conflict is nothing more than theater. Nobody wants war on either side, to include China and the US. Also, everyone knows where the proverbially line is drawn. The North Koreans can shell outlying islands and even sink a ship. The South Koreans will retaliate, but it won’t cause an all out war. But what the North Koreans can’t do is shell across the DMZ towards Seoul. That would spark an all out war. So that’s why they don’t do that.
I know the 70’s were different, and war was more likely back then, but it still seemed like a bit of theater. Tiny little skirmishes within the DMZ, for what purpose? Nobody was going to do anything. I’ve read all the stories about how war was imminent on a few occasions, but I’m not sure I buy that we were ever that close.
However, this incident, the axe fight, did result in a massive deployment for US forces, and it’s possible that if the North Koreans didn’t blink, we might have escalated this incident into a shooting war across the DMZ. But again, maybe both sides knew that it just wasn’t going to happen?
Apparently, North Korea was highly impressed - actually, completely astonished - at the scale of the show of force when the U.S. and ROK moved in to finished the pruning.
I’ve also visited the DMZ many times, after all, I did 7 years total in the ROK.
I always assumed that this story was very well known by all. But I guess it makes sense that as time goes by, the story gets lost to history.
Obviously, this happened long before I started my career, but there have been many incidents over the years. The most memorable to me, the fishing wars of the late 90’s. The ocean was unseasonably warm, so it pushed the fish south of the NLL, so North Korean fishing boats went south after them. This caused a serious situation. But it all died down. The NLL has always been a serious bone of contention.
Later, the North Koreans sunk the Choenan, killing 46. Ironically, I went on a DMZ tour a couple days after this happened. I was thinking that they were going to cancel the tour, but they never did. It was business as usual, people taking tours on the DMZ, the KIC operating normally. The KIC is the Kaesong Industrial Complex, where South Korean companies have a joint venture with the North Koreans to manufacture products.
Which leads me to believe that this whole North Korean-South Korean conflict is nothing more than theater. Nobody wants war on either side, to include China and the US. Also, everyone knows where the proverbially line is drawn. The North Koreans can shell outlying islands and even sink a ship. The South Koreans will retaliate, but it won’t cause an all out war. But what the North Koreans can’t do is shell across the DMZ towards Seoul. That would spark an all out war. So that’s why they don’t do that.
I know the 70’s were different, and war was more likely back then, but it still seemed like a bit of theater. Tiny little skirmishes within the DMZ, for what purpose? Nobody was going to do anything. I’ve read all the stories about how war was imminent on a few occasions, but I’m not sure I buy that we were ever that close.
However, this incident, the axe fight, did result in a massive deployment for US forces, and it’s possible that if the North Koreans didn’t blink, we might have escalated this incident into a shooting war across the DMZ. But again, maybe both sides knew that it just wasn’t going to happen?
Oh they still took shots across the border. Three years later I returned to S Korea deployed to a signal bn. My company supported the ROK infantry units. It happened that they decided to paint the signs in the DMZ that year, 1980. I set up my RATT rig up on top of a mountain 1 kilometer from the DMZ on the east side with the rest of my unit detachment and another company detachment set up communication on the west side north of Seoul and for 2 weeks we had machine gun fire across the border. Both sides had a lot of men on that border. They eventually decided not to paint it and we were going to head out but one soldier in the other unit lost his M16 while up there. 3 days extra spent looking for it and that kept everyone in position for that extra time.
Oh they still took shots across the border. Three years later I returned to S Korea deployed to a signal bn. My company supported the ROK infantry units. It happened that they decided to paint the signs in the DMZ that year, 1980. I set up my RATT rig up on top of a mountain 1 kilometer from the DMZ on the east side with the rest of my unit detachment and another company detachment set up communication on the west side north of Seoul and for 2 weeks we had machine gun fire across the border. Both sides had a lot of men on that border. They eventually decided not to paint it and we were going to head out but one soldier in the other unit lost his M16 while up there. 3 days extra spent looking for it and that kept everyone in position for that extra time.
How do you 'lose' an M-16?
I was in in the '70s, and from some of the stories I heard I was glad I never had to go to Korea. Did spend some time training ROK soldiers at Ft. Hood, though.
I was alive during the 1976 incident. It was appalling and it made me angry. It never did, nor has it ever felt obscure to me. However, when I was in the army, I discussed it with a captain, and at first he thought I might not have heard about it. So even many years ago it might have seemed obscure.
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