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United States of America
Korean War Service Medal
1950 Bronze Medal 31mm (16.40 grams)
KOREAN SERVICE, Korean Archway.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Korean Ying-yang, wreath below.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 The Korean Service Medal (KSM) is a military award for service in the United States Armed Forces and was established November 8, 1950 by executive order of President Harry Truman. The Korean Service Medal is the primary US military award for service or participation in operations in the Korean area between June 27, 1950 and July 27, 1954.
Although the Korean War Armistice ended combat operations in Korea on 27 July 1953, the Korean Service Medal was issued until June 1954 due to the tense nature of the occupation and garrison duty immediately after the armistice, as well as the high possibility of a renewed attack by North Korea. After 1954, the Korean Service Medal was no longer issued although the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal was authorized for Korean area service between October 1, 1966 to June 30, 1974. As of 2004, a new medal known as the Korea Defense Service Medal was authorized for members of the armed forces who served in the defense of the Republic of Korea from July 28, 1954 to a date to be determined.
The KSM was designed by the Army Heraldic Section. The color scheme of the ribbon is derived from the Flag of the United Nations, as it was under the auspices of the United Nations (United Nations Security Council Resolution 82) that the war was conducted. The medal itself features a “Korean gateway,” most likely an iljumun, on the front, and a taegeuk on the reverse. [6]
The United Nations Service Medal for Korea was usually issued alongside the Korean Service Medal. Beginning in 1999, the Republic of Korea War Service Medal was also awarded to United States service members who received the Korean Service Medal. The Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation is retroactively authorized to any United States Army veteran who served in Korea during the War.
 The Korean War (South Korean Korean: 6.25 전쟁, 한국전쟁; Hanja: 6.25 戰爭, 韓國戰爭; RR: Yugio Jeonjaeng, Hanguk Jeonjaeng, lit. “6/25 War” or “Korean War”; North Korean Korean: 조국해방전쟁; Hanja: 祖國解放戰爭; MR: Choguk haebang chŏnjaeng, “Fatherland Liberation War”; 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a war between North Korea (with military support from the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (backed by personnel from the United Nations, principally the United States). The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and insurrections in the south. The war ended unofficially on 27 July 1953 in an armistice.
After the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II on 15 August (officially 2 September) 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union divided Korea along the 38th parallel into two zones of occupation. The Soviets administered the northern zone and the Americans administered the southern zone. In 1948, as a result of Cold War tensions, the occupation zones became two sovereign states. A capitalist state, the First Republic of Korea, was established in the south under the authoritarian leadership of Syngman Rhee, and a socialist state, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established in the north under the totalitarian leadership of Kim Il-sung. Both governments of the two new Korean states claimed to be the sole legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither accepted the border as permanent.
North Korean Korean People’s Army (KPA) forces crossed the border and drove into South Korea on 25 June 1950. The United Nations Security Council denounced the North Korean move as an invasion and authorized the formation of the United Nations Command and the dispatch of forces to Korea to repel it. The Soviet Union was boycotting the UN for recognizing Taiwan (Republic of China) as China, and China (People’s Republic of China) on the mainland was not recognized by the UN, so neither could support their ally North Korea at the Security Council meeting. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel.
After the first two months of war, South Korean Army (ROKA) and American forces hastily dispatched to Korea were on the point of defeat, retreating to a small area behind a defensive line known as the Pusan Perimeter. In September 1950, a risky amphibious UN counteroffensive was launched at Incheon, cutting off KPA troops and supply lines in South Korea. Those who escaped envelopment and capture were forced back north. UN forces invaded North Korea in October 1950 and moved rapidly towards the Yalu River—the border with China—but on 19 October 1950, Chinese forces of the People’s Volunteer Army (PVA) crossed the Yalu and entered the war UN retreat from North Korea after the First Phase Offensivee and the Second Phase Offensive, then Chinese forces were in South Korea by late December.
In these and subsequent battles, Seoul was captured four times, and communist forces were pushed back to positions around the 38th parallel, close to where the war had started. After this, the front stabilized, and the last two years were a war of attrition. The war in the air, however, was never a stalemate. North Korea was subject to a massive US bombing campaign. Jet fighters confronted each other in air-to-air combat
The fighting ended on 27 July 1953 when the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. The agreement created the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to separate North and South Korea, and allowed the return of prisoners. However, no peace treaty was ever signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war, engaged in a frozen conflictleaders of North and South Korea met at the DMZ and agreed to work toward a treaty to formally end the Korean War.
The Korean War was among the most destructive conflicts of the modern era, with approximately 3 million war fatalitieses and a larger proportional civilian death toll than World War II or the Vietnam War. It incurred the destruction of virtually all of Korea’s major cities, thousands of massacres by both sides, including the mass killing of tens of thousands of suspected communists by the South Korean government, and the torture and starvation of prisoners of war by the North Koreans. North Korea became among the most heavily bombed countries in history.
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