12 French soldiers of the Battalion of the United Nations in Korea were captured by North Korean troops and Chinese.

They were certainly few in comparison to the number of prisoners of the Japanese and the Vietminh in Indochina. Yet, under its duty of memory, ANAPI had not forgotten.

Treaties bluntly, malnourished, they had at the same brainwashing that prisoners of Vietminh ...

1 - Background

Korea, the country of "morning calm", is a mountainous peninsula of Asia between China and Japan. Under Japanese domination from 1910 to 1945, this country was the subject in February 1945, at the Yalta Conference, a score up to the 38th parallel, the Soviet troops to disarm the Japanese and North Americans in the South. In fact, this line became a political border, the Soviets have installed in their area a "popular democracy", early threat to South Korea.

In 1949, China became communist. South Korea occupies a strategic position in the Far East. Japan is neutralized and the United States focus on the protection of Taiwan and support for French in Indochina. South Korea, which is outside the area of American security and has only a small army aviation without armor and without, is a tempting prey as well as a step in the expansion of Communism.

On 25 June 1950, the North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel. Thus begins the most important conflict of the Cold War between the communist world in the democratic world, it immediately goes international: the U.S. president, Harry Truman, ordered American forces to intervene in the Pacific alongside the small army of South Korean initially all they can barely contain the powerful army of aggressors; Korean and U.S. are besieged in a restricted area around the port of Pusan.

On 27 June 1950, the Security Council of the United Nations, in the absence of the Soviet Union, took a resolution, supported by the United States, deciding the constitution of an army composed of sixteen nations, including France that sends a ship and later a battalion of volunteers commanded by General MONCLAR

The forces of the United Nations will take the initiative, encircling the North Koreans by a landing on their backs and push up to the Chinese border. But China intervenes in turn with "volunteers", and the USSR by air, this reaction brings the powerful forces allied to the height of the 38th when the front stabilizes after hard fighting.

On 23 June 1951, while the conflict turned into war of position, the Soviet delegates to the UN proposed that the belligerents in Korea open discussions to reach a cease-fire. On 10 July 1951, after preliminary discussions, representatives of the commandments of the United Nations and Communist forces began truce negotiations at Kaesong, North Korea. Discussions continued intermittently for two years. On 27 July 1953, the armistice was signed at Panmunjom between representatives of the United Nations, those of Chinese volunteers and North Korea. Discussions have been ongoing since a treaty of peace and reunification remains to be done.

The Korean War, by the magnitude of material and human resources on both sides, for its duration, the risk of conflagration which it exhibited a world cut in two blocks, is the height of the Cold War.

This "forgotten war" extremely lethal, where civilians were twice as many soldiers to be killed, left a devastated country unless earlier amended the division of Korea. Casualties (killed, missing and wounded) were estimated at 4 million. Approximately 147 000 South Korean soldiers were killed and 210 wounded 000, while losses in North Korean military was estimated at 300 000 deaths and 220 000 injured. The number of civilian casualties would exceed 2 million. The United States counted 157 530 victims (33 629 deaths, including 23 300 in combat), the loss of other nations of the United Nations rose to 16 532, 3 094 deaths. Chinese losses were estimated at 900 000, which killed 200 000 .. The French battalion lost 287 killed and over 1,000 injured.