South Korean war hero Paik Sun-yup dies age 99
- Paik, who was born in 1920 in what is now North Korea, was celebrated for leading troops to several victories during the 1950-53 Korean war
- He famously saved from death an arrested major Park Chung-hee, who go on to rule South Korea as dictator for nearly 20 years after a 1961 coup
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Paik returned to Korea after the second world war, which also liberated the peninsula from Japanese rule, and joined the army of the US-controlled South. He headed the army’s intelligence unit that carried out a dramatic purge of communists within the military, which followed a 1948 mutiny of soldiers led by members of the South Korean Workers’ Party.
During that time, Paik famously saved from death an arrested major named Park Chung-hee, a future dictator who would rule South Korea for nearly 20 years after taking power in a 1961 coup.
In several memoirs he wrote, Paik said a court martial had sentenced Park to death after he was exposed as a member of the South Korean Workers’ Party. Paik wrote that he arranged for Park to be eventually released because he was compliant after his arrest and provided investigators with detailed lists of Workers’ Party members in the army.
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When North Korean soldiers invaded the South in June 1950, Paik commanded the South Korean army’s 1st Infantry Division, which was crucial in the defence of the southern city of Daegu, and the subsequent drive into North Korea, which saw US-led allied forces temporarily capture Pyongyang in October.
But a massive troop intervention by China saved the North from defeat and the fighting stopped in 1953 with an armistice.
Paik became one of the UN representatives when the armistice talks began and was the first South Korean officer promoted to a four-star general in January 1953. He also commanded a task force that wiped out communist guerillas in South Korea before the fighting stopped in 1953.
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US Forces Korea Commander General Robert B. Abrams issued a statement crediting Paik for making an “incredible contribution” shaping the alliance between the countries.
“From his time serving in the Korean war to becoming South Korea’s first four-star general to serving as the ROK Army Chief of Staff, General Paik is a hero and national treasure who will be truly missed,” General Abrams said, referring to South Korea by its formal name, the Republic of Korea.
