The security of the Korean Peninsula is related to the stability of Northeast China, which is a key region for New China’s transition from an agricultural to an industrial nation. In the face of American expansion, China realized it had to stand up. On October 5, 1950, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made the decision to "resist America and aid Korea, defend the home and protect the country." Mao Zedong even sent a telegram to Kim Il-sung on October 8, formally deciding to send volunteer troops to fight in Korea. The volunteer soldiers had no modern equipment, lacked sufficient winter clothing, carried rifles on their shoulders, and wore thin clothes as they crossed the Yalu River in the icy cold, launching a battle that was both earth-shattering and soul-stirring for defense. The war lasted three years and finally ended with the signing of the armistice agreement on July 27, 1953. The sacrifices in this battle were enormous, with 183,108 soldiers of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army killed and 383,218 wounded. However, in this arduous battle, the volunteer army fought alongside the Korean people with iron will, ultimately driving the American and United Nations forces out of Korean territory.
How do North Korean textbooks describe this history?
History should be objective, but the situation is quite different in North Korean textbooks. Regarding the causes of the Korean War, the official version from North Korea is that
South Korea, with the support of the United States, launched an invasion of North Korea. It was not North Korea that initiated the war, but rather the United States and South Korea that carried out a "barbaric invasion" of the North.
When describing the reasons for American intervention in the war, North Korean textbooks state that the United States entered the Korean Peninsula under the name of the "United Nations Forces" to "condemn" North Korea's so-called acts of aggression and demanded that North Korea retreat to the north of the "38th parallel." However, in reality, the intervention of the United Nations forces and the Incheon landing did indeed reverse the situation, turning the Korean People's Army from an advantage to a disadvantage, and the war situation became extremely urgent at one point. As for the reasons for the intervention of the Chinese Volunteer Army, North Korean textbooks are vague and even deliberately avoid the topic. The books only mention that, at North Korea's request, China sent troops to aid Korea "due to the threat to its security from the United Nations forces." However, the textbooks make no mention of the enormous sacrifices and contributions made by China in this war. On the contrary, the textbooks attribute all the glory of victory to Kim Il-sung, claiming that it was his outstanding military strategy and command that enabled North Korea to "independently defeat the American imperialists and the South Korean puppet regime" in this war.
Why is China's contribution to aiding Korea not recognized?
In earlier years, North Korean textbooks and official documents occasionally mentioned the contributions of the Chinese Volunteer Army. However, since the outbreak of the North Korean nuclear crisis in 2016, due to the Chinese government repeatedly urging North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons, the North Korean authorities have shown great dissatisfaction with China. As a result, the content regarding China's aid to Korea gradually disappeared from North Korean textbooks, even being completely erased.
The Korean Central News Agency even stated in related reports: "China should honestly acknowledge who has been fighting hard on the front lines of the anti-American struggle for over 70 years, thwarting American invasion schemes and contributing to the maintenance of peace and security in mainland China, and should first express gratitude to North Korea." Implicitly, North Korea believes that it is their anti-American war that protected China's interests, and China should thank North Korea, not the other way around.
Historical lessons from the War to Resist America and Aid Korea
Although the history of the War to Resist America and Aid Korea has been deliberately downplayed or even distorted in North Korean textbooks, history is ultimately not a little girl to be dressed up at will; its truth will always exist in our hearts. Regardless, the Chinese nation has shed blood and made sacrifices on this land of Korea, and this fact will never be erased.
For more information, you can visit https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E6%9C%9D%E9%B2%9C%E6%88%98%E4%BA%89 to learn about the Korean War.