[War & Business] The Origin of Hangmiwonjo

On the 22nd, Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, paid tribute to the Chinese People's Volunteer Army Martyrs' Cemetery in Hoechang County, South Pyongan Province, North Korea, on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, known in China as the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Recently in China, a series of promotional films and documentaries dealing with the 'War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea' have drawn renewed attention to the term 'Hangmiwonjo.' Hangmiwonjo is a term used in China to refer to the Korean War of 1950, literally meaning a war to assist Joseon against the United States. In China, October 19th is annually designated as the Hangmiwonjo Memorial Day, marking the day when Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River to directly intervene in the Korean War.

During the Korean War, Mao Zedong, the leader of China, was a figure who prided himself on breaking feudal customs and aiming for a new China. However, when it came to the term Hangmiwonjo, he used a phrase from the feudal era as it was. This term was borrowed from 'Hangwaewonjo,' which referred to the Imjin War of 1592 in China. Just as the Ming Dynasty sent so-called 'Heavenly Soldiers (天兵)' to repel Japanese invaders in the past, China created this term to emphasize that the People's Liberation Army was sent to rescue North Korea from American aggression.

Mao Zedong’s borrowing from the Hangwaewonjo War was not limited to the name. The fact that the vanguard of the dispatched troops was composed of ethnic Koreans (Joseonjok) was also identical to the Ming Dynasty during the Imjin War. Just before the Korean War, the Chinese government repatriated more than 50,000 veteran soldiers of Joseonjok origin who had participated in anti-Japanese armed struggles since the 1930s to North Korea. These soldiers participated as the vanguard of the North Korean army in the early stages of the Korean War, suffering many casualties. After October 1950, when China directly intervened, Joseonjok soldiers continued to be conscripted and dispatched to North Korean territory.

During the Imjin War, the Ming Dynasty’s dispatched troops were mostly composed of Koreans who had migrated from Joseon to the Liaodong region. The family of General Li Rusong, the supreme commander who led the Ming troops, was originally Korean, having naturalized in China after his great-great-grandfather migrated from Pyongan Province. Most of the Liaodong cavalry under his command were also Korean-origin immigrants who had settled in the Liaodong area since the Goryeo period.

Nevertheless, at the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Hoechang County, South Pyongan Province, North Korea?a symbol of Hangmiwonjo?only Mao Zedong’s eldest son, Mao Anying, who died in battle just one month after being dispatched to the Korean War, is prominently highlighted. Mao Zedong’s order not to repatriate his body but to leave it in North Korea has been treated as the most important symbol in the North Korea-China relationship that has lasted over 70 years.

This year as well, North Korean State Chairman Kim Jong-un personally visited this Martyrs’ Cemetery to lay flowers, and it continues to be treated as a guarantee and sacred bond of the North Korea-China blood alliance. This is no different from the image of King Seonjo 400 years ago, who, while ignoring the sacrifices of great generals like Yi Sun-sin and the righteous armies active across the country, spent a large sum of money to build the Dongguan Temple in front of Dongdaemun as a symbol of friendship with the Ming Dynasty, invoking the Ming’s restoration after the Imjin War.