By Publisher-Chairman Lee Kyung-sik with Vice Chairman Jang Chang-Yong, Editor Kevin Lee, Reporter Jeong Da-jeong
This month, June, is the month the Korean War broke out in 1950 started jointly by the North Korean Communist Armed Forces fully supported by the then Soviet Union and Communist China on mainland.
The Republic of Korea (south), now poised to join the ranks of the G7 world economies of the world, owes greatly to the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and the 15 other United Nations member countries of the world led by the United States, the United Kingdom of Britain and other leading countries of the West.
At this time in Korea today led by the economic development-oriented government of President Yoon Suk-yeol and Foreign Minister Park Jin, the Republic of Ethiopia looms large as one of the most prominent countries of the world for win-win cooperation with Korea.
The Federal Republic of Ethiopia, again, is one of the most important countries of the world for the Republic of Korea. For one thing, Ethiopia was the 8th in a total of 16 United Nations Forces who sent combat troops to the Korean peninsula to fight on the side of the ROK together with the United States and the United Nations Forces during the Korean War (1950-3). And the Korean people who now are poised to enter the G8 nations of the world are very grateful to Ethiopia who helped Korea to defend herself against the armed aggression forces of North Korea, the then Soviet Union and Communist China on mainland.
At this time, it might not be amiss for the Korean people at this time and all those other countries in the Free World to look back on how the brave Ethiopian soldiers helped Korea defend herself from the aggression by the North Korean Armed Forces and her Communist allies of the world at the time.
Ethiopia is a country with great potential for high and speedy growth. According to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs sources, Ethiopia is five times the size of the Korean Peninsula; its population is around 120 million; and young people are more than 70% of its population. Korea and Ethiopia are special friends helping each other; while Ethiopia dispatched more than 6,000 soldiers during the Korean War, Korea has the largest development cooperation projects for Ethiopia in Africa. The friendly relationship between the two countries continues to develop, with the launch of the direct flight between Incheon and Addis Ababa in 2018 and the Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed’s visit to Korea in 2019.
It is in Addis Ababa where the headquarter of the African Union (AU), which has 55 member states, is located. The AU pursues the values of integrity, prosperity and peace of Africa, and recently reached the agreement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Korea is cooperating with the AU as an observer, and the Korean Mission tries to play a more active role in strengthening the partnership between Korea and the AU.
Korea, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will do our best to make Korea and Ethiopia, and Korea and the Africa become sincere partners, getting closer and growing together.
While you are this website, you will realize that the future of Ethiopia and the Africa may be connected to the future of Korea, recalling the friendship that Ethiopians showed 70 years ago.
Fully-armed and well-equipped (North) Korean People’s Army troops with the support of air and naval forces of the then Soviet Union and Communist China crossed the 38th parallel across the Korean peninsula and started an all-out invasion of the Republic of Korea (south) on June 25, 1950, exactly this month 73 years ago.
The Federal Republic of Ethiopia is one of the prominent countries of the 16 United Nations member states (8th in the order of strength of the troops sent to Korea) who dispatched combat troops to Korea to fight on the side of the Republic of Korea and the United Nations Forces led by the United States, the United Kingdom and other Free World countries of the world.
When the UN Secretary-General asked for military assistance to the Republic of Korea (south) in July 1950, all of the Ethiopian forces were Royal Guards, rather than combat units. Nevertheless, King Haile Selassie newly organized one battalion by selecting 1,200 soldiers from the Royal Guards. He named it Kagnew meaning, being difficult to penetrate or to strike a fatal hit. The Kagnew Battalion, led by Lieut. Colonel Kebbede Guebre, arrived in Busan, the ROK, on May 6, 1951. The Ethiopians then moved to the UN camp in Dongnae, Busan, where they were supplied with American equipment and given basic military training.
The Ethiopian 1st Battalion, which had been attached to the 7th U.S. Division, engaged in a fierce battle for the first time on Aug. 12, 1951. Thereafter, the 1st Battalion dispatched platoon or company size reconnaissance units several times. They destroyed enemy’s outposts, contributing to the operation of the 7th Division.
When the U.S. Army 9th Corps in the mid-east front launched an operation to secure an advanced base to attack Geumseong, the Ethiopian Battalion also initiated an attack and occupied Hill 700 near Samhyeon on September 21. They occupied Hill 602 the next day with artillery and air fire support. In this combat, the enemy suffered 179 deaths. Later on, the Battalion was awarded a citation by the U.S. President for their achievements. On March 28, 1952, the 1st Battalion returned home.
The 2nd Battalion of Ethiopia arrived in Busan the next day. It was assigned to the 32nd Regiment of the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division on April 13th. The unit was deployed to the main resistance line around Mt. Jungga after completing training. On October 4th, the 4th Company, while patrolling, engaged in an ambush with Chinese forces, and killed 26 of the enemy.
The 2nd Battalion was replaced by the 3rd Battalion, after fighting for the hills at Galhwa-dong, west of Cheorwon on April 16, 1953. On May 11, the 3rd Battalion was deployed around Galhwa-dong after training and maintenance. Between May 15 and 18, Chinese Communist Forces made four attacks on the Hill Yoke.
The heroic troops the Ethiopian battalion repelled them with concentrated fire. On May 19, a total of 15 reconnaissance personnel intended to ambush the enemy in front of Hill Yoke in order to capture the enemy. But the Chinese forces, which had detoured the ambushed unit, enveloped and attacked Hills of Yoke and Uncle.
As a result, from the dawn of May 20, a fierce hand-to-hand fighting took place around Hill Yoke. At last, the enemy retreated with 110 deaths. Thanks to the achievements in this battle, the Battalion was awarded the citation from the ROK government.
Ethiopia participated in the Korean War with 3,520 soldiers, among whom 121 were killed, and 536 were wounded. The ground forces withdrew from Korea gradually after the Korean War armistice. The final unit withdrew in January 1965.
The Kagnew Battalions were a number of military units from the Imperial Ethiopian Army which fought as part of United Nations Command in the Korean War (1950–53). The battalions rotated yearly, with the First Kagnew Battalion arriving at the front in 1951. The Third Kagnew Battalion which arrived in 1953, stayed through the signing of the armistice into 1954.
Over the next two years more Ethiopians guarded the stalemate in Korea as part of the Fourth Kagnew Battalion and the Fifth Kagnew Company. Even though some publications indicate Ethiopians remained in Korea until 1965, in fact they remained a part of the United Nations Command until 1975. Members of Kagnew Battalion were, with few exceptions, drawn from the Ethiopian Imperial Bodyguard Division.
Altogether, 3,158 Ethiopians served in Kagnew Battalions during the war.
"Kagnew" (Amharic: Judge) was the name of Ras Makonnen's warhorse. Ras Makonnen was one of Emperor Menelik II's generals during the First Italo-Ethiopian War and Haile Selassie's father.
At the outbreak of war in the Korean peninsula in 1950, the United Nations sent a plea to its member nations for military assistance. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, an ardent supporter of collective security, pledged to dispatch an infantry battalion.
The Armed Forces of the Ethiopian Empire at that time consisted of the Imperial Bodyguard Division, three army divisions, a budding air force and a provincial/territorial/reserve army. The Imperial Bodyguard Division (Kebur Zabagna) was the most elite military force in the empire with responsibility for safeguarding the royal household and maintaining internal security.
Therefore, the battalions destined to Korea were drawn mostly from the officers and men of the Imperial Bodyguard Division. They were then given intensive training in the mountains of Ethiopia for acclimatization.
The Kagnews served with great distinction, principally alongside the 7th Infantry Division, and by all accounts (including the enemy's) acquitted themselves well in battle, suffering 121 dead and 536 wounded during the course of the conflict.
One of the feats S. L. A. Marshall thought worth noting was an Ethiopian patrol at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill in 1953 when "...under full observation from enemy country, eight Ethiopians walked 800 yards across no-man's land and up the slope of T-Bone Hill right into the enemy trenches. When next we looked, the eight had become ten. The patrol was dragging back two Chinese prisoners, having snatched them from the embrace of the Communist battalion..."
British military historian John Keegan notes that the Ethiopian units drawn from the Imperial Guard fought with distinction in Korea between 1951 and 1954.
At least nine Silver Star Medals and dozens of Bronze Star Medals were also awarded to the Ethiopians by the United States. Two members, Lieutenant Colonel Teshome Irgetu and 2nd Lt. Haptewold Mamo, were awarded the highest Ethiopian gallantry award, and became "Knights of the Order of Emperor Menelik II."
When the U.S. established a military base in the newly-federated Eritrea in 1953, they renamed the base Kagnew Station in honor of the officers and men of Ethiopea who served so admirably in Korea.
Kagnew's exploits have been covered in detail in Pork Chop Hill by S.L.A. Marshall. Commenting on the fighting dogma of the Ethiopians Marshall states, "Like Horatius at the bridge or the screaming eagles at Bastogne, it was a classic fight, ending in clean triumph over seemingly impossible odds."
In 1954, Greek journalist Kimon Skordiles chronicled the exploits of the Ethiopian troops in his book Kagnew, the Story of the Ethiopian Fighters in Korea, even while his own countrymen were operating in the same theater of war. In 2008, the son of a Kagnew veteran translated that work into Amharic paying tribute to the officers and men of the three battalions, the Emperor who had the foresight to send them and authors S.L.A. Marshall and Kimon Skordiles for their efforts in ensuring that the feat of those that had served was not forgotten.
In 2019, Helion & Company published Emperor's Own: The History of the Ethiopian Imperial Bodyguard Battalion in the Korean War as part of their Asia@War series following the success of their Africa@War series. The book was distributed worldwide.