“It is a sad commentary on our times that, whether one country sets out to enslave another or whether it seeks to liberate it, the consequences are exactly the same. In either case, it is death and misery for millions,” Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, troubled by bloodshed and violence in the Korean Peninsula and referring to the escalating Korean War, said in Parliament on 28 March 1951.
Newly independent and committed to non-violence, India under Jawaharlal Nehru found itself confronting its first significant diplomatic challenge in a world torn between capitalist and communist blocs. The war raging on the Korean Peninsula presented India with an opportunity to assert its non-alignment principles on the global stage and work towards restoring peace in a region devastated by war.
India, under Prime Minister Nehru, played a crucial role in bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula, a proxy battleground for the US and the USSR. Through persistent diplomatic efforts and a principled stance, India was instrumental in the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement in July 1953.
The crucial role played by the country’s first PM is an interesting chapter to revisit as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Ukraine amid the devastating Russia-Ukraine war. The world has expectations that India, an assertive and diplomatically mature nation, could play a role in bringing about an end to the Ukraine-Russia war, which has been going on for more than two years now.
PM MODI IN UKRAINE, PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF WAR ON HIS MIND
In the early 1950s, India played a crucial role in the peaceful resolution of the repatriation of prisoners of war, addressing a big humanitarian challenge in the armed conflict in the Korean peninsula.
Seventy-five years later, an Indian Prime Minister is visiting a war-torn nation at their invitation — this time, it’s Ukraine in the West.
Six weeks back, PM Modi visited Russia to discuss the conflict-ridden situation.
In Poland, before leaving for Kyiv, PM Modi called for diplomatic measures to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war, and offered India’s support.
Polish PM Donald Tusk hailed India’s approach to the war, saying, “I am very glad that the prime minister has confirmed his readiness to personally engage in bringing about a peaceful, just and speedy end to the war.”
He is on a two-day visit and is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict, according to Indian foreign office spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
PM Modi has held that he will share perspectives with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a peaceful resolution of the country’s ongoing conflict with Russia, which Ukraine calls its biggest threat. The visit comes at a crucial point in the war, when Ukrainian forces are still in Russia’s western Kursk region since August 6.
It would also be the first time an Indian Prime Minister would visit Ukraine.
Amidst the chatter about PM Modi’s visit on social media and in diplomatic circles, there is curiosity about whether India, under PM Modi, might play a role in ending the war.
Since the conflict broke out in February 2022, India’s approach to dealing with both its old friend Russia, and Ukraine has demonstrated that its stance goes beyond mere balancing. India has consistently sought to promote dialogue and diplomacy as the path to resolving the crisis.
The same dialogue and diplomacy from India helped resolve the crisis in Korea in the early 1950s, after North Koreans invaded the south in 1950. Although the 1953 Korean agreement was an armistice that sought to put an immediate halt to the war and violence, and the Cold War games, the hostilities between the two exist to this date. Technically, the Koreas are still at war.
HOW THE KOREAN WAR BEGAN AND WHAT WAS INDIA’S STANCE
The Korean War, which erupted in June 1950 following North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, quickly escalated into a proxy battleground for superpowers of the time — the United States leading the Western capitalist bloc and China and the Soviet Union backing the communist North.
North Korean forces had crossed the 38th Parallel, the four kilometre-wide strip between the two acting as a border, into South Korea.
The situation escalated at a point where public opinion in the US grew critical over the deteriorating military situation in Korea, and American President Harry Truman made vague statements about the potential use of the atomic bomb on the North, according to former diplomat Skand R Tayal.
“In this critical time, India played an important role in attempting to explore ways to contain and stop the devastating conflict. As the US led West was intent on excoriating China, Prime Minister Nehru wisely advised that great harm might be done by trying to fasten blame on only one country,” Tayal wrote in his book, India and the Republic of Korea: Engaged Democracies.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was quick to condemn the invasion and called upon member nations to assist South Korea. For India, international pressure was mounting. She, however, chose a path of neutrality, advocating for peace and the reunification of Korea without taking sides.
India’s neutrality was not a sign of indifference but rather a strategic commitment to peaceful resolution and de-escalation. Prime Minister Nehru and his advisors believed that Asia should determine its own destiny without external interference, perhaps a learning from the 200-year Raj.
“The Indian leadership under Nehru’s guidance wished to see Asians determine their own future. Since the 18th century, Western countries have been deciding the fate of Asian people. With the dawn of decolonisation after World War II, it was important for Asian countries like Korea after World War II to speak strongly on all matters related to peace and stability in the Asian continent,” wrote Tayal.
Lauding India’s role under Nehru, British historian, Robert Barnes noted that it had a “much-overlooked but significant role” to play in bringing the Korean conflict to an end.
INDIA’S DIPLOMATIC ENDEAVOURS IN KOREAN CRISIS
From the outset, India, which ‘looked east’, played an active diplomatic role at the United Nations, striving to mediate and propose solutions to halt the hostilities in Korea.
“Till early 1952, he [Nehru] had involved four people in his efforts at brokering a peace agreement at the UN: [Vijaylaxmi] Pandit, then Indian’s ambassador in the US; VK Krishna Menon; KM Panikkar, India’s ambassador in China; and BN Rau, India’s Permanent Representative at the UN,” wrote Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in his book, A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of VK Krishna Menon.
BN Rau was particularly proactive, engaging with various stakeholders to find common ground. The Indian Ambassador to Beijing, KM Panikkar, dealt with Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, communicating Indian stand.
As the war dragged on with mounting casualties and devastation, the need for a ceasefire became increasingly urgent.
In the meantime, Nehru sent personal letters to the former US Secretary of State George C Marshall, the Soviet supremo Joseph Stalin and the then US Secretary of State Dean Acheson, asking them to break the deadlock in the UNSC, according to Australian-Korean academic David W Kim.
VK Krishna Menon, a close confidant and friend of Nehru, and a skilled diplomat, emerged as a central figure in India’s peace efforts.
Despite being viewed with suspicion and, at times, outright hostility by both the Americans and the Soviets, Menon’s tenacity and negotiating skills proved instrumental in advancing India’s proposals, which finally resulted in the singing of the armistice in 1953.
Menon engaged with the Canadians, British, and Australians in a bid to rally support for peace.
INDIA’S 1952 RESOLUTION AT UN TO END KOREAN WAR
In November 1952, after exhaustive discussions and numerous setbacks, India presented a resolution at the UN General Assembly advocating for the establishment of a Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC). The core of India’s proposal was rooted in humanitarian concerns. It stressed that prisoners of war (POWs) should not be forcibly repatriated against their will, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
The Korean War had given birth to a peculiar situation where more than 20,000 prisoners of war POWs did not want to go back to their countries due to fear of persecution or political reprisals.
The resolution faced initial resistance, particularly from China and the Soviet Union, who were wary of any proposals that seemed to undermine their hold on the Korean Peninsula.
However, India’s persistent diplomatic efforts with the Americans and the moral weight of her neutral and principled stance eventually led to the resolution’s adoption on December 3, 1952, with unanimous support from non-Soviet members.
“…The vote was taken and was unanimous in favour of the Indian resolution… the Plenary [session of the General Assembly] (December 3) went through smoothly and the resolution, after a good enough speech by Menon, was adopted by 54 in favour, 1 abstention and 5 against,” wrote Lester Pearson, the then Canadian foreign minister.
The resolution sought to offset China’s argument that the US was responsible for delaying an armistice and aimed to counterbalance the Communist narrative by highlighting the delays in accepting the ideals of unification and peace in Korea.
TURNING POINT BEFORE THE KOREAN ARMISTICE OF 1953
The death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on March 5, 1953, marked a significant turning point. Meanwhile, the presidential baton in the US passed from Democrat Harry Truman to Republican Dwight Eisenhower.
The change in Soviet and American leadership opened new avenues for negotiation, as signals from the communist bloc indicated a willingness to seek a swift end to hostilities.
Building on this momentum, Menon submitted a revised proposal aimed at bridging the remaining gaps between the warring parties.
Although initial American reactions were lukewarm, compromises were made, leading to the merging of Menon’s proposal with an American version.
This collaborative effort paved the way for the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, effectively bringing the active war to a halt after three gruelling years of violence, conflict and instability.
HOW INDIA HELPED REPATRIATE THOUSANDS OF POWs
Following the armistice, the complex issue of repatriating tens of thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) from both sides remained unresolved. They weren’t just Koreans, but from several other countries.
“The Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC) was formed to manage the exchange of POWs on July 27, 1953 [Armistice Day]. The united members of Czechoslovakia (with personnel of 300), Poland (300), Sweden (75) and Switzerland (96) selected India as the head and ‘umpire’ of the new UN organisation,” noted JNU academic Vineet Thakur in a 2013 research paper.
The NNRC, as envisioned in Krishna Menon’s proposal, was tasked with overseeing the sensitive process.
India was the chair of the commission, as she had attracted international confidence because of its impartiality and diplomatic acumen, according to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
The commission India headed also had representatives from Sweden and Switzerland for the Western bloc and Poland and Czechoslovakia for the communist side.
India committed significant resources to fulfilling its responsibilities, dispatching the Custodian Force India (CFI) to Korea.
Prime Minister Nehru appointed Lieutenant General KS Thimayya as the Chairperson of the NNRC and Major General SPP Thorat as the Commander of the CFI.
“The 190 Infantry Brigade, under Brigadier Rajinder Singh Paintal, was deputised to establish the central forces. The Custodian Force India, with 5230 personnel, was then dispatched to Korea under the leadership of Major General Thorat in September 1953,” noted former diplomat Skand R Tayal.
Diplomat PN Haksar, then Krishna Menon’s aide at the High Commission in London, was also roped in as a political adviser to Thimayya’s team.
The Indian force comprised various military and civilian units, including the renowned 60 Parachute Field Ambulance, which had already been serving under the UN Command during the war in Korea.
The deployment of the CFI was a monumental task, both logistically and diplomatically. Their mission was not only to oversee the repatriation process, but also to ensure the welfare and humane treatment of all POWs under their care.
Efforts were made to counsel and interview the POWs to ascertain their genuine intentions and ensure their decisions were made without external pressures.
The CFI, upon arrival, established several camps, collectively referred to as ‘Hind Nagar’, right in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) along the 38th Parallel, today one of the most dangerous patches of land in the world. Despite challenges of unrest and violence in the camps, the Indian troops managed to handle situations with commendable restraint and professionalism.
The diplomatic challenge stemmed from Nehru’s unpopularity with South Korea’s first president, Syngman Rhee, a leader closely aligned with the Americans and an eyesore to the Soviets. He viewed India’s actions in Korea with suspicion.
The dislike was so intense that Rhee once said, “Nehru should be branded a communist”. But that did not matter to Nehru or his team, in pursuit of a new peaceful and balanced world order.
The Indian medical 60 Para Field Ambulance, provided indispensable services, treating not only POWs but also local civilians affected by the war.
India, demonstrating its commitment to humanitarian principles, even agreed to temporarily host 82 such POWs until their resettlement could be arranged.
Over time, most of these ex-POWs eventually relocated to various countries across Central and South America. A few chose to stay in India.
Young and neutral India’s role in the Korean War and its aftermath has definitely set a precedent for its future engagements in international peacekeeping and diplomatic mediation.
Half a century later, when Ukraine and Russia are engaged in a bloody fight, India’s stance obviously paved the way for many to anticipate if PM Modi makes a peace breakthrough on his Ukraine trip.
Vikram Sharma is a globe-trotting journalist with a global perspective on international events. His articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing insights into the world’s most pressing challenges.
