1951: Military Escalation, Diplomatic Improvements

At the start of 1951, Canadian forces had just landed for the first time on the Korean peninsula, and any hope of negotiations with Peking or Moscow regarding the Korean conflict still appeared hopeless. As the year progressed, Canadian troops arrived in larger and larger numbers on the front near the 38th parallel and began to build up hospitals, jails, and training grounds in Seoul and the Kure region of Japan to support Commonwealth troops. By the year’s end, military schools set up in Korea and new policies from National Defense indicated that Canadian troops were prepared to switch out on a man-to-man basis for as long as required by the United Nations. On the other hand, diplomatic strategy began turning up major gains for the Canadians. Tentatively proposed plans to negotiate with Peking in an effort to buy time for UN Forces turned up early successes, and armistice talks were being seriously pursued by late summer onward. Working with UN Forces on negotiations, press statements, and military engagements came with its own complications, however, and Canada’s UN delegation and External Affairs department spent much of their time during 1951 mediating between the hawkish impulses of the United States and South Korea with more hesitant powers like India and the other Commonwealth states.