The Benefits of Inchoen

The Inchoen landing was an enormous gamble and an enormous success for MacArthur. Not only was Seoul regained but, more important, MacArthur established the UN force in a powerful strategic position. It was far to the north of the majority of the 100,000 North Koreans who were now cut off from satety. All MacArthur had to do was capture that army and the war would be over.
The Inchoen landing was the high point of MacArthur's career. The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington were astounded by his uncanny insight and understanding of the enemy, who had continued to be drawn toward Pusan in the south for the final kill. The American people love a successful general, and MacArthur became one of their favorites. MacArthur's success at Inchoen made it difficult for the Joint Chiefs to challenge his decisions in the future. Unfortunately, after September 15, 1950, MacArthur made a series of extraordinarily unwise decisions. One of these unfortunate decisions came immediately after the Inchoen landing. MacArthur wanted to destroy the North Korean army still in the south. North Korean generals withheld news of the Inchoen landing because they wanted the NKPA to keep up the attack against Pusan. But when the news could be concealed no longer , the army desperately tried to escape north. All MacArthur had to do to prevent the escape was to send UN troops east across the Korean peninsula and cut off all escape
routes. Instead, the general decided to put American troops at Inchoen on ships, transport them by sea around the southern coast of Korea, and land them at the east coast port of Wonsan. But the port of Wonsan was heavily mined, and the UN forces were not able to stop many of the veteran North Korean soldiers from escaping. Perhaps as many as thirty thousand North Korean soldiers managed to escape through the mountain passes. Despite this setback, the United Nations had achieved its initial goal. By the end of September 1950, UN forces had reached the 38th parallel and had reestablished South Korean Independence.