I didn't get to Korea until 1967, long after the "Conflict" had ended. Then, I served two tours of duty an a chair warmer Army JAG captain. I prosecuted general courts martial and, when I had enough experience, defended them. I eventually became the Eighth Army Support Command Deputy SJA and Chief of Military Justice.
Following a tour of duty in DC, I went back as a special court martial military judge and presided over three hundred + courts martial. In the process, I traveled all over South Korea, often to units on or close to the DMZ. I wrote a short article about it here
During the winter, it can be frigid in the "Frozen Chosen" and I can imagine what it was like for our troops up in North Korea during the retreat from the Yalu. Many lost body parts due to frost bite and inadequate winter wear which had not been provided because it was thought there was no need for it. Very many were more severely wounded and very many died.
South Korea is a beautiful country and I understand that North Korea has many scenic marvels as well. Still, I'd hate to get into a fight there.
I’ve never been to Korea, but I gather that it is a beautiful country, and very civilized. I did once have a graduate student from Korea whose dissertation on John Milton I supervised. He was an extraordinary guy, who worked a 40 hour week to put himself through graduate school, yet still managed to finish a PhD in four years. He is an Evangelical Christian, and he got a good job teaching English back at one of the Korean universities.
A few years ago, he got in touch and said he wanted to get a divinity degree, so he could do teach kids religion as well. He had taught Sunday School on Long Island while he was getting his PhD—just to make sure he wasted no time! Anyway, I recommended him into Yale Divinity School, with a caution not to let them brainwash him out of his religious beliefs, which seems to be the main function of academic divinity schools these days. But the degree will be very useful for him back in Korea.