SEOUL • South Korean and United States soldiers took part in a ceremony to mark the 65th anniversary of a historic amphibious landing operation conducted during the starting months of the Korean War that wrested back the South Korean capital from the North and changed the course of the war.

Members of the South Korean army, with their US counterparts, yesterday descended on the country's western port city of Incheon, 27km south-west of Seoul, to re-enact the Incheon Landing Operation, which was conducted by the US-led United Nations forces in Sept 15, 1950.

The bold operation, which was led by General Douglas MacArthur, then commander of the joint forces, involved the deployment of some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels. It had been viewed as too risky to land at the strategic Incheon port, but Gen MacArthur's insistence on the operation resulted in his troops breaking through North Korean supply lines to push inland and recapture Seoul on Sept 28, 1950.

Twenty-one countries participated in the war, which broke out after the North invaded the South on June 25, 1950. Of them, 16 allies, including the US, Britain and Canada, sent combat troops.

The Korean War, which lasted until 1953, ended in a truce, which has yet to be replaced by any formal peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.

KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK