Editing Korean War (section)

===Comparison of forces===
Chinese involvement was extensive from the beginning, building on previous collaboration between the Chinese and Korean communists during the Chinese Civil War. Throughout 1949 and 1950, the Soviets continued arming North Korea. After the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, ethnic Korean units in the PLA were sent to North Korea.{{Sfn|Millett|2007|p=14}}

In the fall of 1949, two PLA divisions composed mainly of [[Koreans in China|Korean-Chinese]] troops (the [[5th Division (North Korea)|164th]] and [[6th Division (North Korea)|166th]]) entered North Korea, followed by smaller units throughout the rest of 1949. The reinforcement of the KPA with PLA veterans continued into 1950, with the [[12th Division (North Korea)|156th Division]] and several other units of the former Fourth Field Army arriving in February; the PLA 156th Division was reorganized as the KPA 7th Division. By mid-1950, between 50,000 and 70,000 former PLA troops had entered North Korea, forming a significant part of the KPA's strength on the eve of the war's beginning.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stuecker |first=William |title=Korean War: World History |date=2004 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |pages=102–103}}</ref> The combat veterans and equipment from China, the tanks, artillery, and aircraft supplied by the Soviets, and rigorous training increased North Korea's military superiority over the South, armed by the U.S. military with mostly small arms, but no heavy weaponry.{{Sfn|Millett|2007|p=15}}

Several generals, such as [[Lee Kwon-mu]], were PLA veterans born to ethnic Koreans in China. While older histories of the conflict often referred to these ethnic Korean PLA veterans as being sent from northern Korea to fight in the Chinese Civil War before being sent back, recent Chinese archival sources studied by Kim Donggill indicate that this was not the case. Rather, the soldiers were indigenous to China, as part of China's longstanding ethnic Korean community, and were recruited to the PLA in the same way as any other Chinese citizen.<ref>Zhihua Shen. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWNbDwAAQBAJ&dq=were+indigenous+in+Northeast+China+and+that+the+North+Korean+regime+never+dispatched+soldiers+to+Manchuria&pg=PT306 "A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Sino–North Korean Relations, 1949–1976".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407163505/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWNbDwAAQBAJ&dq=were+indigenous+in+Northeast+China+and+that+the+North+Korean+regime+never+dispatched+soldiers+to+Manchuria&pg=PT306 |date=7 April 2023 }} Columbia University Press, September 2018.</ref>

According to the first official census in 1949, the population of North Korea numbered 9,620,000,<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Nicholas Eberstadt|Nick Eberstadt]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=72lpTkNcJQ4C&pg=PA61 |title=Policy and Economic Performance in Divided Korea During the Cold War Era: 1945–91 |date=27 September 2017 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9780844742748 |via=Google Books}}</ref> and by mid-1950, North Korean forces numbered between 150,000 and 200,000 troops, organized into 10 infantry divisions, one tank division, and one air force division, with 210 fighter planes and 280 tanks, who captured scheduled objectives and territory, among them Kaesong, [[Chuncheon]], [[Uijeongbu]], and Ongjin. Their forces included 274 [[T-34#T-34-85|T-34-85]] tanks, 200 artillery pieces, 110 attack bombers, 150 [[Yakovlev|Yak]] fighter planes, and 35 reconnaissance aircraft. In addition to the invasion force, the North had 114 fighters, 78 bombers, 105 T-34-85 tanks, and some 30,000 soldiers stationed in reserve in North Korea.{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=}} Although each navy consisted of only several small warships, the North and South Korean navies fought in the war as seaborne artillery for their armies.

In contrast, the South Korean population was estimated at 20&nbsp;million,<ref name="Armstrong"/> but its army was unprepared and ill-equipped. <!-- In ''South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu'' (1961), R. E. Appleman reports the ROK forces' low combat readiness --> As of 25 June 1950, the ROK had 98,000 soldiers (65,000 combat, 33,000 support), no tanks (they had been requested from the U.S. military, but requests were denied), and a 22-plane air force comprising 12 [[Liaison aircraft|liaison-type]] and 10 [[North American T-6 Texan|AT-6]] advanced-trainer airplanes. Large U.S. garrisons and air forces were in Japan,{{Sfn|Appleman|1998|p=17}} but only 200–300 U.S. troops were in Korea.<ref name="james19500625">{{Cite news |last=James |first=Jack |date=25 June 1950 |title=North Koreans invade South Korea |language=en |agency=United Press |url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1950/06/25/North-Koreans-invade-South-Korea/1012416555294/ |access-date=29 July 2017 |archive-date=6 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806141249/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1950/06/25/North-Koreans-invade-South-Korea/1012416555294/ |url-status=live }}</ref>