Re: PLA Koreans in KPA?

["david.maxwell" <david.maxwell@us.army.mil>]

I believe many ethnic Koreans fought with Mao.  When the Chinese Civil 
War was over many of these Koreans returned to north Korea and were 
immediately moved south to the nKPA forces along the 38th Parallel.  
The nKPA had many battle hardened troops at the outbreak of the Korean 
War from the fighting in China.

V/R

Dave

----- Original Message -----
From: "DONALD KILMER" <donskil@msn.com>
Date: Monday, October 1, 2001 3:58 am
Subject: PLA Koreans in KPA?

>  
> U.S. intelligence had several reports in 1949 and early 1950 
> about the
> Chinese communist forces transferring ethnic Korean troops to the 
> North  
> Korean army.  They reportedly were made available with the communist
> victory in China.  The numbers in the reports ran as high as 
> 49,000, indicating
> that they could have comprised half of the KPA in June 1950.   
> 
> Q: What is the current view of whether or not the PLA transferred 
> ethnicKoreans to the KPA in 1949 and the first half of 1950, and 
> if so,
> what were the numbers?   
> 
> This would seem to have been an issue which interrogators in POW camps
> for North Koreans might have been able to get a handle on, and 
> which  
> subsequent scholars would have been interested in.  Any definitive 
> word on it?
>