page_title: Korean DMZ Conflict
section_title: Implementing the American and South Korean strategy
hierarchical_section_title: Korean DMZ Conflict / Implementing the American and South Korean strategy
caption_attribution_description: English: Chain link fence along the south boundary of the DMZ also shows two types of guard towers constructed by the 2nd Engineer Battalion
context_page_description: The Korean DMZ Conflict, also referred to as the Second Korean War by some, was a series of low-level armed clashes between North Korean forces and the forces of South Korea and the United States, largely occurring between 1966 and 1969 at the Korean DMZ.
context_section_description: The Blue House Raid and the Pueblo Incident both served to raise the profile of the low-intensity conflict being fought in South Korea and finally brought in the resources needed to fully implement the joint U.S./ROK counterinsurgency strategy.
  The massive surge deployment of U.S. warships and combat aircraft in operations Formation Star and Combat Fox served to deter further large-scale incursions. Once the immediate threat subsided, the U.S. Seventh Fleet withdrew its ships by mid-1968, while the U.S. Air Force  gradually reduced its Combat Fox deployment over a period of 16 months.
  On 1 April 1968, the Department of Defense on the recommendation of General Bonesteel declared the DMZ-Imjin River area as a hostile fire zone, entitling service members stationed in the area to hostile-fire pay and later for the award of the Combat Infantryman Badge and Combat Medical Badge to all qualified men serving north of the Imjin River. This change in designation also meant that Korea would now receive priority second only to South Vietnam. In addition to the $100M promised to the ROK by envoy Vance, Congress also allocated $230M to improve U.S. and ROK facilities and combat readiness across the DMZ. $32M worth of material for the construction of the DMZ barrier and communications equipment was airlifted to South Korea, allowing the completion of the improved anti-infiltration barrier along the entire DMZ by 30 July 1968. The 6th Aviation Platoon which was en route to South Vietnam was instead deployed to South Korea, with its 12 UH-1D Hueys more than doubled the number of UH-1s available, allowing some to remain on alert with quick reaction forces while others conducted counter-infiltration operations. Several thousand additional enlisted men were allocated to Eighth Army alleviating manpower shortages while the Imjin Scout programme improved training in counterinfiltration tactics. Dog-tracker teams were deployed allowing improved detection of infiltrators, while several hundred M16 rifles were procured allowing patrols to match the firepower of KPA infiltrators. These improvements taken together resulted in a dramatic increase in the detection and elimination of KPA infiltrators in 1968.
  The Blue House Raid convinced President Park to make one crucial change to Presidential Directive #18, in February 1968 he ordered the creation of the Homeland Defense Reserve Force (HDRF), publicly announced in April, within 6 months more than 2 million South Korean citizens had volunteered forming more than 60,000 local defense platoons and companies. Park also ordered the establishment of 20 Reconstruction Villages just south of the DMZ, populated by armed ex-soldiers and their families and the dispatch of ROKA civic action Medical/Enlightenment Teams into remote areas, particularly in the Taebaek and Jiri Mountain areas.
caption: DMZ south boundary fence and guard towers, 14 August 1968
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