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영어

This treatise analyzes the purpose and phase of the aerial bombing on seoul by United States Air Force(USAF) during the Korean War. The bombing on Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, was proceed by USAF in the course of execution of two different air operations. The first one is Close Air Support(CAS) that has a purpose to assist ground army directly by aerial bombing. CAS was a very important air operation when Seoul is in the center of battle front. The second one is interdiction that bombs communication centers, supply routes, enemy’s barracks and traveling troops to prevent supplementary troops and supplies approaching the battle line. This air operations had an important meaning when Seoul was used as the center for supplies by the North Korean army. South Korean government officially announced that Yongsan district and Chung district were the most harshly damaged area by aerial bombing. These districts lies near Seoul station. The reason why the damage by aerial bombing was centralized near Seoul station is closely related with the procedures of interdiction by USAF. USAF wanted to isolate enemy troops in battle line by the destruction of the Seoul station and marshaling yard. Seoul station and marshaling yard is located in the city center that has the most dense population at that time. This dense populated area was called Panjachon that means shantytown. Seoul station area was so populated with a lot of people and houses that USAF bombers needed very precise bombing skills on military targets. But B-29 medium bombers that bombed Seoul had a very low target hitting ratio. They had to drop more than 1,500 GP bombs in a day to destroy Seoul station area. This is the main reason why the Yongsan district had so many casualties in the first phase of the Korean War. And USAF fighter-bomber would bomb the big buildings in cities and towns of the rear area to detect and destroy enemy’s supply centers. This situation also aggravated the damage of civilians living in cities like Seoul during the Korean War.