Rene Cutforth was the BBC's special correspondent for the first tragic year of the Korean War.
It was an assignment that culminated with the heroic stand of the Gloucesters at the Imjin River. For three nights and two days this British battalion held at bay the main thrust of the Chinese army until, surrounded and with water and ammunition exhausted, they tried to break out exactly 20 years ago today. Of the 741 men in the battalion, only 46 reached their own lines.
Soon after this, Rene Cutforth left Korea. In one short year he had seen this small nation briefly become the centre of world attention and nearly die of it.
By early spring, Korea was a ruin. It was hard to find a wall big enough to keep the Siberian wind off, while you lit a cigarette.
Now Rene Cutforth returns to see what this divided country has made of its ruin since then.
(Return to Korea: pages 52-55)