ORDER OF BATTLE // June 25, 1950
First Battle of Seoul
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 172,000 estimated
South Korea
65,000
Medium-confidence figure
North Korea
107,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The North Korean capture of Seoul in June 1950 marked the opening military crisis of the Korean War. North Korea committed 107,000 troops against a South Korean force of 65,000, and South Korean casualties of 44,000 against North Korean losses of 1,112 reflect the severity of the defeat. The fall of the capital within days of the June 25 invasion demonstrated the inability of South Korean forces under Rhee and Chae Byeong-deok to halt the offensive, accelerating international pressure for intervention and establishing North Korean forces under Kim Il Sung and Kim Chaek as the dominant ground power in the peninsula's opening phase. That North Korea refers to the engagement as the Liberation of Seoul underscores the ideological framing each side applied to the conflict from its very outset.
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