Korean War Exactly how Anying came to be stationed in Korea is clouded. Most likely the unit he led was ordered there. Jiang Qing urged Mao not to let his son go. But Mao wanted no special treatment for his children. Anying went to Korea with a headquarters unit in October 1950. Headquarters had been set up in an old gold-mining settlement. Its old caves provided excellent protection from American fighter-bombers. That day the weather was so fine that everyone had come out to enjoy the sunshine. Then it happened. An American fighter-bomber swooped over the site, machine guns going, strafing from a low level, and leaving the Chinese no time to take cover. Casualties were not great, but one of the three officers killed was Mao Anying. Mao refused to have his son's body returned to China. Mao made no public expression about his son's death and Anying's death was kept secret for years. Peng Dehuai did not tell Mao Zedong of his son's death for weeks in fear of Mao's reaction.

He was buried in Pyongyang, in the Cemetery for the Heroes of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army though some also claim that his body was later shipped to Beijing. It is believed that Peng Dehuai's fall from grace after the Great Leap Forward and further humiliation in the Cultural Revolution was due to Mao's hatred for Peng's carelessness in protecting the life of his son, Mao Anying.

Another story tells that: The evening of 24 November 1950, two P-61 Black Widows were spotted on a photo reconnaissance mission by the Chinese on the ground near the location. The next day on 25 November at around noon, a South African Air Force A-26 bomber dropped four napalm bombs, one of which hit a makeshift house near the cave, killing Mao Anying and another officer who were cooking their lunch in violation of war-time regulations of Chinese Army.