US Prisoners of War 7,245 members of the armed forces of the U.S were captured or interned. The American prisoners were poorly housed, poorly fed, and brutally treated. Of those 7,245 men captured, 2,806 died in captivity, that is almost 39%, 4,418 returned to the U.S. and twenty-one Americans chose not to return to the U.S. after the war.

Communist Prisoners of War A total of 146,951 North Korean Soldiers were captured. A total of 17,963 Chinese PLA Soldiers were captured. The Chinese believe that anyone who surrenders is a coward and is not to be trusted. In Chinese culture it is a great disgrace to be captured. That is why so many Chinese prisoners did not want to be sent back to China after the war. Embarrassed that so many of their POWs were refusing repatriation, the Communists instigated their hard-liners in U.N. custody to riot. They captured a camp commandant and although he was later released, it ws a very humiliating incident. About 22,000 Communist-POWs screened by troops from neutral India refused to return. Another 25,000 were released against U.N. wishes by President Syngman Rhee to fade into the countryside.