and
U.S. Army explosives teams destroy facilities and abandoned
United Nations supplies in Hŭngnam on 24 December 1950, the last day of the amphibious evacuation of U.N. forces from Hŭngnam during the
Korean War. The U.S. Navy
high-speed transport stands by in the foreground. The port at Hŭngnam was the site of the
Hŭngnam evacuation, a major evacuation of both United Nations military and North Korean civilians during the
Korean War in late December 1950. Approximately 100,000 troops and material and 100,000 civilians were loaded onto a variety of merchant ships and military transports totaling 193 shiploads over the weeks leading up to Christmas 1950, and were transported to safety in Pusan and other destinations in South Korea. The evacuation included 14,000 refugees who were transported on one ship, the
SS Meredith Victory - the largest evacuation from land by a single ship. This was made possible by a declaration of national emergency by President Truman issued on 16 December 1950 with Presidential Proclamation No. 2914, 3 C.F.R. 99 (1953). This operation was the culmination of the
Battle of Chosin Reservoir, in which the embattled UN troops fought their way out of a Chinese trap. In late 2005, Hŭngnam was demoted from Hŭngnam-si (Hŭngnam City) to Hŭngnam-kuyok (Hŭngnam District) within
Hamhung-si. ==Population==