Fighting for Peanuts: Reimagining South Korean Soldiers’ Participation in the Wŏllam Boom

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-87
Author(s):  
Eun Seo Jo
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Young Men ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Park Chung Hee ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
The One

Using oral history sources, this article takes a bottom-up approach to explain why South Koreans volunteered to fight in the Vietnam War, comprising the largest group of foreign troops that participated after U.S. forces. Because these soldiers received pay in U.S. dollars for their military service in Vietnam, there has been considerable scholarly debate about whether they were mercenaries. This article goes beyond this question to examine how the South Korean socio-economic context and political culture pushed these men to fight in another postcolonial civil war so similar to the one they themselves recently had experienced. An obligation to provide financial support for their impoverished families and a cult of militarized valor prompted young men to choose war as a way to fulfill their masculine roles. South Korean President Pak Chŏng-hŭi [Park Chung Hee] also urged young men to see themselves as defenders of the “Free World” and inspired them to fight alongside American soldiers they had respected as children during the Korean War. Ultimately, this article explains how South Koreans found themselves fighting in a new Cold War conflict in Asia even while their own nation remained precariously divided and damaged because of a similar war.

Cold War Mnemonics: History, Melancholy, and Landscape in South Korean Films of the 1960s

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-412
Author(s):  
Hyun Seon Park
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Traumatic Experience ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Mnemonic Devices ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Work Of Mourning ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

Abstract This article examines the way that cinematic mnemonics of 1960s South Korean films ciphers the heterogeneous and conflicting experiences regarding two entangled wars: the Korean War and the Cold War. In a close reading of Kim Suyong’s Mist (An’gae, 1967) and Yi Sŏnggu’s The General’s Mustache (Changgun ŭi suyŏm, 1968), the article argues for the multifaceted aesthetics of Cold War mnemonics, which illuminates a binding and unbinding technology of affective memories in which the traumatic experience of the Korean war parallels the dominant narrative of Cold War historiography. In Mist and The General’s Mustache, historical trauma and the experience of loss take up important positions in relation to melancholic landscape and mnemonic devices. Visualizing the interstice between melancholy and mourning, between memory and history, and between landscape and interiority through the devices of flashback, widescreen, montage, and metanarrative structure, the exploration of mnemonic technologies is inextricably linked with the postwar Korean subject’s dual efforts to remember historical loss and to incorporate shameful memories. While Mist shows the male protagonist’s short visit to his countryside hometown, during which he is troubled by memories of the past and, thus, his encounter with the unfinished work of mourning, The General’s Mustache, beginning with a photojournalist’s suspicious death, assembles the fragmentary pieces of modern Korean history’s secrets through multiple frames of testimony and confession. Produced during the time of Cold War turmoil as well as at the height of global modernization, these films release alternative thinking about time, memory, and history, asking us to remember what is left behind in Cold War historiography.

Propaganda leaflets and Cold War frames during the Korean War

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-264
Author(s):  
Seong Choul Hong
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Moral Judgement ◽  
Causal Interpretation ◽  
South Korean ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War

In the history of world wars, the Korean War (1950–1953) was not a forgotten war but the apogee of a propaganda war. By analyzing the contents of propaganda leaflets distributed during the Korean War, this study explored which frames were dominantly employed. The resulting findings were that the frames of ‘demoralization’ (25.7%) and ‘encouraging surrender’ (24.4%) were the most frequently used during the overall war period. Furthermore, the dominant frames varied depending upon the target audiences and language used. In terms of functional frames, the leaflet messages corresponded to definition and causal interpretation (22.8%), moral judgement (26.2%) and solution (49.9%). Interestingly, Chinese and North Korean leaflets preferred the imperialist frame to the Cold War frame even though the US and South Korean leaflets more heavily used the Cold War frame when they referred to foreign troops. Moreover, thematic frames (91.4%) were more widely used than episodic frames (8.6%) in the samples.

The Political Was Personal: Shifting Images of 76 Korean pow s Who Went to Neutral Nations

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-257
Author(s):  
Jung Byung Joon
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Direct Knowledge ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Early Assumption ◽  
Global Cold War

Abstract Under the terms of the Korean War armistice, prisoners of war (pow s) could reject repatriation. The vast majority of non-repatriates went to either of the Koreas, China, or Taiwan. But a small group consisting of 76 Korean and twelve Chinese pow s exercised their option to go to neutral nations instead. This article examines how South Korean discourse about these outlier pow s shifted over the decades. An early assumption was that they had made a principled, ideological decision to reject both blocs of a global Cold War. But their choice of neutral countries was a more personal than ideological one. Their anti-communism appeared muted, since they also eschewed the other side. This interpretation contained little direct knowledge of the pow s themselves; it owed more to how the South Korean public saw the war that devastated their peninsula. There also was the influence of “The Square” in the Korean intellectual society and the mass media in their understanding of these Korean prisoners. After the collapse of the Soviet bloc, South Koreans became more confident about the rivalry with North Korea. This led to a reengagement with the memory of the pow s who had spurned both Koreas, making rejection of Communist North Korea more convincing and their refusal to remain in South Korea was less problematic.

9. Confronting the Soviets

2018 ◽  
pp. 97-109
Author(s):  
Craig L. Symonds
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Korean War ◽  
The United States ◽  
The World ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Primary Mission ◽  
The U.S

At the end of World War II, the U.S. Navy was more than twice as large as all the rest of the navies of the world combined. The inevitable contraction that followed was less draconian than after previous wars because of the almost immediate emergence of the Cold War. ‘Confronting the Soviets: the Cold War navy (1945–1975)’ explains that while deterring a Soviet missile strike remained a primary mission of all of America’s services throughout the Cold War, the United States also confronted a series of smaller wars around the world. These included the Korean War, unrest in the Middle East, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War, 1965–74.

Accidental Allies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phuong Tran Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Korean War ◽  
The United States ◽  
South Vietnam ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Henry Luce ◽  
Failure To Protect ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Good And Evil

Most accounts of the Vietnam War describe it as a war of choice, but this chapter argues that it was, in many ways, a war of necessity. Attempts to implement a purely pragmatic, minimalist Cold War strategy in Asia were doomed when the Korean War drew the United States into an unplanned but then-vital nation-building campaign with accidental allies in South Korea, Taiwan, and eventually South Vietnam. This chapter traces the origins of this moralistic component of Cold War policy and politics, particularly the Christian missionaries and their heirs, like publisher Henry Luce, who formed the China Lobby and Asia First bloc. By helping to frame the Cold War and America’s commitment to Asia as an epic struggle between good and evil, they set the stage for Indochinese refugee admissions based on moral, rather than legal, grounds, and as the very least America could do to atone for its failure to protect stalwart anti-communist allies.

The Rise and Decline of the American Century

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
William O. III Walker
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Korean War ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Crises ◽  
American Century ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Lyndon Johnson ◽  
The Cold War

This book discusses how U.S. officials, influenced by publisher Henry R. Luce in an essay in Life magazine in 1941, strove to create an American Century at the close of World War II, and beyond. The United States, Luce held, must seek comprehensive leadership, that is, global hegemony. The advent of the Cold War hastened that undertaking. Communist victory in China’s civil war in 1949 and the start of the Korean War in June 1950 made the Cold War international. U.S. officials implemented the dual strategy of global containment and multilateralism in trade and finance in order to counter Soviet influence. By the late 1950s, however, a changing world, which the nonaligned movement epitomized, was questioning U.S. leadership and, thus, the appeal of the American Century. International crises and adverse balance of payments meant trouble for Luce’s project in the early 1960s. The debacle of 1968 for Lyndon Johnson, as seen in relations with allies, the Vietnam War, and a weak dollar, cost him his presidency and curtailed the growth of the American Century. Richard Nixon then attempted to revitalize U.S. leadership through détente with the Communist world. At most, there remains today a quasi-American Century, premised largely on military power.

“Choice or Chance”

Rough Draft ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 156-187
Author(s):  
Amy J. Rutenberg
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Korean War ◽  
National Guard ◽  
Conscientious Objector ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
The Vietnam War ◽  
Minority Men

Chapter six argues that in working to avoid the draft, men during the Vietnam War did not behave terribly differently from men during World War II or the Korean War. Rather, it was the context of their actions that changed. This chapter affirms that the historical conditions of the Vietnam War, particularly the advent of draft counseling, made it easier for men to engage in draft avoidance behavior. But it also argues that the military manpower policies of the previous decades influenced their choices. Because policies and practices privileged men with the resources to attend college, gain admittance to the National Guard or Reserves, find sympathetic doctors, or write reasoned belief statements in conscientious objector applications, white, middle-class men were the most successful at avoiding the draft. For them, military service was a decision more than a fait accompli. Working-class and minority men had fewer tools for draft avoidance.

The one coalition they craved to join: Turkey in the Korean War

2008 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
CAMERON S. BROWN
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Alliance Theory ◽  
Gulf Wars ◽  
The One ◽  
Southern Neighbour ◽  
The Cold War

AbstractTwice since the Cold War ended in 1990, Turkey has been with roughly the same dilemma: a US-led multinational force requested Turkey’s cooperation in launching a military attack against Iraq, ostensibly to enforce UN resolutions. Public and elite opinion was largely against Turkish involvement in both 1990 and 2003, and when Turkey did cooperate with the US-led coalition during the former, it was almost entirely due to efforts of then Turkish President Turgut Özal. In many ways, the dilemma faced by Turkey during these two Gulf Wars finds a fascinating parallel to the situation it faced with the Korean War half a century before. At that time, Turkey had to decide whether to join the US-led multinational force that had been authorised by the UN to reverse North Korea’s unprovoked attack on its southern neighbour. Turkey in 1950, however, was much more eager to play an active role than in 1990 or 2003 – to the point where it eagerly committed significant ground forces, despite the fact that the war in question did not directly threaten Turkey’s security interests. This article examines the forces that motivated Turkey to send nearly 5,000 troops almost 5,000 miles away from home, and concludes with thoughts on the implications for alliance theory.

scholarly journals Analysis of Developmental Chronology of South Korean Compressed Growth as a Reference from Sustainable Development Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1905
Author(s):  
Sea Jin Kim ◽  
Woo-Kyun Lee ◽  
Jun Young Ahn ◽  
Wona Lee ◽  
Soo Jeong Lee
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Korean War ◽  
National Development ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Developmental Indicators ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Perspectives

Global challenges including overpopulation, climate change, and income inequality have increased, and a demand for sustainability has emerged. Decision-making for sustainable development is multifaceted and interlinked, owing to the diverse interests of different stakeholders and political conflicts. Analysing a situation from all social, political, environmental, and economic perspectives is necessary to achieve balanced growth and facilitate sustainable development. South Korea was among the poorest countries following the Korean War; however, it has developed rapidly since 1955. This growth was not limited to economic development alone, and the chronology of South Korean development may serve as a reference for development in other countries. Here, we explore the compressed growth of South Korea using a narrative approach and time-series, comparative, and spatial analyses. Developmental indicators, along with the modern history of South Korea, are introduced to explain the reasons for compressed growth. The development of the mid-latitude region comprising 46 countries in this study, where nearly half of Earth’s population resides, was compared with that of South Korea; results show that the developmental chronology of South Korea can serve as a reference for national development in this region.

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