Online Resources
- Discover the causes and aftermath of the Korean Waronflict arising after the post-World War II division of Korea, at latitude 38° N, into North Korea and South Korea. At the end of World War II, Soviet forces accepted the surrender of Japanese forces north of that line, as U.S. forces accepted Japanese surrender south of it. Negotiations failed to reunify the two halves, the northern half being a Soviet client state and the southern half being backed by the U.S...
- Korean War Veterans health issuesIf you served during the Korean War—anytime between June 25, 1950, and July 27, 1953—you may be at risk of certain health conditions. Learn about these conditions and what to do next to take care of your health.
- Korea’s Path from Poverty to PhilanthropyI remember what it was like growing up in Korea in the 1950s and 1960s. Per capita income was less than $100 – about what it is today in the poorest south Asian and African countries. The Korean War of 1950-1953 devastated the country, killing and injuring millions of people and scaring those who survived. In the early days of the war North Korean soldiers poured across the border and swept through most of South Korea, and in the aftermath of the war the economy was ruined and millions of families were separated and relocated.
- An Unpromising Recovery: South Korea’s Post-Korean War Economic Development: 1953-1961In 1953, both North and South Korea were shattered by the destructive three-year Korean War that left upward of two million dead and cities and towns in ruin. Already poor prior to the war, neither country had very promising prospects for the future. However, in the first eight years after the conflict, North Korea carried out an impressive recovery under a highly organized, purposeful government that appeared to be laying the foundations for a modern industrial society. By contrast, South Korea during this time was characterized by political corruption and turmoil, sluggish economic growth, and dependency on massive aid from the United States. On the surface, at least, there seemed little to suggest that South Korea in 1961 was on the eve of one of the most dramatic economic transformations in history.
Streaming Media
- Rushing To SunshineRUSHING TO SUNSHINE is a personal essay film that looks at South Korea's uncomfortable but growing acceptance of North Korea over a two year period. Hoaas gains unprecedented access to former political prisoners, student dissidents and others affected by a Government caught between its new open door 'Sunshine Policy' and the remnants of a cold war anti-Communist mindset.
- Why Hasn't the Korean War Ended? Its Been 65 Years?After six decades, the Korean War is technically still not over. Here’s what happened – and why it still matters.
- Rebuilding South Korea After the Korean ConflictFollow this link to learn more about the rebuilding of South Korea post-Korean Conflict.
Perspectives
Korean Endgame
Nearly half a century after the fighting stopped, the 1953 Armistice has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War. While Russia and China withdrew the last of their forces in 1958, the United States maintains 37,000 troops in South Korea and is pledged to defend it with nuclear weapons. In Korean Endgame, Selig Harrison mounts the first authoritative challenge to this long-standing U.S. policy. Harrison shows why North Korea is not--as many policymakers expect--about to collapse. And he explains why existing U.S. policies hamper North-South reconciliation and reunification. Assessing North Korean capabilities and the motivations that have led to its forward deployments, he spells out the arms control concessions by North Korea, South Korea, and the United States necessary to ease the dangers of confrontation, centering on reciprocal U.S. force redeployments and U.S. withdrawals in return for North Korean pullbacks from the thirty-eighth parallel. Similarly, he proposes specific trade-offs to forestall the North's development of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems, calling for the withdrawal of the U.S. nuclear umbrella in conjunction with agreements to denuclearize Korea embracing China, Russia, and Japan. The long-term goal of U.S. policy, he argues, should be the full disengagement of U.S. combat forces from Korea as part of regional agreements insulating the peninsula from all foreign conventional and nuclear forces. A veteran journalist with decades of extensive firsthand knowledge of North Korea and long-standing contacts with leaders in Washington, Seoul, and Pyongyang, Harrison is perfectly placed to make these arguments. Throughout, he supports his analysis with revealing accounts of conversations with North Korean, South Korean, and U.S. leaders over thirty-five years. Combining probing scholarship with a seasoned reporter's on-the-ground experience and insights, he has given us the definitive book on U.S. policy in Korea--past, present, and future.
The Unfinished War
Are we heading for a new Korean War? Lee presents the history, the current situation, and US involvement, drawing on 25 years in the US and Asia with the Ford Foundation, the UN and the Asian Development Bank, using recently de-classified documents and pe
Korea and Its Futures
Despite the passage of over forty years since the official end of the civil war in Korea, the north and the south sections of the country remain technically at war. In Korea and its Futures , Roy Grinker argues that the continued conflict between North and South Korea, and the prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula, must be understood within the broader social and cultural contexts in which Koreans live. Grinker suggests that a fundamental obstacle to peace on the peninsula is that South Korea has become a nation in which nearly all aspects of economic, political, and cultural identity are defined in opposition to North Korea. He further demonstrates that in spite of its status as a sacred goal for all Koreans, the idea of unification threatens the world in which almost every South Korean has been born and raised. In chapters on defectors, divided families, student protests, and early education, Grinker reveals how South Korean conceptions of unification prevent either side from recognizing that a unified Korea must also be a diverse Korea. In other words, Grinker points out, unification is largely perceived by South Koreans not as the integration of different identities but as the southern conquest and assimilation of the north - in short, as winning the war.