Althuogh there are many Koreans who would welcome reunification, the official South Korean position (and obviously North Korean as well) is that they do not want to see regime collapse in North Korea. And if we try to second-guess whether the US, Japan, PRC, and Russia would be better off with a reunified Korea or not, I think the answer is that the other neighboring countries would rather not. I think then the most feasible option would be to end the Korean War and have two separate, peaceful Koreas.  

Question: How do we incorporate Korea in our lesson? 

This past Wednesday's discussion with Prof Jennifer Jung-Kim was about how to incorporate Korea into our lesson. I have this idea to divide students into smaller groups and provide them with this question: Who's War is the Korean War? According to the video and readings, initially the Korean war was a civil conflict. It was sparked by the invasion of South Korea by the 75,000 members of the North Korean People's Army. The United States did not want to participate in the conflict, nonetheless, the US government did not want communism to spread to other countries as well. So in 1950-1953, the Soviet Union and China supported the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the north. Thousands of Chinese troops were sent to help the North Koreans. Mao Zedong was helping out his North Korean allies. On the other hand,  President Truman wanted to contain communism. So, the U.S. helped by supporting its allies in the Republic of Korea to the south.  This was the Korean War. 

The impact of the Korean war was the creation of a demilitarization zone between North Korea and South Korea. To people all over the world, the Korean war was seen as a war that had successfully stopped communist expansion in Asia. 

First, I appreciate the clear, historic overview of these two lectures.  I had very little knowledge of Korean history beyond what the war and watching MASH reruns.  It was helpful to see trends over time and understand Korea's place in Asian history.

I am especially interested in the Japanese imperialist period. My world history class includes a significant unit on European imperialism in Africa and Asia, and the social and political effects of this attempted control.  We talk about Japanese imperialism as a precursor to WWII, but this lecture will help us add more context to that and broaden their understanding of imperialism as a driving force in history. 

The use of "Cranes" as an ELA lesson would allow for deepdiscussion of the two characters, their perspectives, the war, and the relationships that have survived the war. The two boys would be relatable for 5-8 grade students. They started off playing together as children, but time, conflict, and war have kept them apart. Once reunited, the differences between the men are clear, but their friendship bonds saves on of them from a certain death. The division of the two Koreas is explicit, but the interpersonal relationships among old friends muddy the waters. This reading could support students navigating challenging moments (like we are in) and talking about the value of friendship in diffivult times. Many of my students love K-pop, but they don't yet know the history and complexity of the two Koreas!