session 10 Korea after division (Jennifer Jung-Kim)

[Denis Vovchenko]

Jennifer mentioned the support of shamans for democratization in the 1980s. How organized is that form of religion? Usually, shamanism is not structured. I know they are influential – a recent South Korean leader (Park Geun Hye) consulted a shaman compared to Rasputin (in 2016).  Apparently, shamans are still a huge influence. Can they be compared to a state church like in the UK or Scandinavia or Catholic countries?

[Molly Cowan Johnson]

I was thinking about Denis’s question about the memory gap regarding the Vietnam war vs. the Korean war. I took a class over the Vietnam war in college and the televised part of it was a large part of my undergrad research.  If you think about the time period that the Korean war happens it…it is kind of an awkward time. It isn’t that long after WWII, when our soldiers were seen as heroes fighting the evils of fascism. And then there was the Korea war, which was fighting the evils of communism, but was over shadowed by the conflicts around it.

Historically, not necessarily at the time, Vietnam is see as more of war against imperialism than rather than furthering the goals of communism. If you ever read much about Ho Chi Minh, he wanted a country of his own people without the overlord of foreign imperialism. Check out the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence (Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam). Having read a fair bit about Ho Chi Minh, I think the help he accepted from the communists was a means to an end. He had asked the US but Truman said no… Plus the American people are disillusioned with Vietnam. Being able to see the horrors of war on your own TV set every evening…Compare it to today’s footage of Ukraine. With the introduction of smart phones and social media, warfare we are seeing today is a whole other image.

[clay dube]

Jennifer's suggested several resources on the Korean War that you will find valuable. You may also find the SPICE curriculum unit on "Divided Memories" on textbooks from different Asian and American publishers to be of interest. American perspectives on the war are plentiful, including a virtual exhibit from the US military, NY Times article on "forgetting," US documentary film, Russian documentary film (English subtitles), PBS series on Chosin Battle, and the accessible book by David Halberstam, The Coldest Winter (NY Times review, interviews with others, publisher's page, Google Books, readily available at libraries).

One recent and interesting Chinese perspective is a hugely popular Chinese feature film on the same battle (famous directors, trailer, full version with English subtitles, CNN article).

The Wilson Center has a collection of translated documents from top Russian and Chinese officials on the war. One example, Stalin wrote to Zhou Enlai on July 5 (just after the start of the North Korean invasion in 1950) to send Chinese units to the border.

Some of the American soldiers taken prisoner by Chinese forces elected to stay in China after the war. This documentary by a Chinese Canadian includes interviews with a couple of them and with family members. It's a fascinating story that few Americans know about.

Please share other resources that you've found useful. BTW - some may find our discussion with Julia Lovell about Global Maoism to be of interest. The links to Vietnam and to other places in Southeast Asia, not to mention Latin America and the U.S. and Europe are fascinating.

 

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