The Korean War: The Korean Experience
Warfare
History Hit
4.5 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 22 July 2022
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In July 1945 when Korea was divided by the 38th parallel into North and South, families were suddenly torn apart by a border that would change the course of history. Post World War Two, Korea was of massive strategic importance, a stepping stone to the rest of Asia. After centuries of monarchy and 35 years of brutal colonial rule - many Koreans were unsure which side would provide them with a future that promised them independence.
The fourth episode in our series on the Korean War, James is joined by former Pyongyang AP bureau chief and co-host of The Lazarus Heist podcast, Jean Lee, to talk about her family's experiences in South Korea during this period. Devastating famines, brutal fighting, and families split up with no way of contact - it was a harrowing experience for the Korean people. With nearly 5 million casualties, many of them civilians, why is the Korean War known as the "Forgotten War"? And what impacts can still be felt today?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Korean War was an exceptionally bloody conflict with as many as 150,000 troops from South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and all participating United Nations forces killed during the war. |
| 0:15.0 | Yet this is only a fraction of the suffering faced during this period. |
| 0:20.0 | When it comes to civilian casualties, the statistics are shockingly incomprehensible. |
| 0:25.3 | Nearly 3 million civilians, or about 10% of Korea's pre-war population, were killed. |
| 0:31.6 | To put this into some perspective, this level of civilian casualties was higher than that |
| 0:37.0 | seen during the entirety of the Second World War or during the Vietnam War. Yet despite this level of pain and suffering, |
| 0:44.8 | we hear so little about the Korean perspective of the war |
| 0:48.4 | or accounts of what happened during this period in history. |
| 0:52.0 | Well, to help us rectify this we have veteran |
| 0:54.9 | foreign correspondent and expert on north and south Korea Jean H. Lee on the |
| 0:59.8 | podcast. Jean's family were caught in the turmoil that unfolded during the Korean war. on the that help us to see the civilian perspective of the conflict. |
| 1:14.0 | I should also add that if you want to hear more from Jean, |
| 1:17.0 | then check out the BBC World Service podcast, The Lazarus Heist, |
| 1:21.0 | which she co-presence and is returning with a second season later this year. |
| 1:25.0 | But now here is Jean H. Lee on civilian perspectives of the Korean War. and war. Hi Gene, welcome to the Warfare Podcast. How you doing today? |
| 1:47.0 | I am doing great. Thanks for having me. |
| 1:49.0 | Not a problem at all. Thank you for taking the time to come on. |
| 1:52.0 | Where in the world are you at the moment? |
| 1:53.7 | So I am sitting in muggy, hot and humid, Washington, D.C. |
| 1:58.3 | Ah, in the swamp. |
| 2:00.1 | Precisely, I am sitting in the middle of the swamp, soaking in the sauna that the summer presents here in DC. |
| 2:07.0 | And then do you get any relief this summer? Are you jetting off anywhere else around the world? |
... |
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