Did you know this week marks the 74th anniversary of the Korean War? In fact, the exact date of the war’s outbreak began on June 25, 1950. In the English-speaking world, the war is sometimes considered the Forgotten War, perhaps due to being overshadowed by the long-running Vietnam War. However the war is certainly not forgotten by the peoples of both North Korea and South Korea with its ramifications still being felt today and tensions lingering between the two countries… who have undergone two very different paths.
4ZZZ's Toni Pankaluic spoke with Professor Kyung Moon Hwang, Director of the Australian National University’s Korea Institute to gain an in depth understanding of the Korean War as well as learning about the post war trajectories of the two Koreas.
For a deep dive...
Professor Hwang has written a textbook called 'A History of Korea', which gives readers a comprehensive overview of the past 1500 years in the Korean peninsula. He also recommends checking out 'Korea's Grievous War' by Dr Su-Kyoung Hwang (no relation) if anyone wants to delve into a civilian's perspective during the Korean War.
Did you know Australians served in the Korean War as part of the United Nations coalition? The Australian War Memorial has an article exploring their service during that time period.