A survey of 1,000 adults over 19, conducted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MPAS) in April, showed that 36.9 percent of respondents said they didn't know when the Korean War had broken out.
By age, 56.6 percent of those in their 20s said they didn't know when the war had occurred, while 28.7 percent of those in their 30s and 23 percent of those in their 40s said the same thing, it said.
``This is a very serious problem that more and more people, especially youngsters, are not well aware of or not interested in the Korean War, where millions of South Koreans were killed,'' an official of the Ministry of National Defense said. ``Pan-governmental efforts are required to make people understand properly about the Korean War and, in particular, educate youngsters about the war and history.''
Extra! Korea links to the Korean Herald coverage, which focused more on the involvement of other nations:
A total of 624 people, or 79 percent, said that they knew only five countries or less that sent troops to help defend the South during the Korean War. Only 55 people, or 7 percent, said they knew 10 countries or more.
The number of those who knew three to five countries was 443, or 56 percent of the total. A total of 142 people, or 18 percent, said that they knew one to three countries.
The number of those who did not know the countries at all or were not interested was 39, or five percent. Of the 39 people, 82 percent were 20 years old or younger.
The percentages of the respondents who knew that the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia joined the war were 97 percent, 84 percent and 77 percent, respectively.
The respondents were rarely aware that the Philippines, Luxemburg and the Republic of South Africa joined the war.
Here's another excerpt from the Times article:
The war broke out on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops invaded the South, crossing the 38th parallel, the line diving the two Koreas. Twenty-one countries dispatched troops under the United Nations flag to fight against North Koreans backed by China.
The war resulted in a devastating death toll with at least 2 million Korean civilians killed, according to data. South Korea sustained more than 1 million casualties, while estimated communist casualties were 2 million. Casualties among the United Nations allies totaled 16,532.
I'm not sure if I should read something into their omission of the United States here, their 36,516 dead, their 92,134 wounded, and their 8,176 MIA. Sure, the effort here is to recognize the contributions of the many other nations in what is often reduced to a four-country war, but I'd be interested to see how many Koreans are aware of how much the United States gave to the Republic of Korea. For better or worse many both inside Korea and out hold the United States responsible for the war, but that doesn't nullify the sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Americans made.
Anyway, we found similar numbers last year when the MPAS looked at students:
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security said Monday that a survey of 1,016 middle and high school students showed nearly 57 percent didn't know the war started on June 25, 1950.
Moreover, 51 percent did not know that the war started with North Korea's invasion of the South. About 14 percent picked Japan as the nation responsible for the war; 13.4 percent, the United States, and 11 percent Russia. About 2 percent even said it was the South invading the North.
While the United States is regarded as the main ally of the country, 28 percent said it was the key ``threat'' for national security, 4 percentage points higher than North Korea.
Only 56 percent said they felt threatened by the North's nuclear weapons development, adding that the chance of another Korean War taking place was very low.
I liked the Joongang Ilbo headline from last June: "Teenagers are patriotic, but dunces at history." From the Joongang Ilbo today, a bakery in Seoul made cakes with the flags of the 16 nations who fought on the South Korean side.
18 comments:
I agree it's distressing to see such ignorance about important events in this country's recent pass but it's also not surprising. Ideologically driven teachers, rote memorization that leaves out cause and effect and general disinterest in seemingly remote events all contributes to the state of knowledge, such as it is.
That said I would argue that history education in certain western countries is not much better. For example, I still find Americans who think that the American revolution was a purely indigenous, mass uprising against tyrannical British rule. Likewise the French have come to believe that mass resistance against the Nazis was the order of the day, Quebecois who think they have laboured under the humiliating whip of London and Ottawa, and Japanese who have convinced themselves they are victims of WWII.
What all these inaccuracies have in common is a national mythology has taken the place of historical analysis that would, if undertaken, reveal some uncomfortable truths that most people would rather not think about.
Good points. You could have an article titled "57% of ________ ignorant about _________," fill in the blanks with any group or topic, and still be correct. While, yeah, we should expect Koreans to have a better understanding of this war, it's tough considering how often this history is distorted and rewritten.
So they dont know world history and they dont know recent Korean history. I would wager the US efforts in the Korean war are not taught to them in school. I have never seen a momument to America's fallen soldiers. If one did not know about the Korean war, it would be nearly impossible to find any clues to America's efforts anywhere in Korea.
How many factoids are these poor kids supposed to keep in their heads? Maybe we can have a government-mandated list!
I agree with Douglas. Besides, i dont think there is anything surprising to it (Koreans ignorant about Korean War), in a way that most people here posting in this forum are i guess ignorant of their own national histories too, and i dont expect much from anyone here regarding their knowledge of world history either (except for very few ones). One's distorted perception of history is not history anyway.
I can happily report that a few of my high school students knew (and all of them now know) of today's significance.
It occurred to me that, with the so-called monsoon season upon us, the North must have timed its invasion to coincide with the rains. I've never heard a historian say that, and it's something I never would have guessed without living here.
WeikuBoy has an excellent point. Has that theory ever been postulated?
Oh cmon, most Koreans know about the Korean War and of course it is taught in Korea that the US was a key ally, blah blah blah, all the basic info that we are taught in American schools...this article isn't even news-worthy...in fact, the question was only when (the exact date) did the war start which is pretty trivial in of itself...I don't think most people know the date of D-Day...as for NB, go the National War Museum and you can see the numbers of war dead, etc...of course Koreans are aware of the efforts made by everyone involved in the war and it's not underappreciated or anything like that...
While I don't have any clue if North Korea deliberately invaded due to the start of the monsoon season, I recall reading somewhere that Communist-bloc military strategy involved offensives timed around national holidays - for example, North Vietnam's Tet Offensive. Maybe North Korea took that and, without any upcoming major holidays at the time (?), used the start of the monsoon season as the timepiece for their attack?
I'm no expert though, so take all that with a large grain of salt.
1/3 of americans still believe that iraq was involved in 9/11 attack. many major events get distorted and rewritten to serve certain purpose.
"the North must have timed its invasion to coincide with the rains"
Hmmm, as far as I know most military strategists avoid the rainy seasons, as tanks and trucks (horses back in the day)have greater difficulty moving. Not to mention air support unable to see cloud covered targets. But I have no idea why the North attacked in June, maybe they wanted their boys home by Christmas.
The jibes well with my experience on the ground. I was also shocked kids didn't know about the 1988 olympics. You'd put 1988 on the board, ask kids what happened on that date in Korea and no kid could answer.
This is not to say 10 year old in, say, Canada are totally up on key facts of Canadian history. I read about a survey where a majority of grade school kids thought John A. Macdonald was the owner of McDonald's.
Still, Korean teachers I guess rush to teach dokdo, the USA is evil, Japan is evil, etc. they aren't emphasizing key moments in Korea's internal history.
"Hmmm, as far as I know most military strategists avoid the rainy seasons ..."
You'd think. Perhaps they figured they had a short drive to the battle for Seoul, and the rains would hamper US/ROK forces moving north toward Seoul. Or they meant to beat the rains but got delayed. I don't know. But they did invade at the start of the monsoon (pre-global warming); and I'm curious why.
Mindmetoo, oh gosh man...such an easy crude generalization of Korean teachers....
The Korean war was not just started by an attack from the North. The Southern state had many times crossed over the border and attacked the north too. Wars do not just start there is usally a large build up before that happens.
Also interesting how the war crimes of that war are not much discussed. The American war crimes are only now being openly discussed in strictly limited circles. The American army in Korea in 1950 was very much a 2nd rate army who badly underestimated their enemy. The same thing occurred later in the Nam war and similar massacres of innocent people followed.
As I've said before I consider "war crime" redundant because I abhor violence. There's not much difference between killing a civilian and killing a civilian who picks up a gun because he's forced to, nor is there much use in using words like "innocent" and "civilian" when entire villiages are complicit, or when an entire economy is geared toward the war effort.
That said, there is a lot of accounting that needs to be done all around. The easy answer for killings is "the US made us do it," which not only demonizes the American army but tries to absolve the Koreans of guilt. The "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" doesn't seem to be much about truth or reconciliation, and it's hard for people to get a grasp on reality when it is rewritten all the time.
During class Thursday I had a third grade girl and fourth grade boy bring up the subject, which led to everyone expressing a hatred for North Korea. Following this, the original pair of students went on to say how much they appreciated the United States' involvement in the Korean War.
The kids obviously didn't come up with those opinions in a vacuum, so someone helped teach them about the history of what happened. Don't take mindme's final conclusion too seriously. :)
AK, crude generalization? Errr... I guess it wasn't teachers behind the American beef protests, urging their students to take up candles against killer US beef? Count another person in Korea ignorant of recent history...
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