Abstract
The Korean War has been called “the forgotten war.” However, this confrontation, among the most violent in the twentieth century, represents the beginning of the Republic of South Korea, at the cost of its separation from the North. Public museums and South Korean memorials have created an official narrative about the development of the confrontation and the relevant role of allied countries who joined the United Nations in 1950.Colombia was the only Latin American country to participate in the conflict under the command of the United States army. This participation, now forgotten by most Colombian citizens, is represented in South Korean museums as an important component of the victory against the North, whereas it is hardly mentioned in museums in Colombia. These institutional narratives stand in contrast to individual memories that, from different epistemological positions, refuse to view the war as a forgotten past, questioning the polarization of the conflict and the reasons for Colombia to partake in it. Based on the link between museum and memory studies, this chapter compares the Korean War Room at the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul and the Korea Room at the Colombian Military Museum in Bogotá, focusing on the process of construction of national narratives in both countries and the role of the representation of North–South relations in this process.
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Notes
- 1.
The observation of the Korean War Room at the Korean War Memorial was made in 2016 during my stay as a visiting scholar at the Museum of Contemporary History of Korea. The observation of the Korea Room of the Military Museum was made in January 2020. This chapter is part of the thesis as a student of Social and Political Science Doctoral Program at the National Autonomous University of Mexico sponsored by CONACYT and MINCIENCIAS-COLFUTURO.
- 2.
The War Memorial of Korea Website. https://www.warmemo.or.kr/LNG/introduction/eachTeams.do. Accessed September 2, 2020.
- 3.
It includes the first settlers, the Three Empires, the Goryeo and Joeson dynasties, the Empire of Korea, the Japanese occupation, the Korean War, the armed forces of the Republic of Korea (ROK), the UN, and donations.
- 4.
In 2016, the process of donating a weapon from the Colombian army took place.
- 5.
The Military Museum of Colombia Website: https://www.museomilitarco.com/mision-y-vision/. Accessed November 10, 2020.
- 6.
Unlike other armies, the majority of Colombian soldiers could not read, drive, or read maps.
- 7.
La Violencia refers to the period between 1946 and 1958, characterized by political and social conflict in rural areas and cities.
- 8.
“Colombia se siente orgulloso de sus héroes, soldados y marinos que lucharon junto a las naciones del mundo por la libertad y la democracia del pueblo de la República de Corea.” Own translation.
- 9.
See Diario El Espectador (Ca.1953).
- 10.
Guerrilla groups such as the M-19 operated in the cities, and there was deep social discontent over the violence of the military forces under the security statute.
- 11.
A battle that consolidated the process of independence from the Spanish crown.
- 12.
See Diario El Frente (Ca.1951).
- 13.
See Diario El Tiempo (Ca.1953).
- 14.
“Cómo no tenía trabajo pues yo pensé: esta es la solución.” Own translation.
- 15.
“The South Korean police and marines are brutal. They murder just to avoid the work of leading prisoners to the rear: they murder civilians just to get them out of the way and they don’t bother to interrogate them” (John Osborne 1950). Own translation.
- 16.
“Cada vez que hago una visita a un grupo imagino que esta línea entre las dos armas es el paralelo 38.” Own translation.
- 17.
See: https://www.warmemo.or.kr/LNG/exhibition/colombia_part1.do. Accessed November 11, 2020.
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León Cabrera, G.C. (2022). Between North and South: Colombia in Korean War Exhibitions. In: Olivieri, C., Serrano-Muñoz, J. (eds) East Asia, Latin America, and the Decolonization of Transpacific Studies. Historical and Cultural Interconnections between Latin America and Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74528-8_10
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