[Citizen College Season 7] #8 The Korean War and Politics in the Movie ‘TaeGukGi: Brotherhood of War’

On June 14, 2023, the Seongbuk Adult Education School, PDI, and the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Korea University held the eighth lecture of the Citizen College Season 7  “Politics in Everyday Life” in Asiatic Research Institute, Korea University.  In this lecture Dr. Yee, Gyu Jeong, Senior Researcher at PDI, talked about “The Korean War and Politics in the Movie ‘TaeGukGi: Brotherhood of War’”.

The lecture, titled “The Korean War and Politics in the Movie ‘TaeGukGi: Brotherhood of War'”,deals with various theories about the outbreak of the Korean War, the development of the Korean War, the National Guard and the Press Federation, and the current inter-Korean relations and the situation in Northeast Asia. In addition to the traditional South Korean invasion theory, there are K. Gupta’s analysis of the historical outbreak, Stalin-led theory, revisionist analysis such as Sino-Soviet conspiracy theory, and analysis centered on U.S. foreign policy. In this lecture, we have outlined the logic and rationale of each argument. The Korean War began as a war between South and North Korea at the beginning of the war, but it took on the character of an international war after participating in the U.N. and Chinese forces. Since then, after a battle centered on the 38th parallel, the armistice agreement was signed in 1953 and continues to this day. The lecture also dealt with national violence during the Korean War. During the war in 1951, before the 1.4 retreat, about 77,000 to 120,000 mobilized people died of starvation as military officials illegally pocketed the budget for food and clothing for the National Defense Forces, which was established to secure reserve forces.After the war, South Korea built an over-growth state based on anti-communism, which was called up, detained and massacred by members of the press federation, which included left-wing converts as well as ordinary people. In addition, due to the ceasefire and division, different national consciousness was established and heterogeneity deepened between the two Koreas. After the lecture, citizens and speakers discussed various ways to remember the war and Korea’s foreign and security policies.