This article can be found here.September 3, 2009
Remember the Korean War? It was that little thing that happened 59 years ago, occupying a meager 3 pages of your history book because it was such a devastating US military failure. Today, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is investigating the crimes of this war, with a particular interest in an event in Kwangamri where the Northern guerrillas and South Korean Army clashed for two days. The part of most suspect was that in the end, the South Korean Army lost 3 men and recorded 1,005 dead; and of these were mostly their own citizens, caught in between the fighting. As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission searches out survivors of these massacres, men like Lee Byong-soon are left feeling the echos of this 59-year-old earthquake.
Survivors are harder to come by nowadays and the communist-influenced government has only just now begun to allow these investigations to take place-- budget cuts are already hinting that they might be cut. Is time running out for justice?
This is a question aptly posed by the author of this article, Choe Sang-Hun. Sang-Hun uses this theme of 'running out of time' throughout the piece; and it's done very well. A criticism I would have is how he decided to integrate the history of the Korean War into the individual story of the survivor, Lee Byong-soon. The general story seemed rather choppy in the end, as facts about the evolving Korean government and their recent lack of funds were repeatedly inserted within the supremely more interesting account at Kwangamri, where Korean troops shot at their own citizens and survivors were forced to play dead for two whole days.
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