Over 60 years ago, the war that ripped apart North and South Korea came to an end. Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans lost their lives, but those who remain are ready to tell their stories.
Five students from the U’s Asia campus in Incheon, South Korea received funding to collect veteran stories for their project, Longbridge. The first few months were spent recruiting veterans and organizing interviews, said Paul Rose, director of the undergraduate communication program in South Korea.
Once these bilingual students find veterans, they will record, translate and transcribe the interviews, to ultimately create a documentary, Rose said.
While all veterans are eligible, Rose wants to focus on Koreans who have had personal relationships with Americans. A lot of these stories have never been told, and the students want to preserve them.
“We want them available for everyone to read, enjoy and be aware of,” Rose said. “We hope it will have a strengthening influence.”
Finding veterans has been somewhat difficult, but an even bigger challenge is getting them to talk. Koreans are typically more hesitant to share experiences, Rose said. Additionally, a high level of respect for the elderly creates an obstacle to approach them about their personal stories.
Si Hyun Park, a freshman in communications, joined the project because of interest in the war and her desire to study it through the voices of veterans.
“There are a lot of war veterans, but it’s a sensitive problem,” Park said.
Park and four other communication students received funding through the U’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. They each received a maximum of $1,200 a semester, and most will continue until the project’s end.
The first of the interviews start next week, requiring several hours to travel, set up cameras and then conduct the interview itself. Rose hopes by the end of the year, they will have met with a dozen veterans. Currently, there are a few lined up through personal contacts and social media.
Rose said he wants to focus on Korean veterans in South Korea for now, but it could extend to Korean veterans living in other countries.
“The whole idea of the name Longbridge is to unite the two countries because of the Korean War,” Rose said. “It’s a link back to previous generations.”
Although the goal is to improve Korean-U.S. relations, Rose has not ruled out documenting negative stories about American soldiers. The point is to hear these stories “untouched,” said Jin Ho Choi, a freshman in communication.
Choi joined the project because of an interest in learning about human interactions. For him, these stories can help the world better understand the relationships between different races and what needs to be changed.
“As we have been learning about history, our world has turned to fighting less and less,” Choi said. “The future society will be less violent because we are learning.”
@carolyn_webber