WHERE IS KOREA?LESSON PLAN 3

For most British servicemen Korea was an unknown country on the other side of the world. After a month at sea they arrived in the port of Pusan. They found a mountainous country, with an extreme climate which had been ravaged by war. Those men who were to join the fighting, travelled north from Pusan by train.

Credit: Ron Smith

MANY VETERANS OF THE WAR SPEAK ABOUT THE EXTREME COLD OF THE KOREAN WINTERThe first British troops were ill equipped, but later American army parkas –thick jackets with fur hoods- were provided.

KOREA IN THE 1950S WAS A RURAL COUNTRY WHOSE ECONOMY WAS BASED ON AGRICULTUREWhen war broke out civilians were forced to flee and left their villages on foot to try and find safety. Food was very scarce and many refugees were starving. British veterans of the war remember gangs of children who would gather around them begging for food.

DISCUSSION POINT 1. Was Korea’s geographic position

a contributing factor to the outbreak of the war?

2. How does Britain’s relationship with North and South Korea differ today?

“If the best minds in the world had

set out to find us the worst possible

location in the world to fight this

damnable war, the unanimous choice

would have been Korea.”

Dean Acheson, U.S. Secretary of State

NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA HAVE FOLLOWED VERY DIFFERENT PATHS SINCE 1953North Korea remains a Communist country. Its economy is focused on supporting one of the world’s largest standing armies. South Korea has become an important economic and industriaal power in Asia, embracing foreign culture and ideas. It is a successful capitalist country, with huge corporations exporting goods all over the world.

ACTIVITY- See workbook task 3

The Korean War was fought in difficult conditions Credit: John Booth

EYE WITNESS

“There were kids there from you know walking age up to about eight, they were playing in the muddy pools hardly any clothes and the look that they gave you, pity you know wanton pity, cause they… they had nothing. These were memories that stay with me all my life and just the wanton poverty we talk about poverty in England these days we don’t know what it is anyway…”

George BarnesOn his first few days in Korea

“The main task was to prevent infiltration into Korea by sea because as you know Korea’s a big peninsula and so the huge coastline was the potential for infiltration of the enemy from North Korea, from China and indeed the Russians were involved as well in a covert way. So the Navy basically patrolled the whole of the coast of Korea from North to South and both sides of the peninsula and we were tasked to go and support them either going looking for either fishing boats who were not supposed to be there or possible submarines which I don’t think ever materialised.”

Bob BrandPiloted Sunderland flying boats

“It’s unbelievable you can’t imagine what they have done in such a short time. It’s what they said, they’ve got to build high because there’s that many people and they can’t build out because it’s only half a country isn’t it South Korea…and North Korea is that poor they built a town with no people in it and they don’t put anybody in it. It’s just there on the banks of the Han river on the other side. Just to let you know they can build a town, there’s nobody in it…”

Peter WaddingtonOn Korea today

FACTS

long

across at its widest point

The Korean Peninsula is

Temperatures are

and as high as

in winter

in summer

about the same size as Britain

The modern border between North and South Korea is

(248km) long as low as