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Introduction

This year, 2020, marks the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. The fighting lasted for three brutal years until both sides, North Korea and China on one and the United Nations and the United States on the other, signed an Armistice Agreement in July 1953 to declare a truce.

My essay about my own family’s experience, published in the Summer 2020 issue of the Wilson Quarterly, has sparked an outpouring of reminiscences from survivors and their families. We wanted to share some of their memories as we mark the 70th anniversary of the start of a conflict that has shaped geopolitics in Northeast Asia since the 1950s.

− Jean H. Lee, director, Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy