The Korean War: A Local History

media release: 206 Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive.

Sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies

Between 1945 and 1949, an estimated 600,000 to 4.5 million northern Koreans—including repatriates from Manchuria and China—crossed the 38th parallel into the South.  This mass displacement introduced a strongly anti-communist and conservative right-wing element into South Korean society. In this presentation, Sheila Miyoshi Jager will explore how the civil conflicts between 1945 and 1949 were not merely a continuation of the legacy of colonialism, but were largely driven by the forced displacement of Koreans following the division at the 38th parallel. The experiences of those who fled south—marked by the hardships they endured under Soviet and communist Korean rule—played a crucial role in shaping the violent ideological struggles of the post-liberation period and beyond.

Dr. Jager is Professor of East Asian Studies at Oberlin College and is the author of several books on Korea and East Asia. Her latest book, The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of East Asia, received the American Political Science Association's 2024 Robert Jervis and Paul Schroeder Award for best book in international history and politics and the 2024 Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History from the Royal United Services Institute (UK).