The Korean War killed an estimated four million people in just three years—more than half of them Korean civilians. The brutal conflict referred to in U.S. history textbooks as the “Forgotten War” is in fact the defining historical trauma that continues to haunt generations of Koreans. Among them are the last living war survivors divided on opposite sides of the world’s most heavily militarized border, as well as millions of Koreans in the diaspora.
Transmuting Han, a Korean concept that refers to collective grief, is a core part of our work. Organizers of Korea Peace Action: National Mobilization to End the Korean War have planned a community healing event that contests the “Forgotten War” narrative by creating a space to touch and work through our grief through traditional cultural practices related to Han. These rituals help us transmute Han into a renewable resource: a wellspring of righteous anger and strength resulting from the willingness to behold communally a chapter of our shared history that is too painful to face individually.
