Politics of Memory and Commemoration of the Vietnam War in Korea

Abstract

This article centers around the three memorials of Korean participation in the Vietnam War.

It contains an in-depth study of the various methods used to reproduce memories about the

war, the conflicts surrounding the memorials and the characteristics of politics of memory.

The three memorials – the Korea-Vietnam Peace Park in Phu Yen as a counter memory

against the official memory, the monument donated by Korean veterans of the Vietnam

War in the village of Ha My, and the meeting place for Vietnam War veterans constructed

in Kangwŏn province as a symbol of official memory – do not only carry mere material and

spatial significance, but they also represent the ways in which the Korean society confronts

the memory and history of the Vietnam War. These memorials have acted as mirrors

reflecting the past and present Korea-Vietnam relations and as criteria to determine how

Korea should establish relations with Vietnam and the world based on the past history.