Two Koreas, One People

Jooeun Grace Shin Senior Division Individual Website

Jooeun Grace Shin Senior Individual Website NHD 2012 Process Paper When I first heard this years NHD theme-Revolution, Reaction, and Reform- I sought for a topic that includes all of them. I listed possible topics and picked one that was personally related and captivating the most to me. I learned that Americans call the Korean War as a forgotten war after I arrived at the U.S. as an international student. This fact motivated me to ultimately choose the topic about the Korean War with title of Two Koreas, One People. I began this project with humble ambition to commemorate the combat and represent the union of one people. Since I learned background information of the Korean War from my history classes both in Korea and the U.S., I had to research for scholar and profound sources. One day, I attended Dr. Donald Clarks presentation regarding North Korea held by world affairs council Houston. I could receive his contact information and sent him an email with the questions that I had through my research. He clearly explained misconception of American view of the Korean War, which simply focuses on political powers of Democracy and Communism, and further more about national conflict between North and South Korea. This primary source stimulated me to consider both international and domestic aspects. From this time, I began to read books with discerning eye not to be biased toward a certain analysis. I also read articles from Korean news and American magazines such as New York Times and National Geographic. If these informational sources assisted me to build foundation of my project, interviews and surfing

various websites added fascinating stories on the project. I interviewed American Veterans of the Korean War through email and also university professors who major in Korean history. I found websites about North Korean defectors, North Korea human rights and also separated families in Korea. When I decide for my presentation category, I picked one that is capable of including as many as information I could. I finally determine to create a website for my project because it contains texts, images, and also videos. I chose my website color gray to present gloomy mood produced by discussion of the war mainly. Nevertheless, my front picture has three different coloring that first starts with gray which symbolizes misery and, towards the last; color of the picture is sky blue which represents hope for the Korean peninsula future. I started with formatting every page and added information and multimedia. My project, Two Koreas, One people, is significantly related to NHD theme. For the Revolution part, I explained both nationalist and communist revolutions that were ignited by the hatred from the Japanese Rule. Eventually, these trivial revolutions led to the Korean War. The separation of two Koreas is reaction to the following revolution. Finally, reform is two Koreas reunification under one people united by blood, language, culture, and shared experiences.