The Korean War: Bombing in Busan_Jun

The Korean War

Bombing in Busan

By: Jun Park

Dedicated to my grandfather, who witnessed the bombing in Busan during the Korean War.

Table of Contents About the author: Page 4 Historical Narrative Paperwork/notes: Page 5-10 Historical Narrative: Page 11-12 Afterword: Page 13 Bibliography: Page 14

About the Author

Jun Park is a 12-year old boy that was born in South Korea. When he was 4, he moved to Pennsylvania, a state in the U.S. His hobbies are to read, play tennis, and talk to friends. He also plays viola, piano, and saxophone. He now lives in Maslak, Istanbul, and is a current student in Istanbul International Community School.

C

an you imagine a bomb exploding near your location? Well, I have. I was in Elementary School at that time. I was casually walking to school with my friends.

The sky was lush blue and purple combined. I watched as the rising sun went above the horizon.

We were almost at school, and I could hear the bell ringing already.

“C’mon, JeongHo, let’s go!” my friend shouted, and I went to school running in a cheerful way.

“Let’s get started on math!” my teacher said. We took out our writing tools and got our notebooks. We tiredly glanced at the bored,

wrote down the question, and started to solve the equation. A couple

we heard a loud “BOOM” and felt the ground shake. “What is

minutes later, we all shared our answers and found the correct one.

After 40 minutes of more gruelling work, we finally had a break. I was talking to my friends, and got some Korean bread. As we got started in reading,

that?” my friends started yelling. My teacher told everyone to calm down, and start exiting the school. As I saw her, I could see her expression, fearing what would happen next. I was scared too, and so were my friends. They were talking about what the sound came from.

All the teachers and students met at the garden, and the principal told us to go into the woods. “It’s not dangerous in the woods, and nobody dangerous will follow us.” We all started panicking and screaming. The teachers

were talking amongst themselves; “What are we going to do?” When we all settled down, we walked silently, and quickly into the nearby woods.

The forest welcomed me with a cool breeze of sappy air. As we walked deeper and deeper into the forest, I started getting more scared. My legs and arms were trembling wildly,

and it became more muddy, and more animal sounds echoed through the forest. I could hear some of my classmates sniffling, and for a moment I imagined what would happen after this.

The War was destroying any sense of happiness, and I hoped this conflict gets resolved soon. We stayed in the forest for over 3 hours. I was curled up next to a moribund

tree, my eyes dry from crying too much. Finally, the principal said that it was fine to go back. He also said; “Be careful of the next few weeks. Just be on the lookout for any more suspicious people on the streets.” Then, he dismissed us.

When I knocked on the door, I saw my mom and dad, waiting for me.

Their eyes were red and swollen, like they’ve been crying. “Are you ok? Are you hurt?” My parents asked, and I calmed them down and told them what we did. “How dare they bomb this part of Korea...” my mom trailed off.

“It’s fine, mom.

It’s over now.” I calmly replied.

But little did I know that this was only the start of the war...

Afterword The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953. The Korean War started by the North Koreans invading the South Koreans in hopes to conquer the country. The Soviet Union and the Chinese supported North Korea, while the U.S. and the UN supported South Korea. The War was devastating- more than 2.8 million casualties. The war ended as neutral, neither country had won. But, there was no peace treaty signed, so the countries are still technically at war. The 38th Parallel, or the DMZ zone, separates the North and the South. Soldiers from both countries make sure nobody crosses over the line, and there is no physical contact in the DMZ. Up to this day, there were little conflicts, but no major fights.

Bibliography “Australia's Involvement in the Korean War.” North Korea, China and the USSR, koreanwar.commemoration.gov.au/armed-forces-in-korea/north-korea-china-ussr.php.

“Britannica ImageQuest.” Britannica ImageQuest, quest.eb.com/search/korean-war-bombing/1.

“Britannica ImageQuest.” Britannica ImageQuest, quest.eb.com/search/korean-warbombing/1/115_2733775/bombing-plant.

“Britannica ImageQuest.” Britannica ImageQuest, quest.eb.com/search/korean-warbombing/1/115_2742794/korean-refugees.

History.com Staff. “Korean War.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/korean-war.

"Korean War." The Oxford Companion to American Military History. et al. “Korean War.” Encyclopedia.com, HighBeam Research, www.encyclopedia.com/history/asia-andafrica/korean-history/korean-war.

“Milestones: 1945–1952 - Office of the Historian.” U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/korean-war-2.

Millett, Allan R. “Korean War.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Encyclopedia Britannica, global.britannica.com/event/korean-war.

Park, Linda Sue. When My Name Was Keoko. New York, Clarion Books, 2002.

“62 Interesting Facts About . . . Var addthis_config = {‘services_compact’:‘Email,Fark,Digg,Delicious,Linkedin’, ‘services_expanded’:‘Email,Fark,Digg,Delicious,Linkedin’};” 62 Interesting Facts about the Korean War, facts.randomhistory.com/korean-war-facts.html.