Process Paper
process_paper.docx | |
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File Type: | docx |
While I was deciding what to choose as my National History Day project, I thought of Korean War. I've founded that not many Americans are interested in Korean War. Thus, I chose Korean War as a basic topic of my project to let more people know about the war and Korea. As I research topics related to rights and responsibility, I found interesting facts that I've not known about- civilian massacres by the United States Army. I decided to choose civilian killings in Korean War by United States Army as my topic. However, as I was reading about it, I also figured out that the Republic of Korea was involved in the massacres, too. Thus, I broadened my topic to both governments’ responsibilities on civilian massacres in Korean War.
I found most of my research on the paper that was “Accountability and Prevention: An Analysis of Civilian Killings in the Korean War.” I read through fifteen pages worth of information about civilian massacres and two governments’ involvements. This paper was where I found out about Korean government’s involvement. As I read through it, I listed different massacres mentioned inside and researched further using websites. I divided massacres into three different types: air bombing, ground attacks, bridge explosion.
I also got help people who know about Korean War and massacres. I founded various and numerous websites related to my topic such as “Korean War Survivors’ Society” or “Korean Veteran Association.” I sent out e-mails to ask for interview and could contact Secretary General of “Korean War Survivors’ Society” and get information about survivors’ efforts. Secondly, Larry Kinard, a Korean Veteran, agreed to have interview, so I interviewed him about his experiences in Korean War. Otherwise, I used articles and journals written by professionals. Many quotes were embedded in them so it was very useful. I think interview sources and articles in websites were my two most useful sources.
The problems during my research was finding video clips. Many of videos related to Korean War just discuss about the War itself not about civilian killings. Also, there were Korean video clips that was useful, but I couldn't use it because it will be so hard to translate everything in English. Also, I had to find people to interview for a short time. It was hard to contact those in Korea via e-mails.
My topic perfectly fits the topic of this year: Rights and Responsibility. I mainly researched on civilian killings and how both US and ROK governments were involved in. Thus, my main thesis is how innocent civilians were killed for military goals of government officials during Korean War. Also, I strongly emphasis on both governments’ responsibility for accurate investigation and acknowledgement of massacres. They should provide right amount of compensation to survivors. Through my topic, more people would acknowledge the facts in Korean War and realize that no more civilian massacres should be allowed.