Korean War Widows Through the Works of Pak Kyongni from the 1950s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25185/19.11Keywords:
War widows, Korean War, Pak Kyongni, 1950s, postwarAbstract
This study examines the situation of Korean War widows during the 1950s, first through the analysis of two official primary sources: the Yearbook of Public Health and Social Statistics (1962), published by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of the Republic of Korea, and the Report of the First General Population Census (1955), compiled by the Bureau of Statistics in the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Republic of Korea. It then explores how war widows are represented in four short stories and one novel written between 1956 and 1959 by South Korean writer Pak Kyongni (1926–2008), which contains significant autobiographical elements. These literary works shed light on postwar issues such as the social stigma surrounding widowhood, economic hardship and fraud in private investment circles, medical negligence, and corruption in religious institutions, all within the broader context of 1950s Korean society. This paper argues for the value of integrating additional relevant sources, such as literature, to provide qualitative insight into the historical and social realities of Korean War widows, complementing the limitations of official statistical records.
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