journal article

Pursuing "civic action" in south vietnam: South korean medicine and formative humanitarianism, 1964-1973

Dimoia J.P.

Publication year: 2021
Source / journal: historia scientiarum
Country of origin: South Korea
Language: English
Authors’ affiliations: Department of Korean History, College of Humanities, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, 14-515, Seoul, ROK 08826, South Korea
Import source: Scopus export

Abstract

The trope of the village has long been used to connect the South Korean and South Vietnam contexts in the area of military medicine. American experts in psychological warfare deployed Filipino, Taiwanese, and Korean medical teams to South Vietnam on the basis of coordinating Asian-Asian relations. Specifically, the Koreans had rebuilt their own health system after the Korean War (1950-1953), and on these material grounds, American experts argued they would develop a special relationship with the Vietnamese. This paper, however, argues that Koreans had their own set of aims, a goal of using South Vietnam as a learning experience to improve their own domestic circumstances. Tracking the KOPREM (Korean Preventive Medicine) program, the paper examines how Korean medical activities on the ground differed from an idealized American narrative, one emphasizing Asian cooperation. Ultimately, the Vietnam experience aided Koreans in exporting their medical practice, along with improving domestic care. © 2021 History of Science Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

Author keywords

developmentalism, medicine, public health, south korea, south vietnam