In 1948, two years before Cold War tensions resulted in the invasion of South Korea by North Korea that started the Korean War, the first major political confrontation between leftists and rightists occurred on the South Korean island of Cheju. Communist activists disrupted United Nations-sanctioned elections and military personnel were deployed to Cheju. What began as a counterinsurgency operation targeting 350 local rebels resulted in the deaths of around 30,000 uninvolved civilians, 10 percent of the island's population.
Su-kyoung Hwang's Korea's Grievous War recounts the...
In 1948, two years before Cold War tensions resulted in the invasion of South Korea by North Korea that started the Korean War, the first major pol...
