The Vietnam War in Oeum-Ri

During the Vietnam War, Korean Soldiers training Center for Vietnam War was located in Oeum-ri, Gangwon-do. Consequently, the remote village of Oeum-ri became the entry point for soldiers heading to the battlefield in Vietnam. This study aimed to reconstruct the Vietnam War from the Socio-historical perspective of Oeum-ri, as it unfolded around the training center. To this end, the study examined, first, the process by which the state and the training center produced soldiers for dispatch to Vietnam; second, the war mobilization and support efforts in Oeum-ri, which served as the home front; and third, the micro-political economy of the village during the ‘Vietnam War boom.’ The changes in Oeum-ri during the Vietnam War provide a concrete example of how the global Cold War reshaped daily life and the lifeworld at the local level, and provides a starting point for understanding the social history of South Korea during the Vietnam War.