Naming is important since it unconsciously determines people’ mindset about it.
A professor has raised issue about the naming of the war which broke out on June 25, 1950, on the Korean Peninsula, and lasted July 27, 1953 when the truce was signed. It is generally called “the Korean War” by foreigners.
Kim Myoung-sub, professor of the international relations at Yonsei University, Tuesday claimed in his paper that ‘Korean’ War should be corrected as ‘Korea’ War as the former implicitly means that the war broke out by the Korean people themselves.
“Actually, the war broke out as an outcome of the Cold War between the democratic world led by the United States and the Communist world headed by the Soviet Union but not the Korean people,” Prof. Kim told a conference sponsored by the Korea War Association to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the war.
As an example, he cited the Vietnam War, which is not called the Vietnamese War internationally.
He also suggested the war’s name be changed to “the Communist War in Korea (1950-53)' or 'the 6·25 War in Korea (1950-53)'.
“The communist world is responsible for the outbreak of the war as the reason to opt for ‘the Communist War in Korea,’” the professor said. “On the other hand, it is customary in Western countries to use month as seen in ‘the July Revolution’ in France or in ‘the February Revolution’ in Russia.”