NEW YORK — Some 75 people attended a film and panel discussion at City College here Nov. 21 on the history of the Korean War. The meeting featured the documentary “Memory of Forgotten War.” Directed by Deann Borshay Liem and Ramsay Liem, the film is centered on interviews with four Koreans whose families were permanently separated in the course of the 1950-53 Korean War. The movie also shows how U.S. troops occupied the South at the end of World War II, put back in power officials who had collaborated with the Japanese occupation and unleashed murderous repression to impose their rule.

Panelists, above, discussed the impact of the division and continued hostility by Washington against North Korea. From left: Jong Wan Baik, a professor at CCNY; Ramsay Liem; Jae Jung Suh, fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars; and Sukjong Hong, a writer, artist and fellow at the Korea Policy Institute. The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global leadership hosted the event.

Liem, a professor at Boston College, said he has noticed more knowledge about the Korean War, a once taboo subject, among Korean-American students in recent years. “I’ve been surprised by how many come to my classes and already know about the division from talking to their grandparents,” he said.

— SETH GALINSKY  
 
 
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