Diary of a peacekeeper

Few even remember the role India played during the war between North and South Korea in the 1950s. An experiential exhibition — put together by an artist whose father, an army general, was part of the peacekeeping effort — merges fact, myth and memory to tell the tale

- Gowri S

In a sense, it is a war that never ended.

Hostilities have raged between North Korea and South Korea since 1950. India played a role as peacekeeper, in the early years.

This forgotten slice of history was recently revived at an exhibition at Lalit Kala Akademi in Chennai. In Limits of Change, a 70-minute “museum experience”, the daughter of an army general who was involved in that effort merges memory, myth, fact and fiction to revisit his story.

Before we get to what visitors experienced, a bit of background.

At the end of World War 2, Korea, then a Japanese colony, was divided into two occupation zones. The North came under Soviet control, the South under the US. As in divided Germany, suspicion was rife and tensions mounted. By 1950, hostilities had broken out.

Amid bombings, shellings and amphibious landings in key coastal cities, the United Nations began pushing for a peace treaty. But South Korea wouldn't sign. President Syngman Rhee still dreamed of a reunified peninsula. With no treaty in sight, a truce was brokered instead. A key element was the return of prisoners-of-war on both sides.