No abstract available.
Korean War*

Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (KAOG) was established semicentury ago (1947). Even Korea faced a massive destrcution, political and economic crisis during Korean war, but KAOG bad developed more and more. Finally, KAOG has developed a stable association now. Now not only KAOG is a firm association domestically but also engages in an international association (e.g. AOFG, FIGO, SOINTF) and gives much contribution. Even now KAOG faces a hard-time, but I hope that KAOG will develop a prospective association in 21th century with an effort to educate many young researchers.
Hope ; Korea ; Korean War

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary since the Korean War, Korean government has initiated a four -year project beginning from the year 2000 to 2003 to excavate the remains of soldier casualties from the Korean War. During the year 2000 -2001 excavation total 555 casualties (minimum number of individual; MNI) are discovered around the southern parts of Korean peninsula. On the basis of the bone remains anthropological researches including the determination of sex, the estimation of age and stature have been carried out. All casualties are determined as male mainly based on the characteristic features of the innominate bone of the pelvis. Estimation of age is gained from 313 individuals. Over 64% of the casualties were estimated between the age 20 -24 years old and almost 20% were between the age 15 -19 years old. From these data, it has been conformed that the majority of soldiers can be classified as being in a young age category Total 270 individuals are examined for estimation of statures. Approximately 68% of the findings were estimated to have been between the height 160 -170 cm in proportion, and almost 14% of findings were below 160 cm tall. Identifying the remains of casualties are carried out by uncovered belongings, taking note of eyewitness accounts, and applying scientific methods. A total of 34 individual names were identified, and among them only four soldiers have been confirmed. 27 are still in the process of verification, and the rest are nearly impossible to identify.
Anniversaries and Special Events ; Humans ; Korean War* ; Male ; Military Personnel ; Pelvis

No abstract available.
Humans ; Korean War* ; MMPI* ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic* ; Veterans*

To determine the cause of death of prisoners of war during the Korean War (1950-1953), death certificates or medical records were analyzed. Out of 7,614 deaths, 5,013 (65.8%) were due to infectious diseases. Although dysentery and tuberculosis were the most common infectious diseases, parasitic diseases had caused 14 deaths: paragonimiasis in 5, malaria in 3, amoebiasis in 2, intestinal parasitosis in 2, ascariasis in 1, and schistosomiasis in 1. These results showed that paragonimiasis, malaria, and amoebiasis were the most fatal parasitic diseases during the early 1950s in the Korean Peninsula. Since schistosomiasis is not endemic to Korea, it is likely that the infected private soldier moved from China or Japan to Korea.
Cause of Death ; China ; Human Migration ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Korean War ; Parasitic Diseases/*mortality ; Prisoners of War

The Korean Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (KTCVS) was founded in 1968 and celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2018. The launch of the KTCVS may seem somewhat recent, given that the American Association for Thoracic Surgery was founded in 1917. However, considering the circumstances of the Korean medical community after the Japanese occupation (1910–1945), World War II (1940–1945), and the Korean War (1950–1953), this apparent delay is understandable. Even before the foundation of the KTCVS, the early pioneers of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery promptly adopted medical technologies from more advanced countries such as the United States, and contributed significantly to both cardiac and thoracic surgery despite difficult circumstances. In 2012, before the 50th anniversary of the founding of the KTCVS, members shared the opinion that objective records of the activities of the early pioneers should be identified and preserved, and reacted positively towards the necessity for historians who would preserve such records. With this background, the Historical Records Preservation Committee of the KTCVS (hereinafter, referred to as ‘the Committee’) was launched. The Committee published a white paper on the history of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery in 2015 and held an exhibition of the achievements of the pioneers at the 50th anniversary of the founding of the KTCVS. The Committee also published a book entitled “The history of Korean thoracic surgery with photographs: celebrating the 50th anniversary of the society.” The Committee will keep making efforts to find and preserve materials related to activities during the early development of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery in Korea.
Anniversaries and Special Events ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Korea ; Korean War ; Occupations ; Thoracic Surgery ; United States ; World War II

The late Prof. Kyeok Boo Han (1913–2005) was one of the pioneers in the early stages of the establishment of thoracic surgery in Korea. He was in charge of thoracic surgery at Seoul National University Hospital from 1948 to the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. He presented a thoracic surgical case entitled “Adhesive (constrictive) pericarditis: one surgical case” at the first academic meeting of the Chosun (an old name for Korea) Medical Association, held in 1947. This presentation is considered to be the first thoracic surgical case presented by a Korean surgeon at a domestic medical meeting after the National Liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. In this regard, this study was intended to analyze the content and the meaning of the case, published in a journal in 1948.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Humans ; Korea ; Korean War ; Pericarditis ; Seoul ; Thoracic Surgery

Shigellosis is an acute diarrheal disease caused by bacteria of the genus Shigella. Following the occurrence of a large outbreak of shigellosis as well as sporadic cases since 1998, shigellosis has been a major health problem in Korea. There have been major changes in epidemiology during the last five decades concerning shigellosis in terms of total incidence of shigellosis, prevalence of certain serogroups, selection of specific clones, and introduction of new Shigella clones. S. dysenteriae was the most prevalent species until the early twentieth century, S. flexneri was the most prevalent until the late 1980s, and S. sonnei has been the most prevalent since 1990. Diverse serotypes of S. dysenteriae (4 serotypes), S. flexneri (8 serotypes), and S. boydii (4 serotypes) were found during the Korean War and many of these Korean endemic Shigella strains circulated in the community until the late 1970s. However, the endemic strains of S. dysenteriae, S. boydii, and S. sonnei disappeared in the late 1980s. A new clone of S. sonnei that was introduced between the late 1980s and the early 1990s was responsible for a large proportion of shigellosis in recent years. S. flexneri serotype 4a was the most frequently found during the Korean War and then the incidence of S. flexneri 2a gradually increased with time. S. flexneri isolates detected from 1991 to 1997 were all serotype 2a. However, the diverse clones of S. flexneri reemerged in Korea since 1999. It has not been determined whether the S. flexneri strains from the 2000s were the descendants of the Korean endemic strains or imported new strains, but the PFGE patterns were different between S. flexneri strains from the 1980s and 2000s. The widespread of new S. sonnei strains and the persistence of S. flexneri strains are responsible for the endemicity of shigellosis in Korea.
Bacteria ; Clone Cells ; Dysentery, Bacillary* ; Epidemiology* ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Korean War ; Prevalence ; Shigella

During the exhumation of victims of Korean War, among the memorial activities of Korean War, we found a dead body in a tomb in Kyung-Ju city. With the testimony of natives we could find the family related with the body. Using bone and teeth of it we determined that it was male and about 20 years old or more and the result was unite with the insistence of the bereaved family. With the photography offered by the family and the skull we did the photographic superimposition and according to the result we could not exclude that it was the same person with him. We performed mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) sequencing and it reveals that the dead body and the family have same maternal inherited mtDNA. Finally, We could identify the dead body. At present it is very difficult thing to collect much data of victims of Korean War because it passed over 50 years. But if we find the bereaved family of them we can identify them more accurate and more objective with the forensic identification method like sex determination, age estimation, superimposition and mtDNA sequencing and so on.
DNA, Mitochondrial ; Exhumation ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans* ; Korean War* ; Male ; Photography ; Population Groups ; Skull ; Tooth ; Young Adult

At "Keumjung-gul" site, bones of more than 153 persons are excavated in October 1995. They were interred in Autumn of 1950 during Korean War. Among them, 70 skulls were examined in morphological method and DNA test for sex determination. With PCR amplification of amelogenin, 60 skulls were proved male, 9; female, 1; not amplified. Result with Y27H39LR, SRY and alphoid repeats were not satisfactory. The morphologic determination for sex were made maily by (1) prominence of the supercilliary arch, (2) prominence of the external occipital protuberance and crest, (3) size and shape of the mastoid process. The concurrence rate between two examiner, and between two morphologic result and DNA result were low (<70%), largely because of the subjectivity of morphologic trait and the paucity of experiences.
Amelogenin ; DNA* ; Female ; Humans ; Korean War ; Male ; Mastoid ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Skull*