JOY ELLEN YOON — Displacement Trauma

Global conflicts are on the rise. The Russo-Ukraine war has witnessed close to 500,000 casualties since the conflict broke out 18 months ago. In Israel, the official death toll from Hamas’s attacks stands at more than 1,200; whereas the death toll in Gaza has totaled more than 11,200. UNICEF estimates that more than 700,000 children in Gaza have been displaced as a result of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Although the Russo-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflicts are at the forefront of many people’s minds, other on-going global wars have seen even more staggering casualties. In the past two years, the Ethiopian civil war has suffered approximately 600,000 civilian deaths making it the deadliest war of the 21st century. Only 10% of these deaths resulted from direct bombings or massacres. 90% of civilians have died from hunger (60%) or lack of medical care and treatment (30%). Myanmar, Afghanistan, Syria, and Sudan are just a few countries out of many other nations currently plagued by war and conflict.

War is trauma. Everyone suffers in war. Unfortunately, civilians are impacted the most. War disrupts the very foundation of society. People flee in mass numbers to avoid sure death. Fields are left unfarmed. Markets left bare. Routine transportation is blockaded. Supplied dwindle to almost nonexistent. People, as a result, are exposed to the elements, left without basic human necessities. Mass casualties ensue from lack of basic medicines and food.

For survival, migration arises in huge numbers. This kind of emergency displacement causes deep trauma. This was true in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 as it is true today. One such story of displacement trauma comes from Sokcho City in South Korea.

In Sokcho is a little village known as Abai Village. Abai Village did not exist prior to 1950. Once war broke out on the Korean Peninsula, families from Hamhung in the north fled south to escape inevitable death. Fathers, mothers, and children cramped into small fishing boats to sail south along the East Coast of Korea and find a safe harbor to seek refuge. During the voyage, several boats were destroyed by bombs. Only a percentage of the people who set out ended up safely arriving along the shore near Sokcho City in South Korea.

At first, there was nothing but a sandy bank on which they could settle. People scrounged along the shore for whatever they could find to build make-shift shelters. Drift wood, scrap metal, and anything they could find became valuable resources in which to establish themselves in their new location. People survived by fishing. They dried squid and cuttlefish to sell at the market. Refugees worked together to fish large catches of pollock and sardines. Only thanks to the abundance of the sea were these re-settlers able to survive.

Refugees in the Korean War Surviving by Selling Dried Squid and Cuttlefish

But they never imagined that they would never be able to return home. What they thought would be a temporary place of residence became their permanent new home. Following the Korean War, the Korean Peninsula was divided along the 38th Parallel between the North and the South. Each country heavily guarded the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Many of those who fled south were separated from family members in the north. They would never see their loved ones again. They would never return to the town of their birth or to the homeland of their clan.

Since then, the families who fled Hamhung have assimilated as new citizens of Sokcho City. Many of them have replaced their temporary shacks along the shoreline with permanent homes. They still sail the raft every day from their fishing village to the marketplace to sell the catch of the day. Even though life goes on, trauma still lives on. Memories from war are just as vibrant today as they were fifty years ago. These re-settlers still yearn to be reunited with their family. They still dream of the day when they can return home.