The Pursuit of Truth: The Epistemological Story Beneath Korean War Historiography

Abstract

This essay's overarching goal is to appropriately define the historian's role by critically analyzing the evolution of Korean War historiography. By conceptualizing the evolution of Korean War historiography as a spiral pattern that revolves around (yet toward) unresolved trauma and ideological struggles rather than a direct path toward truth, we can understand history in a more productive, healthy, and ethical way. One of the central themes of this essay is highlighting the inability of historical writing to break free from the structural constraints imposed by power structures, archival limitations, and general linguistic frameworks. Structurally, the argument is built across three interlocking levels. Firstly, the core level is a critical analysis of the transitions from traditionalism to (post)-post-revisionism in Korean War historiography. Secondly, the meta level draws upon canonical philosophers like Hegel, Foucault, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, and Deleuze to expose that even the most well-intentioned and radical historical perspectives (as taken by the (post)-post-revisionist scholars discussed in the core level) operate under limitations imposed by overarching frameworks that dictate visibility and comprehension. Ultimately, this study calls for an ethical approach to historiography, one that maintains historical openness and the multiplicity of truths, as well as acknowledging the continuing impacts of past events within modern power dynamics. This final, applied level productively adds to contemporary historical conversations by pointing to the necessity of democratizing truth and unearthing the multiple perspectives that were banished to memory rather than history.