HOME MOVIES: 1950s KOREAN WAR

Shot in the field during or immediately after the Korean Conflict, these black and white and Kodachrome home movies contain fascinating images of a nation in chaos. Look closely and you'll see burned out buildings and wrecked streets with refugees on the move. The Han River Bridge is seen at 7:40. During the Korean War, then South Korean President Syngman Rhee fled Seoul to the south of the river, fearing the imminent occupation of the city by North Korean forces. In an attempt to slow their approach to the south of the river, the South Korean military destroyed the Han Bridge, along with the hopes of thousands of citizens of escape. The Han River now belongs largely to the Republic of Korea, or South Korea, with its effluence in the Yellow Sea a few nautical miles from North Korea (though some of the river's tributaries are in North Korea).