S. Korea's War Memorial Organization Criticized for Using Chinese Propaganda Narrative in Poster

SEOUL, June 9 (Yonhap) -- A state-affiliated agency that manages South Korea's war memorial museum came under fire Tuesday after using a Chinese propaganda narrative of the 1950-53 Korean War as a war of resistance against U.S. aggression in a promotional poster. The Korea War Memorial Organization, which operates the War Memorial of Korea, recently posted the material on its website to accept applications for an educational program on the three-year war for elementary school students. The poster, titled "The Korean War: Different Interpretations," features two boys facing each other, with one viewing the conflict as the "June 25 War," the term commonly used in South Korea for the Korean War, and the other thinking of it as the "War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea," China's official narrative of the conflict. South Korea views the Korean War as having begun with North Korea's illegal invasion of the South, while China characterizes its involvement in the war as an effort to assist the North in fighting U.S.-led Allied forces that backed the South. The poster has been removed from the website. An official at the war memorial organization said the program was designed to offer an opportunity for a "critical analysis" of China's distorted claim, denying that it was intended to teach the conflict from the Chinese perspective. "We are revising the promotional poster and explanatory materials as they can be misunderstood," the official said, adding that the program will run as planned.