- Author: LEE, SORA
- Title: The Establishment and Implementation of the Armed Forces Assistance to Korea (AFAK) Program in the 1950s
- Language: Korean
- Journal: Journal of Korean Modern and Contemporary History 102: 255-281
- Publication Year: 2022
- Publisher: The Association for Korean Modern and Contemporary History
■ Abstract ‘The Armed Forces Assistance to Korea Program’ was a post-war program that combined voluntary efforts of the United States Forces in Korea and the Korean local communities funded by the U.S. foreign aid to guide completion of public projects in relevant areas. This paper aims to outset on a foothold in the study of the AFAK program by focusing on its establishment and planning stages to understand the consequences of its implementation in the 1950s.
Envisioned by the top Washington officials shortly after the signing of the armistice agreement, the AFAK program was an exhibitionist project to utilize U.S. forces to restore and rebuild Korea after the Korean War under the American Cold War stratagem. In turn, despite the Korean government’s insistence to place American troops in large-scale rehabilitation projects, the U.S. implemented practical construction projects to build small-scale facilities such as schools, public health facilities, and orphanages. The U.S. military assistance limited to technical support, supply of materials and special heavy equipment meant that the local communities supplemented supplies and labor on site. The Korean military, too, gradually expanded its involvement in the program. Majority of the rehabilitation projects were mostly concentrated in the inception periods of the program. By the end of 1959, more than 4,000 projects had been completed. The AFAK program, which was highly exhibitive in its conceptual stage, achieved considerable outcome in its implementation stage and left substantial impact on the local-level in Korea. |
