hankyoreh

Photographs taken by Donald O’Brien, an American soldier who served with the 198th Signal Photo Corps and was stationed in Korea following World War II, depict scenes around Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province in 1945. The photos were sent to the Hankyoreh from researcher Yu Kwang-eun, who collected these and other documents dealing with modern Korean history from the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

While out walking with his unit, O’Brien came across two Koreans who were relaxing on a mountain summit, and another man wearing traditional clothing who was smoking a pipe. The third photo shows a US military jeep used by O’Brien’s party being ferried across the Dongtan River. O’Brien died last year in Piketon, Ohio at the age of 92. According to his obituary in the Columbus Dispatch, O’Brien’s Flickr.com page has garnered over 18.5 million views. (provided by Yu Kwang-eun)