PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — When the U.S. Army recently put Korean War photos and video footage on the Internet, the main aim was to help young troops see what the war looked like and how different military life is here now.
The Army’s Installation Management Command-Korea put about 40 video clips on YouTube and about 150 still photos on Flickr.
Things have since taken an unexpected turn: the sites are getting thousands of daily visits from ordinary South Koreans.
"It was a very pleasant surprise," said IMCOM-K spokesman Edward N. Johnson.
Now visitors will have about 200 more photos to see on Flickr, and more pictures and YouTube videos will be posted in coming weeks, he said.
A Jan. 5 Stars and Stripes story about the Web postings spawned "a real increase in the interest," he said.
Then South Korean national newspapers and television picked up the story. A day later, the page views at www.flickr.com/imcomkorea hit 450,000, up from 12,500 the day before and from 1,000 before the Stripes story.
"The videos also jumped dramatically," he said.
The videos at www.youtube.com/warinkorea had drawn about 16,000 visits total. They site now averages about 2,500 visits a day.
The biggest draw among the photos have been those that showed people, whether soldiers in action or Korean refugees fleeing the ravages of war, he said.
The one photo that seems to have touched the biggest number of Korean viewers most deeply is one of a Korean girl with her brother on her back, standing in front of a tank.
"And she has a very stoic look on her face," said Johnson. "That one has been viewed over 15,000 times just by itself."
Johnson said people can contribute photos and video by e-mailing him at: morningcalmweekly@korea.army.mil.
