Do we have any accounts of what it was like serving and returning for them?
It occurred to me to ask because I came across this wiki article, specifically the massacres. In the US there was a whole lot of outrage over the war, and I feel like these kinds of massacres would have turned it past the boiling point.
I mean, the My Lai massacre sparked outrage when it came to light in 1969. Did these events not cause outrage at home? Did they not care?
The 1992 film White Badge (하얀 전쟁) depicts the war and its effects, although it garnered some criticism from veterans. The novel was also translated into English.
The director also drew his influence from Aimless Bullet, a film about the difficulties of reintegration after the Korean War. It was one of the first Korean films to deal with this issue, and it may offer some perspective.
There was also some public debate recently about Korea's observation of the 50-year anniversary of the deployment.