Korean War

Where can I find information about the Korean War?

(Years 11-13)

Photo from 1953 of a Korean man talking to 3 Aotearoa NZ soldiers during the Korean war. The man has a puppy in his arms. — Image: Korean houseboy and New Zealand soldiers from [Department of Internal Affairs: War History Branch]. Collection: Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref: PA1-f-115-2049. Image cropped.

Entry last updated: 19/02/26

Introduction

The Korean War was fought between North Korea (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea). North Korea had the support of China and the Soviet Union. South Korea was supported by the United Nations, primarily the United States but also New Zealand. The war began in June 1950 and ended in July 1953. It is estimated that 2 million civilians and 1 million soldiers died in this conflict.

General websites

Here are a selection of reliable databases and websites that have a range of media such as articles, videos, images, audio, primary sources and more on the Korean War.

World History (Gale In Context)

World History in Context is part of EPIC, a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. It’s put together especially for New Zealand school students and helps to answer questions like this.

Go to Brows Topics and choose Korean War.
This page has lots of articles, primary sources, videos and more.
Read articles like Introduction to the Korean War (1950–1953), The United States enters the Korean War: June 27, 1950 and the primary source Address to Congress.

Tips: To use the EPIC resources, you need a password from your school librarian. Or chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians to help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

Britannica School Secondary

Encyclopaedia Britannica School is also part of EPIC. It has three levels to choose from. Its information comes from selected websites, multimedia, and magazine sources.

First, log in to the database with a password from your school or from AnyQuestions.
Enter the keywords 'Korean War' into the Search Britannica box.
Then choose from pages like Korean War (1950-1953) or Korean War Timeline.

Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. Usually it’s better to leave out small words like ‘the’, ‘a’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, eg Korean War. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.

History (history.com)

This is the website of the US History Channel. It focuses on US and world history, and includes topics such as the Korean War. Note that you need a subscription to stream some content.

Enter the keywords 'Korean War' into the search box.
Then you can look through the results and find things like an article about the Korean War, or short videos such as recollections of a Prisoner of War (POW).

Tips: Interviews are good primary sources, but can have upsetting information. For a topic like this, it may be helpful to talk to a parent, caregiver or teacher.

BBC Bitesize

BBC Bitesize is a website set up to help UK students with school work and exam revision. It has good articles, diagrams, and information. Most of the videos won't work in New Zealand.

Search for 'Korean War'.
Choose What caused the Korean War?
Learn about the war as part of the Cold War, roles of different countries, and impacts of the war.

New Zealand websites

These New Zealand websites are good sources of information on how New Zealand became involved in the Korean War from 1950 to 1957.

NZ History

NZ History is a great website for information about New Zealand Aotearoa. If we look to the bottom of the page, we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage. The information is well-researched and reliable.

From the homepage, choose New Zealand At War.
Then look under the heading Post Second War World to find Korean War.
The list of Contents has information about the Kayforce and the Commonwealth Division, which fought in the war.
Look for All images and media for Korean War for videos, audio and images from the war.

Tips: Look for 'How to cite this page' at the bottom of the page. Use this in your bibliography to list the websites you have used to research this topic.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Te Ara is another excellent website about Aotearoa New Zealand. It belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.

Enter the keywords 'Korean War' into the search box.
Then choose the either the Korean War or Kayforce articles.

Tips: We like sites like this because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.

DigitalNZ

DigitalNZ searches online resources from New Zealand libraries, museums, universities and government sites in one place. It groups results by the type of information and has lots of primary sources.

Enter the keywords 'Korean War', 'Kayforce' or 'K Force' into the search bar.
The results include images, videos, stories, and audio.
Use the tab More to find newspapers, articles, etc.
Watch the videos Kiwis in Korea or HMNZS Taupo & Hawea in Korea for New Zealand’s military involvement in the Korean War.

Tips: Websites that have .org or .net in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the organisation’s mission and values are.

Papers Past

Papers Past is a collection of digitised New Zealand newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a great primary source, as you can find reports written in New Zealand about the war, as it was happening in Korea.

First, choose Newspapers.
Then enter your keywords into the search box. You may have to try different variations eg 'Korean War' or 'Korea War'.
To find articles written during New Zealand's involvement with the Korean War, change the dates so you are searching between 1950 and 1957.

Christchurch City Libraries

Christchurch City Libraries has a useful page dedicated to the Korean War.

From the homepage, enter the keywords 'Korean War' into the search box and change the dropdown menu from Catalogue to Website.
This will take you to their page on the Korean War.
Find information and a collection of digital photographs taken by a soldier during the war.

Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to check how reliable it is. Check the About us link, if you can find one. We like this resource because it's from a library, so the information has been researched by librarians.

Auckland War Memorial Museum - Online Cenotaph

This museum tells the war stories of New Zealand. It has excellent Māori and Pacific collections. This section of the website has records and stories of those who served Aotearoa New Zealand.