Medical Support Provided by the UN's Scandinavian Allies during the Korean War

정세권,민유기,이상덕 대한의사학회 2023 醫史學 Vol.32 No.3

The humanitarian motivation of medical support from the three Scandinavian countries during the Korean War cannot be doubted, but the countries also had to be politically sensitive during this period. The fact that these countries only dispatched medical support, and that the team was not only for military purpose but also intended to help the civilians is a different point from the U.S. military medical support, which distinguished military medical support that is the U.S. Eighth Army, from the civilian treatment and relief, which is the UNCACK. In addition, medical support activities from the Scandinavian countries were bound to be flexible depending on the rapidly changing trend of war, active regions, and their support methods. At a time when the battle was fierce and the number of wounded soldiers increased, they had no choice but to concentrate on treating wounded soldiers, whether in Busan or Incheon. However, even while treating these wounded soldiers, they tried to treat and rescue civilians around the base area whenever they had chance. It is easily imaginable that in the urgent situation of war, the nature of medical support cannot be clearly divided into military or civilian if there is only one team that is operating. It is clear, however, that the common humanitarian purpose of rescuing and treating civilians affected the establishment of the National Medical Center in Seoul after the war. The Scandinavians had indeed remained even after the end of the war in to provide full support of establishing modern medical system in Korea. This suggests that modern Korean medical or public health system did not start to be developed in the 1960s like some researchers argue, but started a few years earlier during the time of the war with the support from the countries world-wide.

전염병의 과학은 어떻게 논쟁되는가?―1911년 만주 폐페스트 발병과 국제페스트컨퍼런스

정세권 역사문제연구소 2020 역사비평 Vol.- No.133

This paper aims to demonstrate the complexity of medical practices on epidemic diseases and the relationships with the circumstances outside laboratory, by reviewing the pneumonic plague in Manchuria and the International Plague Conference in 1911. First of all, although bubonic plague had been historically rampant and its pathogen(Yersinia pestis) was identified in 1894, pneumonic form was unfamiliar disease in 1911, not only because it had rarely been seen but because its symptoms were quite different from the bubonic form. Medical experts at the conference, despite their acquaintance with bubonic plague, could not conclusively confirm that pneumonic plague was the same disease as the bubonic form. Secondly, at that time the way to inspect new and perplexing diseases, such as pneumonic plague, was not single and homogenous, and a variety of medical practices from traditional patho-anatomic observations to laboratory techniques, for example, bacteriological and histological analyses and animal experiments, had to be involved. While these diverse practices served to aid in the understanding of pneumonic plague to some extent, they were judged by different standards and became the central issue of debate at the conference. Thirdly, Manchuria offered an unstable stage for scientific investigations. Medical examinations of representatives concerning pneumonic plague had been influenced by the political position of powers in Manchuria. Therefore, the conference which aimed to understand and overcome unfamiliar epidemic, had failed to draw an unanimous conclusions. This paper, reviewing the case of Manchuria in 1911, would contribute to understand the complexity of medical practices on COVID19 and its relationships with diverse circumstances outside laboratory. 이 글은 1911년 만주에서 창궐한 폐페스트 및 이에 대응하기 위한 국제컨퍼런스 사례를 중심으로, 전염병에 대한 의학적 실행 및 실험실 내외부 환경과의 복잡한 관계를 보여주고자 한다. 1911년 폐페스트는 역사적으로 발병한 적도 없고 그 증상이 완전히 달랐기에, 이미 선페스트를 경험하고 그 병원균을 알고 있던 의학 전문가들에게도 낯선 질병이었다. 의학 전문가들은 컨퍼런스 당시 폐페스트가 선페스트와 동일한 질병인지, 여러 백신들 중 어느 것이 가장 안전하고 효과적인지 등에 대해 확실한 결론을 합의할 수 없었다. 새롭고 당혹스런 질병을 연구하고 이해하는 과정은 단순하거나 균일하지 않았고, 전통적인 병리해부학적 관찰부터 세균학적, 조직학적 분석 및 동물실험을 포함한 최신 실험적 기법까지 다양한 의학적 실행들이 동원되었다. 이런 노력들은 폐페스트를 어느 정도 이해하는 데 기여했지만, 그 과정에서 각각 연구방법들 자체의 적합성과 신뢰성이 서로 다른 기준에 의해 판단되었고 논쟁의 대상이 되었다. 게다가 당시 여러 열강들이 경합했던 만주의 정치 역학은, 다양한 정치적 이해관계를 지닌 연구자들에게 동일한 연구 환경을 제공해주지 않았다. 이런 상황에서 낯선 전염병을 이해하고 극복하고자 소집된 의학 전문가 회의는, 만장일치로 합의할 결론을 내리지 못하고 잠정적인 권고안을 마련할 수밖에 없었다. 100여년 전 만주의 사례는, 2020년 전 세계를 강타하고 있는 전염병에 대한 과학적 연구 및 실험실 외곽의 다양한 정치사회적 환경과의 복잡한 관계를 이해하는 단초를 제공할 것이다.

전염병 시대 공중보건을 위한 과학과 법의 의미

정세권 국제비교한국학회 2022 비교한국학 Comparative Korean Studies Vol.30 No.2

본 연구는 ‘공중보건과 개인의 권리’라는 주제에 관한 기존 연구에서 충분히 다루 지 못한 과학적 불확실성과 법적 강제성에 대해 질문을 던지고자 한다. 감염병을 이 해하고 그 대응 방안을 찾는 과학적 연구는 공중보건 지침의 기준이 되며, 관련 법률 은 공동체를 위해 방역지침을 효과적으로 집행하는 동력이 된다. 그렇지만 코로나19 대유행을 겪고 있는 한국 사회에서 감염병을 설명하는 과학적 연구와 법률이 항상 효과적이지 않을 수도 있음을 살펴볼 것이다. 본 연구는 우선 감염병을 설명하는 과학적 설명이 언제나 확정적이고 고정불변이 아닐 수도 있다는 점을, ‘무증상 감염’, ‘감염병 의심자’와 같은 개념을 통해 고찰한다. 감염병의 확산을 막기 위해 활용되고 있는 이런 개념들은 과학적으로 모호할 수 있으며, 현실에서 여러 혼란과 질문을 야기하기도 했다. 또한 백신접종과 같은 공중보 건 조치들이 사법적 판단에만 의존하기 어려우며, 사회구성원을 설득하기 위한 또 다른 기획이 필요하다는 것을 국내외 상황을 통해 살펴본다. 이를 통해 본 연구는 과학적 설명과 법률적 판단이 전염병에 대응할 수 있는 유효 한 수단이지만 유일하지는 않다는 점을 보인다. 그리고 과학과 법에 지나치게 의존하 지 않고, 사회구성원 사이의 다양한 의견을 수렴하고 소통할 수 있는 또 다른 의미의 ‘정치’가 필요하다고 강조한다.

Promoting Science for the Modern Archipelago: Science in the Twentieth-Century Philippines

정세권 한국과학사학회 2018 한국과학사학회지 Vol.40 No.2

Reviewing the history of science and technology from American rule to the Mar-cos presidency, this paper shows that science was considered the central way to modernize the Philippines. Imperial scientists from the United States encouraged science and technology to achieve a more effective exploitation of the Philippines and to make it a more secure colony for American officials and inhabitants. Therefore, they not only scrutinized and classified thoroughly natural resources with modern scientific ways, but they implemented several sanitary orders and disciplined Filipinos medically. Meanwhile, the educated Filipinos participating in the colonial bureaucracy in part regarded science as the tool for national inde-pendence and self-governing. They succeeded and reorganized scientific institu-tions established by the American rulers and emphasized scientific minds for a future and modern Philippines. During the Marcos presidency, 1965-1986, science was honored and promoted for national economic development. In his proclama-tions and executive orders, Marcos stressed the importance of science to social and economic development of the Philippines and pushed ahead numerous poli-cies that encouraged science and technology. Although the goal of modernizing the Philippines with science and technology had different meanings to those actors in each phase, it penetrated the history of science and technology in the twentieth-century Philippines.

콘택트렌즈에서 ‘드림렌즈’까지 - 시력교정기술의 문화사

정세권 대한의사학회 2023 醫史學 Vol.32 No.1

This paper traces how medical technologies to correct vision were introduced and changed in Korean society until the introduction of Orthokeratology called ‘Dream Lens’ in the late 1990s. First of all, I outlines the historical background of the introduction and spread of the relatively unfamiliar and expensive Orthokeratology, which is said to “cure” myopia and astigmatism by pressing the cornea. ‘Dream Lens’, a ‘lens for correcting corneal refractive error’, was a popular vision correction technology in terms of its name, treatment method, and effect. Not only was it introduced with a name similar to contact lens used instead of glasses from decades ago, but the way it was attached to and removed from the cornea was also similar. On the other hand, the public was already familiar with the principle of correcting the refractive index by pressing the cornea and improving visual acuity in the long term, just like LASIK which became popular in the mid-1990s. The use of contact lens which was similar in terms of the name ‘lens’ and the effect of ‘correcting vision’, and the trend of LASIK which was similar in principle of controlling corneal refraction, was a historical stage that helped soft landing of orthokeratology. However, from contact lens, vision correction technology did not settle down without any conflict. There was a conflict between medical experts traditionally responsible for optometry and production of spectacles and lens, and opticians who were newly in charge of that area. Ophthalmologists who have been in charge of optometry and prescriptions for a long time had no choice but to hand over some of the inspection areas to opticians due to the rapidly increasing number of opticians and the implementation of the optician system in 1989. And they had no choice but to watch the expansion of the business of opticians who manufactured glasses based on their own vision tests and sold them together with contact lens. Instead, corneal resection, which is not a technique for correcting visual acuity due to corneal refractive error, but a surgical technique for treating the corneal refractive error itself, has become an ophthalmologist's unique task. In addition, Dream Lens, which corrects corneal refractive error using a similar principle, has also become an object of professional medical practice because it required more precise examination and treatment than eyeglasses or contact lenses. By understanding the process by which vision correction technologies, from contact lens to dream lens, have been introduced into Korean society over the past few decades, this paper gives a new understanding how different medical technologies with the same or similar purposes are settling down, and the tension between experts in charge of them.

산업기술에서 일상기술, 그리고 방역을 돕는 기술로 - 한국의 QR 코드 도입과 확산

정세권 경희대학교 인문학연구원 2023 인문학연구 Vol.- No.57

이 글은 유통 산업을 혁신할 목적으로 도입된 QR 코드가 일상의 영역으로 확산되다가, 코로나19를 맞이하여 방역을 돕는 새로운 기술로 변하는 과정을 추적한다. QR 코드의 사례를 분석하면서 이 글은 정보 기술의 도입과 확산을 단순히 해당 기술의 발명 및 혁신으로만 이해할 수 없으며, 이를 가능하게 한 다른 기술적 요소와 사회적 요인들의 얽힘이 중요했다는 사실을 보일 것이다. 흥미로운 점은 코로나 대유행 당시 방역을 위해 활용된 QR 코드가 그 자체로는 다른 방식(혹은 기술)에 비해 이점을 지녔지만, 디지털 리터러시를 둘러싼 논란과 백신접종에 대한 반감 등 외부적 요인으로 인해 예전 산업기술로 활용되던 때와는 다른 논란에 휩싸이기도 했다는 것이다. 전염병을 극복하기 위한 여러 방침을 둘러싼 가치의 충돌이 ‘가치중립적인’ 것처럼 보이는 기술의 흥망성쇠에 영향을 줄 수도 있다는 것이다. 그럼에도 QR 코드는 전염병을 계기로 거의 대다수 국민에게 익숙한 기술로 자리매김하면서, 공중보건이 아닌 다른 영역에서 향후 더욱 큰 영향력을 가질 가능성도 얻었다. QR 코드의 역사를 통해서, 하나의 산업기술이 전염병과 같은 특수한 환경에 놓이게 될 때 과거와는 다른 새로운 의미를 띠고 변해가는 모습을 이해할 수 있다. This article traces the process by which QR code, which was introduced to innovate the distribution industry, spread throughout daily life and was recognized as a new technology due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By analyzing the case of QR code, this article shows that the introduction and spread of information technology cannot be understood simply as the invention and innovation of the technology, and that the entanglement of other technical and social factors that made this possible was important. However, although the QR code utilized to prevent the pandemic offers advantages over other methods (or technologies) in itself, external factors such as anti-vaccine or digital literacy have made it a vibrant technology. The conflict of values ​​surrounding various policies to overcome infectious diseases may affect the rise and fall of technologies that appear to be ‘value-neutral.’ Nevertheless, QR code has become a familiar technology to most people due to the pandemic, and has the potential to have a greater impact in areas other than public health in the future. Through the history of QR code, we can understand how when an industrial technology is placed in a special environment such a pandemic, it takes on a new meaning and changes, different from the past.

‘전쟁 속 전염병’에서 ‘전염병과의 전쟁’으로 : 이임하 저, 『전염병 전쟁: 한국전쟁과 전염병 그리고 동아시아 냉전 위생 지도』, 철수와영희, 2020

정세권 민족문학사학회·민족문학사연구소 2021 민족문학사연구 Vol.75 No.-

제1차 세계 대전 당시 유럽에서의 미국 공중 보건 활동: 발진 티푸스(1915), 참호열(1917)에 대한 대응을 중심으로

정세권 한국과학사학회 2019 한국과학사학회지 Vol.41 No.1

This paper examines medical research and sanitary orders of the United States in Europe during World War I. It aims to analyze the relationships between public health and war in terms of epidemics and military interests of the United States. To cope with Serbian typhus fever in 1915, the United States, which had not been directly involved in war, delegated a sanitary commission organized by private agencies. As the characters of typhus fever had been well known at that time, the sanitary commission aimed at curing patients and hindering additional cases by improving hygienic conditions. After the United States determined to enter the war and dispatched troops in 1917, however, the approach to epidemics in Europe changed. To handle the yet unknown trench fever that had undermined Allied military power, the U.S. Army organized the medical corps for scientific investigations. Medical corps conducted experiments on voluntary soldiers, and concluded that trench fever was caused by the bite of louse and could be transmitted through blood. Medical research and sanitary orders to two epidemics during the same war had developed differently according to the characters of each disease and military interests of the United States.

20세기 초 미국 의사들의 열대질병 연구와 상업적 후원: 리처드 피어슨 스트롱(1872-1948)을 중심으로

정세권 한국미국사학회 2015 미국사연구 Vol.42 No.-

This article examines Richard Pearson Strong’s research on tropical diseases in the Department of Tropical Medicine in Harvard School of Medicine. Tropical medicine of Europe or the United States have been considered as product of the laboratory medicine and imperialism which had developed rapidly from mid-nineteenth century. However Strong’s tropical medicine in the Harvard suggests that tropical medicine be not deemed as a single, fixed science but as heterogenous and hybrid scientific practices. His research adopted such traditional methods as observations and classification of symptoms and pathoanatomic investigation, as well as laboratory techniques such as the identification of causal microorganism. These hybrid scientific practices of tropical medicine could have not been conducted efficiently in the Harvard, because neither were tropical diseases to inspect directly nor favorable research environments for new discipline in Boston. For these problems, Strong decided to explore the Central/South America where there were so many tropical diseases and new sponsor, the United Fruit Company(UFC). He gained corporate patron in the Central/South America by collaborating his tropical medicine with interests of UFC. By examining Strong’s tropical medicine and scientific expedition in 1913, this article suggest that tropical medicine should be understood as a mingle of heterogenous scientific practices and that these practices could be conducted in various ways in context of Boston and tropics, and that tropical medicine of the United States could be carried under new corporate patronage, besides governmental supports. 이 글은 리처드 피어슨 스트롱(1872-1948)의 열대질병 연구와 그가 속해 있던 하버드 열대의학과 사례를 통해 20세기 초 미국 열대의학의 성격을 규명하고자 한다. 지금까지 미국을 포함한 서구의 열대의학은 19세기 중후반부터 비약적으로 발달한 실험의학과 제국주의적 팽창의 산물로 간주되어 왔다. 그렇지만 하버드 열대의학과에 재직하며 열대를 탐험한 스트롱의 사례는 열대의학을 고정되고 단일한 무엇이 아니라 이질적인 의학적 실행들의 묶음으로 이해할 필요가 있음을 보여준다. 스트롱의 열대질병 연구는 병원체를 확인하고 치료제/백신을 개발하는 실험실 의학뿐 아니라 질병의 증상을 관찰하고 분류하는 전통적인 임상연구와 자연사 연구가 공존하고 있었던 것이다. 따라서 열대질병을 직접 관찰할 수 없었던 그리고 신생 열대의학과를 운영할 제반의 조건이 마련되지 않았던 하버드 의과대학을 벗어나 스트롱은 열대질병의 현장으로 진출해야 했다. 1913년 중남미 탐험을 위해 스트롱은 유나이티드 프루트 컴퍼니(UFC)라는 교역회사의 후원을 적절히 활용했다. 공식적 식민지가 아닌 지역을 연구하기 위해 정부의 지원을 받을 수 없었던 상황에서 스트롱은 상업자본의 이해와 열대의학 연구를 결합시켜 새로운 후원자를 얻을 수 있었고, 이는 탐험 이후에도 열대의학을 정당화하는 하나의 수사로 이어졌다. 스트롱의 사례는 열대의학을 이질적 의학적 실행들의 묶음으로 이해할 때 열대의학이 각 공간의 맥락에 따라 다양한 방식으로 전개될 수 있음을 보여줌과 동시에, 제국-식민지라는 정치적 구도에서 벗어나 새로운 후원관계 속에서 수행될 수 있음을 말해준다.

‘시험관 아기’에서 ‘체외수정’으로? - 1970~80년대 새로운 과학기술에 대한 언론 보도 변화

정세권(Se-Kwon Jeong) 역사비평사 2021 역사비평 Vol.- No.136

This article aims to demonstrate how new science and technology would have been understood and accepted in the 1970~1980 Korea, by examining media reports on ‘test-tube baby’ and IVF. At first, newspapers focused monstrous ‘test-tube baby’ more than ‘In vitro fertilization’ itself, and described it as an unnatural, blue creature and a symbol of depressed future. These images of ‘Test-tube baby’ in the 1970s had been combined multifarious preconceptions on artificial insemination of animals and dystopian imaginations in literary works. But as Louis Browne in the U.K(1978) and the first ‘test-tube baby’ in the South Korea(1985) were borne, media gradually focused new science and technology itself, IVF and explained its economic values and future possibilities. In the media, IVF became research topics for medical experts and potential new products for maternity hospitals, and ‘test-tube baby’ developed to a hope for infertile couples. These changes in the media report reveal the unique Korean conditions for encounter with new reproductive technology and its soft landing, in respect that media deliver the news and establish the framework for science and technology.