Development of Medical Entomology in Korea: Disease Vector Research of Inho Chu and the U.S. Military Support Between the Late 1940s and the 1960s

This paper delves into the body of works produced by Inho Chu, a Korean public health researcher, between the late 1940s and the 1960s, with a particular focus on the impact of the United States military on his research. Chu emerged as a central figure in the process often referred to as “Americanization” of Korean public health in the aftermath of World War II. His professional development as a public health expert was significantly influenced by continuous support from the U.S. military. Chu pursued his education in public health at the University of Michigan under the auspices of the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). Additionally, he received specialized training in medical entomology at the U.S. Army's Hemorrhagic Fever Center during the Korean War. Subsequent to the war, he departed for the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit 2 in Taiwan (NAMRU-2) to join the transnational network of tropical medicine. Through a detailed exploration of Chu's academic journey, this paper aims to analyze how Chu effectively adapted the intellectual, material, and technological resources provided by the U.S. military to Korean medical circumstances and the historical legacies of colonialism. The results of such analyses illuminate the intricate interplay between the U.S. military support and the Korean context of the Cold War, which had contributed to the development of the field of public health in South Korea.