--- title: 'The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Smile': A Story of the Korean War description: An article in LIFE magazine in 1951 told the story of a Korean orphan named Kang, and efforts to get him to "return to health and life." canonical: https://time.com/3880570/the-little-boy-who-wouldnt-smile-a-story-of-the-korean-war/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-25T01:05:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:38.874Z og:title: 'The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Smile': A Story of the Korean War og:description: An article in LIFE magazine in 1951 told the story of a Korean orphan named Kang, and efforts to get him to "return to health and life." og:url: https://time.com/3880570/the-little-boy-who-wouldnt-smile-a-story-of-the-korean-war/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ae76f51d0c2ecf7/69884c335f570f8703b1b168/140716-kang-rougier-korea-05.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Kang, Korea 1951 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Smile': A Story of the Korean War twitter:description: An article in LIFE magazine in 1951 told the story of a Korean orphan named Kang, and efforts to get him to "return to health and life." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ae76f51d0c2ecf7/69884c335f570f8703b1b168/140716-kang-rougier-korea-05.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Smile': A Story of the Korean War by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jul 25, 2014 1:05 AM UTC  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri, 1951. Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri, 1951.Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jul 25, 2014 1:05 AM UTC Of the countless stories that emerged from the [Korean War](http://www.history.com/topics/korean-war), few carried the emotional punch of a piece that ran in LIFE magazine in July 1951\. Written by, and featuring photos by, LIFE photographer [Michael Rougier](http://life.time.com/michael-rougier-photographers/), the article—titled “The Little Boy Who Wouldn’t Smile”—brought home to millions of readers the devastation that the war was wreaking on the civilian populations of both North and South Korea. Split in two in the wake of the Second World War, Korea was a place that most Americans had given little thought to just a few years before—if they’d heard of it all. The “little boy'” of Rougier’s now-famous article was Kang Koo Ri, an orphan rescued in the spring of ’51 by American GIs; the village where he was found had been largely destroyed in fighting between UN forces and [China-backed communist troops](http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/kowar/50-chin/50-chin.htm) from the North. Kang was in a house that, GIs later told Rougier, smelled so strongly of death and decay that they almost passed it by. But one soldier went in to check for survivors, and found Kang—naked, hungry, terrified and silent, crouched against a wall. His mother’s decomposing body lay on a straw mat in the same room. The GIs took him from the house (“All the way back \[to the regimental command post\] he cried steadily, tears streaming from his eyes but no sound at all coming from his throat.”), provided him with medical attention, food and new clothes, and eventually placed the five-year-old in an orphanage filled with scores of other children whose parents or entire families had been killed, or had simply disappeared, amid the chaos of war. Rougier goes on to relate how, eventually, after months of silence and a kind of stern, self-willed isolation from the rest of the orphans, Kang finally opened up—and it was like the sun coming out. (See slide 24 in the gallery above.) One of the older girls at the orphanage, who had become the boy’s constant companion, had tried to make Kang smile ever since he’d arrived. “The feeling grew among everyone at the orphanage,” Rougier wrote, “that getting Kang to smile was the most important job they had—it was as if his return to health and life were dependent on it.” On Rougier’s last day there, the older girl, Hwan Shin Sung, “asked \[Kang\] what in all the world he would like to do most of all”: --- > “” --- Rougier and his colleagues at Time Inc. did not forget Kang, or the other kids at the orphanage, after the photographer left to cover other stories. In various issues of _FYI—_a breezy, informal and reliably entertaining staff-produced newsletter that kept everyone at Time Inc. up to speed on company personnel and happenings—Rougier reported on the progress the orphans were making and, especially, the help they were receiving, at his constant urging, from his friends at LIFE: --- > “” --- Hundreds of pounds of clothing, vitamins, books, sporting goods, medical supplies and more, sent by “Time Incers” and from LIFE readers all over the country, poured into Korea, destined for the orphanage. Finally: LIFE followed up on Kang’s story in 1956, reporting that a woman in Los Angeles, Mrs. Cordelle Lefer, had adopted him. Haunted by Rougier’s famous picture of Kang in 1951, which leads off the gallery above, Mrs. Lefer told LIFE that she got down on her knees and prayed “and was told to adopt him.” So she did just that. After that, it seems, Kang faded from the headlines for good (and, we like to think, with relief). But we can’t help wondering: What was his life like after he was adopted? Did he stay in California? Did he return to Korea? Go to college? Marry? Is he still alive? Anyone with any information is welcome to share it in the comments below. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "His eyes clouded by nightmare memories and his small face drawn by hunger, Kang Koo Ri looks up as soldiers offer him his first meal." Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Silent and apart, Kang clutches a stick and teeters, forlornly off balance, as he watches the soldiers and their 'mascots' in the earthen courtyard of Seoul collection station." Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Saying goodbye was hard on soldiers and mascots. Lee Kum Soon howled, 'When you come back?'" Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Cowboy clothes, complete with sets of holsters and cap pistols, were ordered by the soldiers from the PX in Tokyo or shipped out from the States." Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri with American troops, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri with an older girl who helped him overcome his fear and solitude at a Korean orphange, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphans with American troops, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphans, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri with American troops, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphans, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphans, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Rubber ball is one of only two toys Kang Koo Ri will touch. He often pokes at it with his finger." Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "In Korean fashion, children remove their shoes before entering orphanage playroom. Their favorite song is 'Jesus Loves Me.'" Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Glass marble is Kang's second toy. For hours at a time he rolls it from one hand to the other on the sill of his window overlooking the playground." Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "In Taegu \[Kang\] received new clothes but he still kept away from all the other children." Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "The other children at the orphanage go on picnics and are fascinated by ducks in a paddy, but Kang is usually too tired to go along." Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean orphanage, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Korean orphanage, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kang Koo Ri's first smile in a Korean orphanage, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  LIFE photographer Michael Rougier with war orphan Kang Koo Ri, Korea, 1951. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Time Inc. in-house newsletter, F.Y.I., June 29, 1951. TIME Inc.  Time Inc. in-house newsletter, F.Y.I., July 13, 1951. TIME Inc.  Time Inc. in-house newsletter, F.Y.I., September 7, 1951. TIME Inc.  Time Inc. in-house newsletter, F.Y.I., September 7, 1951 (cont.). TIME Inc. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3880570/the-little-boy-who-wouldnt-smile-a-story-of-the-korean-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3880570/the-little-boy-who-wouldnt-smile-a-story-of-the-korean-war/"},"headline":"'The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Smile': A Story of the Korean War","datePublished":"2014-07-25T01:05:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:38.874Z","description":"An article and photos in LIFE magazine in July 1951 told the story of a five-year-old Korean orphan named Kang, and the efforts to get the boy to \"return to health and life.\"","url":"https://time.com/3880570/the-little-boy-who-wouldnt-smile-a-story-of-the-korean-war/","keywords":["photography","Korea","Korean War","Ben Cosgrove","Liz Ronk","Behind the Picture","1951"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ae76f51d0c2ecf7/69884c335f570f8703b1b168/140716-kang-rougier-korea-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ae76f51d0c2ecf7/69884c335f570f8703b1b168/140716-kang-rougier-korea-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kang, Korea 1951","caption":"Korean War orphan Kang Koo Ri, 1951.","creditText":"Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3880570/the-little-boy-who-wouldnt-smile-a-story-of-the-korean-war/","name":"'The Little Boy Who Wouldn't Smile': A Story of the Korean War"}}]}] ```