States often struggle to assess the loyalties of their populations, a challenge that is particularly acute for early state-builders confronting shifting allegiances and severe security threats. Yet we know little about how states establish stability under such conditions, or how the institutions empowered in this process shape wartime state violence. I argue that reliance on inherited security institutions biases incumbents toward coercion against communities with histories of resistance, even when that resistance targeted a prior regime. To evaluate this claim, I compile new archival data on anti-colonial resistance under Japanese rule in Korea and civilian killings during the Korean War. I show that South Korean armed forces, drawing on intelligence supplied by local police, killed more civilians in areas that had previously resisted Japanese colonial authority. By demonstrating how inherited histories of resistance become templates for threat perception, this paper contributes to debates on institutional persistence and state violence. [Draft]

What explains veteran civic activism? Prior research often attributes veterans’ political participation to post-traumatic growth without directly measuring trauma. We examine how the visibility of war-related wounds—physical versus psychological—is associated with long-term civic engagement. Using a unique cohort of Vietnam War veterans in South Korea, including over 23,000 veterans and 3,000 non-veteran peers observed several decades after the war, we analyze the political consequences of wartime injury. Veterans with visible wounds, such as physical disabilities, exhibit higher civic engagement, whereas those with invisible wounds, such as war-related PTSD, are less engaged, less trusting of government, and more dissatisfied with veteran policies. Among non-veterans, both physical and psychological conditions are associated with lower civic engagement. Examining government compensation as a mechanism through which veterans receive material and symbolic recognition, we find that welfare benefits are positively associated with civic engagement among veterans but negatively associated among non-veterans. These findings highlight how postwar community and government responses - shaped by the visibility of wounds and perceptions of deservingness - shape postwar civic life.