A South Korean’s unwanted war legacy from Japan
In 1944, he was abducted from his village by Japanese soldiers and forced to dig tunnels at a World War II camp. In 2005, he learned he was mistakenly listed among Japan’s war dead at a Tokyo shrine.
For most of his life, Kim Hui-jong has kept what he considers a shameful secret. In 1944, as a teenager, he was abducted from his village in northern Korea by Japanese soldiers and forced to dig tunnels at a World War II military camp on the island of Saipan.
It would take him a decade of marriage to tell his wife about his past. Kim, 86, still often dreams of the battlefield shelling that severely damaged his hearing and the taunts of his captors: “You Koreans are like canned meat; we can take you anywhere and use you as we see fit.”
He always considered his Japanese enslavement, and the two years he later spent as a U.S. prisoner of war, as a lifelong humiliation. Then, in 2005, Kim received a new insult he insists he still cannot bear: For decades, the former conscript learned, he has been counted among Japan’s war dead and, because of an administrative error, his name is listed at Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni shrine. He could no longer remain silent.
Above: Kim Hui-jong, 86, of South Korea, has been trying to get Japan to remove his name from a list of that country’s World War II dead: “I never fought for the Japanese; I was a forced laborer.” (Matt Douma, For The Times / August 15, 2011)
——-This is awful. Yes, the relationship between South Korea and Japan has always been an extremely complicated one. As the American-born daughter of two South Korean immigrants, I’ve always known that. (If you don’t believe me, ask any Korean person what they think of the Dokdo Islands.) Kim Hui-Jong’s story breaks my heart.
North Korea tasks team to kill South's defense minister: reports
(Reuters) - A team of North Korean agents have been assigned to kill South Korea’s defense minister after he said Seoul would retaliate militarily if Pyongyang repeats attacks against the South, local media reported Wednesday.
North Korea, which has previously sent agents to try to assassinate key South Korean officials and high-profile defectors, succeeding in killing a nephew of Kim Jong-il near Seoul in 1997.
The South Korean government has put Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin under tight security protection, with four armed military police officers surrounding him when he is at outside events, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper quoted a senior government official as saying.
The defense ministry did not comment immediately on the report.
The South’s Yonhap news agency quoted a government source as saying intelligence officials are trying to determine the number of would-be assassins, and whether they are North Korean agents sent by Pyongyang or foreign nationals who entered the South from a third country under a North Korean order.
The source also said the assassins could be North Korean agents already stationed in the South.
Client: ”What is LG?”
Me: ”LG is a company based in South Korea. They started with electronics and moved to appliances and other areas. They’ve gotten to be a pretty well-respected business.”
Client: “I don’t want any of that Japanese crap.”
Me: ”Korean. They’re Korean.”
Sigh.
South Korea drops leaflets into North about Egypt, Libya
(Reuters) - South Korea’s military has been dropping leaflets into North Korea about democracy protests in Egypt and also sent food, medicines and radios for residents as part of a psychological campaign, a legislator said on Friday.
Knowledge is power.
Behind The Curtains of the Day: Filmmakers Lynn Lee and James Leong document the inner workings of North Korea’s powerful propaganda machine as the first foreign film crew allowed inside Pyongyang’s secretive University of Cinematic and Dramatic Arts.
[geekosystem.]
Watch this. Yes, I know it’s 25 minutes long, but it’s worth watching.
It’s exceptionally strange for me to watch this because the entire time all I can think about is how similar we are — we’re all Koreans. They’re speaking the same language, eating the same foods. But then they start talking about Kim Jong-Il, referring to him as “Dear Leader” or talk about Juche, and I am again struck by the incredibly wide chasm between us. It’s shocking how much a country can divide in only 60 years.
Also I really recommend you guys read the memoir, The Aquariums of Pyong-Yang, which tells the story of a Kang Chol-Hwan and his imprisonment in the Yodok concentration camp in North Korea. And if you want to learn more about the human rights crisis in North Korea, I recommend you check out: Human Rights Watch, The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, and LiNK, an organization dedicated to bringing awareness to the North Korean crisis, and aids & protects North Korean refugees in the underground.
Yeonpyeong Residents Assess Damage, Future
Despite watching the wall-to-wall news coverage of their plight, few of the victims of the attack are angry. Instead, there’s shell-shocked incomprehension.
One villager summed up the problem, saying, “The North Koreans are our brothers — and our enemies.” That’s a contradiction most South Koreans have yet to square.
Taking some time to think about all the people in Korea (my family included).
Good morning — watching Korea v Uruguay. I have faith in my Taeguk Jeonsa!
(Also testing out the zoom on my iPhone. Meh.)
Kim Yu-Na - 78.50 - WORLD RECORD.
- Jon: yuna!
- Me: BOOM!
- Me: all time olympic record in short program
- Jon: ㅇ롱롱ㅎㅏㅛ사ㅕㄴㅇㄹ노ㅓ ㅓㄱ셔
- Jon: that was me mashing my keyboard in korean excitement
Korean percussion music
These are my people. My people are badass.
Side note: If you ever go to a sporting event where 1. there is a Korean team participating (e.g. World Cup, Olympics) or 2. a Korean athlete on said team (e.g. Park Ji-Sung on Manchester United) - there will always, always be a fairly large contingent of Koreans (or Korean-Americans, if we’re in the States), banging away at pots and pans and these drums.
I AM NOT KIDDING. IT’S SORT OF AWESOME.
