Soojin+Kim+-+Korean+War+Oral+History

 Korean War Oral History Since my grandfather passed away and my grandmother cannot provide a detail information about the Korean War, I chose to interview one of my acquaintances who knows profound information about the Korean War due to his North Korean dad. This interview focused on the impact on //**__family relationships__**// as a result of the Korean War


 * Interview (in Korean)**

Part I media type="file" key="Asian Studies Oral History Part I.mp3" width="240" height="20" Part II media type="file" key="Asian Studies Oral History Part II.mp3" width="240" height="20"


 * Summary**

(He talks about both his dad and grandfather for more detailed information) My dad’s name is Duk kun Jeong, he was born on 16 Jan 1934, and his hometown is located in the North, the city of Haeju in HwangHaeDo. When he lived in Haeju, he lived with his parents and four other siblings.
 * 1. Tell me a brief information about your dad, his birthdate, hometown, and family members.**
 * 2. How old was your dad during the Korean War? was he a student or did he have any occupation?** During the Korean war, my dad was at the age of 16, while my grandfather at the age of 40. My dad was a student who attended middle school. And my grandfather owned the rice polishing company.
 * 3. How was your dad’s family’s economic condition at the beginning of the Korean War?** The economic condition of my dad’s family was good compared to other families since the rice polishing company made a lot of money in the 1940s. However, the North Korean government took all the property from bourgeois class (rich people), my dad’s family had lost all possessions. The communist government took his house, land, and factory. That was part of the reason why my family decided to move to the South.
 * 4. Did your dad and grandfather get formal education?** Before the Korean War had taken place, my grandfather could go to the South whenever he wanted to. My grandfather did not receive formal education since there wasn’t any “official” schools when he was young. But my dad graduated Jong-Ang high school, which was one of the best high schools in the 1940s. Then he graduated university in Seoul after coming to the South.
 * 5. Which political side did your dad’s family favor? communist side or nationalist side?** Apparently, my dad’s family did not favor the communist government since the government took all the property and they had very strict rules toward people which are only beneficial to the government.


 * 6. During the Korean War, did any of your dad’s family member join the army?** None of my dad’s family members joined the army during the Korean War. Instead, they chose to move to the South.
 * 7. Why did your dad’s family choose to move to the South?** First, my dad’s family had lost all the possessions and they thought that they are not going to have a stable life if they choose to stay in the North. However, two siblings (one brother and one sister) chose to stay in the North because their grandmother was terribly sick so they couldn’t leave her alone in the North.
 * 8. Tell me about the process how your dad’s family moved to the South.** Before the stages of the Korean War, Haeju was considered as South Korea’s territory so it was very easy to move back and forth. So at the beginning of the Korean War, my dad’s family took the ship which lands at Incheon from Haeju. However, when the ship landed, he could not find his other family members so he looked for his family for more than six months. Approximately six months later, he found his sister at Busan. I felt so sad for my dad, just by imagining how 16-year-old boy lived by himself for six months with no one.

Also there was a programed called “이산가족 상봉” and people in the South gathered together at 여의도 and wrote cards about the information about their families. My dad was always there but he never wrote cards, worrying that his siblings are going to be threatened by it.
 * 9. Then are your dad’s family still in contact with other family members left in the North?** Recently there are many ways that we can contact with the North, for example, Kum-Kang mountain and Pyong-Yang sightseeing. However, about ten years ago, it was almost impossible to be in contact with the North.
 * 10. What efforts did your dad make in order to contact his family?** My dad decided to immigrate to America and received American citizenship so that he could go visit the North as American citizen. However, he chose not to visit the North. He heard it from other people who visited the North that they brought a lot of money to give it to their family members since their living conditions are not as well as those in the South. However, they heard that the North government took all the money and threaten their families, regarding people from the South as spies. Observing these cases, my dad never decided to contact his family members in the North, just for them. He is anxious that meeting them could have a fatal impact on their lives. And I assume that he will never until his death.
 * 11. What was your dad’s most impressive memory he recalls from the Korean War?**When my dad took the ship that lands at Incheon, the ship was about to capsize due to the strong wind and my dad was about to die. Also he thought that his life of six months in the South was the most impressive one. He stayed in one house located in ChungChong-Do, working in the house. He lived in that house for about two months. When he come back to Korea after immigration to America, he visited that house and said thank you again for letting him stay in their house.
 * 12. What’s the difference between life in the North and the South during the Korean War?** In the North, students had to learn Russian language while students in the South had to learn English in their school. One interesting thing that he remembers in the past is that in the North, students had to memorize the quotes of their leader Kim-Il-Sung and they couldn’t leave school until they memorize them completely.
 * 13.Tell me about your life after the end of the Korean War.** My grandfather had some lands at Seoul so based on that, my dad’s family was able to start a new stable life there. Therefore my dad was able to graduate university at Seoul.
 * 14. What was the most influential factor that had on Korea affected by the Korean War?** My dad thinks that the economic situation of Korea was best influenced by the Korean War since our lives in the 1950s are worse than that of recent Bangladesh. But the biggest impact of the Korean war on Korean citizens was the separation of families, just like how my dad experienced it. He still misses his siblings a lot.
 * 15. Lastly, is there anything I haven't asked about that you think I should know?**My dad thinks that such wars like the Korean War should never take place again, since we are the ones who are most influenced by it, detrimentally. There should never be cases that families have to separate due to conflicts within one country.


 * Analysis**

After the interview, despite the fact that I already knew a lot of facts about the Korean War, I learned a lot more interesting facts about the war, for example, how students in the North had to memorize quotes of Kim Il Sung. This document focuses on the family issues during the Korean War. This interview could be utilized as an useful source that it reveals how families had to separate as a result of the war. It is not only him who suffered; there are many other cases of separated families who are not able to meet their family members again. There have been arduous efforts of separated families to find their family members in different part of Korea. In the late 1990s there was a campaign which led some separated families to gather and talk for short period of time. In these days, there aren’t any efforts for separated families due to worsened relationship with the North. Historical records like this could be an useful source for both the North and the South to reconsider running those campaigns again so that people in both Koreas could have more frequent contact with each other. It would be a good chance to reconcile the relationship between the North and the South, even though it could only have a minimal influence. And also it reveals the truth of the communist government which took money from the North people and how people involved in the bourgeois class in the North lost all the possessions they had. This interview is also critical that this document realistically describes the process how people in the North moved to the South during the Korean War. There had been some ways that people in the North could move to the South for better standards of living. This oral historical record could be added to one of those since this document is in very detail. Although this project took me a long time to think about meaningful questions about the Korean War, I think it was a good experience to reconsider facts about our most significant event of entire Korean history. After the interview I learned that wars always have a fatal influence on people’s lives, both economically and psychologically, especially those in divided country who cannot meet their families anymore.


 * Release Form**

(I don't have a scanner at home so I am going to give you a hard copy of my release form tomorrow :