Korean+War+Interview+Project+Monica+Suh+B+Block

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=A Korean War Interview with <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="font-size: 180%; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 255); text-align: center; display: block;">Young Min Kim (75)  =

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">**I. Interview Questions**
1. What is your name and current age? How old were you when the Korean War took place and where did you live? What was your occupation at that time? Were you married? How many family members did you have in your family? How was your family's financial situation at the time? 2. What can you recall about the Korean War? 3. How did you react when you heard the news about the Korean war? How did the people around you react when they heard about the war? 4. Were you aware of why the war had started? Can you recall any rumors that you heard at that time? 5. How did you feel towards North Korea's leader, Kim Il Sung? Towards Rhee Sungman? 6. Describe your daily life during the war. What did you do for the most part of the day? How different was your daily life compared to the one that you had before the war broke out? 7. During war, were there any specific difficulties or events that you encountered? 8. Did you witness and/or experience any North Korean soldiers treating the South Korean civilians cruelly? 9. Did the war affect any of the existing relationships between your family members and/or friends? Did your family live in safety? 10. What were your feelings towards the Red Army and Soviet Union when all of this had happened? And towards the U.S. soldiers? 11. Amidst all the chaos, how did you manage to survive the war? 12. How did you feel when the war was over? 13. How much impact has the Korean War placed upon you? Did the war affect you in any way? If so, how? 14. What are your feelings towards the war today? 15. Do you have any last comments that you would like to share?

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> **II. Interview (video**)
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">media type="file" key="KOREAN WAR INTERVIEW SUMMARY MS.mp3"

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1) How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians?

My interviewee's testimony does fit in with what I have learned about he experience of civilians. However, the major differing point is that my interviewee was merely sixteen at the time and he lived with his family in KyeongBuk, Pohang, which is in the most southern part of South Korea. Therefore, compared to the excerpts that we read from the victims of Korean war who were in Seoul at the time, the conditions were not as severe. In //Still Life With Rice//, the title character had been through months of what seemed to back like inhumane, unbearable pain. Because my interviewee had been living most southern part of Korea did not mean that he and his family didn't suffer from the war. Hunger and starvation was also the main problem that people were suffering while they hid in the mountains or other places where the North Korean soldiers would not find them. He stated that he had also evacuated from his home for it was more dangerous to be in an area where there are buildings and houses, for the North Koreans attacked those places and killed innocent civilians. He and his family thus hid near the mountains or in poorly constructed hay huts during the day and at night, would cautiously move around with the help of darkness. But no one could let their guard go down at anytime.

2) Using your background knowledge try to contextualize their testimony. How do you think major events of the war affected their life at the time?

The Korean war was traumatizing to my interviewee. He was sixteen, the same age as me, when the war first broke out. Not even knowing about what being in war would mean and what it would bring to his country was something that could not be imagined in the mere mind of a Korean teenager. The Korean war brought a division of blood between the North and South. People who used to be brothers, sisters, families, were torn apart due to this border due to a leader's selfish desire to control a country of his own and increase his power and superiority. The ones that were most affected by the war were none other than the innocent and helpless civilians. The major events of war, such as the occupation of the North all the way in the southern part of South Korea, severely affected my interviewee's life at the time because he and his family were forced to live a life that consisted of no sleep, food, or shelter. Even though they were not a wealthy family before the war had started, due to the war, everyone became beggars for food and survival. This kind of experience ultimately developed my interviewee's character. As one of the son of his family, he felt that even though he was young, he needed to strive and push himself to look for food for the sake of his sisters and mother. The Korean war resulted with a large number of deaths, casualties, homeless people, orphans, diseases, and sadly, no benefit at all. A more strict division line was the result, which permanently separated the brotherhood of the North and South.

3) Hypothesize or explain how you interviewee was able to stay out of danger.

My interview first stately that luckily there wasn't any one in his family died during the war. All of his sisters, mother, and even his brothers, who served in the war, came back with nothing but scratches and scars by the time the war ceased to an end. The main reason that my interviewee managed to survive and stay out of danger was because of luck along with location. As I mentioned before, my interviewee and his family lived in North Gyeongsang Province, Pohang, which is one of the most southern parts in South Korea. Therefore, for a majority of the war, there were very few USSR and North Korean soldiers that came and attack his village compared to the tremendous number in the fighting at Seoul. And during the relative short period of time that the North Korean soldiers were there, my interviewee and his family had heard news about how the North was coming and thus they fled for refuge into the mountains, hid in underground pits, and constantly moved around to inhabit a different area when night fell upon them. They had to strive to look for food, but still managed to survive due to their strong survival mind. My interviewee's family did their utterly best in order to find food. Now, luckily and miraculously, my interviewee didn't lose his life during the war, however, he had this life-long scar in his heart that painstakingly reminds him of the distinct images of life and death in the Korean war.

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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> -Analyze the historical significance of your interview, how has the interview added to your understanding of the war, and how you think it will help us better understand the Korean War in a 1.5 page essay.

Through this Korean war interview project, I was able to obtain an explicit, thorough perspective of the Korean war. It is rare to get a chance to talk with a person who has actually experienced a historical event and obtain information from a primary source, however, I was delighted that we were given that opportunity. I have to admit that the interview was successful and I learned many factors that I did not know just from reading excerpts from books. Thus, the historical significance of my interview is that I gained a direct explanation from a person who has actually been through the war, and fortunately, was able to survive the whole process to let the younger generation such as us, know about what truly happened. Textbooks and other secondary sources have a certain degree of biased thoughts and limits to them, however, through this interview, I was able to obtain reliable information from a valid source. It is notable that with the he publication of this interview, it will further spread the accurate news on the Korea War for even more future generations to come, making them aware of Korea's history. Through this interview, I had truly obtained more in-depth details about the lives of civilians and what exactly they were put through during that time period. I never even knew that there were people who worked undercover for a secret organization to obtain information about the North and then then informed this to the South Korean government and leader. I also knew a large number of people had been killed during the war, however after hearing the details of some particular situations that innocent civilians were under, I was indeed surprised and shocked. At the time that the war took place, my interviewee was merely sixteen years old, just the same age as I am today. Although, nearly sixty years have passed since the war, my interviewee seemed to recall every single detail about his childhood and what exactly happened. This made me reflect upon how deeply traumatizing wars are and how the memories of war cannot be easily erased, even after sixty years. The war must have played a significant and developing role for my grandfather, seeing that he can still remember every little detail about it without a moment of hesitation. The impact of the war was that big to him. I believe that no matter what the source, there always seems to be a sense of prejudice existing in that source. This goes for all books, textbooks, and newspaper articles. It is difficult to come across a well-founded and valid source in which one can easily attain information from. However, this interview project gave more information about the life of innocent civilians and just how much they were put through during the war. It actually include new facts about the war and makes it a reliable source hearing it form a close relative. I was able to obtain a new sense of reality towards the Korea war and just how frightening it was. Through this interview, I also want to spread the news about the Korean war and emphasize how war should never take place, no matter how trivial or serious the matter may be. Those who suffer from the war are the civilians and war will always be a word that forever scars their heart and mind throughout their lives. No one benefits form war in the end, and nothing is worth fighting for if it means the loss of innocent lives.