KWI+YR

Korean War Interview =Original Podcast=

media type="file" key="_Korean War Interview Original.mp3" = =

=Summary Podcast ( Translation)= media type="file" key="Korean War Interveiw Summary.mp3"

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=Interview Questions=

//**Can you tell us your name, age, job and family background?**// My name is Sung-kyu, Reem. I was born in 1923, October 10th. I worked as a head of newspaper publisher company. I have wife, one daughter, and three sons.

//**When the Korean War occurred, how did you know there was a war going on?**// That day was Sunday and I was on my way to Dukso to visit my family. On my way to Dukso, I stopped by at the store in Chung-liang li to buy a newspaper. On the newspaper, the news of Korean War was announced, so I went back to my home right away. It was one year after our marriage. I read about the news around 11’o clock that day.

//**What was your job back then? How old were you?**// I was working as a middle school teacher. I was 28 years old.

It was so chaotic so I couldn’t think of what was going on. I thought our country would loose political right. However, we hoped that time because it was hard to carry on due to poverty. Around Shinsul-dong, there’s a big field of cabbage harvest, and women sat around there saying, “there should be a war, there should be a war ...there’s no rice to eat anymore..” People already noticed that there would be a war soon. Right after the Korean War started, people actually were happy because we thought new government would fix the poverty. People’s lives were poor. When I lived around shinsul-dong, everyone used to collect the cabbage leafs because they didn’t have anything to eat. There is a famous quote. People started to complain about their poverty due to lack of rice, and the president Seungman, Lee said “ Why does Korean only eat rice? Why don’t they eat meat!” It was a big tease and issue. The president didn’t know much about what was going on in the country.
 * //So, when you first heard of the news, how did you feel?//**

I went to military. After I escaped, I went to Daegu and went to military. We were living in Shinsul-dong, and everyone after they heard about the news tried to cross the river. There were only bridge back then. We didn’t have a car nor any transportation when we were trying to cross the Han River bridge. Then the bridge started to break, so we couldn’t cross the river. Because of that, we all went to our close relative’s house. After sleeping one night at his house, we crossed the Dukksum Bridge. After that, we went way down to Yangju. Let me talk more about that. When we went to Dukksum, there were so many people there so it was almost impossible to go across the river. We gave the worker money to take us across the river by the boat. On the bridge, some of the soldiers took off their clothes and ran away. My wife was pregnant that time. Because she couldn’t walk anymore, we stopped by at our neighbor’s house around there for three days. When we woke up in the morning, the North Korean soldiers were already at our place. They asked me to show them my hand. My hand was clean and soft, so they tried to shoot at me. They asked what my job is, so I answered that I’m a teacher. They were so unintelligent that they didn’t even know what a teacher is. The general came to me, and I told what I do, so he let me go. Because my palm was soft different from the farmers, the soldiers thought that I was some kind of spy or government worker, so they tried to kill me. I was almost killed.
 * //Did you escape to anywhere after the war occurred?//**

//**So did you go down to Daegu?**// No, I didn’t. I went down to Dukso. We went back to Seoul, but the government sent us out so we had to go to Daegu. My wife escaped to Suwon before I escaped to Daegu. The North Korean army took over the Seoul and the US army landed on Incheon. I signed up for military at Daegu. I didn’t have anywhere to go so I didn’t have a choice. The 9.28 North Korean army took complete control. Lee Seungman took control of the government. That’s 1.4 recession. I rode train for transportation I walked to Daegu. I couldn’t go across the Yeoju River because there was no boat so I had to swim across the river in the cold winter day. The water came up to my neck.

//**What did the Government do to citizens for military?**// They collected all the men and sent them to military in a month.

//**Then when did you come back to home?**// I took me 2 years to come back from the military. My wife escaped to Daegu but we couldn’t see each other. We didn’t know. Then I went more to the East Coast.

//**Where did you sleep?**// We slept anywhere on the roads. One mom was dead and the child was next to her crying. No body could help. Another time, the mom had three children with her. She couldn’t take all her children, so she left her youngest baby there on the streets. Near Suwon Station, there was a dead body of a child, laying there. I saw several dead corpse at Chungliang- li.

//**What did North Koreans do to people?**// All the communist supporters or North Korean Army caused harm to non-communists. Some people from the jail came out also.

//**How did you overcome the food shortage?**// The government promised us that they will give out foods and supplies, but they didn’t. Many people either starved to death or go to neighbors for food. By the way, when the president Noh tried to destroy the statue of MacArther, I thought he was crazy. Without him, we would’ve already been controlled by the communists. We went through Yeoju and Munkyung Seje, and there were a lot of people who starved to death.

//**Did anyone get hurt during the War?**// My sister. She got killed by the bomb that North Korean Soldiers placed it in the Rice pot during the War. She was cooking and the bomb exploded. She was so happy to see her family reunited safely, but she died right after that. It’s a tragic... However, we don’t have any more sacrifices. The North Korean and South Korean Army each took one of my cousin’s two sons. My mother and sister was sitting together in front of the kitchen and my mother went out to get something. Mean while, the bomb exploded.

//**What is the most memorable event that happened during the war?**// I remember having harsh time at the army the most. I got beaten up a lot. My level was a military officer because I was a teacher. I was 28 years old. I had such a harsh time. Also, there were uneducated officers who couldn’t even learn the military law book.

//**Who do you think is the real winner? What do you think about reunification?**// No body won in this war, it’s the whole nation. Also, the reunification should happen. Even if it is a little uncomfortable, if reunification happens, then Korea would be a strong nation.

=Analysis Questions=

//**1) How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians?**// What I have learned about the experience of the civilians during the Korean War was that they had to either escape to South or North to settle down and they had to take a huge risk of losing their life by either side of the army. My Grandfather, just because he was more educated and worked as a school teacher, the North Korean soldier almost killed him. The older general saved his like because he knew that my grandfather was just a school teacher. He had to show his palms to show them whether it is worker's hands or not. Also, my grandfather had to go to the army. He didn't have assurance that staying outside of the army and evacuation would help him, so he decided to volunteer for the South Korea Army. It is similar to people I read in the book about the Korea war, who chose to work for the nation than just escaping. My grandmother told me that she saw a young women with three children had to leave her youngest baby on the streets because she didn't have ability to carry all of her children in such chaos and uncontrolled situation. That story reminded me with the part where Hongyong leaves Agi from the book //Still Life With Rice.// Many parts such as where my grandfather didn't have any food to eat, where he had to swim across the river and where people died on the streets due to poverty fits with what I have learned about the experience of civilians.

//**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?**// One of the major event of the war that affected my grandfather and grandmother's life was when the North occupied Seoul and pushed the South Koreans down to the Southern area. Because of that occupation, my grandfather almost died. He was sleeping in his close neighbor's house because my grandmother couldn't move anymore due to her pregnancy, and the North Korean soldiers came in to his place in the morning. The soldiers dragged him out of the house and demanded to show his hands and palms to see whether he was a normal worker and farmer. Because he wasn't a farmer but he was a school teacher, his palms were cleaner and softer than other people. The soldier asked what does my grandfather do, so he answered that he teaches at school but the uneducated soldiers didn't know what teacher was so he tried to pull a trigger on my grandfather's neck. However, the high positioned- general came and saved his life even though he suspected a little. The major events affected my grandfather to become a part of army to fight with North Korea and my grandmother couldn't give birth to her baby because the war led to an unwanted abortion.

//**3) Hypothesize or explain how you interviewee was able to stay out of danger.**// I believe the reason why my interviewee, grandfather and grandmother was able to stay out of the danger during the Korean War because they were at different position then most of the other people. Since my grandfather was a school teacher, when he went to the military service, the general gave him the high position because he thought that my grand father would be useful with his education and knowledge. Also, my grandmother could survive because she knew a lot of neighbors around the places she escaped to. She could rely on the people she knew before when she was desperate about food and security. Also, she moved in a group with people who she was reliant on whether than moving and escaping by herself, so it was more safe and secure.   

=Release Form ( signed one turned- in)= Release Form

In terms of sharing and publishing the historical value of this oral history interview, SungKyu- Reem I allow voluntarily permit and allow Yoonji Reem, Korea International School the full use of this information for helpful educational purposes.

Signature ( SungKyu- Reem )

Date ( 5/13/09 )

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=Essay=

Yoonji Reem Asian Studies 10B 5/14/09 Korean War Interview: Essay

To be completely honest, before I have done interviewing my grandparents about the Korean War, I did not have enough interest in Korea War, about what happened and why it happened. However, listening to what my grandparents actually experienced during the war and what they had to go trough made me realize the importance of knowing what happened in my own nation. The interview I did with my grandparents not only have historical significance but it has more importantly, it includes the thoughts and impression of the war of the participants who survived throughout the war. Because the events that happened during the war affected their lives heavily, they could tell me information that I can not get out by just reading the text book. Listening about the war through the primary source not only helped me to understand about the history more efficiently, but it made the relationship between me and my grandparents more close and bonding. There is a historical significance of this interview because my grandfather told me a lot of happenings and events that were caused by the North Koreans. I learned that the situations and attitude towards captured people or civilians differ by their jobs and positions in the society. My grandfather, because he was not a farmer, had a different situation from most of the other people that time. When he went to the military to work as a soldier, the general gave him position as a administrative officer so he can apply his knowledge and education to contribute South Korea. He told me that he got beaten up because he was only 28 years old and had a higher position then other soldiers at the same base. Also, the angry farmers who got involuntarily captured to serve as a soldiers created a chaos. One of the stories that I could relate to what I learned about the Korean war is that there were a lot of people who had to sacrifice their families during the war. My grandfather’s sister, right when she was so happy to see her family miraculously after the war has ended, died because of the bomb that North Korean army hid it under the cooking pot. It was hard to hear how he lost his family, even after the war, because of the unfortunate environment that soldiers set. On the contrary, different from how my grandfather only lost her sister during the Korean War, my grandmother told me that her side of family was completely harmed and suffered because of the North Koreans. My grandma’s uncle was a owner of a big portion of the land he was living in. Just because of the reason that her uncle’s family had a land and had a bit of more money than others, the North Korean soldiers tied her uncle and his family up high on the tree and started to pull a trigger. Just because of the reason he was owning a land, his whole family got killed. I learned how insecure and unsafe living in a dangerous place where the North koreans were everywhere trying to hunt down the people is much more harder than what I have imagined before. Before I have done this interview, I only read about the Korean War from the textbooks so i didn’t have enough knowledge about the war. However, getting to know what my grandparents actually think helped me to understand what the war really was about and how it turned out to be. Hearing my grandmother explain how she got helped from the neighbors around her even though everyone was desperate about keeping themselves safe and sheltered made me have a new perspectives towards the minds of people during the Korea War. Before she told me that she could stay at her close neighbor’s house because she was pregnant and could not walk anymore, I thought everyone during the war was more like a thieves as it was described in the book Still Life with Rice. However, I knew that not everyone during that time was kind enough to look after others, not just hurrying themselves to survive. Looking how people helped each other during the desperate and tensed situation impressed me and made me to have new perspectives towards the attitude during the Korean War. Since the interviews that we produced is actually recorded from the people who lived and experienced the Korean War, the information was more direct and accurate. Also, through the primary sources, it helps us to know the feelings of the people who had to live during the war age. When textbook only teaches us with the broad information or the details that are only related to the government of the world, this podcasts includes the every little details and events that affected the citizens during the Korean War. In addition, before I got a chance to hear about what other classmates’ grandparents or interviewees said about what happened during the Korean War, I had a fixed perception towards the North Koreans. However, after hearing about the people who was living in the North before the war, people who had to serve in military and the ones who had to sacrifice either themselves or families just like what people in South Korea had to do, I realized that they are not necessarily the bad enemies. I got to learn how to perceive the information with different aspects and sets of perspectives. Thus, this podcast will be helpful for students to learn about the Korean War without having any biased thoughts. In conclusion, I learned three things from this Korean War Interview project. First, I learned how people who actually lived in the age of Korean War lived their lives and that it relates to the information that I learned about it in the school. Second, I learned that North Koreans are not necessarily the bad ones and both sides, South and North, had to go through the same, painful, process. Last but not least, I learned how to perceive an information without having any biased thoughts thanks to the primary source from interviewees and their honest emotions about the Korean War. This project was helpful to me in many ways and it is an efficient work for students to better understand the Korea War and our country.