Korean+War+Interview+Project+Daniel+Lee+A+Block

=Daniel Lee's = =Korean War Interview Project =

Interview Questions
1. How was your life before the Korean War? Where did you live?

2. How did you know about the war? (Did you hear it other people? Did you see the battle scenes?)

3. How old were you during the Korean War?

4. How did you feel when you heard about the war?

5. How did the Korean War affect your life?

6. Did you fight in any of the battles? If yes, how was it?

7. What happened to your parents and other relatives?

8. Have you seen any of the battles? If yes, how was it?

9. Did you travel around Korea for survival? If yes, where did you travel around? How did you travel around? How was your journey?

10. During the war, have you encountered any of the North Koreans? If yes, how was it?

11. What do you remember about the relationship between the South and the North?

12. What was some of the biggest problems for your family during the war?

13. How did you overcome the problems?

14. Did the government tell you anything about the war? If yes, what did the government tell you? Was it true?

15. Tell me about the most ‘impressive’ scenes you remember.

Interview (video)
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Summary (podcast)
media type="file" key="AsianKoreanWarSummary.mp3"

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

My grandfather's testimony supports most of the facts that I have learned. He said that the North Koreans suddenly attacked the South, and that the South Koreans weren't ready. This caused the South Koreans to lose during the beginning of the war. He also told me that the North Korea government and the South Korea government had a bad relationship, which also supports the reading during class. However, unlike Honyong's sad story we read about during class, my grandfather had a peaceful time despite the war that was going on. He said he barely had any hardships during the war, which surprised me. I could not get a good support for the hardships that the civilians had the go through.

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 major events of the war did not really affect my grandfather's life at that time. It might have affected his life a lot if my grandfather actually went to North Korea with his friend. But because my grandfather lived a peaceful life at his town, none of the major events affected his life in an important way. When he joined the army as a judicial officer, South Korea was winning, and he was able to return to Seoul. This affected his life in a small way by allowing him to live at his house again.

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

My grandfather was really lucky. When the war broke out, he was luckily at a small town because of his job. If he was still in Seoul, I am sure he would have had to walk a long way to Daejon and other cities in order to survive. But because my grandfather was extremely lucky, he had no problems surviving. He had enough food, and none of the North Koreans were acting in a cruel way. I believe my grandfather was able to stay out of danger totally because he was lucky.

Essay
Korean War Interview Essay

Among several wars that occurred in history, the Korean War is one of the most recent wars that have occurred. There are many people alive who were a part of the war, and still remember about the war. My grandfather also lived during the wartime, and had a clear memory of the war. This interview is important because it is from someone who actually experienced the war. It can be called as a ‘primary source’ about the Korean War. My grandfather was 25 years old at that time. He had a unique wartime experience, and it was really interesting to listen to his story. Because my grandfather met a lot of North Koreans during the wartime, my perspective towards the North changed slightly while listening to his episodes. This interview gave me new information about the North Koreans. From most of the reading I got in the class time, the North Koreans sounded like barbaric human beings, and killed a lot of civilians. However, according to my grandfather, the North Koreans barely did any harm to the citizens. My grandfather told me that the North Koreans he met were really nice, and he never saw any North Koreans killing normal civilians. He said it was because the North Koreans were trying to gain popularity from the citizens. Adding on, he also told me that the North Koreans never forced people to join their army. He actually met some of the North Korean soldiers. All they asked was ‘Who are you working for?’ which was basically a question asking which ‘For which government system do you work for?’ My grandfather told the soldiers that he was a normal citizen who was living in this town. The North Korean soldiers did not tell him to join the army. They just said okay, and left toward Busan. My grandfather’s story taught me that not all of the North Korean armies were mean and brutal. He said that he think it depended on the cities. The place where he lived was treated really nicely. He heard that some other places were treated in a cruel way. Even though there were some difference between my grandfather’s story and the reading during class, most of the information was similar. My grandfather believed that the North Koreans planned the war and was prepared well for the war, and that the South Koreans were surprised when they actually got attacked. He specifically said that the attack from North Korea “shattered the faith” that the South Koreans had. This interview confirmed most of my readings. I believe that this interview video can help us understand the Korean War better by supporting most of what we read, and giving us a better, a more accurate idea of what happened. It was really interesting to figure out that the North Koreans were not as mean as I read. In the other hand, it was sad to listen to the fact that the North Koreans suddenly attacked the South, and broke the belief that the South had on them. My interview is probably one of the most accurate primary sources, because my grandfather was old enough to remember everything that happened. Accurate information he gave out will definitely contribute to our knowledge of the Korean War.