JNP+KWI

=Podcast: I put some clips and pictures.= media type="custom" key="3810609" //This podcast is the translated podcast. And it is in perspective of my grandmother. I interviewed my grandmother through phone, she is currently living in America.//

Citation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up4ZXC5lEnA http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Korean_War_HA-SN-98-07010.jpg http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/23/77723-004-3390B523.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Korean_War_bombing_Wonsan.jpg http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2002/06/09/csp_korea-soldier.jpg http://wigwags.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/korean_war_ha-sn-98-07085.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3165/2919551783_c183188a1f.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3033/2919564167_b17f8192d8.jpg

=**Script** = Who are you? My name is Hee Ja Kim and I was born in 1939; now I am 70 years old. I have three children, two daughters and a son. Jungna’s mother is my eldest daughter.

1. Who were you during Korean War? I was 11 years old when the war broke. My parents had 5 children and I was the third child.

2. Where were you when the War started? On the day the war started, I was in Seoul. I was at home because it was Sunday morning.

3. How was the relationship between North and South before the war? In my opinion, we were not hostile to each other although politically we were different. We still carried out trades with each other (and this was probably why North Koreans were able to surprise-attack South Korea)

4. Where did you go, did you have to leave your home? At the beginning of the war, we stayed at home. By the time we tried to flee to the south, we weren’t able to cross the Han River because the South Korean troops cut off the only bridge at the time to delay the North Korean troops to head south. We hid in the mountain for awhile when general MacArthur and the U.S. troops joined the war and counter attacked North Korean troops. My family was able to escape to Busan. We stayed there until the end of the war.

5. Tell me about your experience during Korean War. We used to live in Gwangwha-Mun Area. My family and I came out of the house to escape Seoul, then we saw North Korea flag hanging in front of the Joong-Ang Chung (the City Hall) with shock, and we heard the only bridge at Han’s River was taken down by South Korean Troops. North is our hometown. We used to live there before my generation. We fled from North Korea into Seoul after the 38th parallel line was formed. My mother (Jungna’s great grandmother) was brave enough to escape north by taking one or two children at a time at night and dawn. She traveled on foot. She did travel back and forth for a few times for the whole family. My father would have been great danger if he got caught so he could not join my mother’s journey. I was the last one in the family to follow my mother to escape from the North on foot. I was six years old them. I climbed many mountains as I recall. After we saw the red flag, we quickly hid in the cave at the mountain. Since we were from the North, we were the first target to be killed, especially my father and older brother was in great danger to be either get drafted or get killed. At the time, North Korean thought we betrayed them by leaving the country. A few days later after hiding, my father wanted to check on the house and went down to the city. He got caught by North Korean Troops and almost got killed. Luckily, he got a permission to go to the bathroom and somehow he escaped from there. After U.S. troops came into Seoul, we came down to the city. It was a horrifying sight. I saw so many bodies laying down the street and so many houses ruined. I heard so many who have fled from North Korea to South Korea were killed when the bridge was cut off and many people in Seoul died when the U.S. fighter planes bombed the city. Too many people were killed by communists. Luckily, our house was safe, but my parents decided to flee toward south. We took the truck and went to Daegu and then to Busan.

6. How did the experience during Korean War affect your life? Luckily, all my family survived from the war. But, my husband’s (Jungna’s Grandfather) family was still in North Korea. His longing to see his family and his hometown became stronger as time passed by. He passed away 20 years ago.

7. What do you think about the way the war ended? It’s sad that we are divided and not able to communicate. This is evident especially when I think about my hunsband’s case. It was really sad to see him longing for his family and I can’t do anything about it.

8. Who do you think won the Korean War? Why or why not? No one won the Korean War because families are still separated and they long to see each other.

9. What is your opinion on the communist and non-communist during the war. I was too young to care about political ideologies.

10. Do you think you were the victim of Korean War? Yes I do think we are the victims of the Korean War. So many people were killed. So many people like my husband were separated from their family. It is a tragedy to have a civil war.

11. Why do you think there was such a catastrophe? Korea was a small, weak country, colonized by Japan for 35 years. Korea found the independence for 5 years before the war. We did not have enough time to form a strong government. Instead, Korea was divided into communism and non-communism, influenced by super powers such as China, Russia and the United States. The super powers played a big role shaping up Korea before the war. Korea was too weak to stop the catastrophe.

12. If you were able to go back to the past, would you have done something differently to for example save your family? I would have done the same thing as my mother did. My mother was a brave woman.

13. Do you think North and South Korea could ever reunify? Why or Why not? I feel that eventually two Koreas will reunite. North Korea’s economy, I feel, will collapse and they will have no way to save themselves.

=Analysis Questions =

1) How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians? The interviewee's testimony fitted in with what I have learned about the experience of civilians. According to the lesson I have learned in school, many civilians suffered during the war. Many north and south civilians were captured as a criminal of the war even though it was not true. And as my grandmother have stated, there were many dead bodies on the street, which was also learned in the lesson. It is easy to believe after what had happen to my great-grandfather, that many people were captured during their flee to south Korea. It was easier to believe what had happen during Korea War, which was really cruel and unforgiving.

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 affected their life greatly afterward. Even though my grandmother luckily survived with her family, my grandfather was not able to see his family again after the war. He had to greatly suffer after the war, even though I have never met my grandfather who has passed away 2 years before I was born, I still can feel his loneliness through the pictures. And also even though I did not mention in my pod cast, my father side grandfather actually fought in the war as a solider. He has passed away now but he told me he still had the splinters of shells in his both legs, and also in his head. He was only seventeen when he had to fight for the country.

3) Hypothesize or explain how you interviewee was able to stay out of danger. My grandmother and grandfather were able to stay out of danger because of their family sacrifices. If my great grandmother had not crossed the north to the south for several times to rescue her little children, my grandmother would not be living right now. And my grandfather was luckily in Seoul to study at the time war broke; he was in less danger than people who had to climb the mountains to come to South.

=Essay = Korean War Interview My Korean War interview was done through a phone due to my grandmother’s resident in America. She has been living in American for thirty-four years. I have often visited her during summer vacation, where I most of the time learned about Korean War through her stories. Her stories helped me to understand what it was like to be in the war. Often times the stories just went in my one ear and right out the other, but this interview helped me to attentively listen to what she was saying. This interview added the knowledge of war to my understanding of the war, and also it helped me to better understand the war. My grandmother stories were often portrayed as a fairy-tale story to me when I was younger. But as I am taking the class Asian studies, what she has been saying to me was all true. Through the interview I have learned that not all captured people were dead, but able to survive like my great-grandfather. It was interesting that my great-grandfather was able to survive through the excuse of going to a bathroom, and I felt thankful that his trick did work at the time. Not only this, but also it was evident that many have cross north to south in order to survive like my grandmother’s family. Her several journey back and forth to north and south was heroic, I felt very proud of my great-grandmother who I have never met before. Even though it was heartbreaking to listen to these tragedies, this interview was helpful and educational. The stories of my grandmother were added on to my lack of knowledge of Korean War. Through textbooks and resources, I have only learned the facts about Korean War; I did not know the true and side stories of Korean War. Through textbooks it was easy to understand the facts like “how many people died” and “How much were the economic losses?” But through this interview I have learned through my heart that this catastrophe was something that has cost the lives of my families and my relatives. It was easier to perceive about the war, feel, and connect myself with the war. In conclusion, this interview has helped me to morally understand the war. I am a Korean with the lack of knowledge about Korea. This experience has helped me in many ways to consume the knowledge of the war, and acknowledge the death of many people who had fought for our country. The facts of the wars are important, it should be sincerely carried in to the textbooks so many people could understand the truth of the war. I want to suggest to many people who does not yet know about the Korean War that “what if I was in the war?” This question has helped me to sincerely thank to my survival of my families who were just my age at the time of the war.

=Release Form=