A Life during the Korean War

My aunt, Chang Duk Han lives at home peacefully being visited by her daughters, sons, daughter-in-laws, son-in-law and her favorite grandchildren. Although she may have retired from work, her daughters and sons send her away on vacations to Korea, Alaska, Canada, etc. so that she could enjoy the rest of her life. As she sits at home, relaxing, she goes back to the age that she was during the Korean War and tells me her life during the Korean War with careful detail.

Wow. The Korean War was more than 50 years ago and when the war started I was about 13 years old. I was in elementary school in the 6^th grade Oh wait, I was going to be in the 7^th grade and entering junior high. When the war started, it was during the summer time so I was between those two grades.

When I heard about the war, I was very frightened and scared. My oldest sister, Hwang Aeh Han who lived in Choong Chang Nam Doe walked about 150 miles to get to Han San, where I lived, carrying a baby and being pregnant. Imagine how hard that must have been for her and her baby. But the weird thing is, is that all my relatives from different places, all escaped to my house. My house was very packed and full. The reason why all my relatives came to my house was because that my family and I lived in a small town, it was much appealing to the North Korean Army. They were only interested in the smart and wealthy people and taking over their houses and killing them. (Thinking) If I think about it now, the North Korean Army never really came to my house or even checked it. My father was a very bold man. He was a very kind and friendly man and was respected by everyone in town. I think that is why people were so respectful to him. (Slight laugh) Even though he wasn’t the richest man, he was very smart in life. My older brother, who was about sixteen at that time, was supposed to be sent to join the army. But my father wouldn’t budge and would not send my brother off to the army. The funny thing is, is that we never got caught for that. Thanks to the neighbors and keeping quiet, we were never revealed. (A little laugh)

The war had brought many hardship and difficulties to our family and others. Since everyone was bunched up in my house and a lot of people living under one roof, it was hard to feed everyone. We barely had enough food and money to buy things because the North Korean Army had taken that away. They took away all the ownership of shops and businesses. Before the war started, I lived pleasantly because my dad was the owner of a tailor shop for men. He was very famous in the town for making men’s clothing. I think that was why he got so much respect. After the war, life became difficult and hard. Like I had mentioned before, we barely had food to eat and money to buy food. Since I lived in a small town, it was much safer than the other big cities. I guess living in a small town saved our lives.

I was very scared when I heard that the North Korean Army had invaded South Korea. It was the most frightening news I had ever heard. Since people were so scared, everyone went crazy and worried what might happen to their families. Even if they wanted to go outside, it was impossible. People were too scared and thought that if they went outside, they would be captured by the soldiers and/or killed. (Frowning) There was really nothing we could do but only to hope that the war would end soon. I lived near my school and there was a playground and even going there was very dangerous, especially since I was a young girl. Young girls were the toys of the soldiers and were played around with.

During the night, the North Korean soldiers would come and take young girls and make them sing and abuse them any way they wanted too. Basically, the girls were their toys. To the adults, they didn’t pay much attention and would kill them off, right there and then. Another thing they did was they would take young boys and girl’s and would teach them the North Korea national anthem and also their ways and methods of doing things so it was fresh into their brains.

When the North Korean soldiers killed the people, you could actually hear them cry for help and the gun shots. They took people into furnace rooms and burned them alive. You could actually hear the people’s stomach burst open and bodies being blown up. (Making a disgusting look) That wasn’t a pleasant sound. Also…you could hear the guns being shot. (Thinking) What they actually did was, dig up holes and put people in there and just shoot them. Just from the shooting and burning them alive, you could smell the scent of decaying. What an unpleasant smell! Sometimes you would wake up to that smell.

[A story my aunt told me]

When they captured people, they would tie them altogether. (Showing me a drawing) Of course everyone wanted to escape. One day, while they were all tied up, they decided to escape by making one man run away while the others ran away at the same time. The whole point was to get all the soldiers get focused on that one man that was trying to run away. While that man ran away, everyone else ran different ways. If one man ran…the soldiers would concentrate on that man and not the others. Of course not all them escaped…some were caught again. Well…one of my father’s friend escaped…it was very easy to recognize them because of their long beard and not being able to shave for weeks. Since it was the time of fall…the grass grew very high. He hid there until night because there it would be difficult to find…after staying there for awhile…he made his way to a woman’s house…not even knowing who she was. At that time, prisoners didn’t care where they went, as long it wasn’t the camp. She was cooking in the kitchen when he came through the door. He said to her…"HELP ME"…and so she did. She hid him under a bunch of branches and leaves…that was a place where they heated up the pots and kettles…after hiding him…she went back to her work…the soldiers came to her house and said…"a man came through here"…she said, "yes, a man did come through here but he went out that way"…she was referring to the back door. The soldiers didn’t even think of the branches. Back then they didn’t have apartments like these. After staying there the whole night and day…he came to my house…and again no one said a word but this time the neighbors had no clue. The very next day, Korea was free. The crazy thing is that while the North Korean Army was fleeing, they were shooting and killing the people while they were leaving.