Everything was the same, yet different. The sky
still had the gentle blue hue, but with a dark, sinister tone. Neighbors talked
to each other and laughed at jokes, but a heavy atmosphere lingered. Daily
chores and playtime still remained the same, but the presence of pure, innocent,
childhood joy was missing. World War II didn’t seem to affect us much
physically but something was different.
Rumors were bloomed
everyday. Another torture, a violent protest, progress of war, who died, who
survived, who got drafted to serve the Japanese for life. Local gossip spread
the news faster than the newspapers could. The Hwang-sung newspaper was used
only as a confirming tool. Most of the time it was useless, however, the
Japanese made sure that nothing that decreases its image was printed. Written in
the beautiful language of Han-mun, tragic news flowed from the papers.
I heard much evil news
from the mouth of my neighbors and friends. Although, our neighborhood was
mostly unaffected by the Japanese invaders, we weren’t totally ignorant of the
problems in other parts of Korea.
My family was lucky, very
lucky; none of my brothers were drafted because they were considered too young.
We never encountered any trouble with the few Japanese soldiers passing by our
village. Although sometimes being looked down upon like dogs and being forced to
travel with an adult for safety, we were fine. We were more frightened of the
blue-eyed devils than we were of the Japanese. Little did we know that these
missionaries wouldn’t harm anyone and that the Japanese were the one’s
harming us.
If I had known I would
not have been afraid of them and feel sorrow when one of them had their head
hacked off. Fortunately, I didn’t have to witness these bloody executions.
None of them found their way into our village. I was a Buddhist and went to the
temple frequently. We bowed to Buddha and did not think about Christianity.
Fortunately I am now a Christian and get allow very well with Americans although
I do not speak their language.
The sufferings of our
fellow countrymen were terrible. People in prison were said to have red pepper
stuffed down their noses, had fingers singed from fire and were slit with
knives. Then having made them suffer, the Japanese killed them without a trail.
News like these was common. Everyday, someone died, someone’s relative or
friend. My family was lucky once again, all my friends and relatives survived.
The war was hard on us
economically. The prices went up and business owners had to pay tremendous taxes
to the Japanese government, such as business tax and property tax. Silk was
harder to acquire than ever but luckily wood and straw were still cheap and easy
to buy. The government taxed common people as well. Although there were many
taxes to pay, not many people lost their jobs because almost everyone was in
agricultural farming.
Life for women like me
was simple and we did not have many rights. We worked at home or helped with the
farming most of the time. We did not have the right to vote because the Japanese
emperor, who only chose people with good background, chose the authorities. If
women were not able to give birth to a son, they were kicked out from the
family. Women lived like this.
There were many protests
in other parts of the country against the Japanese government. Men and women
protested and cheered for Korea. Although, I was too afraid to participate in
any of the protests, I heard of many terrible events occurred at the protests.
The Japanese brought them down all the time. They shot the protestors,
imprisoned them and arrested them. They could not defend themselves because we
did not have weapons and threw stones and waved the Korean flag, Tae Gook Ki.
I remember hearing about
the great protest on March 2nd. When about 20,000 courageous people
gathered led by the great Miss Yoo Kwan Soo. They shouted and waved Tae Gook Ki.
Almost all of them were killed by the Japanese soldiers. Miss Yoo Kwan Soo was
one of the fallen and she was only sixteen years old. Every woman looked to her
as their idol and respected her. She is a pride for all women.
I used to attend school
every day. When the war occurred I was not able to go to school because they
closed down the school. It was too dangerous and it was a good time missing
school. During the few years of the Japanese invasion, school was bad. The
teachers taught the usual math and sports but instead of
Korean we learned Japanese. The teachers made sure we learned only
Japanese and, if someone was caught talking in Korean, they were beaten.
That’s why I loved recess much. The Japanese wanted to get rid of our Korean
culture, but they failed!
Life during the war was
bad although there was no big impact in my life. The pressure of strict laws and
taxes of the Japanese were bad. Also, everyone lived with a fear of the Japanese
in their lives. Life after the war was bad too. The soldiers came back from the
war, a man, but with a dark experience. Many did not make it though and some
were some were not allowed to
return to Korea. Women were taken as sex slaves for the Japanese. Many of them
returned with mental illness and like the soldiers some were also forbidden to
return to their homes. It was a miserable time, living in a country with barely
any rights and much distrust and fear. Korea was a conquered country of misery.
Interviewed by Sonya Choi