The Chang Baek Mountain Range is an ideal place for guerrilla warfare. The mountains were covered with thick growths of ancient trees. There is a large crater lake Chungji at the summit of Mt. Baikdoo with abundant fish and water fowl. The Yalu River flows west to the Yellow Sea and the Tuman River flows east to the East Sea (Sea of Japan). Both rivers are filled with salmon in season. The southern half of the mountain is in Korea and the other half in Manchuria. There were a number of small villages on the slope of the mountains - very remote, inaccessful, isolated from the rest of the world. Kim Ilsung's Army operates out of the bases here and northeast Manchuria.
Map Kim Il Sung partisan bases
On Jan. 30, 1935, the United Army split into Chinese and Korean factions after an incident in which several Koreans were falsely accused of being Minsaendan and killed or expelled by the Chinese. Chun Chin, commander of the 2nd Army, managed to go into hiding. His deputy Yi Sang Muk went over to the Japanese side and disclosed all he knew about the United Army. Wang Detai, a Chinese, took over the 2nd Army and continued anti-Korean witch hunt, causing a mass defection of the Koreans to the Japanese side. The Korean partisans were forced to either fight the Japanese or the Chinese - many chose to side with the Japanese.
A delegation of Korean partisans led by another senior commander Song Il tried to smooth over the Korean-Chinese friction but Song Il himself was falsely accused of being a Minsaendang and executed by the Chinese. From this time on, the Korean partisans operated as independent units more or less hostile to their former Chinese comrades. Years later in 1994, Kim Il Sung would tell Pres. Jimmy Carter that this was the lowest point in his movement.
On Feb. 12, 1935, the Yilan branch of the Japanese police arrested Chu Chin. Chu Chin was born in 1878 and fled to Manchuria when Japan annexed Korea in 1910. He was with the Korean Righteous Army and later with the Korean Independence Army prior to forming his own army, which was later designated as the 2nd Army of the Anti-Japanese United Army in May 1934. His arrest was a major victory for the Japanese.
Many Koreans flocked to the 2nd Army because of its Korean commander and at its peak, the army had more than 1,000 men organized into three divisions - 4th under Choe Hyon, 5th under a Chinese (Fang Zhensheng) and 6th under Kim Il Sung.
Photo: the Yilan branch police display the trophy earned for capturing Chu Chin
On May 12, 1935, Yi Hong Gwang, another Korean guerrilla leader, was killed. Her specialty was assassination of Korean traitors. Her death gave rise to expanded activities by Korean traitors. Later during the civil war in China, the Korean Volunteer Army was called the 'Yi Hong Gwang Unit' in her honor.
Kim Il Sung's guerrillas commingled with the villagers, always looking for new recruits and financial supports. Many guerrillas were from Kapsan and had relatives who would hide them from the Japanese police. Small groups of people would gather to listen to the guerrillas. They talked the peasants' language and understood the peasants' problems - hopeless poverty, loan sharks, landlords, and Japanese informers. The guerrillas showed gruesome photos of cruel things the Japanese had done to us - Koreans getting their heads chopped off, Koreans getting quartered, Koreans being skinned alive, Korean elders being dragged by their hair, Korean women's belly cut open, etc.
The guerrillas wore ragged peasants' cloth; they acted and smelled like the peasants. They helped the peasants - planting and harvesting crops (millet, corns, rice, cabbage, etc.), collecting fire woods, digging ditches and even carrying honey buckets (human wastes) on their back (A-frames). The guerrillas let the village teenagers play with their pistols, rifles and grenades; they explained how the weapons worked, how they were used to kill the Japanese and the traitors. This was how they trained and recruited new guerrillas. The guerrillas entertained the youths with Kim Il Sung's combat stories - "I used the very pistol you are holding to kill five Japanese a month ago."
Guerrilla weapons came from sundry sources - some were home-made, some were taken from dead Japanese, some were bought from corrupt Chinese police, and some were gifts from Russia. Many partisans had a Russian connection and fled to Siberia in times of trouble. In fact, the Russians operated their own guerrilla units in Manchuria.
Having the weapons in our hands made us comfortable with the guerrillas - The weapons were to protect us and to kill the Japanese and Korean traitors. The cadres said that we should not be afraid of the guerrillas - they were not the red bandits the Japanese would have us believe. However, the truth of the matter is that most people were scared of the guerrillas and afraid to refuse their requests. If you didn't cooperate, you were branded a pro-Japanese traitor, but if you helped the guerrillas, the Japanese police would get you beheaded. The guerrillas did their best to look friendly and harmless, but we all knew what they were capable of.
The guerrillas had set up cells of about five persons each. A cadre controlled a cell. Village elders, Chinese herb doctors, students and teachers were recruited as "core cadres." The cadres received intense indoctrination on Communism and the history of Korea. Some cadres were taken to Kim Il Sung's base camps for advanced training. Some cadres were planted in Japanese organizations such as village councils, youth groups and other pro-Japanese organizations.
Oct. 25, 1935 - China: The Long March ended in north Shensi with 7,000 survivors out of 90,000 who started the march 368 days ago. The average age of the soldiers was 19 and that of the officers was 24. A Korean general, Mu Chong, was one of the survivors.
Undercover spy-masters watched over the cadres and the guerrillas - these people never revealed their true identity and only the guerrilla chiefs knew who they were. Cell members met weekly to receive orders and pass information to the leader. These meetings also involved discussions and political lessons. The meetings reinforced the common ties and the morale of the members. They would critique their failures and successes. Members of a cell had contact with his cell only; and they did not know about other cells. In this way, if a cell got busted, other cells would remain safe.
Jan. 10, 1936 - One of the spy masters was Park Tal, a relative of my Uncle Park. His organization was known as the Kapsan Operation Committee (Kapsan Kongjak Wiwonhoe). Park Tal was a close friend of my father. Park Kum Chol was another spy master. Park Tal was a founding member of the Korean Fatherland Restoration Association (Hanin Choguk Whang Bok Hoe) which was a front for the anti-Japanese guerrillas in Korea and Manchuria. Park Tal's Kapsan group participated in Kim Il Sung's raid on Pochonbo and other villages in Korea.
Park Tal worked closely with Chon Kwang (alias O Song Yun) who was in charge of the Association. Chon Kwang and Kim Wong Bong (alias Kim Ik Sang) tried to assassinate Gen. Tanaka Giichi in Shanghai on March 28, 1922. A few years later, Chon Kwang defected to the Japanese side. Park Tal was driven insane by Japanese police tortures but survived WW2. Park Tal was made a Hero of the Korean Revolution in North Korea.
Mass meetings were held usually for about 10 people, so that all attendees had the chance to participate in discussions. The cadres assessed each attendee's political motivations closely. Small groups attracted less attention and lessened the chance of discovery by Japanese informers. Cadres encouraged frank discussions of the problems faced by the attendees - for example, why he cannot join the guerrillas now or why he cannot contribute more money. The cadres tried to work things out. No body was forced to do anything against his will. On the other hand, the group pressure was intense - "every body except you is going to donate 10 lb. of rice." and so on.
Feb. 22, 1936 - Gen. Sapozhnikov helped Park In Chol's guerrillas who were forced to flee to Siberia. The Soviets encountered many pro-Japanese Koreans in Siberia disguised as partisans and therefore they routinely subjected all Koreans to lengthy interrogation. Park was cleared and given supplies and sent back to Manchuria - never to be heard from again.
Kapsan: The cadres picked "mass" meeting places with care. Mass meeting places were secluded sites away from the police and suspected informants; places where attendees could come and go without fear. Cadres showed attendees several escape routes in case of an unexpected police raid and a story to tell if they were caught. Young kids were positioned at several locations and looked out for suspicious characters. Attendees wore a special sign, which the lookout could easily verify from a distance. The attendees were instructed to look for certain signs placed along their paths and to turn back and return home in case of any doubt.
On Sept. 30, 1936, Ahn Pong Hak, commander of the 4th Division of the 2nd Army surrendered to the Japanese. He was executed a few days later.
Kapsan: The guerrillas talked about human rights, peasants' rights and helping people in trouble. Landlords and suspected police informants were given subtle warnings - if they harmed any peasants, the guerrillas would kill them and their family - these were not some idle threats; these guys really meant what they said. Some informants were actually guerrillas in disguise and turned in real informants as "red bandits" - let the Japanese kill their own slaves. Female guerrillas taught peasant women personal hygiene (why they ought wash themselves at least once a month), how to read, how to cook, how to save money, etc.; The women helped the cadres win the trust of their husbands and children. The guerrillas used the women and children for intelligence collection and courier services.
The guerrillas helped the peasants to fight the landlords, loan sharks, bullies and collaborators and at the same time, rectified many social ills - superstition, male tyranny over women, gambling, opium addiction, child labor, infanticide, illiteracy, expensive weddings and funerals, and so on. Peasants learned how to organize themselves, to help each other, to stand together to fight for their common cause.
Oct. 4, 1936 - Seoul: Choson Ilbo published a news article on Kim Il Sung's raid of a small village of Shiliudaogou (Manchuria). Kim and about 40 "red bandits" confiscated live stocks and rice from a farmer called Park Hun Young. Japanese newspapers depicted Kim Il Sung as a bandit preying upon poor Korean farmers.
The guerrillas mostly targeted remote villages not protected by the police. The guerrillas woild sneak into a village during night and arrested or killed any Japanese police or traitor found. They cut all outside phone lines. Guards were posted to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the village. Other guerrilla units were placed at key access points to ambush any police coming to the village.
Pro-Japanese and landlords were arrested and tried in mass meetings. They were first shamed, ridiculed and tried before the villagers. Landlords' belongings were distributed equally among the poor. Guerrillas accepted donations but never took anything from the peasants by force. They always showed due respects to the elders and women of the village.
Photo: Choe Hyon's guerrillas.
The guerrillas were not interested in holding a village for long. They would move in, do their propaganda, take what they can, organize and leave behind as many cells as they can and move on to their next target. The villagers were encouraged to call in the police and tell it all voluntarily - there was no sense in undergoing Japanese tortures. The "stay-behind" cadres were given different instructions - they must retain their cover and carry on the revolutionary tasks covertly.
Kim Il Sung's guerrillas were mostly young people in mid-20s. They were handsome, educated and well-behaved. They were intelligent and extremely patient with the people. The guerrillas worked in teams - Armed Propaganda Team (APT). An APT consisted of about six guerrillas. The leader of a team was an experienced guerrilla highly motivated and usually the oldest. An APT team included one covert intelligence agent and several commandos for combats. The intelligence gathering was done covertly. Likewise, executions of the people's enemies were done quietly away from the crowd so as to avoid spooking them.
Feb. 26, 1937 - Kim Il Sung defeated the Japanese police in Changbaik province near Mt. Paiktu. In a classic guerrilla warfare, Kim baited the Japanese with a small force of 50 men. The Japanese fell for the bait and walked into a trap set by 350 partisans. Kim killed 13 officers and captured 17. Cao Guoan's Chinese partisan unit of 150 men joined Kim Il Sung in this and other battles in the area.
May 1937 - Moscow: Stalin herded some 120,000 Koreans living in Siberia into concentration camps in Central Asia. Stalin suspected that Koreans would join the Japanese in case of a Japanese invasion. All Koreans in the Comintern were arrested and executed as potential agents of the Japanese. Military age Koreans were conscripted into the Red Army. One of these was Nam Il, later to head the Communist truce talk delegation at Panmunjom. (Gen. Nam Il became North Korea's Foreign Minister after the Korean War but died of cancer a few years later).
Stalin was not the only one suspicious of Koreans working for the Japanese. All across Korea and Manchuria, pro-Japanese Koreans formed a militia Minsaengdang. Minsaengdang members worked openly for the Japanese police as spies and partisan hunters. There were so many Koreans working for the Japanese, the Chinese and Russian communists began to suspect all Koreans. The Chinese partisans executed or expelled several hundred Korean partisans on flimsy charges of treason including Gen. Chu Chin, commander of the 2nd Army of the United Army. This caused many Korean partisans to join the Japanese or to part company with the Chinese.
Photo: Kim Il Sung's partisans - Kim Il Sung is at far right, 2nd row.
June 4, 1937 - Kapsan: Kim Il Sun's partisans (6th Division, 2nd Army of the 1st Route Army) aided by Park Tal's Kapsan Operation Committee raided Pochonbo. Some 200 partisans occupied the town and destroyed Japanese installations. A few hours later, the Hyesan garrison sent a detachment of police to investigate to the town. The waiting guerrillas ambushed the Japanese and seven Japanese police officers were killed. The guerrillas gathered up weapons, uniforms and other goodies and fade away into their mountain lairs. Park Tal delivered some 80 new recruits from Kapsan to Kim Il Sung. The Japanese archives refer to this raid as the Hyesanjin Incident.
June 6, 1937 - Kim's partisans aided by Choe Hyon's unit raided a Japanese outpost near Mt. Paikdu and scored another victory. Next day, some 200 Japanese Ken-Pei (Japanese military police) in yellow uniforms arrived in trucks at Kapsan and started a massive manhunt.
Koreans suspected of aiding Kim Ilsung were arrested and tortured. Park Tal's Kapsan Operations Committee was uncovered and wiped out. Park eluded the police for a while but was arrested eventually. Captured partisans were subjected to inhuman tortures, which no one could withstand.
In a 'water torture', you are forced to breathe water (sometimes boiling hot and other times laced with red pepper powder) through the nose - eventually you drown. In a finger torture, sharp nails are driven into your finger nails. A third torture, popular with Gen Pei, is the leather coat torture. You are forced into a wet coat made of cow hide and as the hide dries, the coat shrinks, applying steady and excruciating pain on your body. In the winter, you are stripped naked, dipped in water and placed outdoors. Not many people can survive these tortures - you either confess or die resisting.
The Japanese Gen Peis posted wanted pictures of Kim Il Sung and his bandits of about 20 Koreans all over the town. Kim Il Sung had a price tag of 20,000 yen on his head. People talked about Kim Il Sung and his feats in hushed voices. You never knew who may be eavesdropping. Japanese informants were everywhere. There were all sorts of rumors about Kim Ilsung. One man claimed that he saw Kim turning himself into a tiger and kill ten Japanese in one strike. Another man said that Kim Ilsung was actually a dragon living in the depth of the Chunji. Still others said that Kim Ilsung could clone himself into one hundred 'Kim Ilsung's and hit the Japanese at many locations at the same time - 'Dong-e-bun-juk, Suh-eh-bun-juk'. Thus was born the legend of Kim Il Sung. Many of these rumors were no doubt planted by the partisans themselves while others were made up by our village fortune tellers.
Unfortunately for Kim Il Sung, his fame did not translate into popular support. Kim Ilsung had a tough time feeding his people. His scouts and recruiters roamed the countryside for support, but most Koreans were afraid even to talk to them. It was shameful that the overwhelming majority of the Koreans were comfortable living under the Japanese, totally indifferent to the cause of the independence fighters. The families of the guerrillas were left on their own and many were homeless and begged for foods going door to door.
There was no money in the guerrilla business; no pay checks, no family allowance, no insurance, no pension, no security, and no guarantee of anything. If you were captured, that's too bad - don't expect any help from anyone. Everyone would deny ever knowing you - including your own people. This was for your own protection, in case you somehow manage to survive the torture and stick to your story of innocence.
Kapsan was said to be the birthplace of communist revolutionaries. It was easy to see why. Kapsan was the poorest town in Korea and the partisans' families were among the poorest in Kapsan. Most Kapsanese peasants lived a life that even a beast will not envy - the very same people Mark Twain refers to in his Recollections of Joan of Arc -
"I believe that some day it will be found that peasants are people. Yes, beings in a great many respects like us. And I believe that some day they will find this out, too - and then! Well, I think they will rise up and demand to be rewarded as part of the race, and that by that consequence there will be trouble."
The unemployed did not get much help from the employed who could barely feed their own family. Jobs were very scarce in Kapsan. There were government jobs - teachers, tax collectors, dog catchers, forestry service, police informants, military and police members. Seasonal jobs are available at my father's land development company, opium farms and a Japanese-owned hops (for beer) plantation.
Kapsan had its share of barbers, Chinese medicine men, honey-bucket vendors (who would empty latrines - holes in the ground - and sell the 'night soil' to farmers), firewood vendors, fortune tellers (who doubled as funeral 'directors'), and other odds and ends. Young women worked as maids or concubines for 'wealthy' Koreans and Japanese. The only kinds of people making big bucks were drug dealers, black marketers of war-time contrabands, landowners, loan sharks and Japanese informants who were paid handsome sums of money for turning in their fellow countrymen.
My favorite was the traveling scrap iron man. He pushed a small cart and collected anything made of iron - knives, utensils, hammers, ornaments, etc. In return, he gave you Korean candies ('yut', similar to hard chocolates). The guy would rings a bell and scream - scraps, scraps! Many kids, including myself, would steal mom's best knives and scissors for the delicacy. The scrap man made up with the ladies by sharpening their knives and scissors free of charge.
Sept. 1937 - China: Lin Piao's 115th Division scored the first major victory over the Japanese at Ping Sing Pass. A Japanese mechanized column was ambushed and destroyed leaving the first "supply" of field guns, radios, and vehicles for the Red Army.
Dec. 1937 - Han Ho, commander, 1st Division, 1st Army, Kim San Ho and Park Sun Il (Division Commander, 5th Army) were some of the many partisan leaders killed during this month.
Jan. 1938 - China: The Chinese New Fourth Army was formed under the Red commander, Yeh Ting, to fight the Japanese in occupied territories. The Red Army expanded rapidly northward to Manchuria behind the enemy lines.
April 26, 1938 - Kim Il Sung attacked the Japanese garrison at Liudaogou, Manchuria.
Aug. 6, 1938 - Yi Hak Man, Commander, 7th Army, was killed. Kan Tong, Kim Hak Sil (female), Ma Tong Hui, Yi Kye San (female), Kim Se Hyong (Deputy Commander, 1st Army) and many other partisans were also killed in battle on this day.
1938 - Japan engaged in border war with the Soviet Red Army. Major battles erupted at Changkufeng and Nomonhan. Japan's Kwantong Army suffered 50,000 casualties in both battles. The Japanese were proven to be no match for the modern tanks, planes and artillery of Stalin's Red Army.
