May 1939 - Kim Il Sung raided several villages near Kapsan. By now, Kim Il Sung was concerned with increasing defections in his ranks. His once trusted comrades - Kim Pong Jun, Yim U Song, Han In Hwa and Kim Chae Bum - surrendered and were now leading the Japanese police to Kim's camps. He could not trust anyone anymore.
Aug. 1939 - The Japanese police forced the relatives of partisans to spy on the partisans. Partisan wives were paid or forced to travel to partisan camps and to stay with their husbands either to gather intelligence or to talk them into surrendering. This approach turned out to be very effective. The women told their husbands how their kids were starving; how their old parents were dying of disease and lack of food. All the sufferings they had gone through, the partisans had precious little to show for. If you can't beat them, join them sentiment was spreading fast among the partisans.
Chi Sun Ok was typical of the widow spies. Her husband left her and young children to join Kim's unit several years ago. The Japanese police took her children as hostages and sent her looking for her husband. She found him and joined his guerrilla band. She worked as a cook and seamstress for the partisans for one year and returned to her family. She informed the Japanese everything she had observed and heard inside her husband's camp.
Feb. 23, 1940 - Gen. Yang Jinggyu, commander-in-chief of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army was killed by a group of Korean traitors led by Kim Sok Won, Col. Kaneyama Shakugen for Japanese. Cheng Ping, Yang's once trusted lieutenant led the Japanese to Yang's hideout. Yang was wounded and surrounded by his enemy - but refused to surrender and fought to the end. The Japanese showed their respect to this gallant warrior and gave him a samurai burial with Japanese honor guards. Today, there is a museum and a town named after Yang in Manchuria.
Photo: Col. Kaneyama (in dark glasses) and Gen. Shotoku (far left, 2nd row
Kim Sok Won reported to Gen. Nozoe Shotoku, the commander of a special Japanese army unit for hunting down partisans in Manchuria. His unit was made of mostly Korean and Chinese traitors. Gen. Nozoe had 30 million yen to buy turncoats. Kim Sok Won led a special detachment composed of Korean traitors - "Special Kim Detachment" of the Japanese Imperial Army. Kim Sok Won received the Order of Merit for bravery for killing fellow Koreans. Emperor Hirohito awarded the metal himself.
Photo: Gen. Nozoe, Col. Yu Chenzhi (a Chinese) and Col. Fukube Kunio.
In 1945, Col. Kim was embraced by the US Army and Rhee. On June 2, 1948, Col. Kim proudly led 2,500 Korean vets of the Japanese Army through the streets of Seoul wearing Japanese uniforms and singing Japanese songs. In 1948, Rhee put Kim Sok Won in charge of the S Korean border units. In 1950, Rhee wanted to make Kim the commander of the South Korean Army, but the US officials overruled Rhee. The Americans had no taste for Kim's Japanese banzai tactics and his close association with Rhee.
March 25, 1940 - Kim Il Sung scored his biggest victory at Daimalugou. His forces of 250 men virtually wiped out a Japanese Special Police unit commanded by Lt. Maeda Takeshi. Lt. Maeda and 70 of his men were killed. Kim took 17 prisoners and a large quantity of war materiel.
April 6, 1940 - Gen. Nozoe's forces captured five wounded partisans and one of them, Kim Hye Sun, claimed to be Kim Il Sung's wife. Gen. Nozoe tried, in vain, to trap Kim Il Sung using Kim Hye Sun as a bait. The Japanese killed her.
July 1, 1940 - Kim Il Sung's guerrilla army reached its peak strength of 300 men. He had a hard-core of commanders loyal to him - Choe Hyon, Choe Chun Guk, Kim Tong Gyu and Ahn Kil. Choe Hyon held many high positions in North Korea and died in bed in 1982. Choe Chun Guk was killed in action in 1950. Kim Tong Kyu held high positions until his purge in 1977. Ahn Kil died in bed in 1947.
July 12, 1940 - Kim Chae Bom and Kim Kwang Hak, both Company Commanders, 2nd Army, were captured and executed.
Aug. 1940 - Kim Il Sung's guerrillas were losing people left and right. The Japanese police were really squeezing them hard. The guerrillas redoubled their recruitment efforts. The initial induction to the anti-Japanese movement was done through friendly conversations with a local cadre or a new recruit out to earn some brownie points.
Photo: Kim Il Sung's partisans - Kim is 4th from left
The recruit candidate (target) would not know that he was talking to a Kim Il Sung's man. If the target was deemed reliable, then he was told that he was part of the guerrilla group already, and he would be exposed to the Japanese police, if he did not cooperate. If the recruit tipped off the police, well watch out! He would be branded a traitor; the guerrillas would kill him and his entire family.
New recruits were assigned to minor missions to ascertain their sincerity. The new recruits were used to recruit more recruits - in a pyramid fashion. Targets were selected from among their relatives and friends. The personal habits, hobbies and political inclinations (pro or anti Japanese) of the targets were reported to the senior cadre for the final selection. The cadres would approach a target through an acquaintance and strike up a friendship or a business relationship, getting his attention through his hobbies or weaknesses (i.e., drinking, opium, money problems, woman problems, etc.). The cadres would invite the candidate for a picnic or a fishing outing or have drinks or meals at a friend's or relative's house.
Sept. 17, 1940 - Chung King, China: Kim Ku (Korean Provisional Government) formed a new army (Kwangbok Army) of about 300 men.
Kapsan: The senior cadres moving among the village cells maintained a low profile, so that the development of hostile feelings towards the Japanese and traitors would seem to come spontaneously from the villagers - NOT from the Communists.
The guerrillas recognized that not every one welcomed Communism and they worked to get support from all spectrums - the United Front. The cadres tried not to dwell on Marxism too much on mass meetings. The guerrilla propaganda aimed to make the villagers aware of the Japanese war crimes and to stir up patriotism and anti-Japanese sentiments.
The basic theme was how barbaric the Japanese were and how bestial the traitors were. Another hate target was the landed gentry (the yangban class) - how they had been mistreating and exploiting the peasants, and how they collaborated with the Japanese. A particular attention was given to the Japanese police - how cruel and inhumane they were - especially those Koreans who worked for the police.
Sept. 27, 1940 - Park Tuk Bum, a close comrade of Kim Il Sung, Chief-of-Staff, 3rd Army, was arrested and executed.
Photo: Park upon his capture along with captured weapons
Kapsan: The guerrillas realized that most peasants were illiterate and that the peasants could understand only simple slogans that addressed their immediate problems. Anti-Japanese slogans were, therefore, couched in terms of the immediate problems the peasants faced with - enough to eat, land ownership, ridding of loan sharks, health care, education for their kids, etc. If only the Japanese were killed off, the peasants would be freed from the serfdom and would become rich - no more starving and no more humiliations by the landlords and loan sharks.
The underground cells attracted people who were not happy with the Japanese as well as people who sought after adventures. Each cell was given specific missions tailored to their capability. The senior cadres ensured that cells in his zone were never hobbled (e.g., cells were never assigned tasks that they were incapable of performing - one cannot squeeze blood out of a stone!). Villagers who had suffered at the hands of Japanese and traitors, those who had lost lands to loan sharks, were jailed, beaten, raped, refused medical treatments and so on make good cell members.
The guerrillas were not shy about using the village criminals (black marketers, smugglers, prostitutes, thieves, gamblers, forgers, assassins, bullies, etc.,) for "special" missions related to their specific talents. Some "comrades" were paid to do certain tasks The guerrillas often turned these "comrades" over to the police and created anti-Japanese movement "martyrs".
Oct. 1940 - It was the 'kimchee' time of the year. Before the cold winter cam, we had to make and store (in underground shelters) enough kimchee to last through the long winter. Tons of cabbage, lettuce, garlic and red pepper were piled high on our front yard. My mother hired a young woman help. The poor woman was struggling to feed 2 young kids while her husband was away in Manchuria fighting the Japanese. The woman and her kids were in rags and filthy dirty and they were not allowed inside our house.
I beat up her kids for fun and the poor kids started crying. Their young mother broke down and started crying as well. My mother was very angry at me and slapped me several times. This was the first time (and the last) my mother spanked me. She was really mad.
My mother was from a very poor family and she emphasized with the young woman. My mother hugged the woman and her kids; they all cried together for a long time. I felt bad and hid in my room. I did't feel like eating supper and my mother did not beg me to eat either. I guessed she was very much disappointed in me. To this day, nearly 60 years past, the memory of this poor woman brings tears to my eyes.
Kapsan streets were lined with men, women and kids on the verge of starvation. They held rice bowls in their dirty hands begging for food from the passers-by. Their faces were blank expressionless. They bellies were extended as if they were carrying twins. They sat motionless with their heads bowed as if praying for a miracle.
The miracle did come in the form of Communism. After the liberation, one of the best selling novels in N. Korea was a true story of a family left behind by a revolutionary. The young man was unable to provide for his family and decided to leave his family to join Kim Ilsung's partisans. His wife struggled to feed her young children and lived through the most heart wrenching miseries known to mankind. Communism looked mighty good to those whose who were down and had no other hope.
Kapsan was famous for its opium fields. Kapsan is located on the slope of Mt. Baekdoo, which is a dormant volcano. The mountain has a huge crater lake - Chun Ji (Heavenly Lake) where dragons are supposed to live. Its volcanic soil and high altitude are ideal for opium, Ginseng and hops (for making beer) plants. Korean farmers were paid to grow opium poppies for Japan's opium operations in China. This secret opium war was run by the China Affairs Board, responsible for political, economic, and cultural affairs in occupied China.
Photo: Opium poppies - flowers and pods
The opium business was supposed to be top secret, but all the locals knew where the fields were and who ran the operation. The old-timers said that the fields went way back in time, and that the Japanese did not start the business. The only thing the Japanese had done was to expand the farm acreage and to organize it into a modern business. The Korean farmers were paid handsomely for their poppy crops. Some of the growers and their friends were addicted to the drug, however.
Opium plants grow well on cornfields. The seed pots are the size of my fist. Farmers made 4 to 5 horizontal cuts on the seed pots and white gooey stuff oozed out a day or two later. This stuff was scraped into a bucket and then mixed with certain chemicals. The resulting black candy-like mixture was shaped into brick-size blocks and wrapped in wax paper. The exact weight, date and the name of the manufacturer were carefully written on the block. The finished goods were shipped to Manchuria or wherever. Japanese police guarded the whole process. Indeed, the Japanese police were more concerned about the opium smugglers than Kim Ilsung's partisans.
The Japanese said that Kim Il Sung was behind the illegal opium trafficking and that his supporters had opium plots hidden in the forests on the slope of Mt. Paikdoo. I suppose Kim Il Sung needed money badly and the opium business was one way to raise cash. Kim collected "protection" money from opium growers and smugglers. After all, the Japanese were doing it and why not Kim Il Sung?
After the opium harvest wasover, the opium plant seeds were dried in the sun. The dried seeds were eaten like popcorns. The more you ate, the more hunger for the tasty stuff. If you ate enough of the thing, you would get drowsy and do funny things. The seeds were also used in various dishes for their euphoric after-effect. One thing about the opium plant - the flowers are really beautiful; they look like the Rose of Sharon (the Korean national flower - Mu gung wha).
There was a fairly active black market for opium. We had a sizable number of drug addicts in our town and also, the drugs fetched a fortune in Manchuria. The Japanese police jailed the addicts and executed smugglers. Nevertheless, the black market flourished and new more ingenuous smugglers replaced those who were caught.
Photo: The Namsan Fortress, similar to the Kapsan Fortress.
One young woman was caught carrying a dead baby stuffed with opium on her back. Another woman was caught with her vagina filled with the stuff. The smugglers found all sorts of ways to fool the Japanese police.
