June 1944 - Washington, DC: Syngman Rhee, the self-appointed Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary of the Korean Provisional Government to the United States, informed the US State Dept. -
"The only possibility of avoiding the ultimate conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union is to build up all democratic, not communistic elements wherever possible... Communist groups (within the US State Dept.) have been and still are receiving the cooperation of some officers of the State Department. This seems to confirm our belief that the State Department has been delaying recognition of the Korean Provisional Government in order to give the Korean Communists a chance to form a Lublin government."
The US State branded Rhee a self-styled patriot wholly unknown inside Korea.
Sept. 1944 - Things were not going well for Japan. There were more ashes of war dead coming to our little town. We had only a handful of young male teachers left - the rest of them having joined the Imperial Army. For the first time, a picture of dead Japanese soldiers appeared on the news. Our principal said that our soldiers were making the ultimate sacrifice and we owed our life to them as the song says - hei-dai-san-no o-ga-ge-,,,. We ought to do more to help the war effort. Young school kids were forced to plant rice, to gather wild grapes (needed for radar), pick hops (beer for Japanese troops), and sell vegetables to raise cash - and so on.
Photo: Pictures of Japanese dead in news papers.
Another sign of the war going bad for Japan was our new town dog warden. His job was to kill any dog found anywhere. The Japanese claimed that dogs would go crazy and kill people during bomb raids. Also, dogs ate dead human bodies. The Japanese expected American bombers over Kapsan at any time. The only thing in Kapsan that could be considered a military target was the Japanese-owned hops plantation. There was nothing else worth bombing here. We were forced to kill our dogs and feast on dog meat. Some people tried to hide their dogs but the dog warden would somehow find them sooner or later. He carried a large pole with a sharp metal hook. He would sink the hook into a dog's neck and drag the poor animal to death. He would sell dead dogs - this was how he got paid for his service.
Things were going from bad to worse for my mother. Her farm business could not keep up with cash outflows - Japanese war contributions, my father's two other wives and their kids, our relatives who helped with the business, school tuition, books and clothings. In addition, there was an acute shortage of farm labor (able-bodies were working for the Japanese) and mismanagement. She managed by selling off my father's toys - cameras, binoculars, horses, books, furniture, Western clothes, etc.
She tried to keep her kids fed and alive by doing the best she knew how - by gathering edible plants and firewood herself; by occasionally stealing pumpkins from Chinese farmers; by borrowing money from her poor relatives and so on. On several occasions, my teacher would send me home because I did not have the money for tuition or for a school project to raise money for the Japanese war effort. I would come home crying my heart out and hating my mother for not having the money. She would manage to raise the yens and sent me back to school.
Photo: US Gen. "Vinegar" Stilwel pins a medal on Chang Kai Sek
Nov. 17, 1944 - Chungking: Gen. Joseph Stilwell, chief of the US military in China, asked Roosevelt's permission to equip the Communist troops to fight Japan. Upon learning this, Chiang Kai Sek went into a rage and forced Roosevelt to sack Gen. Stilwell. Stilwell said in his autobiography:
"The basic trouble with Chiang is just his plain dumb ignorance. One of the worst disservice done to the American people is the overselling of Chiang Kai Sek. We've made a hero out of him and he believes all the crap he's read in our press about him and he thinks he hasn't got anything to learn.
Actually, he has little power - far less than people at home suppose. He couldn't get his generals to obey him if he ordered one; they don't want to move. They are making money now - hoarding food for speculation, selling our supplies on the black market, lending money; by God, they are not soldiers, they're speculators...each general has settled down on his own little dunghill and doesn't want to disturb the peace.".
Jan. 10, 1945. - I advanced to the fifth grade. My father was released from prison on a sick leave. He was suffering from berry-berry caused by lack of fresh vegetables (Vitamin C) in his prison diet. His legs were swollen like a balloon. He stayed with his wife #3 in Hamhung. He would come home to Wife #1 (my mother) in Kapsan when he regained his strength. For now, he was being cared for by his youngest (and the best looking) spouse. I guessed that was a human nature. Well, it was a long way from Hamhung to Kapsan - especially in January with thick ice everywhere.
Jan. 20, 1945 - American B29 bombers appeared over the Kapsan sky for the first time. They flew so high that we could not hear their engines. The con-tails were the only sign of their presence in the sky. The Japanese principal assures us that Japan was winning the war. He said that so many Americans were being killed that they would stop coming soon. He said that the Japanese strategy was to draw the Americans on Manchuria and then kill them off. We were taught by two Japanese Army officers how to use sharpened sticks to kill the Americans. These two guys were fine samples of the Yamato's 'mind over body' training. They ran around half-naked outdoors in sub-freezing weather.
Feb 23, 1945 - Iwo Jima fell. The end was near.
Feb. 1945 - Yalta: The US military, MacArthur in particular, desperately wanted Stalin to declare war on Japan. MacArthur claims:
"Russia's aims: that they would want all of Manchuria, Korea, and possibly part of North China. This seizure of territory is inevitable; but the United States must insist that Russia pay her way by invading Manchuria at the earliest possible date after the defeat of Germany...The Russians want a warm water port, which would be Port Arthur... It would be impracticable to deny them such a port because of their great military power."
Stalin named his price: (1) Sakhalin's southern half, (2) the Kurile islands, (3) preeminence in Manchuria, (4) Port Arthur, and (5) free use of the Chinese railroads. Stalin promised to enter the war in two or three months after the German surrender.
March 3, 1945 - All Japanese teachers, except the old principal, were gone to fight the Americans. Able-bodied Koreans were either in hiding or being pressed into Japanese war efforts. High school kids were encouraged to become Kamikaze pilots. Every time some poor soul got drafted into the Imperial Army, we were herded into a send-off- ceremony - we waved the Rising Sun and sang "Ban-da-no-sagu-ra-ka,,," and other patriotic songs. The relatives wailed as if their kin were already dead.
July 26, 1945 - Potsdam (East Germany): Truman took over Roosevelt's seat at the Big Power Conference. The US military recommended dividing Korea along the 38th parallel (roughly 50-50). But Truman did not bring this up with Stalin. They had more important items to discuss. Korea was the least on their mind.
Aug. 6, 1945 - The first A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima - over 80,000 Japanese civilians were killed in one blast.
Aug. 8, 1945 - Joseph Stalin declared war on Japan. Three Red Army groups, over one and half million men, 5,500 tanks and self-propelled guns, invaded Manchuria and reached the Korean border in less than two weeks. The once mighty Kwang-tung Army disintegrated. Soviet marines occupied Port Arthur (Manchuria). The Chinese 8th Route Army under Lin Piao tokk over villages and small towns, while Chiang's KMT (Kuo Ming Tang) troops took over large cities in Manchuria from the Soviets in accordance with a secret agreement made between Stalin and Chiang Kai Sek behind Mao's back. Chiang's troops aided by US soldiers provided safe havens to Japanese civilians. Stalin's troops carted off Japanese POW's to Siberia. Japanese civilians caught outside the safe havens were dealt harshly by the Chinese peasants.
Tens of thousands Japanese refugees crossed the Yalu River at Hyesan and passed through our town, Kapsan. They were desperately trying to reach Chungjin and Hungnam. From there, they could charter fishing boats to Japan. The refugees spread rumors of unbelievable horrors going on in Manchuria. Chinese mobs killing Japanese civilians by the thousands. Some said that the mobs were eating Japanese babies alive! Stalin's troops were killing Japanese POW's and gang-raping women and children. And so on.
Photo: Japan's once-mighty Kwangtong Army surrenders to the Soviet Army
Aug. 9, 1945 - The second A-bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The Japanese authorities in Korea began to transfer power to Korean leaders. Gen. Abe (Governor General of Korea) wanted to leave behind an independent united Korea.
Aug. 10, 1945 - The Soviet troops led by Kim Ilsung's advance guards landed at Ung-gi and two days later at Chungjin and Hungnam. Japan offered to surrender:
"The Japanese Government is ready to accept the terms enumerated in the joint Declaration which was issued at Potsdam on 26 July, 1945...with the understanding that this Declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the right of His Majesty as sovereign".
The Allies replied:
"The ultimate form of the government of Japan shall, in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration, be established by the freely expressed will of the Japanese people."
Aug. 10, 1945 - During the night of the 10th and early hours of the 11th, Col. Charles H. Bonesteel (Chief of the Policy Section, US Army Operations Division) and Lt. Col. Dean Rusk (later to become assistant secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs 1947-1960; Secretary of State 1961-1969 - the main architect of the Vietnam War) formulated General Order No. 1.
James Bymes (US Secretary of State in 1945) instructed the young colonels to draw up a line "as far north as possible". The colonels were unable to find a detail map of Korea and ended up using a small wall map of the Far East. Lt. Col. Rusk's fingers found the 38th parallel on the tiny map.
Thus, the fate of the Korean people was determined by a young desk-bound junior officer. To the surprise of the US military, Stalin accepted the 38th parallel. Stalin ordered all Russian units already in S Korea to turn around and pull back north of the 38th.
