Aug. 15, 1945 - Japan surrenders. A special student assembly was called for and we listened to the Emperor's voice for the first time:
"Despite the best that has been done by everyone, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage,,. In order to avoid further bloodshed, perhaps, even the total extinction of human civilization, we shall have to endure the unendurable, to suffer the insufferable..".
Our Japanese principal was crying his heart out. We felt sorry for the old man - all of us really liked him. Many of us wept with him in sympathy.
Photo: from left to right - Kim Kyu Sik, Suh Jae Pil and Yo Un Hyong.
Gen. Abe (Governor General of Korea) transferred his government to Yo Un Hyong, Yo promptly formed the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence CPKI (later to become the Korean People's Republic - KPR). Yo agreed to safeguard all Japanese nationals and their properties in Korea. Over 700,000 Japanese were stranded in S Korea and 200,000 in N. Korea. The CPKI established "People's Committees" in all of the thirteen provinces of Korea. The People's Committees took the control of local administrative and police functions from the Japanese authorities.
Yo Un Hyong was an authentic patriot. He was born in 1885 in Yangpyong-gun, Kyonggido, into an yanban family. One of his uncles was a Tonghak leader. He went to a missionary school (Paejac School) and learned English. Yo went to China in 1914, and then played an important role in the Samil movement in 1'919. Yo helped found the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai. In 1921, Yo, Kim Kyu Sik and other Koreans attended the Congress of the Toilers of the Far East in Moscow, where Yo met Lenin in person.
After his return to Shanghai, he served Chiang Kai Sek as a propagandist and met Sun Yatsen and Mao Zedung. He escaped Chiang Kai Sek's purge of communists in Shanghai in 1927, only to be arrested by Japanese agents and returned to Korea. Yo served a three-year prison term in Korea. Yo became chief editor of the Joong Ang Ilbo in Seoul. Yo was assassinated on July 18, 1947 by Kim Ku's forces.
While Gen. Abe was negotiating with the Korean nationalists, Gen. Kozuki Yoshio, commander of the Japanese forces in Korea, was negotiating with the American military. Gen. Yoshio warned the Americans (who knew next to nothing about the country they were about to rule) about Koreans who were led by "communist agitators." Gen. Yoshio described Koreans as savages bent on obstruction of whatever the US force might do in Korea and offered a full cooperation in keeping the Koreans under control. The old master of Korea was about to pass its baton to a new master. The Korean traitors were about to shed their Japanese master and get on the payroll of a new master.
Some 30,000 political prisoners were released from Japanese jails throughout Korea. They joined the CPKI and formed various local groups. More than 15,000 Koreans were released from the Japanese Army and labor camps - many of who were forced into working for the Japanese. CPKI leaders split into two factions: Yo Ung Yong's Konmaeng (Korean Independence League) and communists. Yo aspired for a united democratic government for all Koreans - except pro-Japanese and traitors. Yo's faction did include several prominent communists. The other faction was Changan - a Korean Communist Party formed by aging domestic communist revolutionaries living in Seoul.
Who were these "communists"? Bruce Cumings gives one of the best assessments of the communists in Korea under Japanese -
"For years those opposed to Japan had turned to communism, while the nationalist camp had been severely weakened and compromised by the collaboration of many of its leaders with the Japanese. When communists emerged from hiding or from prison on August 15, they had unimpeachable patriotic credentials. The prime test of political legitimacy in liberated Korea was a person's record under Japanese rule; and communists generally passed this test with ease.
Many of the old nationalist leaders in Korea did not measure up as well and thus remained inactive until early September. This is why so many communists appeared in CPKI. Not one active CPKI leader was ever seriously charged with being a collaborator or 'pro-Japanese.' In fact, virtually all the identifiable individuals on the August 22 list had spent varying lengths of time in Japanese prisons. Such people prevailed in August 1945, because of their own records and because there were few if any viable alternatives."
Bruce Cumings continues -
"Japanese colonial police and intelligence agencies captured, interrogated, and labeled Korean recalcitrance; .. They also tended to merge and blur the distinction between communists and simple opponents of Japanese rule. More important, by their constant harping on the menace of communism, they led Koreans to identify communism with Korean resistance. Yet the initial nationalistic impulse toward communism should not be used to misconstrue the commitment of these Koreans to the social revolution that Marxism implied for Korea. As they became aware of the social content of the doctrine, they saw that the implications for Korea went deeper than simply ridding their nation of the Japanese."
"It is extremely difficult for an American, with inbred assumptions about society and the good life, to understand or appreciate Korean political and social conflicts in 1945· An American's understanding of communism in the United States held little relevance for understanding communism in Korea. Whereas in the United States communists had never succeeded in winning mass support, in Korea in 1945 they had it dropped in their laps by virtue of their staunch resistance to Japan and the mass appeal of their programs."
"Communism in Korea in 1945 did not signify a deeply held world view, or adherence to an authority residing in the Kremlin, or commitment to Marxist internationalism. It was a specifically Korean communism. Its adherents could scarcely be distinguished from nationalists and conservatives in their belief in the uniqueness of the Korean race and its traditions and the necessity to preserve both, or in their understanding that a unique Korea required unique solutions."
"What did distinguish Left from Right was: (1) a commitment to a thoroughgoing extirpation of Japanese influences in Korea, with all that this implied for Korean society and for Koreans who had profited from colonial rule; (2) a commitment to mass politics and mass organization and to the social equality that this implied: (3) a commitment to the reform-of Korea's .feudal legacy, feudalism being a code word for gross inequalities in the allocation of resource particularly land. It was disputes over these issues that divided Koreans and that help to explain the consistency in political sides among Korean leaders from about 1920 on."
Kapsan: The Japanese were moving out in truck convoys destined to the concentration camps in Hamhung. Japanese police turned over their arms and uniforms to the newly formed Korean People's Militia in accordance with Gen. Abe's orders. There was much sympathy toward the Japanese. The People's Militia (chi-an-dae or bo-an-dae) made sure that no harm was done to the Japanese. However, the Koreans who worked for the Japanese police or tax collectors were much hated - they went underground or tried to escape to another town.
My eldest brother Kim Ung Sik was a proud member of the Militia. All sorts of Korean patriots emerged from years of hiding and told us about their anti-Japanese heroics. One old man showed off a bullet hole on his left thigh: he was one of the last surviving soldiers of the Yi Army. The Kapsan chapter of the Korean People's Committee was established. My father was an elected member of the Committee. He was also a founding member of the New People's Party (Shin Min Dang) - originally formed by the Koreans who were with Mao Zedung in Yenan, China.
We learned how to make the Korean flag. No one was sure of the exact specs or what the bars meant. It seemed that everyone had his own design. We learn the Korean national anthem (sung to a tune different from the current version) and the Korean alphabet Han Gul for the first time. The anthem is the very first Korean writing we learn. It seems the lyric and the tunes make you sad much like the Japanese anthem. It turns out that most of our Korean teachers have secretly learned the Korean language. They have no problem switching from Japanese to Korean.
Gangs of peasants roam the streets beating up Japanese collaborators. Those Koreans who had worked for the Japanese police are hunted down and beaten to death. The People's Militia (looking splendid in Japanese police uniforms) is kept busy protecting the enemies of the people. My father helps a couple of his friends (police informants) to escape to nearby towns.
Aug. 18, 1945 - Seoul: Yo Ung Yong is attacked by a pro-Japanese terrorist and narrowly escapes death. The Japanese are still in control of S. Korea (waiting for the Americans) and turns against Yo's CPKI. The Japanese thought that Yo would be a puppet at their bidding but instead Yo's CPKI has attracted anti-Japanese elements and working against the colonial forces. The Japanese are out to ruin the Korean economy - they destroy war supplies; print some three billion yen in currencies; hand out money and weapons to pro-Japanese collaborators; and worst of all, feed misinformation to the Americans in order to turn them against Yo's CPKI.
Aug. 20, 1945- Kapsan: The Red Army marches in from Manchuria - a platoon of soldiers led by a lone tank. The tank barely passes through the town gate. The People's Committee organizes a welcoming party. We line up the street and wave little red flags that we have made ourselves. We are genuinely elated to see our liberators.
My brother leads an honor guard of the Militia to greet the Russians (referred to as 'Big Nose' - ma-ho-jae - by our elders). The Russians are impressed by our heroes' welcome and give us black bread ('huh-lev' - tough enough to be used as pillows or sit on - but quite tasty). An old Korean communist shows up with a worn-out copy of 'Das Capital' and the Russians go crazy over it. The old man is hoisted on top of the tiny tank and becomes an instant hero.
The Russians camp on the school yard of the Agricultural Technical School (Kapsan Nong Lim Hak Kyo). I and friends now hang around the Russians. They teach us some Russian words - Yaponski (thumbs down) and Karesky (thumbs up). I notice two female soldiers among the Russians - these women are not bad looking at all. My brother says that the Russian women are crazy about Korean guys.
The Soviet soldiers suddenly move out to fight Japanese stragglers coming down from Manchuria. The Japanese stay on the mountains, trying to reach the East Sea. (A few years later, the Chinese army used the same routes.) They say one of the Russian female soldiers was hit.
Aug. 21, 1945 - The Soviet troops land at Wonsan and trap some 200,000 Japanese in N. Korea. Over one million Japanese are cutoff in China between the Great Wall and the Yangtze River. Japanese refugees in northeast Korea are herded into concentration camps in Hamhung. Koreans celebrate their independence throughout the land.
Aug. 21, 1945 - Wonsan: The Soviet Army 25th Division (about 30,000 strong), under Gen. Ivan M. Chistiakov, allows Kang Ki Dok, chief of the Wonsan People's Committee, to rule the city. All Japanese are herded into intern camps.
Aug. 22, 1945 - Stalin announces the Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1945, whereby Stalin will deal exclusively with Chiang Kai Sek; and Stalin recalls his emissaries to Mao. In return, Chiang will give Outer Mongolia to Stalin, restore Russia's rights in Manchurian railways and businesses (which Stalin sold to Japan in 1940), and restore Russian control of Port Arthur. Stalin orders Mao to dissolve the Red Army and work for Chiang Kai Sek. Mao Zedong ignores Stalin; and Mao's Red Army mounts an all-out war to destroy Chiang Kai Sek.
Aug. 24, 1945 - The Soviets occupy Pyongyang and Hamhung. The 25th Division of the Red Army, commanded by Gen. Ivan Chistiakov, is the new foreign occupation force of N. Korea. Gen. Nikolai Lebedev is the political commissar of the 25th responsible the political affairs in N Korea. Gen. Andrei Romanenko is in charge of civic affairs dealing with Korean natives. Reporting to Andrei is Col. Alexandre Ignatiev, a specialist on Korea. Col. Ignatiev is responsible for putting Kim Il Sung in charge of N. Korea.
The Soviet Occupation Army issues a general policy statement: "What we must do is establish a completely independent country embracing all strata of the population who are not [part of] the Japanese enemy. The Soviets will to the end advocate among the four powers the setting up of workers and peasants' sovereignty. The land question: since this has become the most important question, the land must he newly apportioned among the population. With respect to indigenous [Korean] landlords, all land above that tilled by the landlord himself should be confiscated and the government should of course redistribute it to the peasants. Whether or not this is actually achieved will depend entirely on how great our efforts are."
"With respect to factories now belonging to the Japanese, we will completely expel Japanese elements and the factories will be managed by the workers and technicians. If the Japanese are needed in technical areas, we will put them to work temporarily but we must train Korean technicians very rapidly. Medium and small enterprises owned by Koreans will be allowed to operate freely under the superintendent of the people's committees. There must be a great expansion in facilities producing everyday necessities; this must be done urgently."
"There will be no agricultural products sent to Japan this year, and harvests belonging to Japanese will all be requisitioned by the people's committees. In addition there will be provision for those things needed for emergency use and that needed for the Soviet Army....With respect to peasants' taxes, this is something to be resolved by the executive department of the tax committee, but it will certainly be far less than in the past. Evil, pro-Japanese elements will be thoroughly swept out: a strict purge of all impure elements within and without [the pro-Japanese] camp is needed."
Aug. 28, 1945 - Seoul: Yo's CPKI issues a proclamation - "a national government to be established by a people's committee elected by a national conference of peoples' representatives...;a complete independence and true democracy; sweeping out of feudal remnants; mass struggle against the anti-democratic reactionary forces who colluded with Japanese imperialism and committed crimes against the nation." The Korean Provisional Government in Chung King issues a similar proclamation.
Aug. 29, 1945 - Seoul: Gen. Abe cables Gen. Hodge in Okinawa - "The condition in northern Korea has taken a sudden turn for the worse since 23 August and the lives and property of the Japanese residents are exposed to imminent danger. This deplorable situation, if left unremedied, will in all probability spread to southern Korea... Accordingly, the local Japanese authorities eagerly await for the arrival of the Allied Forces which are to take [over] the maintenance of peace and order from the Japanese forces in southern Korea, and urgently desire that the Allied forces will fully take into consideration the actual conditions on the spot before proceeding with the disarmament of Japanese forces and the transfer of administrative organs from the Japanese hand."
Aug. 30, 1945 - US troops landed at Yokohama, Japan.
Sept. 1, 1945 - Gen. Kozuki Yoshio tells the Americans that
"There are communists and independence agitators among Koreans who are plotting to take advantage of the situation to disturb peace and order here." In later messages that day and the next two days, Kozuki warned of possible sabotage of the US landing in Korea by "red" labor unions, also fabricating tales of "Korean mob violence against the police, theft of munitions, and strikes." Gen. Hodge cables MacArthur -
"In view of the situation peculiar to Korea, where revolutionary forces may acquire Japanese arms and start serious trouble, request authority to destroy or render completely inoperative any and all weapons turned over by the Japanese armed forces." Thus Hodge and MacArthur place themselves on the side of the Japanese imperialists working against the Korean people - who are considered to be defeated "enemies."
Sept. 2, 1945 - The Japanese surrender ceremony is held in Tokyo Bay aboard the battleship, USS Missouri. The Japanese delegation is led by a man with a wooden leg, courtesy of a Korean nationalist. Japan officially surrenders -
"We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and of all Japanese armed forces and all armed forces under Japanese control wherever situated."
MacArthur concludes the ceremony with -
"Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always. These proceedings are now closed."
Sept. 4, 1945 - An American advance party of eight officers and ten GI's land at Kimpo Airport to establish liaison with the Japanese . Gen. Toshimaro Sugai billets the Americans at the Chosen Hotel where the Japanese hosts throw bawdy geisha parties for the Americans. The Americans refuse to see a delegation of Koreans.
Sept. 6, 1945 - Representatives from the People's Committees from all corners of Korea meet in Seoul and proclaim the Korean People's Republic (KPR - Chosun In Min Kong Wha Guk). The KPR cabinet included Syngman Rhee (chairman), Yo Ung Young (vice chairman), Ho Hon (prime minister), Kim Ku (interior), Kim Pyong No (justice), Kim Kyu Sik (foreign), Ha Pil Won (economic) Cho Man Sik (finance), Shin Ik Hui (communications), Kim Il Sung (defense) and Kim Song Su (education).
In Kapsan and all other towns and cities, Koreans hang around the police station listening to the radio and to more stories of anti-Japanese heroics. I wonder how we had lost to the Japanese when Korea had so many brave men. We watch the enemies of the people being brought in by the Militia. We scream - 'kill the Jap lovers!' Hey, forget the school , this is a history in making!!
Sept. 8, 1945 - Seoul: Park Hyon Yong forms the Korean Communist Party and rallies most of the domestic communists.
Sept. 8, 1945 - Gen. Hodge's troops land at Inchon (S. Korea) to a welcoming party of Japanese officials. Earlier in the morning, the Japanese police shot into a crowd of Koreans celebrating the American occupation, killing two Korean students. Hodge announces -
"There have been a few incidents between the Koreans and the Japanese, including one in which some Japanese shot into a group of Koreans attempting to welcome us at the docks. I had ordered civilians kept away because they would hinder the landing operation."
In effect, Hodge is the one who commanded the Japanese police to kill Koreans.
Sept. 9, 1945 - Seoul: Gen. John R. Hodge accepts the surrender of the Japanese forces south of the 38th parallel. Gen. Hodge sets up the US Military Government in Korea (USMGIK). Unbelievably, Hodge retains Korean traitors who had served under the Japanese and let them run the USMGIK bureaucracy and the police.
S. Koreans retain the Japanese police uniforms and the name Gei-Sia-Tzu (Kyng Chal). The new cops look and act just like the Japanese cops - indeed, many of them are former Jap cops! We are angry at the Americans - why are they keeping these traitors in the National Police? (NB. One of the Jap lovers, Park Jung Hee, later became S. Korea's dictator). This is the root cause of the anti-American sentiment in Korea - both South and North.
Photo: Two old friends, Park Hyon Yong and Yo.
Gen. Hodge tells his troops that Korea "is an enemy of the United States, (and therefore) subject to the provisions and terms of surrender." American airplanes drop leaflets with Gen. MacArthur's command to all Koreans - "any Korean who harms either Japanese or American personnel will be punished by death." and that all powers of government over the territory and people of S. Korea are under his authority. This is in market contrast with the Soviet declaration of independence and freedom of the people in N. Korea. Gen. Hodge decides to retain the Japanese administration including the Japanese police. The Japanese are given a free hand to continue their hunt of "communists".
The new lord of S. Korea, Gen. John H. Hodge, does not have the slightest idea of what he is supposed to do in Korea. Hodge says that because so many Koreans had fought with the Japanese Army that "Koreans are breeds of the same cats as the Japanese" and that he intends to treat Koreans as conquered enemies.
On MacArthur's orders, Hodge allows the Japanese police to continue their work as if nothing has happened. Korean nationalists are stunned by Hodge's attitude towards Koreans - as "defeated enemies"! Gen. Marshall countermands MacArthur and orders Gen. Hodge to shut up and disband the Japanese police immediately. In spite of Hodge's low esteem of the Korean people, he stays on for four years as the Lord of Korea..
N. Korean 'Jap lovers' in hiding are migrating to S. Korea by thousands. They swear to return soon and settle the score. Well, if they ever come back, we will kill them. Some 1.8 million N. Koreans - Japanese collaborators, landowners, Christians, the White Russians and anti-Communists and people from south - flee to S. Korea. They form the Northwest Group (suhbook) - a paramilitary organization -, which serves Rhee for assassinations and intimidation. NB: One of the traitors, Gen. Kim Paik Il, got his revenge when he led a S. Korean army division to destroy Pyongyang in 1945.
Sept. 10, 1945 - The Korean Democratic Party (KDP) convinces Hodge that Yo Un Yong and KPR are "pro-Japanese communists and traitors" to the Korean nation. KPD (Hanguk Minju Dang) was founded by a group of pro-Japanese and wealthy Koreans on Sept. 6, 1945. To Hodge's thinking, this confirms the Japanese claim that Yo and his KPR are communists.
Sept. 14, 1945 - The Korean People's Republic proclaims a 27-point platform, which includes rent control, confiscation of land owned by Japanese and her collaborators, nationalization of major industries, reduction of the work day to eight hours, and the creation of a minimum wage.
"We are determined to demolish the Japanese imperialism, its residuary influences, antidemocratic factions, reactionary elements, sand any undesirable foreign influence in our state, and to establish our complete autonomy and independence, thereby anticipating the realization of an authentically democratic state."
Sept. 14, 1945 - Washington: The State Dept. is concerned about Hodge's actions in Korea and instructs MacArthur -
"For political reasons it is advisable that you should remove from office immediately: Government-General Abe, Chiefs of all bureaus of the Government-General, provincial governors and provincial police chiefs. You should furthermore proceed as rapidly as possible with the removal of other Japanese and collaborationist Korean administrators."
The State is not aware that two days earlier MacArthur has ordered Hodge to remove the Japanese officials forthwith. Hodge has obliged by replacing Abe by Gen. Arnold. However, Hodge manages to retain the Japanese police and other colonial organs. Hodge continues to rely on the "ousted" Japanese now working as "consultants."
Sept. 15, 1945 - Hodge's men reply to the State Dept. cable -
"Southern Korea can best be described as a powder keg ready to explode at the application of a spark. There is great disappointment that immediate independence and sweeping out of the Japanese did not eventuate. Although the hatred of the Koreans for the Japanese is unbelievably bitter, it is not thought that they will resort to violence as long as American troops are in surveillance.
The removal of Japanese officials is desirable from the public opinion standpoint, but difficult to bring about for some time. They can be relieved in name but must be made to continue in work. There are no qualified Koreans for other than the low-ranking positions, either in government or in public utilities and communications.
Furthermore, such Koreans as have achieved high rank under the Japanese are considered pro-Japanese and are hated almost as much as their masters....It is believed that the removal of the Governor General and the Director of the Police Bureau, both Japanese, accompanied by wholesale replacements of police personnel in the Seoul area will mollify irate Koreans even though the government itself is not strengthened thereby.
All political groups seem to have the common ideas of seizing Japanese property, ejecting the Japanese from Korea, and achieving immediate independence. Beyond this they have few ideas... Korea is completely ripe for agitators."
Sept. 19, 1945 - Kim Il Sung and his second spouse Kim Chong Suk return to Korea from Siberia. Kim and his guerrillas numbering about 40 (and their families) arrive at Wonsan, compliment of the Soviet warship Pukachev.
The US intelligence file on Kim Il Sung states -
"Faced with the threat of extinction by the Japanese, a few hundred under the leadership of Kim Il Sung, long time Communist, made their way North and into the Soviet Maritime Province. After verifying their political and military backgrounds, the Soviets established these people in a training camp at YASHKI Station, in the general area of Khabarovsk.
Here and later at RARARASH, near the junction of the USSR-Korea and Manchurian frontiers these Koreans were trained in espionage, radio communications, sabotage and general military subjects. From 1941-45, these people were utilized by the Soviets as agents in MANCHURIA. In the spring of 1945, in addition to normal political training, they were briefed on KOREA and Korean politics."
Sept. 28, 1945 - The first of many political assassinations to follow kills Hyon Chun Hyok, chief, Communist Party (North Korea). Hyon was sent to North by Park Hyon Yol, chief of the Korean Communist Party, to organize the N. Korean branch of the Party. Kim Yong Bom takes over Hyon's position.
Photo: Kim Il Sung, wife Kim Chong Suk and son Kim Jung Il, circa 1946
