thumbnail of Asia Society presents; 60
Transcript
Hide -
If this transcript has significant errors that should be corrected, let us know, so we can add it to FIX IT+
The diesel source why he resigned. This is a series of interviews with experts on Asian affairs designed to strengthen our understanding of Asian people and ideas. Your most on this transcribed series is the noted author on the word winning broadcaster Lee Graham. Here now is Mrs. Graham. We have presented very few and perhaps up to now no person on this program who was born in North Korea but our guest today Richard ETM was born in North Korea in 1932. He left Korea when he watched it well after he had served in the Korean army he left in 1955 came to the United States established an excellent reputation as a novelist and now teaches creative writing but is primarily a writer. Mr Kim is also an American citizen and I think this country should feel pleased that he decided to live here. His new book is called last names and it is an account of his life in
Korea from the day of his birth 1932 to 1945 when the Japanese were defeated. And this is the story of what it is like to live in a country like Korea under foreign rule. The Japanese annexed Korea in 1919 and kept their hold on the country until 1945 when as you know they were defeated. Mr. Kim your book is written with great charm and with patho. So that one at times could almost cry for the state of the people living as they did with a foreigner. Still since Koreans and Japanese are Asian people one would think that they would have more in common and not be so bitter against one another. I think that's a curious cultural phenomenon to just stay for example. In part of Asia or in
Korea I'm talking about in Korea and Philippines and China. But there still is a tremendous feeling against the Japanese and this festering going to country like career. I suppose I'm talking about South Korea right. I mean I speak of Korea there is a great deal of problematic and pro-Western feeling in career and I think it's it's largely cultural as well as political. And I think the Japanese have to do with that that Japan had been the Conqueror in that part of the major as you suggested as Asians. We could be more friendly neighbors each other but it didn't happen that's
where historically speaking. You know I think as a career Creator can be a typical example of that part of politics in that part of the world. Something like a little country in Balkan Korea being squeezed in between Japan and China have always been invaded by one country or the other in recent time it just so happened that Japan was the last occupier and can't grow career if you can't like somebody who's taken over your country unless that group that's taken over is exceedingly kind and wise and leaves you alone but I guess it's hard for. That. I don't know if we can fight anyone and conquer an occupier who can be kind than unwise and start you know it for you some colonial powers make more mistakes than others don't think.
I think it is in the nature of colonial power. Occupation. So on. Would you say that Japan's object was to obliterate the fact that there was a Korea with the language and the culture that the people had and you tune you if possible into Japanese citizens where we were. Officially we were Japanese subject and toward the end of Second World War we were by law required to adopt Japanese names. Of course that meant that we had to give up our Korean names. And if you can understand that in NH Europe as well as in any other part of the world I suppose the names mean very
much to the two families and what not and so it was a symbolic effort too. If you obliterate your part of one's history I wonder whether that's been done before that conquering country would ask people or force people to give up their names you're giving up on life. As far as I know as to how early and the first instance. So your new book is aptly titled last names and that is the key to what was wrong with the Japanese occupation I think it must have been a traumatic experience you know when one morning you wake up and you find that you have to give up your name the last time one goes about living without really thinking too much of our hands and I think it's just a matter of convenience and so on but when you're forced by others to you too. Can voluntarily
give up your name. You suddenly begin to think about it. We queue for bacon to speak Korean publicly you don't have to speak Japanese. Yes that's just quite true all the instruction in the school was done in Japanese and we were required to speak Japanese even at home which of course we didn't you know your father is still alive isn't he. Yes he and your mother as well. Right. Good they live now in South Korea. How did they make the move from north to south korea. I think it. It may sound very complicated but it took three stages to move our entire family from North Korea to this tossed career. To. Become the US occupation in North Korea.
My father came came to South first by himself and of course it was all done by smuggling one myself across the border and then I came. I joined him in saw. And then my mother and my younger brother. I think it was force force things used. Then my sisters and my grandparents your whole family thought I would say yeah right. Why did your father wish to leave. Did he feel that he wouldn't be happy in a communist government. What he was he had been engaged in the. National independence movement he had been imprisoned by the Japanese and so on and he was a prominent
local leader of the resistance. So on against the Japanese against revenues and in addition he was a Christian. Now and when the Japanese were defeated and the Russians came and was a Russian and Korea and North Korean communist party with the kindest troops all came in and took over North Korea not in the not in the beginning in the beginning in North Korea. We had some kind of Popular Front setup whereby all the various factions and parties non communists or communist and socialist like there were all united present. It seemed to be a true coalition at first. Well if it were as. It looks that way and in the first two or three months
and the the leaders of the noncommunist faction and. Word. Assassin that he has just simply disappeared one by one and within less than a year. This was in 1945 the communists officially took over the country and started the great purge. Did they begin by assuring all resistance leaders and all heroes of the resistance movement like you father that they would all be part of the government. Yeah that was the initial round I was Danish or a promised arrangement. So for that for a while after the liberation My father was the head of the local government in our province. He didn't last very long and happy was he in fear of his life is that why he left. He was in prison. He was imprisoned in spite of his remarkable efforts.
National independence movement and its memories and what have you were forgotten very easily and very quickly. And as I said it was like The Purge began. Why get that consisted of who was removed. I should put in a little word you know like my father. Nationalist and Christian leader and he was boss and I think he had to come to that but I know it is a very agonizing decision to leave leave the homeland. So. Once we had last time names and the next thing we know we lost the land in the home and the land was taken from your father and your family. Yes he had a family owned a little bit of land
and we were branded as the land owning. Landlord I guess that was your crime to be landlords. Yes there was crime and being Christian was not very welcome there. So Father had to leave. Still the Communist Party always begins with the phrase the National Liberation Front. Do the People's Party and so forth but the National Liberation Front is often demolished in the process of a real communist takeover isn't it. I think they quickly move into the stage of simple power politics but they always use this phrase the People's Front in the Liberation Front. Right it's convenient and it attracts people who have had no experience along Popular Front Line and National Liberation Front and so on. So it doesn't take
very long before the real power moves to the leadership of the most efficient and highly organized political group which always it seems happened to be a congress party. It's been said that once a communist party is represented in a government it is very hard for the rest of the parties to survive. Although in Europe they do in Asia perhaps not. I don't know. Well it happened in Spain too you know I mean you know the Spanish Civil War. Bill did you and I kissed groups and left wing socialist groups were destroyed by the communist organisation given during the Spanish Civil War when they were all fighting against Franco phone and then they call the other side the dictators and the monsters. Well an interesting thing in Korea. The
longest line is after North Korea was established formally and officially as to others as a Communist state and it didn't call themselves communist there they call themselves a Labor Party. Most of the homegrown communists and there were lots of intellectuals and professors and artists and like the old went to North Korea today. As far as we know not one prominent Korean communist survives in North Korea they were all purged and eliminated. I guess the word is liquidated by home homegrown communists I mean does people who had the state inside clear during the Japanese occupation and carried on underground resistance movement
against the Japanese against a Japanese who are the communists and. Who are in charge in North Korea. Are they not Koreans. Well roughly there are two factions right. One faction is headed by the present prime minister there Kim Il Sung his group who operated in Manchuria in Siberia and eventually went to Russia. And the man himself returned to clear up to the Second World War as a Russian major and he became the head of the government there and then there's a Chinese faction of Korean communists who are more loyal to him are tied to him and his group than of course the third faction which is a process group. But at the moment which group has the most power. I just came a song grew up disco was a
band of killers during the Japanese occupation and as I said they operated in Manchuria and Siberia. They have the upper hand now. That by the Russians. Well we don't really know. We don't really know there is very little information available. But I think not in conflict and conflict with the pro Mao group in Colorado this group has been playing very smart I think when and when the Russians and the Chinese bicker and quarrel they keep quiet and they don't take sides. Whenever it's convenient and they all type take sides with the Russians and get all the military and economic aid. And for a while they have not been very friendly with the Chinese communists and just recently humans to go there seem to be at the
beginning of a readjustment with the Chinese. China use an official delegation to Pyongyang and vice versa. But really the important and interesting fact is that not one of the domestic home grown Korean communist leaders survived to this day in North Korea. And all those who stayed in their country and for all gone or went over the border. What is life like in South Korea these days where your parents live. I remember several years ago I think it was 19 in 65. I went back to Korea and I came back to the states feeling rather depressed and disappointed. Mainly because of the rate and the speed of
reconstruction it was not fast enough. I guess from my point of view I couldn't see at the time any real visible sign of economic stability or rehabilitation. So I left the country with the memory of the country that the blasted by the war for example city of Salzburg was. It was nothing but rubble. And when I went back to Korea 65. I didn't see very much improvement and the politics of the political situation was quite confusing and corruption and so on I went back again in. Right to you two years ago and then passed this last summer.
And I think the economic recovery is simply fantastic. Really that's a tornado as it was unbelievable. Oh you're not in that far. Plus a new motivation for an American for you know it's in the last 20 years or so I think the momentum has been building up. But I didn't see that five years ago. But today it's really it's unbelievable. I was very happy there and living standards has really improved with the economic growth rate is simply fantastic. Are you under the impression Mr. Kim that if there were no peacekeeping troops along the border line that North Korea would make strong efforts to take over South Korea. Well that's a possibility and I think it's a very strong possibility. Practical Common sense would probably say
no. But don't we don't think alike. We you know I for one would tend to analyze and evaluate and and beautiful situation from a very practical point of view. But while one can never be sure that the conduct in the law is clear you would think along the same line you know the reason the same way. Are you saying that it might not be practical or wise for them to do it. But that wouldn't stop them from wishing to do it. It's a distinct possibility. I mean when when the Korean War broke out in 1950 no one had to. We had not expected war of that scale. They had been small scale border clashes and skirmishes but. We hadn't really anticipated even fear of a great war but it can you see you didn't
expect that much aggression from North Korea. Well people in South Korea are a feeling terribly secure and I find that more so with the older generation who up till had had taken a tremendous beating and not so much for the younger generation who don't really know about the war and not with my generation and I think my generation does have a tremendous amount of consciousness now. We survived the war. We feel we can do it again if we have to fight it and so on. But in general there is a sense of insecurity and Prevention. And now that American troops are pulling out. Incrementation of the Nixon doctrine and so on. American
troops are not in great strength. Fifty thousand men and they're pulling out 10000 this year. And in about a year or so there will be about 25000 or 30000 left. Not very much. I believe it will be done on the basis where you and we could have the confidence that you are in a position to hold your own. Let's hope so. Yes I think Mr. PM Do you think there is any popularity for the Communist Party or the Communist doctrine in South Korea. No there is no no and it would have to be enforced on people. Right. I can't say that categorically. You know is this there's a question perhaps it's just a theoretical philosophical one but perhaps you can answer it can you understand Mr. Kim Why people to this day are so naive about so-called national liberation fronts and thinking. Yes the Communist Party has a right to be represented and it will
be a coalition and there won't be a takeover and then you see one takeover after the other. Why do people still believe this is possible. Well we just don't seem to learn from history. What is wrong with people who know their history. The idea is attractive. You say it's cooperation and everybody getting together and doing things and so on. But the power I think most of us don't really realize the reality of power structure and power is too irresistible isn't it. I think once you have it you are not willing to give it up. You know Mr. Kim in the short time we have left May we talk a little bit about you personally here in the United States. You are teaching at the University of Massachusetts and also at the University of Syracuse and you teach creative writing. Yeah. You are an American citizen and I gather that you enjoyed living here very much what you specially like about the United States.
Well as a writer I suppose I would go to any other place right now and I can't think of any other society for writers and artists. And also as an individual citizen but particularly as a writer I find more freedom in this is I think anywhere else that's very simple. I thought I could close with a quotation from your book something your father said to you in this appears in your book last names your father says after the war and the Japanese are driven out. I only hope son that mere survival will not become the only goal of your generation's lives. There must be more in life than just that. That's a message to carry around the world I think. Yes I think there is more in life than that. But Mr. Kim it's been a great pleasure to have you on our aging society presents program. And our guest Richard E. Kam is a teacher as you can hear an American citizen a man born in Korea a man who has seen much of the world but most of all a fine author
and his new book last names is one I recommend to you. Thank you very much and goodbye. Thank you. That concludes tonight's edition of the Asia Society presents with league Graham. The series comes to you through the cooperation of the Asia Society. If you would like to comment on tonight's program or would like further information about the society and how you can participate in its many interesting activities please write to Mrs. Graham at WNYC New York City 100 0 7. I make a note to join us again next week at this time for another edition of the Asia Society presents. This is the national educational radio network.
Please note: This content is only available at GBH and the Library of Congress, either due to copyright restrictions or because this content has not yet been reviewed for copyright or privacy issues. For information about on location research, click here.
Series
Asia Society presents
Episode Number
60
Producing Organization
WNYC
Contributing Organization
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/500-9p2w7p12
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/500-9p2w7p12).
Description
Series Description
Asia Society presents is a series of programs from WNYC and The Asia Society. Through interviews with experts on Asian affairs, the series attempts to strengthen listeners understanding of Asian people and ideas. Episodes focus on specific countries and political, cultural, and historical topics.
Genres
Talk Show
Topics
Education
Global Affairs
Race and Ethnicity
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:26:43
Credits
Host: Graham, Leigh
Producing Organization: WNYC
AAPB Contributor Holdings
University of Maryland
Identifier: 69-6-60 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:26:30
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
Citations
Chicago: “Asia Society presents; 60,” University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed March 29, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-9p2w7p12.
MLA: “Asia Society presents; 60.” University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. March 29, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-9p2w7p12>.
APA: Asia Society presents; 60. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-9p2w7p12