Category: Military

Military

Pro-Japanese Korean colonel (신태영)’s full 1943 speech offering Koreans redemption from their “shame” inherited from ancestors who made them “like cats and dogs” that seek safety and parental attachments over national duty, giving them a chance to volunteer in the Imperial Army

2024-06-29

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Throughout 1943 in colonial Korea, the main national newspaper of the country, Keijo Nippo (Gyeongseong Ilbo), was filled with war

Military

“Koreans need to assimilate with the Japanese people as soon as possible … There is no other way. This is also the path to our boundless happiness as Koreans!” said Imperial Army veteran 신태영 in 1943 memoir, who later became Minister of National Defense of South Korea and is now buried at Seoul National Cemetery

2024-06-16

292

“As Koreans, we have been given the new mission of becoming subjects of Imperial Japan, uniting completely with the Yamato

Military

Chinese children in 1944 Seoul featured singing to Imperial Army soldiers ‘in the beautiful bloom of Japanese-Chinese friendship’

2024-06-08

259

This is a historical article published in 1944 in the Keijo Nippo newspaper, which served as the national newspaper of

Model Korean Family

Imperial Japan lavished praise on 박춘금 (朴春琴), first Korean member of the Japanese Diet, for sending his only son 박춘웅 (朴春雄) off to war, the son’s name reappears as an agent in a 1957 North Korean spy operation against Japan called the Shinkomaru Incident (新光丸事件)

2024-05-27

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I came across another fascinating 1943 article from Keijo Nippo, a known propaganda tool for the Imperial Japanese regime during

Military

The Lim Family portrayed as happy, model pro-Japanese Koreans eagerly sending their eldest son Yeongjo to enlist in the ‘honorable’ Imperial Army as his little sister Imako-chan frolics with joy (Dec. 1943)

2024-03-03

292

In December 1943, amidst the turmoil of World War II, Korea found itself under the colonial rule of Imperial Japan,

Military

Imperial Japanese Army finally acknowledges Korea’s imminent independence just over a week after liberation (Aug. 23, 1945) with a jumbled announcement full of desperate denials, threats, and unconvincing reassurances to fend off Korean armed resistance

2023-11-28

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This is another fascinating historical article that I stumbled upon during my visit to the National Library of Korea a

Post-Liberation

A mere 3 days after surrender, liberated Koreans were already attempting to overthrow the colonial regime in Korea, alarming the Imperial Japanese Army who made this radio broadcast on August 18, 1945 to threaten military action against ‘individuals harboring evil thoughts’

2023-11-24

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This is another fascinating historical article that I stumbled upon during my visit to the National Library of Korea a

Internment Camp

A tour of Sinuiju Yamato Imperial Boarding School in 1942, where Korean nationalism was considered a moral defect to be ‘purified’ away so that Korean ‘thought criminals’ become ‘completely Japanese’

2023-11-07

449

In June 1942, a magazine called “Chōsen” (Korea) published an article that offers a stark window into a grim chapter

Military

In June 1945, Imperial Japan announced a mass mobilization of nearly all able-bodied Korean civilian men ages 12-65 and women ages 12-45 into Volkssturm-like ‘Volunteer’ Corps (義勇隊) and Suicide Squads (特攻隊) to wage last resort armed combat against Allied troops stepping into Korea

2023-10-31

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I’d like to bring to your attention a fascinating article from June 1945, which I found in the archives of

Military

Japanese Keijo Nippo reporters interviewed Korean abductee held captive in May 1939 by Kim Il-sung’s Korean communist guerrillas in Taehongdan (대홍단, 大紅湍)-the fighters mostly conversed in Chinese, abducted young men for recruiting, beheaded comrades for breaking strict male-female conduct rules

2023-10-27

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I found these remarkable 1939 Japanese articles about Kim Il-sung and his comrades in Keijo Nippo (Gyeongseong Ilbo), the official