Category: Model Korean Family

Niece of Korean collaborator nobleman Yoon Deok-yeong (윤덕영, 尹徳栄) was featured in 1939 article declaring ‘I really want to marry a Japanese man’ and adopting the Japanese surname ‘Izu’ to improve her marriage prospects

2024-04-14

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The following article from 1939 features a young 21-year-old Korean woman celebrating her newly given ability to change her surname

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

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

Korean Workers

Model Korean mother left baby and bedridden husband behind at home to work as a clerk for Imperial Japanese Army, praised by boss for happily working overtime, early morning to late at night for 1/3 the usual pay without complaining, even when so exhausted she couldn’t see straight (Feb. 1944)

2024-02-10

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This article features Mrs. Ahn, a Seoul native, who in the midst of war, leaves behind her baby and bedridden

Model Korean Family

Park Deuk-hyeon (박득현/朴得鉉) became a communist activist in 1928 as a student in Tokyo and struggled against colonial rule for a decade until he ‘repented’ and became an avowed Imperialist upon seeing his Japanese sister-in-law’s ‘exalted spiritual love’ toward his ailing mother and brother

2023-03-09

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This article is about Park Deuk-hyeon (박득현, 朴得鉉), a Korean communist activist who was involved in resistance activities against Imperial

Daily Life

This Korean family donated their metallic tableware in February 1943 to help Imperial Japan’s war effort, including their brass Sinseollo (신선로, 神仙爐), a prized cooking vessel that was passed down the generations from their ancestors in the Korean royal court

2023-02-27

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This article shows a Korean man and his maidservant donating 32 brass items for Imperial Japan’s war effort, including a

Daily Life

Mixed marriages in 1939 Korea: a Korean teenage girl left home and married the brother of her Japanese best friend, a Korean husband and Japanese wife met at a Tokyo music school and overcame ‘persecution’ from friends and family to become ‘pioneers of Japanese-Korean Unification’

2023-02-02

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The following two articles from 1939 profiled two mixed Japanese-Korean families: the first one had a Japanese husband and a

Japanese Language

‘Jeon’ became ‘Takamatsu’ and ‘Park’ became ‘Masaki’: 1940 profiles of Korean families in Seoul adopting Japanese names to purportedly honor their Korean roots, be accepted by Japanese neighbors, to better interact with the public, to instill a ‘spirit befitting Imperial subjects’ in their children

2023-01-02

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This 1940 article profiles two Korean families in Seoul who adopted Japanese names: the Jeon family, which became the Takamatsu

Model Korean Family

12-year-old Korean girl in Tokyo allegedly chanted ‘Banzai to the Emperor’ 3 times with her last dying breaths before dying of diphtheria in April 1942, her father suddenly died soon afterwards of a broken heart, and Governor-General Koiso of colonial Korea gave condolence money to her surviving mother and sister the following year

2022-09-05

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(Translation) Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) February 14, 1943The Model Korean Maiden“Banzai to the Emperor” at the Moment of DeathThe Warmth

Model Korean Family

Propaganda story about a Japanese couple in Seoul adopting a poor Korean orphan boy who grows up to become a restaurant owner in Japan with Japanese wife and mixed children, tearfully reuniting with his adoptive parents and vowing to “fulfill our duties as Imperial subjects on the home front” (1943)

2022-08-20

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This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

Model Korean Family

Propaganda ‘feel good story’ praises Korean grandfather for finally accepting his grandson’s voluntary enlistment in the Imperial Japanese air force, as it was ‘not easy to persuade’ him due to his ‘having lived through half a century of complicated historical changes’ (Dongdaemun Seoul, 1943)

2022-08-01

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This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the