Category: Uncategorized

I finally accessed the 1945 Keijo Nippo (Gyeongseong Ilbo) archives in-person at the National Library of Korea – Korean employees apparently rebelled against their Japanese bosses in Nov. 1945 and took over news operations until the last issue published on Dec. 11, 1945

2023-09-24

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For over two years, I have been passionately posting about Keijo Nippo (Gyeongseong Ilbo), a newspaper from the Japanese colonial

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Imperial Japan built Shinto shrines all over Korea in every eup and myeon, enlisting Patriotic Groups to “cultivate the worship of gods and faith in the Emperor” among Koreans and realize “the fusion of the Japanese-Korean family based on divine will”

2022-10-06

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It is April 1944, over two years into total war against the United States and Britain, and it is not

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Imperial Japanese security chief broadcast a speech to all patriotic groups in Korea, sternly warning Koreans against spreading fake news, including a bizarre rumor about a newly born baby cow with a human head which prophesied that Japan would win the war by September 1944, and then promptly died

2022-10-02

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This article is a speech that the Imperial Japanese colonial security chief broadcast in 1944 to all the patriotic groups

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This 24-year-old Korean woman leveraged her connections with her powerful grandfather, Yi Hae-chang (이해창/李海昌) from the Korean collaborator elite, to land a comfortable job as patriotic group leader for the privileged Tae family clan (Sajik-dong, Seoul, 1944)

2022-09-26

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This brief 1944 article is about a well-connected 24-year-old Korean woman named Yi Hui-jun (이희준/李禧準) who leveraged her connections with

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Korean father carrying remains of his Imperial Army son in 1944 was upset his hometown ignored him and didn’t line up to salute his son like they did in Japan; colonial officials were ordered to show bereaved families proper respect or else the Koreans might start asking, ‘What did my son die for?’

2022-09-14

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This is a typical piece of what I might call a ‘stunned Korean’ propaganda story – a Korean travels to

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Ordinary rural Koreans including men, women, elderly, little girls were forcibly worked to collect organic debris, animal manure, human feces/urine and make organic fertilizer to increase agricultural production for Imperial Japan’s war effort (April 1944)

2022-09-10

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The following three articles are from April 1944, when Imperial Japan was into its third year of fighting an all-out

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Imperial Japanese police in Seoul raided amusement centers, cafes, parks late at night and rounded up ordinary residents labeled ‘rebellious intellectuals’ and ‘insolent fellows’, announcing ‘every single idle person must be exterminated … to bring down the hammer on the neon bugs’ (August 1943)

2022-08-23

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If you suddenly found yourself in Seoul in 1943 and couldn’t stand your oppressive surroundings, you would have probably been

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On August 5, 1942, severe flooding hit all of Korea but especially Seoul and Gyeongi-do, at least 13 people died, and water overflowed Cheonggyecheon River and flooded Gwanghwamun Street (news coverage published on August 7, 1942)

2022-08-09

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My condolences to the residents of Seoul who lost their lives in the flooding yesterday. I read a tip from

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Minakai Department Store in Seoul featured a propaganda panoramic picture depicting New York City in flames from an Imperial Japanese air raid and President Roosevelt fainting out of panic, as part of a warplane donation campaign (September 1943)

2022-08-03

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This is my translation and transcription of a ‘forward-looking’ news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of

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