This article is a speech that the Imperial Japanese colonial security chief broadcast in 1944 to all the patriotic groups of Korea, which all Koreans belonged to. Each patriotic group leader would have assembled all their group members together for a mandatory regular meeting, and turned on the radio at 8:00 p.m. to force them to listen to this stern speech, warning them against spreading fake news. Basically, most Koreans were forced to listen to this threatening speech.

One very bizarre rumor that this security chief mentions is about a newly born baby cow with a human head who said that Japan will win the war by September 1944, and then promptly died. The name of the baby cow was Geon (건/件), named after the Chinese character 件 which consists of the human radical 人 and the cow radical 牛. Geon’s name was invoked in debt acknowledgment documents, perhaps to swear in the name of Geon that the debt will be repaid, since Geon was supposed to be a truthful creature. This rumor apparently spread across Korea and even into mainland Japan.

Patriotic Groups (JP: aikoku-han, KR: aeguk-ban, 愛國班) were neighborhood cells which functioned as the local arm of the Korean Federation of National Power (国民総力朝鮮連盟, 국민총력조선연맹), the single ruling party of colonial Korea. They typically consisted of a few households, led by a Patriotic Group leader, who normally acted as a mini-tyrant micromanaging the lives of everyone within the Patriotic Group. That included things like rationing food and goods, enforcing mandatory State Shinto prayer times and shrine visits, ‘volunteering’ laborers upon the colonial government’s request, arranging marriages, holding mandatory Japanese language classes, spying on ‘ideological criminals’, etc.

(Translation)

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) April 11, 1944

Don’t get carried away by rumors!

An enemy plot more terrifying than military force

Broadcast to the regular meetings: Proclamation by Mr. Yagi, Security Section Chief

At 8:00 p.m. on April 10, Chief Yagi, the head of the Governor-General’s Office Security Section, made a broadcast from the Seoul Broadcasting Station to the regular meetings of the Patriotic Groups, emphasizing the main points as follows: ‘Don’t get carried away by false rumors!’

Some may think that there is no need now to repeat the statement ‘Don’t get carried away by false rumors!’, but looking at the recent situation in Korea, we see that trivial ‘false rumors’ are flying everywhere and spreading. People are being misled by them and committing various unethical acts that break the wartime posture without a care in the world. This is the reality of the situation.

Many have been punished for this. The enemy is not confined only to those who take up their guns and challenge us to war. Those who spread rumors and mislead the public are also clearly the enemy. They are enemies to be feared more than any military force, for nothing destroys the morale of the people more quickly than rumors, and nothing inhibits military morale more quickly than rumors. Rumors are a formless and sharp weapon that can be used in ideological warfare, because they confuse people’s thinking and destroy their readiness to cooperate in war, thereby seriously affecting the completion of the Holy War.

Our empire is poised to be absolutely invincible in armed warfare, and there is no need whatsoever to worry. The key to victory in future battles will depend solely on the victory or defeat of the people in ideological warfare and war production.

However, when it comes to the people’s attitudes toward this ideological warfare, regrettably, there are still some points that cannot be said to be perfect. As I mentioned earlier, the reality is that there are many rumors being spread throughout every part of Korea by all social classes, so it cannot be said that the entire nation has a firm belief in victory.

They are carelessly saying things that anyone would consider to be false rumors that are far removed from the truth. Based on these false rumors, they hoard and panic buy in a hurry, they are reluctant to offer their goods for sale, or they hide their goods.

It is truly regrettable that there is no end to the number of individualists who are only concerned with their own well-being. Those who take advantage of the Japanese people’s relaxed and trusting nature to spread false rumors in an attempt to disturb their thinking should be called national traitors, working as pawns of the enemy, leading their thoughts into confusion, and sabotaging the Greater East Asia War. These are unforgivable acts at a time of national emergency in the autumn.

One of the most boring and trivial recent rumors is this: “There was once an animal named Geon (건/件) which had the body of a cow and the head of a human. When it was born, it said that the war will end with Japan’s victory in September, whereupon it immediately died. Geon would never tell a lie. Writing ‘Just like Geon’ on a debt acknowledgment form is never a mistake. Geon made a vow with certainty, so the war will probably be over in September, just as Geon said.” That rumor spread all over the place, so that Geon was allegedly born in Busan, then born in Wonsan and Seongjin [now Kimch’aek, North Korea]. Even in mainland Japan, Geon was also born in Nagasaki and Kagoshima. This rumor spread so much, that there were people writing letters about it.

The feeling that the war will be over comes from the wish that it will be over soon. They will feel a sense of relief, and their hearts will start to relax. However, in the worst case scenario, if the war is not over by September, and their expectations are not met, it can be said that it is not impossible for people to feel disappointed and even pessimistic about the war. In some regions, there is a saying, “This year is a good harvest year, but there will be an epidemic of bad diseases. To avoid this, you should immediately make and eat adzuki bean porridge.” This superstitious rumor has caused a great deal of confusion among the people, who were panic buying glutinous rice and adzuki beans.

These are just trivial examples, but the results are truly horrifying. If the enemy were to spread counter-propaganda about daily life and the war situation that sound like the truth, and people fall for it and start spreading false rumors, then it would be a serious problem. Even if this is not the case, the number of groups buying goods will suddenly increase due to such rumors as “matches will run out,” “the price of cigarettes will rise,” “clothing will be placed under a ticket rationing system,” and “miso and soy sauce will be rationed”. What if this is the enemy’s plot?

Even if it is not a plot by the enemy, to be misled by false rumors and do such a thing on one’s own is clearly to fall into the enemy’s hands. If the crafty Americans and the British knew about this, they might stick out their red tongues in the shadows and punish the honest Japanese with their own hands. Each and every citizen must be very vigilant.

No matter what false rumors fly, no matter when a shortage of goods may come, as long as we have the Japanese spirit and the Yamato spirit, we will not be misled by this and we will not complain or grumble. Right now, we must only think of winning the war. If only we cooperate in every way possible to win the war, that is all that is necessary. Those who forget to cooperate in this way and act in their own self-indulgent way are national traitors who have broken the war posture. It is safe to say that they are enemy people, and they must be dealt with firmly.

What will be left after defeat in war? We will only become slaves of the enemy. War is now approaching closer and closer to us. It is literally dreadfully intense, and the generals on the front lines are engaged in a bloody struggle to the death. Our relatives have been honorably called to fight for the sake of their Emperor, for the sake of Imperial Japan, and they are fighting with a grim determination to win this war, even if their bodies are shattered to pieces.

We who defend the home front must win. If we forget the feelings of these generals during this war and are misled by false rumors into committing immoral acts, we will not only be sorry to the generals on the front lines, but we will also completely lose the war on the home front.

Let me repeat this again. The enemy is desperately waging ideological warfare. We must be careful not to fall for this and become national traitors ourselves.

Source: https://www.archive.org/details/kjnp-1944-04-11

(Transcription)

京城日報　1944年4月11日

乗るな流言

武力より恐ろしい敵の謀略

常会向放送：八木保安課長檄

八木本府保安課長は十日午後八時京城放送局から愛国班常会向けの放送を行い、”流言蜚語に迷うな”と左の要旨を強調した。

『流言蜚語に迷うな』と今更こと新しくいう必要はないと思うのであるが、最近の朝鮮内の状況を見ると到るところにつまらぬ『デマ』が飛び、流言が拡がっており、これに迷わされ色々戦時態勢を破るような不徳行為が平然と行われているが、如き実情にある。

これがため処罰された者も少なくない。銃を執って我に戦を挑むもののみが敵ではない。流言を流布して社会の人心を惑乱するのも明かに敵である。いな武力より以上に怖るべき敵である。なんとなれば流言ほど速やかに国民の士気を破壊し、軍の士気を沮喪せしむるものはないのであって、国民の思想を混乱させ、戦争協力態勢を破壊して聖戦完遂に重大な影響を及ぼす敵が思想戦に用うる形なき鋭利なる武器であるからである。

我が帝国は武力戦に於いては絶対不敗の態勢が整っており、決して心配はいらない。今後の戦勝の鍵は一に懸って国民の思想戦、生産戦における勝敗にあると申さねばならぬ。

然らばこの思想戦に対応する国民の心構えはどうかと言う点になると、遺憾ながら一部には未だ完全とは申せない点があり、先程述べた如く沢山の流言が鮮内各地、各階層に流布されている実情から見ても、国民全体に確固たる必勝の信念が出来ているとは申せないのである。

誰が考えても事実無限の『デマ』であると思われるようなことを平然といったり、またこの『デマ』に基いて慌てて買い溜めしたり、買い漁りしたり、或いは供出を嫌がったり、匿したりする。

自分さえよければよいというような個人主義者が跡を絶たないことは誠に遺憾なことと申さねばならぬ。敵が此の弛んだ然も何事でも信用し易い日本人の心につけ込んで盛んに『デマ』を飛ばして思想攪乱を図っているのを真に受けて『デマ』を飛ばすような人は敵国の手先となって国民思想を混乱に導き大東亜戦争の妨害をしている非国民というべきで、国家非常の秋に於いて許し難い行為である。

最近の極めくつまらぬ流言にこういうのがある。『ある所に”件”という”頭が人間の体が牛”の動物が生れて今度の戦争は九月になれば日本の勝利の裡に終るといってすぐに死んだ。件というものは決して嘘を言わないものだ。借用証書に於いて如件と書くのは決して間違いでない、確実だという誓いであるから、此の件のいったように戦争は九月に済むだろう』という流言が各地にある。すると間もなく釜山にも生れた。元山にも、城津にも生れた。内地でも長崎、鹿児島に生れたという風に段々拡がって甚だしいのは手紙でそういうことを書き送る者も出て来た始末である。

戦争が済むのだという気分は早く済んだらよいという気持ちから生ずる。やれやれという安堵感を与えて心の弛みを生じ、悪くすると九月になって戦争の済まない場合には期待外れがして、もういけない、駄目だという厭戦気分を生ずることさえないとはいえぬ。又或る地方では『今年は豊年であるが、悪い病気が流行する。これを免れる為に直ぐ小豆の粥を作って食べるとよい』という迷信的な流言が飛んだ為に、糯米や小豆の買い漁りで大混乱をした事例もある。

これらは実につまらない一つの例に過ぎないが、その結果は誠に恐ろしいものがある。ましてや敵が日常生活や戦況等について事実らしく逆宣伝をして来た場合、これに乗ってつまらぬ『デマ』を飛ばすということになると大変なことになる。それでなくとも『マッチが無くなる』『煙草の値が上がる』『衣類が切符制になる』『味噌も醤油も配給になる』などの流言によって急に買出し部隊が増えるという有様で、これが敵の謀略であったらどうであろうか。

敵の謀略でなくても『デマ』に惑わされて自らそういうことをすることは明かに敵の思う壺に嵌ったことになるのであって、狡猾なアメリカやイギリス人が知ったらなら蔭で赤い舌を出して此の手で正直な日本人をうんと懲らしてやれということになるかも知れない。国民の一人一人が充分警戒しなければならないことである。

如何なる『デマ』が飛ぼうが、如何なる品不足の時が来ようが厳然たる日本精神、大和魂さえ持っておればこれに惑わされ、不平や不満は出ないと思う。吾々は現在唯戦争に勝つことを考えなければならぬ。戦争に勝つためにあらゆる協力をさえすれば、それでよいのである。この協力を忘れ流言を迷って一人よがりの行為をするものは戦争態勢を破る国賊であり、敵国人といっても差支えはないのであって、断乎処断すべきである。

戦争に破れて何が残ろうか。敵の奴隷となるのみである。今や戦争は益々吾々の身近に迫っている。文字通り凄愴苛烈であって、第一線の将兵は血みどろの死闘を続けているのである。吾々の肉親は名誉の御召を受けて只大君の御為に、日本帝国の為にたとい身は粉に砕けようとも、この戦争に勝たねばならぬと悲壮な決意で戦っておられるのである。

銃後を守る吾々が勝たねばならぬ。此の戦争中に於いてこの将兵の気持ちを忘れ、流言に惑わされて不徳行為をするようなことがあっては前線の将兵に申し訳がないのみでなく、銃後の戦争に完全に敗れることになる。

重ねて申し上げる。敵は必死となって思想戦を展開している。私どもはこれに乗って自ら国賊とならぬよう注意せねばならぬ。