Sally+Park+KRW+Interview

Korean War Interview


1. How old were you when the Korean War happened? 2. Who did you have with you through the hardships of the war, family, friends? 3. Where were you living at the time of the first attack? 4. How did you feel at the time? 5. What can you recall of what the people were like at the beginning of the war, when perhaps people started to find out that the North Koreans were attacking? 6. What is your view on unification now? 7. Were you supporting the North communist government or South democratic government? 8. How did the South government treat civilians of the South or any Korean? 9. Were there any moments you wanted to join the communist party because of matters of survival? 10. Who did you think would ultimately win the war? 11. Did the war change the lifestyle you had? If so, how did it change? 12. What event do you remember the most throughout the war, good or bad?





media type="file" key="asian st. A - interview SP.mp3"


On the first day of the attack, it was another morning. But suddenly there were sounds of guns and soldiers coming from the North passing through the crossroads near the house of my grandfather. And a soldier came by, who had probably been injured by battle, asking for food. The soldiers suffered especially throughout the war. Especially at the beginning of the war when South Korea did not have an official and trained large military. At first no one thought it would last the three years that it actually did. The North believed that they could take over and convert the South into a communist state. Although my grandfather was and still is against the oppressive nature of communism, he is not completely for the current educational system of teaching in a sense of superiority of democracy. Depending on what type of government people live in, the educational system is based on a different ideology. However, he is for the unification of the North and the South. It should not be under a communist government though, but a more free democratic system of the South. I also tried to ask if he was for or against the refugees and South Korean activist sending messages to the North. He answered that the North citizens have the right to know what the outside world is like. And it is the fault of the North Korean government for oppressing every right of the people.

 Analysis Questions
1) How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians? In the documents read in class, they told the experiences of suffering. Not only hunger and survival, but the civilians struggled to find a job and survive through the war. During the interview, my grandfather emphasized how chaotic life was through the war. The people of the South did not have much response to the war, except that everyone was worried about finding a job and surviving through the war.

2) Using your background knowledge try to contextualize their testimony. How do you think major events of the war affected their life at the time? The majority of the interview with my grandfather, he talked about mostly of the day the first attack. Throughout the whole interview, my grandfather constantly told how the atmosphere of the people in Seoul were. Everyone simply realized that Korea had entered a war. However, did not react much to the fact that Korea entered a war. Therefore I think the war did not physically affect the life of the people especially in Seoul, but more mentally.

3) Hypothesize or explain how you interviewee was able to stay out of danger. I am not sure, but according to my grandfather's testimony there was not as much violence as I expected. Even when I tried to ask if there was any violence, trying to confirm the documents I read, my grandfather did not say much of violence. Instead, he stated that the teaching system these days are based on a democratic system which teaches people the bad side of communism and a better side of democracy. 