Tim+Lee+KRW+Interview

Asian Studies Korean War Interview

Release Form
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Interview Questions
1. What is your name? What is your age? What is your job? Were you living in the Northern or Southern part of Korea before the war? Were you wealthy? 2. Could you describe vividly what has happened at the beginning of the war? 3. During the war, how did u make yourself safe? 4. During the war, what did south or North Korea government say to their citizens? 5. Could you describe the involvement of the foreign troops during the war? 6. What was life like in general? What was life like for the children and elders? 7. How did people change compared to the period before the war? 8. Could you describe the trip? 9. Could you describe what happened to your other relatives? 10. Why do you think the war occurred? 11. How did the communist treat South Korea's citizens when invading? 12. If you have any more interesting experiencing during the war, could you tell me?

Interview Podcast
Here is the link http://leetdh1028.podomatic.com/entry/2008-12-07T06_58_45-08_00

Translated(summarized) Podcast
TEXT I interviewed my grandma on 12/7/2008 about the Korean War. She sometimes digressed from the question, so I will not directly translate but summarize what she basically told me. Number one, my grandma's name ls 최정숙, and she is currently 76 years old. She was a high school freshman and lived in Seou cityl, specifically a town named 돈암동. When the war occurred. She was quite rich compared to other people during this period. According to her, the war started on sunday, but the citizens of south Korea were informed about the war on monday. So, on monday, she went to the school just like she used to, and learned the fact that the war has occurred. Her parents heard that it is not safe to stay in house, so she and her family evacuated to a strongly built building that is located at the town named 명동 to protect themselves from bombing. However, according to her, she went back to her home to get something important. She expected many bombing and gun shooting, but she could not hear much war sound. And Seoul itself was not really devastated by much. Hence, she guesses that at the beginning of the war, not many north Korean soldiers invaded Seoul, or the South Korean soldiers tried extremely hard to defend the capital. According to my grandma, few days after the start of the war, Seung-man Rhee, the Korea president at that time announced that Seoul will be safe. However, She and her family decided that Seoul will be dangerous and left Seoul. She later found out that the Han River bridge, that connects Seoul from other parts of Korea, was destroyed(bombed) soon after the announcement. During the evacuation from Seoul, my grandma's parents owned a train company, so they tried to evacuate using train, but the US soldiers stopped them and my grandma and her family had to abandon all of their belongings in the train and had to evacuate by foot. Also, she said that North Koreans kidnapped any people who were wealthy and her parents were also wanted by the North Korean police. So, my grandma and her family had to evacuate fast. During the evacuation, she saw many US troops, and she sometimes saw the soldiers asking for coffee. Moreover, she claimed that when the citizens were evacuating, the US soldiers guided the citizens to evacuate. During the evacuation, she could not see many elders nor children because she herself was very busy with her own life, and she claimed that many of the elders stayed at home. My grandma also stated that when evacuating, people did not really steal serious things much, at least her family's own properties were not stolen. However, she sometimes saw shoes or a bag missing if she did not get up early. Also, she said that her family and other relatives evacuated with each other, but during the evacuation, they got separated because there were so many people evacuating. She insisted that she has never seen so many people move at the same time in her life. Indeed, she also added that she has lost her dog during the evacuation. In addition, she described that the evacuation was a total disorder because not many people knew the correct way to reach the most Southern part, so some people went through mountains and some people just followed other people. I asked her how she managed to eat. She simply said she just went into a random house, and used the pot to cook rice that she had carried during the evacuation. So many people used the same pot that she once tried to cook a rice but found out that the pot's bottom was gone because so many people had used it. Moreover, she had another dog, and because the food was very scarce, she caught frogs and gave it to her dog instead of proper dog meals. She also said as the war progressed, she simply visited random house and ate foods that the previous owner had left in the house. I asked her a question, "Why do you think the war occurred?" she was not sure why, but she was very positive that the North Korea started the war. During the war, she claimed that the communists arrested many people and forced them to go somewhere. She guesses that they were taken for forced labor. Indeed, when the communists were evacuating, she had many of her friends arrested and dragged away by the communists soldiers. I asked what happened to Seoul when the war was over, and she simply said that there was not much damage. She stated that her house was fine, and her town was not damaged by much too. However, she told me that her house and the police office was used as the headquarter for the North Korean communists. After the war was over, her family did not really starve because they buried many food underground. However, her family had to start everything all over again because they lost almost every wealth because the war. Audio media type="file" key="asian studies translated.mp3"

ANALYSIS QUESTIONS
Most of what my interviewee said were true, however, I found some of the things that I never knew, or expected before. For example, I never knew Seoul was not damaged by much during the War. I thought Seoul was devastated by bombing but I was wrong. Moreover, I never knew the North Koreans only sent few troops or the South Korean soldiers defended the capital at the beginning of the war. I thought Seoul was devastated right after the war started. In addition, I never knew that the US soldiers organized and guided the evacuating Korean citizens. I also never expected Seoul to be not much damaged even after the war. My grandmother claimed that her house and the police office were used as the North Korean soldiers’ headquarter. I actually expected North Korean would destroy everything in Seoul, but I was wrong. The war definitely affected my grandmother greatly. During the evacuation, she had to get up extremely early and it was hard to eat food even though she had rice because there were not many cooking pots and fire available. She also had to lose her friends because some of her school friends were forcefully dragged away by some communist soldiers when they were retreating. Moreover, her family had to restart everything because they lost every wealth during the war. She simply evacuated with her parents and she were able to stay out of danger. When the war first occurred, she hid in a strongly built building that was owned by her dad. When the war progressed, she simply evacuated to the Southern part of Korea with her parents. To my surprise, she experienced only few bombings. She does not remember which road she took, and she claimed that the road that she took did not have much bombing.
 * 1. How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians?**
 * 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?**
 * 3. Hypothesize or explain how you interviewee was able to stay out of danger.**