Hanna+Kim+KRW+Interview

=Leaving a Piece of Korean War Behind: = =Oral History Project =



=Interview Questions:=

CAUTION: There were some extra questions that were asked during the interview in order to clarify certain details.

1. Would you provide a brief background of yourself to the viewer in regards to your name, age, family and your former and current occupations? 2. How exactly old were you on the start of the Korean War? 3. Considering your age at the time of the Korean War, do you still have vivid memories in regards to the event? 4. (If yes) Why do you think the memories of the Korean War are vivid in your head more than other memories? 5. In regards to your age, how were you afflicted during the war? Did it affect you in ways such as school life? Would you explain some difficulties you encountered during the war? 6. How were your families affected in comparison to you? 7. How would you compare your every day life before the war and during the war? 8. Did you witness dreadful scenes that you would not like to recall such as massive civilian death or bombing? 9. Did you notice any foreign influence during the war? 10. Many say that the Korean War was a “war of ideology.” Do you agree? If not, what do you think it was a war of? 11. Why do you think you were able to survive through this time period? What made you and your family to keep going? 12. What do you think you lost from this war? What do you think South Korea lost in this war? How about North Korea? What did we as a whole Korea lose from this war? 13. In your opinion, did each of the nations gain anything from this war? 14. How was your opinion about the North during the war? 15. Weren’t you aware North Koreans were the first one to attack? 16. Do you go for or against unification? Why? 17. You said you are “for unification”; did the Korean War have any influence in forming this opinion? Don’t you have resentment toward North Korea since they were the first one to attack? 18. How did your experience in the Korean War affect your future career? 19. How was it working as the Minister of the National Unification/Deputy Prime Minster? What did you focus on during your career? Again, was this driven from your experience and what you have seen throughout the war? 20. How many times did you visit North Korea? 21. How was your impression of North Koreans? Was this very different from what you felt toward the North Koreans during the war? 22. What was the most memorable trip to the North Korea? 23. How was it like to meet Kim Jung Il? 24. While in your visits to North Korea, you must have noticed the economical gap between the two nations; do you still think it’s possible for the two nations to unify? 25. What’s the biggest problem between North Korea and South Korea that never got solved from the Korean War? 26. How could we solve this? 27. Lastly, is there anything you would like for me to know about that I haven’t asked? Please share your last words with the viewer.

=Release Form:=

CAUTION: The link for the release form did not appear at first, so I made up one with slightly different wordings.



=Podcast:= PART 1 media type="file" key="Oral History Part 1.m4a" PART 2 media type="file" key="Oral History Part 2.m4a" PART 3 media type="file" key="Oral History Part 3.m4a" PART 4: media type="file" key="Oral History Part 4.m4a" PART 5: media type="file" key="Oral History Part 5.m4a"

=Summary Podcast:=

This oral history podcast was conducted in English, thus will not require a summary podcast. :) So, I simply pin pointed some interesting points of the interview.
media type="file" key="Summary Oral History- Hanna.m4a"

My interview was conducted fully in English, thus in this pod cast, rather than summarizing the whole interview, I would like to pin point some interesting parts of my grandfather’s testimony.

My grandfather’s name is Han Wan Sang and he was a professor at the Seoul National University, served as Minister of National Unification as well as Red Cross President. Currently he is working on his own books including his autobiography. During the outbreak of the Korean War, he was 15 years old. Despite his relatively young age, he stated he has vivid memories of the pains of the Korean War. He more over accounted particular dreadful scenes of the war in which villages were bombed and people was screaming out of their house, crying for help. He also recalled other aspects of the war such as the foreign influence. But nonetheless, he shared interesting facts of the Korean War in which he perceived the North Korean soldiers during the first phase of Korean War as a polite and politically trained people. He stated that the inhumane North Korean soldiers appeared only in the second phase of the Korean War, after UN defeating the North Korea forces. He stated that the North Korean soldiers of the second phase of the War were old as 40/50 and appeared to be farmers randomly drafted, which drew direct contrast with the professional soldiers of the first phase of the war.

In regards to my question, asking him to identify the losses he and his families had to go through during the war, he identified many. He said they lost property, opportunity and some parts of future. He specifically showed his resentment of no being able to attend school and consequently losing a valuable opportunity in which he can learn more. In regards to the losses of the nation, he said the three biggest losses were human causalities, destroyed economic infrastructure and military cost. However, nonetheless he said there was one thing we gained from the war: a lesson that war should never be initiated at any costs.

Beyond just simply stating what he observed during the war, during the interview, he also shared what he saw regarding the present and future of the divided Korean peninsula. When I asked him rather he is for or against unification, he stated that by no doubt, he is fully for unification. He said the hate South Koreans feel toward what North Korean did during the past should be a separate matter from the issue of unification. He moreover stated he has no resentment toward North Koreans generally even though he has some reservations toward certain North Korean political elites.

Regarding my question “what is the biggest problem between North Korea and South Korea that never got solved from the Korean War?” He shared his own theory called “antagonistic symbiosis.” He explained this theory in which each of the nations take advantage of the other nation’s flaws in order to rally nationalism of the citizens in order to strengthen governmental stance. When I asked how we could solve, he said both Korea needs to implement sunshine policy in which the two nations embrace each other despite past.

With his last words that unification will only come true when both nations value Concession over Confrontation, Conciliation over Belligerence, I was able to bring an end to a valuable oral history record with my grandfather.

= =

=Analysis Questions:=

1) How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians? I was very intrigued by my grandfather’s testimony regarding the Korean War because it consisted facts that coincided with what we have learned, at same time provided shocking details I would have never expected. Some of the facts that fitted with what we’ve learned were about civilian casualties/loss where villages were bombed and people were screaming out of their house yearning for help. His vivid memories of these people reminded me of the scenes I read in the book Still Life with Rice. The foreign influence he witnessed such as the UN forces including British, Indian and American soldiers were another fact that seemed to correspond with what we have learned. However, the testimony he provided about the North Korean soldiers was completely different from what we have perceived through the primary sources in class. He did admit that North Korean soldiers drafted after the North’s first defeat by the UN was inhumane; But at the same time, he stated that in the first phase of the Korean War, in the first North Korean occupation, the North Korean soldiers were very polite and politically trained that he even talked with them as a teenager.

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? Through this project, my grandfather was able to share with me the losses he experienced during the time of the Korean War. He recalled that because of the Korean War, his school was shut down, and how as a middle school student, he missed his friends and teachers tremendously. He also stated that the gruesome scenes of civilian causalities haunted him in many ways, especially because he was in a sensitive teenage stage. But he shared more details of how he lost many things as a whole family. He told me of how he had to move more to the Southern part of the peninsula and had to abandon his home consequently. Lastly, he also shared with me how these times of the Korean War changed his future tremendously, influencing him later to become a Minister of National Unification.

3) Hypothesize or explain how you interviewee was able to stay out of danger. When I asked this question to my grandfather, he told me it was a mix of reasons. His first explanation to why he was able to stay out of danger was purely because of luck. He explained that some civilian who didn’t do anything against the government will be randomly punished and others were bombed at the right timing. Another reason he stated was because he wasn’t under the North Korean occupation for too long. He shared with me that he only had to leave under North Korean for three months. As UN forces under the leadership of US came and defeated the North Korean troops, life became safer for him.

=Essay:=

Analyze the historical significance of your interview, how has the interview added to your understanding of the war, and how you think it will help us better understand the Korean War in a 1.5 page essay.

“Concession over Confrontation, Conciliation over Belligerence”
At many times, we have seen certain events of history fading away, despite their importance, due to the lack of historical record. Because of this reason, I was especially motivated to conduct this oral history project in which I learned the responsibility as a historian and a Korean descent. More over, the testimony my grandfather provided was something beyond a simple restatement of facts we learned; it gave me a glimpse of what the Korean War was actually like, the identity of present Korea and what is left for the divided Korean peninsula in the future.

The memories my grandfather recalled in regards to the Korean War made me realize the two faces of history: its power and limit. When he shared with me the pain of the Korean War and accounted villages being bombed along with civilians screaming out of their house, crying for help, I noticed these scenes were not much different from what I have witnessed through primary sources in class. What this implied was the power of history in which history never lies; it always speaks the truth in the end. However, a lot of my grandfather’s account included facts that I would have never expected to learn. In one part of his testimony, my grandfather stated that the North Korean soldiers of the first phase of the Korean War (first North Korean occupation) were surprisingly very polite and politically trained. This made me question: “why would I have never learned about this?; why did I always get the impression that North Koreans were cruel to South Koreans during all times of the war?” Later, I began to understand and realize that this was because of the limits of history in which particular people get to be introduced to certain parts of history more than other parts. As a citizen of South Korea, it would’ve been natural for me to be introduced to historical facts of North Korean soldiers’ cruelty more than North Korean soldiers’ courtesy. The oral historical record from my grandfather provided me the opportunity for me to realize these aspects of history, so that I could be cautious about balancing the two in the future.

Another important part about learning history is evaluating the results of the particular historical event. Only knowing what happened during the war doesn’t explore the full part of history since history doesn’t stop in the past. In this aspect, my grandfather helped me to realize the hidden aftereffects of Korean War that still exist in our lifetime. One of the most intriguing aftereffects he identified in which he called it as the biggest problem between the two Korean nations was “antagonistic symbiosis.” He explained this particular theory in which each of the nation use the other nation’s flaws in order to rally its own citizen’s nationalism for the purpose to strengthen their governmental stance. Beyond the identification of the problem, my grandfather further shared policies he implemented during his serving years as a Minister of National Unification such as the sunshine policy in which the two nations were encouraged to embrace each other despite the resentment that they might have from the past. To hear my grandfather’s personal theory and opinion toward the present Korea was something extremely valuable since it was not something I can learn from a simple history textbook.

My grandfather also gave me opportunity to evaluate the future of the divided Korean peninsula. He took his personal memories of the Korean War, present conditions of the both Koreas and shared his opinion in regards Korea’s unification, thus Korea’s future. He said that this vicious cycle of hate would only be terminated when the both parties involved are willing to lose than to win. He stated that Korea would unify when concession is valued over confrontation and conciliation over belligerence. To hear such honest evaluation regarding the Korean unification was a unique experience, different when we discussed in class as a generation who never actually experienced the Korean War.

As a generation who never experienced the Korean War, one cannot deny that there are limits to what we learn and how we perceive things. The oral history record of this project including my grandfather’s testimony will contribute to filling these gaps in. With the help of the generation that experienced the pains of Korean War, we, as current historians, will be able to make their pain worth it for their truthful testimonies will always be left behind for future historians to come.