Se+JIn+Paik+KRW+Interview

  __**__ KOREAN WAR INTERVIEW __**__ **Podcast!** media type="file" key="Interview Translation.mp3"
 * Interview Questions with Answers and Translations**

1. Can you explain briefly about your age, what status you were at that time, and what other background information you had during the Korean War? I was 19 years old, in high school 10~11th grade,getting ready to get into college. During the war, I was a student and almost all students were forced to go to the volunteer army camp on the North side. The volunteer army camp was for students or other civilians that were not fully trained as official soldiers to go and fight for the war. Luckily, I was able to escape the camp and hide out in the country side. 2. These couple of days in school, I have been learning about the Korean War, and it seems as though it has been very brutal. What can you say about the violence, and the mental harm that was brought by the War? The war between the South and North Koreans were extremely violent; too violent to even describe. Both sides did some very brutal acts toward each other. Some of these actions include tying people's feet and wrists together and mindlessly shooting them all. It was so hard to see the scenes live and I did actually see many of those gruesome scenes. To tell you one scene I vividly remember was when there were seven people lined about near the creek being shot one by one, without any remorse. I was quite far away, but the fact that I saw it was unbelievable. 3. What did you at that time think of the war as? Did you know specifically what was happening? Did you see on the news or on the streets of actual killing or scenes of war? Wars are not necessary and we should get rid of them in the world. Especially looking into the Korean War, we are a country and it is hard to imagine the division of how we think and our political views. Not only that, the normal innocent civilians involved in the war did not deserve any of the things that they saw. They would take a random amount of people and throw them into a storage room and torture them. 4. Did you by any chance have any family members or friends, or anyone you knew being carried away by the communist or who fled? I had a cousin who was captured in the 1st part of the war, and then in the 2nd part of the war fled. He had nothing to do with the war and was still captured with out any specific reason. Also, those that were rich or were living quite well were immediately accused and taken away.My father at the time past away when I was young 5. What are you most disappointed about this war? The fact that the same people of the same country had to fight a war about our different views were not that satisfying. We should be able to understand each side and try to cooperate. That is what is so disappointing. 6. Do you, by any slightest bit, feel ashamed of your country or proud? Why is that so? I am mostly ashamed of the war because first how we were so not prepared for the war and the reason why we started it. North Koreans were preparing all along to attack when the South Koreans were not full aware. So when the North Koreans intruded, it was very sudden and dismaying. (And this is from the South Korean side.) The North Koreans attacked on a Sunday and in four days they took over Seoul, and went down almost to Daegu. The only part I am proud of the country from this war are the students who fought courageously. 7. How did your parent's react to this war? What did they tell you? How much involvement did they have? My father past away so he was not able to tell me a lot but the person I heard about the war from the most was my brother-in-law. Since this was a time when everybody was being captured away to camps, he planned quickly and ran away to his cousins house. He was able to hide there for three months 8. What do you think should've happened for the Korean War to not have started? Do you think the control of the Soviet Union and United States had any influence? We should've realized our problems and differences earlier and tried to peace out everything. Also, since the North Koreans attacked first, they should've notified us before actually invading our part of the land. The soviets and United States did have a lot of involvement in the war--they were basically in charge of most of the plans and last minute decisions. 9. Have you ever seen these scenes before? Which side do you think was more brutal in handling people, the South or North Koreans? Yes, I saw these scenes almost all the time when I looked out the window or was passing by in the streets. 10. What do you think is the essential idea that we, as students and 21st century people should know about the Korean War? We should be able to take the mistakes and misled ideas from the war and know how to deal with it. Students should be able to hold their firm belief against what is right and stick to it. There should not be confusion or a shake in their thoughts. This is the type of war that should never happen again. 11. When do you think the South and North Koreans will unite? Definitely not in the near future. I do not have a good feeling about our unification because first, South Korea is a bit more wealthier than North Korea, which will make an unbalanced economy and social relations. Also, it is not that easy unifying, because of the cultural and political differences we had. So even if we do unite, it will not be soon and it will not happen as easily as we think. 12. Do you also think it is necessary to make this war more global and noticable to the world? We certainly need to inform the world about this issue because it is something that world needs to know about and although in some parts in may be embarrassing, other countries can learn from our experiences as well. 13. What was it like before the war between South and North Korea? How did it evolve into a war? South Korea and North Korea before was not as bad as it was when it was in the war. There was a lot of influence by the Soviets and U.S. 14. How was the propaganda involved in this war? Was it hidden or open? Some of it was hidden and some of it was open. The parts that were open though were not exactly right and the information was false many times. 15. After the war the country was in total despair, however, Korea now is a strong, top leading countries in the world...how do you think we came this far? Park Jung Hee President took control over Korea after the war and he changed Korea tremendously in improving the environment and social relations amongst the people. He build dams and roads and made a lot of projects for the country to work on giving jobs and etc.

**Analysis Question** 1) How does your interviewee's testimony fit in with what you have learned about the experience of civilians?  As I have learned these couple of weeks about the Korean War, I merely thought of it as a violent, brutal, and selfish war. However, as I have finished the interview today, my thoughts have changed. This war was not just a violent war; it was a damage and impact to each and every individual during that period. Although the existence of the war might stay in record, the war memories are going to fade away, year by year, century by century. Someday in the future, there is not going to be a single person that will remember, and it feels as though it is our duty to get as much information and research as possible before they fade away.    With the help of the interview, I was able to fit in visual pictures of the descriptions I learned in class and was able to hear a live version of what the situation during wartime was. It surely felt different—listening to someone experienced, verse a simple textbook with millions of words. My interview also helped me to answer questions that the textbook could not fully explain—and those were the opinions and views of the war. The textbook can only go to some extent and it does not provide insights about the humanly emotions about 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?  Around my age, and that age is old enough to remember much of the things that he saw. Although he was not a soldier who fought the actual scenes of war, his everyday life was full of horror. Like my grandfather mentioned in the play, he would see random killings of people, not just one, but a dozen. It struck him how unnecessary wars are and a question about how humans can act in such ways. His memories still affect him until now with the thought of shame and disunity. Seeing North Korea and South Korea fight like they are worst enemies made my grandfather worried about the country and made him think about how it was possible. He stated, “Being a country, it means to negotiate and share peace. We may have some ideas that might be different, but that does not mean we have to kill our own brothers and neighbors to make what we think right.” This quote demonstrates that major wars have impacted him in such ways of rethinking his country and being unsatisfied with Korea. 3) Hypothesize or explain how you interviewee was able to stay out of danger.  Since he was a student during this war period, he was suppose to enter a volunteer army camp for the North Korean communists. They would come by and pick the students up, however, my grandfather was able to escape away into the countryside. He had to stay home and indoors almost until the war ended and listened to all the news that his cousins and distant relatives told him. During these couple of weeks in school, we have been learning about the Korean War and its tremendous casualties and harm that it put on Korea and its history. Using primary sources, researches, books, and textbooks, we were able to broaden our view on the Korean War and understand more deeply about the topic. However, war scenes can only be told and visualized until a certain extent with the use of books or textbooks. But that was not the end. With our final project being an interview, I was able to encounter something that I may have never felt before. The interview being my grandfather, he was able to conceptually help me understand the scenes in the war and the variety of perspective people had. My grandfather was 19 years old in high school around 10th and 11th grade. He was supposed to be taken to the volunteer army camp, however he escaped safely to the countryside and hid out. From there, he consistently saw abusive scenes of shooting people and torturing people. He said that it was not a scene that should’ve happened and every bit of it was so sudden and dismaying. He hated seeing the North Koreans and South Korean’s demanding so much from each other when they were the same type of people. He also mentioned about his family and how they influenced him during the war. His father past away when he was young so he didn’t get to hear much from him, however his cousins and brother-in-laws were very much involved in the war itself. Just like him, they all managed to escape from the war and hide out. One of his cousins were actually captured and taken away, but in the 2nd part of the war, he survived and fled back. In the end, we talked about the result of the war and how much turmoil it has left Korea. He says that he has seen the very beginning of the war, till the end and he knows exactly how the war evolved into. At the end of the war, he says that there was nothing on the streets, dead people everywhere and it was as if a whole new world was ahead of him. With the help of a good, caring leader, Korea was able to stand back up and develop until the 21st century. My grandfather says that he is very disappointed in the war and everything that has led Korea to it. The fact that both sides of the peninsula turning back on each other, and the brutal crimes---however he leaves a space for his love for the country—the fact that we, as a country is working hard to reunite and correct our mistakes.
 * Essay**