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<DIV><FONT size=4>Dear friends and colleagues,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Michael Munk has written a fascinating article </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>on a Korean musician couple who became victims</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>of the Cold War. This was completely new to me.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Many thanks to Michael for bringing this to
light.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Much to ponder here, none of it comfortable.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>You can read this at NKNews, or below.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Aidan FC</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB><FONT size=3>Aidan
Foster-Carter<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB>Honorary Senior Research
Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds University, UK</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 8pt" lang=EN-GB> </SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 8pt" lang=EN-GB><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black" lang=EN-GB>E</SPAN></EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-style: italic" lang=EN-GB>: <A title=mailto:afostercarter@aol.com href="mailto:afostercarter@aol.com">afostercarter@aol.com</A><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><A title=mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com href="mailto:afostercarter@yahoo.com">afostercarter@yahoo.com</A><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria">W</SPAN></EM>: <A title=http://www.aidanfc.net/ href="http://www.aidanfc.net/">www.aidanfc.net</A><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Cambria; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://nknews.org/2011/02/11015/">http://nknews.org/2011/02/11015/</A></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
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<H1 style="POSITION: relative; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT: bold 26px/24px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" class=title><A style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(34,34,34); FONT-SIZE: 26px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; TEXT-DECORATION: none; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" title="The Fate of the Kwaks" href="http://nknews.org/2011/02/11015/" rel=bookmark>The Fate of the Kwaks</A></H1>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 5px 0px 25px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(134,134,134); FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" class=post-meta><SPAN style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(66,66,66); FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" class=post-category><A style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(0,131,232); FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; TEXT-DECORATION: none; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" title="View all posts in Opinion" href="http://nknews.org/category/featured-content/opinion-featured-content/" rel="category tag">OPINION</A></SPAN><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>|<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><SPAN style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(66,66,66); FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" class=post-date>FEBRUARY 21, 2011</SPAN><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>BY<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><SPAN style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(66,66,66); FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" class=post-author><A style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(134,134,134); FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; TEXT-DECORATION: none; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" title="Posts by admin" href="http://nknews.org/author/nknews/">ADMIN</A></SPAN><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>|<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><SPAN style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(66,66,66); FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" class=comments><A style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; COLOR: rgb(0,131,232); FONT-SIZE: 11px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; TEXT-DECORATION: none; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial" title="Comment on The Fate of the Kwaks" href="http://nknews.org/2011/02/11015/#respond">0 COMMENTS</A></SPAN></P>
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<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial"><STRONG style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial"><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">By
Michael Munk</EM></STRONG></P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Two
years ago, the media hailed the visit of the New York Philharmonic to
Pyongyang as the great success it surely was. But neither its members
nor their press entourage were aware of the disappearance of a Korean
musician couple in the DPRK, so were unable to make inquiries of their
hosts. Indeed, few anywhere know their story, which lies forgotten in
that notorious “dustbin of history.”</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Chungsoon
Kwak and Choon Cha Kwak were ardent Korean nationalists who
avoided deportation to South Korea from the US during the McCarthy era, by
going to North Korea. They were never heard from again.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Chungsoon
was born in Pyongyang under Japanese colonial rule. As a child
prodigy violinist, he became concert master of the Seoul Central Symphony
orchestra while still in high school and graduated from Chosun Christian
College in 1934. Already a supporter of the underground Korea resistance to
Japanese imperialism, he arrived in the US in the late 1930s to study at
the Chicago Conservatory of Music from which he graduated in 1940.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Choon
Cha was born in Seoul and studied music at Ehwa Women’s College, where she
was also active in the resistance. In 1938 she received a scholarship from
the University of Michigan and earned a degree there in 1941.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">The
couple married in 1942 and moved to New York where Choon Cha
was choirmaster of the Korean Church and Chungsoon was chair of its board
of trustees. They were prominent in the movement of leftist Koreans
students opposed to Sygman Rhee, who was then in US exile.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">With
the US at war with Japan, the couple were recruited by the US Armed Forces
Information and Education Division, where Chungsoon became chief of the
Korean censorship office and Choon Cha was his assistant. After the
war, when the US occupation imported Rhee as its chosen anticommunist
dictator for South Korea, the Kwaks went on to work at the Voice of America
until 1949, when Chungsoon was summarily fired and Choon Cha
resigned in protest. They lost their jobs not only because of their
continued opposition to the US-sponsored Rhee dictatorship, but because
they were radical leftists at a time when McCarthyism was putting all
leftists in the US at risk.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">The
Kwaks’ originally arrived in the US on student visas but with their
wartime government employment, they were issued visitors visas—which made
them eligible for permanent residence after seven years. They applied for
it in 1948, but after they were fired by VOA, their visitor’s visas
were not renewed. Instead, in September 1949, they were deported to
South Korea when their visas expired –a country whose regime they did not
recognize.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Deportation
as radical leftists into the hands of their<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">bete
noir</EM><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>Rhee meant
certain death at best. So the Kwaks fought the order for almost two years,
insisting they were not South Korean citizens. They were however
denied permission to leave for another country. And at the height of the
Korea War in April, 1951 they were arrested and sent to Ellis Island to
await deportation. After the<EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">American
Committee for Protection of the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></EM><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Foreign
Born</EM><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>organized a “Committee
To Defend Chungsoon and Choon Cha Kwak<STRONG style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">”<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></STRONG>to raise bail and hire an
attorney, they cited the certainty of “physical persecution” as grounds
against deportation and declared themselves citizens of the
“Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.” As late as 1952, Chungsoon was
writing for the Los Angeles radical weekly,<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Korean
Independence.</EM><STRONG style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">*</STRONG></P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">After
several years of unsuccessful court appeals, the Department of Justice set
their deportation for April 7, 1954, but deferred implementation until a
similar deportation case of another Korean leftist, Los Angeles architect
David Hyun*, was settled in the courts (Hyun eventually won in 1967). On
March 27, their case finally attracted some public attention when the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">National
Guardian,</EM><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>a leftist weekly,
published a denunciation of the government’s deportation effort as part of
the McCarthy era’s suppression of dissent.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">After
almost two more years, in January, 1957, their defense campaign finally forced
the US government in to allow the Kwaks to leave for Czechoslovakia, which
had offered them transit visas, after which they planned to seek refuge in
North Korea. Their defense committee, which included W.E.B. DuBois, Roger
Baldwin and other prominent Americans, gave the Kwaks a festive
sendoff when they left New York for Prague in early
February.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">They
received permission to go to North Korea from either its Czech or Soviet
Embassy. On their arrival in Moscow, the Embassy arranged seats for them at
several concerts and operas, at which they wrote friends that they enjoyed
“such beautiful Verdi, such graceful Mozart.” And on Feb 26, the Kwaks
wrote<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Guardian</EM><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>editor James Aronson that they “are
leaving for Pyongyang this evening” on the Trans-Siberian railroad
via Vladivostok. They had $1500 left from their defense fund which
they intended to contribute to the post-war reconstruction effort. They said
they had left the US “with few regrets other than leaving so many good friends,”
and looked forward to “really taste the air of a free world.”</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Those
were the last words their American friends ever heard from them. After a year
with not a single letter of the many they had promised to write, Aronson
asked his journalist colleagues in Moscow, Prague and Beijing to make
inquiries of their Korean contacts. Six more months later in July, 1958 his
Moscow colleague, Ralph Parker, reported the good news that, according to his
Korea contacts, the Kwaks were happily working at the Conservatory of Music
in Pyongyang, and that mail would reach them there.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">But
as the Kwaks’ failure to respond to their American friends’ letters continued,
Aronson became increasingly worried. His continued efforts to smoke out
information resulted in hearing that the Koreans were “fed up with
questions” about the Kwaks. But finally in April 1959 when the <EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Guardian</EM>threatened
to publish an article about the missing couple, they heard again from
Moscow that the Kwaks were “just fine,” had a new apartment and that
Choon Cha was still at the Conservatory of Music while Chungsun was now at
the Foreign Languages Publishing House in Pyongyang. At the same time, the
North Korea Embassy in Prague told the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Guardian<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></EM>correspondent there that the
Kwaks, “like any Korean citizens,” could write him if they wished. The
correspondent replied that he didn’t believe that.</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">Twenty
years later, in 1978, the editors of the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">National
Guardian<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></EM><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">finally</EM><EM style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial"><SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></EM>published the Kwaks’ story in
a book,*explaining that they withheld publication in the paper because they
had suspicions but no hard facts, and going public would only provide
propaganda to “a media world salivating for such
[anti-Communist] material.” Still, Aronson admitted, “I have never
been easy in my mind about not publishing the story.”</P>
<P style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">More
than 40 years later and the breakthrough visit of American musicians, the fate
of the Kwaks remains secret, although the suspicion of their leftist
friends that North Korea wrongly judged them to be USspies as they did Alice
Hyun and probably Diamond Kimm,<STRONG style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; OUTLINE-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial">r</STRONG>emains
the most probable end of their
story.</P></DIV></SPAN></SPAN></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>