[KS] Human Bombs

[Ruediger Frank]

Dear list,

my warmest thanks to all who have so kindly shared their knowledge on the
question of North Korea's population in 1945. I really appreciate your support.

On another issue: After having read Sheila Miyoshi Jager's book (Narratives of Nation
Building in Korea: A Genealogy of Patriotism), where she mentioned the Statue of Brothers,
I felt like visiting the Korean War museum in Seoul a few months ago. Inside, I think it
was the second floor, I
was intrigued to see another, much smaller bronze statue honoring three (or was it four?)
ROK "human bombs" during the Korean War. Obviously due to my ignorance, I had previously
associated this term only with North Korea (in particular in connection with slogans like
"let's turn into human bombs" etc., often quoted by Western media with at least indirect
reference to 9-11). Among the latest instances was the Jan. 2006 New Year Joint Editorial.

Now I read a post on another list about Japanese "human bullets" during the Russo-Japanese
War (Tadayoshi Sakurai. Human Bullets: A Soldier's Story of the Russo-Japanese War), and
then of course the kamikaze etc. a few wars later came to my mind, as did the stories +
comics that I read during my childhood in the Soviet Union about Red Army heroes who
personally delivered a hand grenade to a German bunker, although I do not remember the
term "human bomb". A quick google search of "human bomb" reminded me of the suizide
bombings in the Near and Middle East and Sri Lanka.

Clearly, the concept of "human bomb" or "human bullet" seems to have been known with a
positive connotation to other (East) (Asian) nations during various periods, although I was
not able to find any reference to these terms in connection with China. Is anyone out
there who has done some serious research on that issue, or, more general, on
self-sacrifice as a virtue and as a military concept in East Asia and Korea? I am just a
curious individual, but of course back in my
mind I expect to find one more instance showing that North Korea is part of something
earthly, not an alien entity from Mars.

All the best,

Ruediger Frank