[KS] Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 58, Issue 15

Sunjoo Kim sunjookim1 at hotmail.com
Fri Apr 18 09:57:20 EDT 2008


Dear Bruce and all,

"The OSS in China, led by Milton Miles and always working closely with  
Chiang Kai-shek's secret service under the notorious Tai Li, also  tried to 
bring Yi Pom-sok (known to Americans as Bum Suck Lee) into  Korea from 
Shanghai in August 1945; it is documented that they did  so, but for reasons 
I have never seen explained, after a short time  the plane turned around and 
took him back out."

Both Kim Chun-yOp and Chang Chun-ha, who accompanied Yi POm-sOk at the time, 
left details in their autobiography on this dramatic story and the reasons 
why the plane that landed on YOUi-do on August 18, 1945 (accroding to Kim) 
but was forced to fly back to China the next day. See:

Kim Chun-yOp, _ChangjOng 2: Na Ui Kwangbokkun sijOl, ha_ (Nanam ch'ulp'ansa, 
1989; 2003): 234-252.
Chang Chun-ha, _Tolbegae_ (Segyesa, 1992; 2005): 299-316.

Sun Joo Kim




----Original Message Follows----
From: Bruce Cumings <rufus88 at uchicago.edu>
Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
Subject: Re: [KS] Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 58, Issue 15
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:28:03 -0500

In re: Doc Rock's story, it is well documented that Preston  Goodfellow, 
Deputy Director of the OSS, arranged for Rhee to be sent  back first to 
Tokyo to meet Gen. Macrthur, and thence to Korea on  MacArthur's personal 
plane, the Bataan, arriving October 16. The  State Department objected to 
this and indeed had objected for years  to Rhee's claim to represent an 
exile government; this smuggling of  Rhee back into Korea (there was no 
commercial air traffic into  Kimp'o) was done over State's strong 
objections. Rhee was then  welcomed in Seoul by Gen. Hodge, who quickly 
worked up a welcoming  ceremony for "UN troops" on October 20, in which Rhee 
was the  featured speaker--thus suggesting that Rhee was the American man in 
  Seoul (a Chalabi, as it were). Goodfellow had told Hodge that Rhee  had 
"more of the American point of view." Within months Hodge grew to  hate 
Rhee, but there is no question that this early American support  greatly 
helped Rhee consolidate his power.

The OSS in China, led by Milton Miles and always working closely with  
Chiang Kai-shek's secret service under the notorious Tai Li, also  tried to 
bring Yi Pom-sok (known to Americans as Bum Suck Lee) into  Korea from 
Shanghai in August 1945; it is documented that they did  so, but for reasons 
I have never seen explained, after a short time  the plane turned around and 
took him back out. This may be the story  Doc Rock has heard. Yi, who was 
quite close to Chiang, came back to  Korea and by mid-1946 had a youth group 
(Korean National Youth)  modeled on Chiang's "Blue Shirts" (the KNY wore 
blue, too). Blue was  the chosen color in the 1930s because black 
(Mussolini), brown  (Hitler) and green (Brazilian dictator) were already 
taken. Lee was  defense minister in the 1948 ROK government.

Bruce Cumings


On Apr 17, 2008, at 11:00 AM, koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws wrote:

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><<------------ KoreanStudies mailing list DIGEST ------------>>
>
>
>Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Freedom Fighter and member of the Shanghai Provisional
>       Government (Reggi Lee)
>    2. Re: Shanghai Provisional Gov't (Michael Robinson)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:24:00 +0900
>From: "Reggi Lee" <reggilee at gmail.com>
>Subject: [KS] Freedom Fighter and member of the Shanghai Provisional
>	Government
>To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
>Message-ID:
>	<8b930470804170724g135faea5jac98a0d6cccacb20 at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>Dear members,
>
>I was wondering if anyone might have heard of a Korean Freedom  Fighter and
>member of the Shanghai Provisional Government (SPG) by the name of  LEE,
>Jung-? (surname LEE); he went by various aliases including:
>
>(in his younger days)
>- HONG, Pa
>- LEE, Hyup
>
>and finally,
>
>- LEE, Chang-il (which later became his legal name and was  registered in 
>his
>"ho-juk doong-bun")
>
>He was from the "HyoRyung Dae-gun" clan, and his father was an  individual 
>by
>the name of LEE, DalJae.
>
>I have heard that there was in existence (current whereabouts  unknown), an
>old photo of him as a young man sitting in the front row (on the  right I
>believe, with hair neatly parted to one side) in front of the  executive
>members of the SPG, including KIM, Ku, RHEE, SungMan, etc.  As far as
>distinguishing features, he had a small mole (birth mark) next to  his left
>upper lip.
>
>There a story that he was sent on a secret mission to Japan by the  SPG 
>(for
>reasons unknown), but on his boat journey over, the Japanese police  
>decided
>to search passengers and check IDs.  Consequently, he was forced to  
>discard
>his belongings and abandon his mission.  Once in Japan however, he
>eventually met with his future wife, SUNG, SoAh, bore two daughters  and 
>two
>sons, and later moved back to Korea before the outbreak of the
>Korean War.  At the beginning of the war, he was abducted by the North
>Koreans and presumably executed.  If still alive, he would be past  100 
>years
>of age.
>
>Any information would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance for your
>consideration,
>
>--
>Reginald J. Lee
>Hanyang University
>Tel: 82-2-2220-1215
>Fax: 82-2-2291-4739
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>Message: 2
>Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:37:25 -0400
>From: "Michael Robinson" <robime at indiana.edu>
>Subject: Re: [KS] Shanghai Provisional Gov't
>To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
>Message-ID: <001201c8a098$8e6e8520$6500a8c0 at Michael>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>Dear Doc Rock:
>
>Some of us who worked at the Asea munje yon'guso during the mid  1970s were 
>privileged to know Kim Junyop and he was full of such  stories. I've never 
>done research in this period, but knowing Kim I  believe his story.  He, of 
>course, was a far different person than  Rhee and with much more 
>progressive politics, Although had he  maneuvered his way into power, who 
>knows what his politics might  have been.
>
>Mike R.
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Dr. Edward D. Rockstein
>   To: Korean Studies Discussion List
>   Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 9:58 AM
>   Subject: Re: [KS] Shanghai Provisional Gov't
>
>
>   Below is a comment (slightly edited) which I posted on Frog in a  Well 
>15 Mar 2006 and may or may not be of interest:
>
>   March 15th, 2006 at 7:20 am
>
>   While this is only tangentially related, it may be of some  interest: In 
>1967 when I was
>   going to Korea as a Fulbright Fellow from Princeton to be  attached to 
>the Asiatic Research
>   Center (???s???-?}?x????) at Koryo University, I met Kim Jun-hyop  from 
>the Center, first at
>   Princeton and later in Seoul. In the course of our association he  told 
>me how he had been
>   in the Japanese Army in China and deserted to join the Korean  
>government in absentia in
>   Shanghai. He related an interesting anecdote about the end of the  war 
>in the Pacific:
>   apparently there was a race on between the State Department, on  one 
>hand, and the OSS to gain control in Seoul as the Japanese were  forced to 
>withdraw. According to Kim (and my
>   fading memory), the OSS loaded up its guys, including Kim, onto  an 
>airplane and flew them to (I believe) Kimp??o to try to set up a  new 
>government while State was hustling Syngman Rhee and his cohort  off from 
>Hawaii. The OSS timing, apparently, was a bit premature,  and the aircraft 
>arrived at Kimp??o before the turnover by the  Japanese, the plane was not 
>permitted to land. In the interim, the  turnover took place, Rhee came into 
>power and, the rest, as they  say, was history.  I wonder if anyone has 
>corroborating or  different information on such a race for control of 
>post-occupation  Korea?
>
>   Regards,
>   Doc Rock
>
>
>
>
>   Dr. Edward D. Rockstein
>   Senior Language Instructor
>   Language Learning Center (LLC)
>   Office 410-859-5672
>   Fax 410-859-5737
>   ed4linda at yahoo.com
>
>   "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too  much 
>liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.  "   Thomas 
>Jefferson
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>--------
>   Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo!  Mobile. Try 
>it now.
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