[KS] Official end of WWII in Asia

[Tobias Lehmann]

Hi Jim,

I completely agree with your reference to militant nationalism at the end of your last mail but I'm not quite sure whether it is exclusively a Korean phenomenon or rather a regional configuration of nationalism and I do think that there are differences between the North and the South at least after such a long period of division. I don't think that neither Japanese nor Chinese would behave so much differently under similar historical circumstances. As you said, the Chinese sincerely regret that they were not brave enough to show such national sacrifices than the Koreans did. Actually such claim may make the Korean nationalism in some parts of the society even more militant and proud of their national achievements...

Best, Tobias Lehmann

  
 
-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 16:25:30 -0700
> Von: Jim Thomas <jimpthomas at hotmail.com>
> An: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Betreff: Re: [KS] Official end of WWII in Asia

> 
> Dear all,
> Sorry, I got my "Yoos" and "Yoons" confused; the first line of my earlier
> post should read "Kwang-On Yoo."
> And the fifth line should read "Provincial (sic) [Provisional] Government.
> as Professor Ledyard and Dr. Richards both pointed out.
> My oversights.
>  
> And while I am at it, I might also problematize the claim that the Korean
> example [of notable operatives like An and Yoon carrying out clandetine
> missions against the Japanese colonial leadership] "positively influenced the
> Chinese at the time," because I  do not believe that this helped the
> Chinese ani-Japanese efforts materially. Also, while it may have provided a
> positive example psychologically at that time, Chinese scholars (mostly from
> Hong Kong and Taiwan) who have shared their feelings with me in recent years
> have opined that the Chinese have something of an inferiority complex
> vis-a-vis the Koreans (again, not something positive), because of the way in
> which a number of Korean individuals--and not their fellow Chinese
> countrymen--sacrificed their lives for the cause of the nation. This is not to
> criticize (or diminish) the Chinese resistance to the Japanese military campaign,
> only to suggest that--to many Chinese--"the Japanese advance into China
> would have been much less effective had more Chinese acted as the Koreans did."
> In any case, both An and Yoon seem to be well known among the Chinese
> today and are commonly cited as nationalist heroes "the likes of which the
> Chinese need more of," as one colleague from Hong Kong put it.
>  
> Of course, I do not subscribe to counterfactual history--especially not to
> such versions of it. But this case does help illuminate certain
> distinguishing featurs of the Korean brand of what I would call militant nationalism,
> which was awakened in the late 19th Century and which is alive and well in
> both halves of the peninsula today. 
> best,
> jim  
> 
>  
> 
> 
> Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 11:51:35 -0500
> From: lovehankook at gmail.com
> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Subject: Re: [KS] Official end of WWII in Asia
> 
> Dear Mr. Jim Thomas,
> 
> Thank you very much for the clarification.
> That was the exact message I hoped to relay. As you pointed out Mr. Yoon's
> act
> had positively influenced Chinese at the time.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Kwang-On Yoo
> 
> 
> 2010/9/6 Jim Thomas <jimpthomas at hotmail.com>
> 
> 
> Dear Listserve members,
>  
> If I may, and so that we do not digress further, the point of Mr. Kwang-On
> Yoon's original posting, was that 
> A) "the narrator of the film footage of the Japanese surrender mentions
> that the Japanese Foreign Minister, Sigemitsu Mamoru (ñìÎÃЭ) was
> wounded by a Korean patriot and walks on an artificial leg," 
> B) I"n 1932, upon learning that the Japanese were going to have a ceremony
> in a Shanghai park to commemorate their recent victory over China in a
> Shanghai skirmish and to celebrate their Emperor's birthday, Mr. Kim Ku (±è
> ±¸), the then President of the Korean Provincial Government (the
> government in exile) and Yoon Bong-Gil (À± ºÀ±æ) concocted a plan to
> eliminate Japanese leadership in China," 
> C) "with money sent by Koreans in the U.S., Mr. Kim Ku ordered two bombs
> made by the Nationalist Chinese Ordinance Depot in Shanghai," 
> D) "On April 29th, 1932, during the ceremony in the Shanghai park, Yoon
> detonated one bomb on the troop review stage, killing General Sirokawa
> Yosinori (ÛÜô¹ëùöÎ), who was the overall commander of Japanese forces in
> China. The bomb also wounded several other military commanders as well as
> Sigemitsu Mamoru, who was the then Japanese Ambassador to China at the
> time," and 
> E) "the City of Shanghai sets aside one day to remember him [Yoon].
>  
> All of these pieces are important, but the last is what interests me most.
> This is because, over the years, numerous Chinese colleagues have remarked
> positively on the bravery of Korean risistance fighters and their
> willingness to die for the cause (of independence, liberation, freedom, etc.),
> which make them and other Chinese envious of the Korean resistance movement and
> the nationalist cause. So even if Korea did not "win its independence" on
> its own, it did mount a resistance and does have a pantheon of heroes who
> did resist and have now been canonised in the ROK and the DPRK--in a way
> that perhaps early resistance (ie 1931-1945) Chinese figures have not been
> canonized. It seems that this sets Korea and China apart--at least among
> Koreans and Chinese. Likewise, the U.S. has its Revolutionary War heroes who
> "waged war for independence" (often in clandestined missions), while Canada
> does not. Martyred heroes are central to modern nationalism (just consider
> the Tillman Story). 
>  
> But however we might judge the moral justifications of those who resisted
> (be they suicide bombers or non-violent peaceniks), it seems that we can
> acknowledge certain historical facts and make certain assessments about them,
> independently from our (i.e. current) judgements about the "violent"
> tactics used or the scruples of the principals involved.
> jim
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> General Chiang Kai-sheck, the then Nationalist Chinese Premier stated,  "A
> young Korean patriot has accomplished something tens of thousand of
> Chinese soldiers could not do." Ever since, finally,  he and his government
> extended their full support to the Korean Provincial Government.
> 
>  Mr. Yoon was later executed in Japan at the age of 24, 
> 
> 
>  		 	   		  

-- 
Tobias Lehmann
German language lecturer

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