[KS] Korea during WWII

[Sayaka Chatani]

Based on the interviews I did and memoirs I read in South Ch'ungch'ŏng, there were a few occasions of bombings here and there. GGK established many lookout stations (防空監視哨) as well. But the scale of casualties was very small. There was no carpet bombing or massive air raids like the ones they had in Japan or Taiwan.

Sayaka Chatani
Ph.D. candidate
International and Global History, Columbia University


On Jun 10, 2013, at 8:42 PM, カプリオマークE <caprio at rikkyo.ac.jp> wrote:

> This is an interesting question seeing that the US did bomb Taiwan. My guess is that US bombing missions were inching their way north and the Korean peninsula was not on that route at the time. That Rhee had an in with Roosevelt I would doubt very much. I think people in D.C. were rather sick of him by that time. Also, Roosevelt did not live much longer after the major bombings of Tokyo began in March 1945. Perhaps the US was not familiar with the potential targets available in Korea??
> 
> Mark Caprio
> 
> 
> 2013/6/10 shultz at hawaii.edu <shultz at hawaii.edu>
> This is purely anecdotal but when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Pusan in the 60s one of my colleagues at the school where I was teaching mentioned how B-29s routinely flew over Korea but never dropped bombs. To Koreans it was an inspiration that help was possibly on its way and Japan did not rule the skies.
> Ned Shultz
> 
> On 6/10/2013 10:50 AM, Bill Streifer wrote:
>> I am very familiar with B-29 military targets in Japan during WWII, but for some reason Korean industry is not on that list. Yes, the ports were mined to prevent war materials from reaching Japan, but Wonsan, Pyongyang, Seoul and Hungnam were never bombed, not even once. 
>> 
>> American B-29 "experts" have offered several explanations, but I found them all to be inadequate. My thought is that Syngman Rhee struck some sort of deal with President Roosevelt? Does anyone have another explanation? 
>> 
>> Bill Streifer 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Edward J. Shultz
> Dean, School of Pacific and Asian Studies
> Assistant Vice Chancellor, International Programs
> University of Hawaii at Manoa
> 808-956-8818
> 

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