[KS] spoons

[Bill Streifer]

Can anyone settle an argument between a Russian historian and an elderly resident of Seoul? Here's the story. According to the historian, after a B-29 was shot down at the end of WWII, the Tupolev Design Bureau (the ones responsible for the development of the Tu-4) stripped down the B-29 and shipped key parts to the Soviet Union. The frame and skin of the B-29 was then melted down to make spoons. "Of course," the historian said, "Koreans didn't need spoons. They used chopsticks. The aluminum spoons were used in cafes for the Russian officers." The resident of Seoul disagrees. He says that while Japanese used chopsticks, Koreans used spoons. I hold a view in the middle: During WWII, Korea was a colony of Japan, and the Japanese did their best to strip Koreans of their national identity. They required they speak Japanese, they required they change their names to Japanese, etc. I also know that metal spoons were melted down for the war effort. Perhaps
 Koreans used wooden spoons at home, but did Korean restaurants even exist or were they replaced by sushi houses where spoons weren't required? (I believe meat and fish were plucked out with chopsticks, and the liquid drank from the edge of the bowl) So who is right? Did Koreans in the Soviet zone "need" spoons by war's end?

Bill Streifer