Joshua+Park+Interview

=__**Introduction**__= This was an assignment, where we had to interview three people who lived through the Korean War. Here are succinct background information about my interviewees.

First Interviewee 장유선 - 75 years old - My mother’s close church member

Second Interviewee 임채홍 - was a supreme court judge in the past - 대한사회복지회 vice president - Korean Bar Association - My tutor’s father

Third Interviewee 이지희 - 73 years old - My Grandmother (maternal)

The First Interview: Video
sorry an unexpected error occurred, where the file was too big in both wikispaces and youtube. I am currently exporting the movie even in a smaller size. Sorry for such disturbing background noise. This was the most quiet place we could find, since she had only 30minutes to spare with me.

The Second Interview: A Script
Joshua: What was your age? 임채홍: I was about 16, and was attending the middle school in 대구. I couldn’t study for any time, and had to run away from the war-site. Those damned North Koreans charged into our country without any warning. Seoul was in a chaos, because they didn’t expect it on a freaking Sunday morning! Everything except for 부산 was devastated (쑥대밭). Thankfully, Americans helped us with our army, and along with the UN army, our army pushed back way up North. I remember our army pushing back and forth against the 38th parallel and when North Koreans came in full-force, it was a hard fight. I remember hearing those god damned bombing sounds; it was so loud and people were dead. You don’t want to ever see people dead on the streets while they’re strolling down the road.

Joshua: What was your happiest times during the war? 임채홍: You might think that war will have some, very little, happy-time, but it’s something that you don’t want to experience. Nothing’s happy, everything’s dying, and I do not wish to recall those images again. You literally get to experience how to starve to death. Students these days starve to get on diet, but that wasn’t the case in these years. Life was tragedy.

Joshua: How was the food like during the war? 임채홍: There was no special food to be called “food”. This is the time period when I had to go through trash cans, and beg for food. It was okay for me to do that, but to see some of the people from Seoul doing that was uncommon. Also, the food 꿀꿀이죽 was created this time. When ever we get food, we would put it in a pot, along with other grains and water. After pouring some salt, it did look something like a porridge, but 꿀꿀이죽 is basically like all the food mixed together.

Joshua: How did you feel when Americans entered the war? Did you like the Americans at that time? 임채홍: If it wasn’t for America, we wouldn’t be here right now. The Republic of Korea couldn’t exist. I really thank them, and it was them that saved our country from getting butt-kicked by the North Koreans.

Joshua: Did you like the North Koreans right now? How did you feel when the Chinese entered the war? 임채홍: I just hated the North Koreans. I believed they were the worst kind of human beings created on Earth. They used people and killed them after usage; humans were ‘tools’ for them. I don’t know that much about the Chinese, and I don’t really remember hearing much about them. But North Koreans are not human. They are not.

Joshua: How has your ideas about North Korea change over the course of time? 임채홍: To think of it now, I noticed that it was the higher ups who controlled the people. When I was young, I was innocent of 김일성’s dictatorship, but now, I think I understand how people felt there.

Joshua: How do you feel about the 연평도 사격사건? 임채홍: I think that it’s the army’s fault this time. They had to fire back and defend the country hastily, but they just shot few bullets at them. We don’t know if it even reached the land. The 국방구장관 should’ve been ready, and should’ve trained soldier to react against these situations which were predicted! Even during the 천안암, they could’t do anything.

Joshua: Do you support Unification? If so, how do you think it will happen? 임채홍: We have to. We do. They are all innocent people who work for the stinky dictator 김정일! We have to change all those people into a human living in the 20th century. We have to teach them what to do as Koreans.

Joshua: Favorite President? 임채홍: I guess my favorite president is 박정희 장군. He defended this country, and used all his power to capitalize this country. He’s the one who made all of this possible. I think it could be said that he made the Republic of Korea.

RANDOM SAYINGS 임채홍: I am currently the vice president of 대한사회복지회, which is an organization created to help poor kids and orphans. Most of the time, we find people overseas who can intake these poor children, and that’ what we do. Find nice place for these poor kids. I really feel what they feel, and War is always bad. Don't start a World War III no matter what.



The Last Interview: Translated Podcast
media type="file" key="Third Interview jyp.m4a" width="300" height="50" I don’t remember a lot because I was 15 years old. I lived in 양평, and when I was home, I heard a loud sound. Since we didn’t have any radios and televisions, I heard the invasion of 인민군(North Korean army). I hid in 방공호 (stone covered basement hiding place), because during they day, North Koreans kept on firing. People sent us food into the 방공호. Near 대전, there’s a place called 신탄전, we ran away for safety. The scene are the same as the scenes in the movies; people were carrying big bags and cloths on their back, and they slept when they felt sleepy. Since I was running away, we didn’t know that my house was on fire. When we came back, there was nothing. Although we come back, it was just like hiding at the 방공호 because there was nothing. When the South Koreans pushed North Korean army back up north, we retreated back and created the 38th parallel. I remember clearly how the innocent people were attacked during a pretty Sunday! When we were in 방공호, we ate boiled eggs and rice. I remember my dad being rich because he succeeded in business. However, all the people who were walking along with me had mud in their faces, dirtied up with dirt and mud because they slept anywhere. I remember people from Seoul begging for food which was a little ironic. Cow was a very cherished animal, because it had lots of value. It was so demoralizing. People died right in front of my eyes because they were starving. Seoul people had those bowls which they collected food in. We wore things like 고무신, and our feet were bleeding and dirtied up. I remember us being liberated, and than being attacked by the 빨갱이들 5 years after. 김일성was infamous in the South, but was considered a honored general up North. North Koreans, when they went back up North, they killed all the South Koreans who worked for them in the riverside. They dragged them to the 뻐드랑산 (?) and killed them and buried them under the sand. Although we had American support, Chinese people were pouring in, so we had to retreat. Don’t say the word 빨갱이, especially innocent generations like you. We don’t have any family members living in North Korea. That’s really nice. North Koreans used some people who looked smart, and than killed them right after their usage. 인천상륙 felt late, and the Chinese came after long long time. We should’ve invaded the whole North Korea! I can’t tell this to you but 김일성 is a. Communists are such bad people. When they’re determined, they reach their goal no matter what. We sent them rice, supplies, and clothes, but North Korea only prepares for war! There was a rumor that there are enough food stored in North Korea to live up to 10 years. They are crazy with war and their army. Since my grandpa was old, he didn’t runaway. However, when he had no water, he collected snow, melted it, and used that water to cook rice**.** She couldn’t say if she hated North Koreans or not. She was afraid... I don’t think we should unify. The youngsters say we should, but we can’t trust the damned North Koreans and their communism. 연평도 incident was the worst, because it was their fault.

I don’t care about who’s the president, and if they did become the president, I hope the people help him. Korean government fights because of their faith in their own ‘party’. I hate it when the governors just disagree to others because it doesn’t support their party. They should work together to develop South Korea. They try to demolish each other! GOSH it’s frustrating. War is the last thing to remember. But, we lived as much as we wished, but I really hope you guys don’t get into a war. In 대전, we used to dig holes around the mountain because the soldiers told us to. The purpose of that hole was that it was going to be used as a grave for the diggers -_-. I didn’t die because the North Koreans left before I finished digging. North Korean 새끼들 always used people, and killed them. just mass murder. I can’t say anything. The youngsters say they like North Koreans and pity them, but 빨생이들are unpredictable! South Korea send things like cements, paints, wood blocks, but they save it for a god damned war! For 20 years we flourished them with rice, and they’re just preparing for war!? North Koreans never give up on their atomic bombs. They have more natural resources compared to us, and they love to make Atomic bombs. There are so many people even in South who are starving to death, and we’re helping North Korea. Wow, they are such immoral people. It’s been such along time since war, and people don’t know how evil 김일성 and 빨생이are. It’s not like the 사극 wars and its history. 빨생이are just the most evil people in the world. They don’t leave the hostages alone!

AFTER 25:28, she kept on talking about our uncle’s life ;; sorry!



What I've Learned: Reflection
Before I even started interviewing, I thought there weren’t going to be any interesting people who I could interview. However, I noticed that there are numerous people who lived through this war! I never imagined them to be such verbose people, since they talked for about fifteen minutes non-stop even without my questions. They’re such zealous people who wish to tell their young generation of what happened, and how they felt! My views toward this War changed because they all had such wild answers. I noticed that each person had their unique views toward the unification and the North Koreans. However, they agreed on one thing: our generation is innocent of the terrors of war. I did see a number of war movies, but to actually be in that situation would be different. My grandmother said that she saw people dropping to the floor, and died of starvation in front of her eyes. Needless to say, we all know that war should be prevented. It was really interesting to interview my mother’s friend at our church, because she added lots of christian factors into war. She saw a lot of positive things from this war, because Christianity spread from Seoul to Busan. She also thought that the miracle of South Korea’s survival might cause some people to become Christians. It was interesting to see my grandmother trying to restrain herself from using the word 빨갱이, and pretended that the investigators might be listening to our conversation. The side-effects of the war was huge, because I saw the lump on my grandmother’s right feet; she informed me that the lump was from untamed roads to Busan. Some of their information they stated were false because it could have been from a propaganda, or just a rumor. However, their facts and memories of the personalities of North Korean soldiers were lucid. This project really gave me vivid images of the war, and I suggest the next year students to do this project too. Interview really helped me to understand the situation of South Koreans, and how we are responding and reacting right now.

EXTRA INFORMATION
Creator: Joshua Jinyoung Park jpark13@student.kis.or.kr Interviewer: Joshua Jinyoung Park Places of Interview: Tom N Toms Coffee shop at 내방station, Misung Apt. at 압구정(Home), and at Jumbo Apt. at 동부이촌(Tutor's House) Tools used: Iphone, macbook pro, cell phone Programs used: Garageband, Imovie, Pages Time Invested: 7~9 hours

=The viewer may use these Interviews and the information posted, but must cite their sources.=

Thank You, 감사합니다.