Eyewitness A North Korean Remembers

Presents the autobiography of Kim Young Sik (1935- ), a North Korean. Discusses Korean history beginning with the Anti-Japan Movement of 1911 - 1920. Details World War II and the Japanese occupation of Korea and the Korean War. Describes events during the War and Kim Young Sik's experiences working at a prisoner of war camp. Includes a bibliography.

Anna Louise Strong, writer, lecturer and world traveller, was the first correspondent to report from North Korea and the only American correspondent to travel extensively through that country interviewing people in all walks of life. This booklet is based on her observations there. Miss Strong has achieved international eminence as a correspondent for her reports from the major capitals of the world and her coverage of some of the most historic events of our times. Among her many books are The Soviets Expected It, Peoples of the USSR, and I Saw the New Poland. Her latest, just published, is Tomorrow's China.

There has been information about shocking crimes against humanity by North Korean authorities over many decades. The information has been in the form of books, reports, and research papers for experts, news media, professors, government policy-makers, activists, etc. Thus, the information has failed to reach the attention of the general public of the human society in general. The present book has been designed to give such information to ordinary people on the streets and a book to be the first of a series of similar information to follow.

“Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung” is the first phrase North Korean parents are instructed to teach to their children. From cradle to grave, North Korean citizens are surrounded by the all-encompassing presence of the “Great Leader” and his son, the “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il. The Kim dynasty is much more than an authoritarian government; it also holds itself out as the ultimate source of power, virtue, spiritual wisdom, and truth for the North Korean people. Heterodoxy and dissent are repressed, quickly and efficiently, with punishments meted out to successive generations of the dissident's family. The study that follows was commissioned by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan U.S. government agency that monitors freedom of religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments, and that provides independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress. Forty former North Koreans were interviewed extensively regarding conditions of freedom of religion or belief in the DPRK.

Annotation The Unfinished War: Korea is a time-sensitive manuscript concerned with theKorea War and current North-South issues including the North Korea's nuclearweapons. The author:? lays out the history of American involvement in Korea before, during, and afterthe war;? provides cross-cultural perspectives and an account of the war unparalleled forits breadth and depth based on recently declassified documents, interviews, andother references;? discusses new developments, including South Korea's so-called "economicmiracle," President Bush's inclusion of North Korea inthe "axis of evil," and emerging prospects for war orpeace today; and? includes concrete, personal realities and anecdotesbased on the experiences of Koreans.

The New York Times said of Ronald H. Spector’s classic account of the American struggle against the Japanese in World War II, “No future book on the Pacific War will be written without paying due tribute to Eagle Against the Sun.” Now Spector has returned with a book that is even more revealing. In the Ruins of Empire chronicles the startling aftermath of this crucial twentieth-century conflict. With access to recently available firsthand accounts by Chinese, Japanese, British, and American witnesses and previously top secret U.S. intelligence records, Spector tells for the first time the fascinating story of the deadly confrontations that broke out–or merely continued–in Asia after peace was proclaimed at the end of World War II. Under occupation by the victorious Allies, this part of the world was plunged into new power struggles or back into old feuds that in some ways were worse than the war itself. In the Ruins of Empire also shows how the U.S. and Soviet governments, as they secretly vied for influence in liberated lands, were soon at odds. At the time of the peace declaration, international suspicions were still strong. Joseph Stalin warned that “crazy cutthroats” might disrupt the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay. Die-hard Japanese officers plotted to seize the emperor’s palace to prevent an announcement of surrender, and clandestine relief forces were sent to rescue thousands of Allied POWs to prevent their being massacred. In the Ruins of Empire paints a vivid picture of the postwar intrigues and violence. In Manchuria, Russian “liberators” looted, raped, and killed innocent civilians, and a fratricidal rivalry continued between Chiang Kai-shek’s regime and Mao’s revolutionaries. Communist resistance forces in Malaya settled old scores and terrorized the indigenous population, while mujahideen holy warriors staged reprisals and terror killings against the Chinese–hundreds of innocent civilians were killed on both sides. In Indochina, a nativist political movement rose up to oppose the resumption of French colonial rule; one of the factions that struggled for supremacy was the Communist Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh. Korea became a powder keg with the Russians and Americans entangled in its north and south. And in Java, as the Indonesian novelist Idrus wrote, people brutalized by years of Japanese occupation “worshipped a new God in the form of bombs, submachine guns, and mortars.” Through impeccable research and provocative analysis, as well as compelling accounts of American, British, Indian, and Australian soldiers charged with overseeing the surrender and repatriation of millions of Japanese in the heart of dangerous territory, Spector casts new and startling light on this pivotal time–and sets the record straight about this contested and important period in history.

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2022 "Marvelous.…Spector’s gripping book.…[helps] us to understand why the legacy of these conflicts is still with us today." —Sheila Miyoshi Jager, New York Times Book Review The end of World War II led to the United States’ emergence as a global superpower. For war-ravaged Western Europe it marked the beginning of decades of unprecedented cooperation and prosperity that one historian has labeled “the long peace.” Yet half a world away, in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, and Malaya—the fighting never really stopped, as these regions sought to completely sever the yoke of imperialism and colonialism with all-too-violent consequences. East and Southeast Asia quickly became the most turbulent regions of the globe. Within weeks of the famous surrender ceremony aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, civil war, communal clashes, and insurgency engulfed the continent, from Southeast Asia to the Soviet border. By early 1947, full-scale wars were raging in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, with growing guerrilla conflicts in Korea and Malaya. Within a decade after the Japanese surrender, almost all of the countries of South, East, and Southeast Asia that had formerly been conquests of the Japanese or colonies of the European powers experienced wars and upheavals that resulted in the deaths of at least 2.5 million combatants and millions of civilians. With A Continent Erupts, acclaimed military historian Ronald H. Spector draws on letters, diaries, and international archives to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive military history and analysis of these little-known but decisive events. Far from being simply offshoots of the Cold War, as they have often been portrayed, these shockingly violent conflicts forever changed the shape of Asia, and the world as we know it today.

KOREA AND THE IMPERIALISTS Until the Korean War in 1950, except for evangelist Christian missionaries, Americans were not interested in Korea or considered it important in the scheme of things. Many did not know Korea had existed as an independent kingdom for centuries and others thought Korea might be a part of China or Japan. Nationalism, geopolitics, and imperialism were the major determinants of international events in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Greed and racism were the prime motivators of imperialism and non-White societies of the world were the victims. Korea was one of many countries that was invaded and made a "sphere of influence." With the support of America and Britain, Japan destroyed Korea's traditional national identity and made Korea a colony in the Japanese Empire. It was the perfect example of how imperialism profoundly affected the social, economic, and political life of countries subjugated by imperialist powers. After World War II, Korea was not granted independence because the Americans did not believe Koreans were capable of self-government. Korea was divided into two military occupation zones, resulting in the creation of a Russian and an American satellite state. In an effort to unite Korea, North Korea invaded South Korea. The U.S., China, and the two Korean states fought a meaningless war and Korea remains divided. Who are the Koreans? Why are there two Koreas? What is Korea's national identity? What role does imperialism and racism play in the destruction of national identities? Hopefully, this brief history of Korea and the Imperialists will provide some answers.

The 2020 Commission report on the North Korean nuclear attacks against the United States posits that there was a nuclear attack against the U.S. on March 21, 2020 by North Korea, and that a national bipartisan commission was created to investigate what and how it happened