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Eunice Valladores Ms. Davis World History 2: period 1 1 June 2012 Children of War For the first time, I did not like being a Korean child (Choi 30). Sook Nyul Choi was born during the Japans colonization of Korea. She grew up happy in Pyongyang (which became part of North Korea) with some of her family and relatives, even though they were restrained from doing a lot of things. In her memoir Year of Impossible Goodbyes, she narrates her childhood during the near end of Japanese occupation of her country. While hoping that they could start a new life on the South after the Japanese left, her country was once again occupied by foreign powers which divided the peninsula into separate and warring countries; the Soviets became in charge of the North where they lived. The greed of the colonists and the thought that they were superior over the Koreans made Choi and her family experience persecution, and they were forced to follow and work for them, which made their everyday lives become hard and monotonous. Thus, her way of life as a child was greatly affected because of the persecution by the colonists, the separation from the other family members, and the lack of freedom that she and her family experienced during the war. The Japanese and Russian occupation of Korea had devastating effects on the lives of Koreans because of the extreme changes in their government and economy. From 1904 to 1905, Japan fought and won a war with Russia over the right to occupy Korea. Russia agreed, in the Portsmouth Treaty brokered by U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt in 1905, to recognize Japans interests in KoreaThereafter, Japan gradually disempowered the Korean government and officially annexed Korea in 1910 (Dubois 38). Everything was changed,

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which made the country lose its identity. The currency has converted; transport and communications were controlled in their entirety by the Japanese government, and all Korean farmlands became the property of the Japanese Oriental Development Company, which at the same time retained the ancient system of feudal land-tenantry (Dubois 42). Because of the colonization and the disempowerment of the Korean government, Japan controlled everything and had the power to exploit the rich and beautiful country, possessing natural resources, abundant human labour and a platform for further territorial expansion. As a result, the people lost their freedom and the levels of poverty and homelessness increased. The Japanese finally surrendered on August 15, 1945, which made the people have extreme happiness because they were free once more. Their happiness was soon overshadowed, however, by domestic political differences and the collision of the United States and Soviet Union (Miller 25). The fear of the Koreans to be under control of another country just happened again. The Soviet forces made a rapid advance into North Korea right after the victory of the United States over Japan. To prevent the possibility that Moscow would intend to seize control of the whole peninsula, the Pentagon proposed slicing the Korean peninsula in half at the 38th parallel to let the American troops rush into South Korea. Moscow fully accepted the partition without objection (Gruenberg 17, 19). Because of the division, the industrialized North became isolated from the southern half which still made the people not free. Everyone was prevented from going either way across the demarcation line. During the Russian and Japanese occupation of Korea, the people had a different way of life because of the devastating effects from the extreme changes in the government, economy, and the exploitation of their country. Sook Nyul Choi was greatly affected by the oppressive treatment of the Japanese and Russians towards her and her family as they occupied their country. She grew up in Kirimni, Pyongyang, without her father, older brothers, and sister, while enduring the cruelties of the

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Japanese military, especially Captain Narita. It was considered a serious offense even to look at the Imperial police; Koreans were expected to keep their heads bowed and obey orders unconditionally (Choi 6). The soldiers treated the Koreans like slaves. A sock factory was built at the familys yard, and her mother was ordered to be the supervisor of the young women who worked from early morning until late evening to finish the required production. Because the Japanese wanted them to be loyal and obedient, they required the children to go to the Japanese school. My baptismal name and my Korean name would only be used only at home from now on. Here I would have to answer to this strange Japanese name; I was someone I did not want to be and I had to pretend (Choi 73). Choi, as a child, started to have confusion about her identity because of the colonists efforts to remove everything about Korea. When the Japanese finally surrendered, she felt extreme happiness and joy that made her feel as if it was her birthday. Her hopes and dreams that she had created for the start of their new life started to disappear when the Russians came to their country. As I stood by the gate, I felt as though I had been transported to a distant land. The cruel and oppressive memories of the Japanese were still fresh, yet the whole town had been transformed, filled with sounds and smells that were different (Choi 103). The possibility that her family would never have freedom again made them pursue the idea of going to the South, even though they knew that this might cause them to die. My feet were all bloody, and it was hard to keep silent. I moaned like a dying animal. After what seemed like several hours, we reached the foot of the hill. I looked at the ominous shadows the trees cast against the dense gray clouds. Inchun and I were drenched and shivered in the darkness (Choi 160). The Russian soldiers captured their mother on their way to the South, so it became even harder for the children to reach it. The occupation of North Korea by the Japanese and the Russians made Choi, with her little brother, endure and risk everything to pass the demarcation line and have freedom.

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Having a childhood during the colonists occupation had a profound effect on the life of Sook Nyul Choi. Japans colonization of her country led to the oppression of Koreans, like what her family experienced, and to the exploitation of the country. On the one hand, the Russians did not oppress the Koreans like what the Japanese did, but on the other hand, they were still considered not free under them because they could not go to the South. Most of the youth of this generation are lucky because they do not face the hardships that Choi had experienced. However, some of them still complain or not enjoy the life that every Korean child had wished during the colonization of their country. To live free is a privilege, so everyone should enjoy life to the fullest.

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Works Cited Choi, Sook Nyul., and Sook Choi Nyul. Year of Impossible Goodbyes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. Print. DuBois, Jill. Korea. New York: Benchmark, 2005. Print. Gruenberg, Leif A. The Korean War. Detroit, Ml: Omnigraphics, 2004. Print. Miller, Debra A. North Korea. San Diego: Lucent, 2004. Print.