The Marmot’s Hole

I took a business trip to the Northern Marianas island of Saipan last week.  On the second day, I found myself with a free afternoon and decided to check out a local museum that I had first visited a few years ago*.

After checking out the exhibits, I talked with the museum’s Exhibit Curator, Noel Quitugua (키투과).  I had previously read a little bit about the Koreans on the island and was interested in finding out more.

I had read previously that most of the Koreans had been brought in to work Tinian’s sugar fields.  This piece from the Hanky seems to imply that others may have been there as soldiers.  Quitugua informed me that there were also Korean comfort women on the island.  He also told me that most of the Koreans were placed on the island of Tinian.  Once the Americans took the islands, all civilians, including 1,411 Koreans, were place in camps (Camp Susupe, to be specific).

While there is a great deal of information on the life of natives and Japanese during that era, Quitugua told me that there was precious little information on the lives of Koreans during that time.  As we talked, he became increasingly excited about the idea of getting more information about the Koreans in the Northern Marianas.  What he would like to do is gather enough information to create a two-month special exhibition. 

He would especially like to get testimony from Koreans who were there.  Some stayed after the war and started families with Chamorros or Carolinians but most of them returned to Korea.

The problem is finding those of the 1,411 Koreans in Camp Susupe who returned to Korea and are still alive.  I am doing what little I can do to help him.  This post is part of that.  I will also contact a few people who might be able to do more.  Obviously, the word needs to get out in Korean.  I hope that some readers who can speak Korean will get this request on to Korean netizens, who will in turn start looking for survivors of that group.  If some can be found, the next step will be to translate their stories into English.  We need to move quickly on this since the survivors are not getting any younger.

If you have any leads or ideas, leave a comment.  You can also contact Noel Quitugua at nq_tugua@yahoo.com

This is a very small part of a much larger history, but I think it is a worthwhile effort.

Related links:

• This October 1944 piece from Time magazine talks about life in the camps and the problems American authorities had in dealing with the large number of orphan babies there.
• Another World War 2-era article briefly mentions that Koreans in camp had started attending church.
• In other news, the Korean memorial on Saipan (made somewhat famous as being the first Korean memorial visited by the Emperor of Japan), has recently been renovated with funding from a Korean-owned resort on the island. 
• Also, you can also check out a brief review I made of the American Memorial on Saipan last year.  Please note that the last link will die along with my old blog next month.

*Q:  How nerdy is Andy?

A:  So nerdy that, when he finds himself with free time on a tropical island, he goes to a museum.