For those of you who don’t know, yes there were in fact Korean Kamikaze pilots during WWII. There were in fact 18 confirmed and probably more.
The actress Fukumi Kuroda is leading the charge (and footing most of the bill) to set-up a monument to Kamikaze pilot Tak Kyung-hyun in his hometown of Sacheon. It’s actually been built, it has been covered in tarp, and is waiting to be unveiled, but other residents have blocked it.
Per the article:
“He was a kamikaze, an aggressor,” said Lee Sun-bok, head of a group opposed to the memorial…
But Hong Jong-pil, a South Korean historian working on the memorial project, said the pilots should be seen as victims of the colonial period. He cited recent studies finding they did not volunteer for their suicide missions but were pressured or forced.
Interestingly, Kuroda (who speaks fluent Korean) said she pushed for the memorial for the following reason:
The project’s driving force is a Japanese actress who has long sought to foster friendship between Korea and her country.
“I’m not beautifying kamikazes. I’m doing this for war victims,” said Kuroda, who flew to Sacheon Thursday to meet city officials and the activists. “I’m confident I can persuade them.”
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Strange, very strange.
Kamikaze means ‘Divine Wind’ in Japanese…a direct reference to the typhoon that led to the failure of the Mongolian invasion of Japan of 1274. Ironically, archaeologists have found evidence that the it may not have not so divine intervention that saved Japan. Archaeologists, while studying the wreckage they have excavated, found fundamental mistakes that suggest sabotage by Korean and Chinese shipbuilders.
Correction…
…it may have been not-so-divine…
and they say koreans have no manners!
“He cited recent studies finding they did not volunteer for their suicide missions but were pressured or forced.”
Duh. No pilots wanted to just “die”. They had their reasons.
I think it’s too early for Koreans to acknowledge what it was like.
PS. However, please disregard what she’s (Fukumi Kuroda) been doing and saying. She is known to say some weird things.
I guess she (Fukumi Kuroda) just did not know it is a taboo in South Korea to shed light on Korean people who were involved with Imperial Japan. (Although even Samsung started its business by selling rice to the Japanese army).
“found fundamental mistakes that suggest sabotage by Korean and Chinese shipbuilders.”
From what I heard Kublai Khan had an unreasonable schedule timetable on building the ships. The Koryo ships were simple, but very rugged. Per Steve Turnbull, very few Koryo ships sank and the majority of ships sunk were of Chinese manufacture.
The Chinese ships apparently had more bells and whisles but, well, the Chinese ship builders basically made river boats, not ocean faring ships, meaning that their ships didn’t have a deep keel. Thus, in rough waters, shallow keel boats tend to tip over. The Chinese did this because the Mongols couldn’t tell the difference between river faring boats and ocean faring boats and they could thus build ships a lot faster. It wasn’t intentional sabotage, but the results were just as bad.
800 years later and the Chinese are still making low quality products!
Hello everyone!
Am I banned? Could you explain why only my comments don’t show up?
Is it because the tiny red and white flag?
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Well this one is completely open to whatever spin the interested party would like to use.
Perhaps a tad insulting to the allied troops who liberated Korea and then later came back to defend it from the commies, no? I’d suggest a pilgrimage to Sacheon to empty the contents of one’s bladder (or bowels) upon the damn thing.
# 12,
If that upsets you, you may want to make a pitstop at Yasukuni shrine for this one.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/w....._pilot.jpg
Yes, the statue does in fact represent a Kamikaze pilot.
# 12,
If that upsets you, you may want to make a pitstop at Yasukuni shrine also where they house THIS statue.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/w....._pilot.jpg
fuga,
The subject of Koreans who helped/worked with the Japanese from 1905 to 1945 is very much taboo.
I think in another 20 years Koreans may be able to look at the Imperial colonial period with a little more objectivity, but just not right now.
#13, ahh, the great Korean tu quoque. I’m still seething, as the grandson of a WWII veteran, about the decision of the Roh regime to pardon each and every Korean war criminal who were well known, especially amongst the inmates of POW camps, for being the most brutal bastards around. Still, the victim narrative of the Korean people gets perpetuated; ‘no, we were merely pawns, we are incapable of agency, we never act on our own initiative AND IT’S ALL THE FAULT OF THE JAPANESE!!!’. If you buy into this dangerous crap, my friend, then you are no better than those Pyeongyang-supporting, propaganda-spewing droids who have been dragging your motherland’s reputation through the mud for the past ten years.
So, a Japanese lady wants to venerate a Korean who gave his his life for the emperor, and probably killed Allied sailors who were trying to liberate his country (not that that was priority #1, but certainly a result). Riiiiight–it’s all about brainwashing.
#7,
Yes, but it’s believed the masts of the ships could have been intentionally made to snap off in strong winds. Saw something about that on the Discovery Channel.
“So, a Japanese lady wants to venerate a Korean who gave his his life for the emperor, and probably killed Allied sailors who were trying to liberate his country (not that that was priority #1, but certainly a result). Riiiiight–it’s all about brainwashing.”
Brainwashing people into thinking what?
“I’m not beautifying kamikazes. I’m doing this for war victims,” said Kuroda, who flew to Sacheon Thursday to meet city officials and the activists.
I think she’s smoking weed… or something worse.
How is a kamikaze pilot a war victim?
#18, somehow the Nazi excuse of “just following orders” comes to mind when reading this one. Remember the war victims by all means, but stop trying to justify this rotten case of moral cowardice.
# 20,
Well, per the Tak’s sister, everyone in the village said that Tak was stupid for doing it.
#20,
I don’t think you can easily equate Japanese Kamikaze pilots to European concentration camp guards. How do you compare the decision of using one’s plane as a bomb to take out enemy forces with that of torturing defenseless civilians?
Next, how about a monument for those brave Korean soldiers who battled alongside the Germans against the Allied landings on D-Day?
http://thomo.coldie.net/wargam.....erman-army
Conscripted by the Japanese, captured by the Russians, captured again by the Germans, finally captured by the Americans; these guys weren’t too good at soldiering.
“Conscripted by the Japanese, captured by the Russians, captured again by the Germans, finally captured by the Americans; these guys weren’t too good at soldiering.”
Lord have mercenaries!
I’d say they were pretty good at not dying for countries they didn’t want to serve.
“He cited recent studies finding they did not volunteer for their suicide missions but were pressured or forced.”
This might be the stupidest defense yet for attempting to remove blame from pro-Japanese Koreans of the era.
If a pilot was forced to go off on a suicide mission, how could anyone possibly force him to crash head on into a ship? Kamikaze pilots always flew solo. Wouldn’t they rather fly off in the other direction toward the Land of the Morning Clam or some other destination if they didn’t want to kill themselves for their Emperor?
Why can’t they just admit that many Koreans were pro-Japanese during the Colonial Period? How long will these people choose to live in denial?
“these guys weren’t too good at soldiering.”
Conscripts don’t fight very well to begin with. Add the fact that none of the nations that they fought for were their own and these fellas were just trying to stay alive.
Let me be perfectly clear about this. This Korean’s mission, regardless of the circumstances of his service to Japan, served the greater end of furthering the slavery of the Korean people to Japan. This man is not a hero, he should be despised.
Why not erect a statue to my grandfather who nearly got his head blown off fighting in Kaesong to liberate the Korean people from communist and Chinese aggression???….oh wait…that would make too much sense! Let’s just continue to re-write history into fiction and partner Koreans with their Japanese overloads in the epic fight against western imperialism. Let’s just forget who the bad guy was in this area of history, let’s just forget the “comfort women”, let’s just forget Nanking, and countless other atrocities.
This statue represents a world view that is at its very least completely untrue and at its worst sinister. I will make it a point to piss all over that statue when it is unveiled and I am sure that all my Korean relatives will join in the piss party.
Griego
Griego, sign me up. I’m gonna make sure I drink five litres of flat Cass before I show up.
That story of the Koreans fighting for the Germans in Normandy continues to blow my mind.
@#26 Maekchu:
Your point reminds me of a WWII anecdote shared perhaps by Lirelou. Allied pilots were reluctant to fly at low altitudes over Japan? because of the high risk of being shot down, so they’d fly too high and return not having dumped their payload or just turn around mid-flight and come back. I don’t recall exactly what threat the general used to force the pilots to complete their missions. Maybe Lirelou will stop by and refresh my memory.
# 31,
You’ve read Catch 22 by Joseph Keller right?
IMO if I was a kamikaze pilot I’d turn around and slam it into a Japanese warship.
Why is everyone arguing about this piece of history when the interesting thing about this article is the motivation behind this woman?
Japan = country of super nerds
Japanese women = in a country of super nerds.
I’m surprised given the number of American nerds on this site that it isn’t being mentioned.
Anyone who thinks all the Koreans were coerced isn’t even reading the Korean literature available on the subject, as this points out:
http://ampontan.wordpress.com/.....s-victims/
That is not to say coercion wasn’t involved. Many Japanese were also coerced.
Funny how not a single Korean kamikaze ever did that, though, now isn’t it?
I guess you modern-day “Rain”-style Korean men are just braver.
LOL
Funny how the bravest anti-Japanese Korean activist of all by far was a schoolgirl.
You’re a racist.
Here’s an excerpt from a book on kamikaze, “Kamikaze Diaries”:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/.....19508.html
aaronm…….my buddy and I have a bet going as to if you are actually the guy in your pic….pray tell, I may be the only one who get this.
A disgusting person known mostly for crude and lascivious photos of private parts…
Pawi, why would you ever choose her for your avatar?
this is such an insult. a statue, in the hometown, of a traitor, who sold out his own people, all in the name of friendship. thank you very much for reminding koreans everywhere, that we were under your rule. “such nice koreans… listened very well, and served us exceptionally… like the lower class people that they are….”
sorry, but i’d rather piss on the actress pushing for this.
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