I have been following very closely over the years the Korean government’s disgraceful treatment of the memory of the sailors murdered and wounded intentionally by North Korea during the 2002 West Sea Naval Battle. Even more disgraceful has been the government’s treatment of the surviving family members of the deceased sailors. Kim Jong-seon the wife of deceased sailor Han Sang-guk left Korea in 2005 due to the government’s treatment and had this to say before leaving the country:
“If the indifference and inhospitality shown to those soldiers who were killed or wounded protecting the nation continue, what soldier will lay down his life in the battlefield?”
Kim had little money when she went to America and worked odd jobs in New York’s Chinatown and actually faced condemnation from some Korean-Americans for outspokenness against the Korean government:
Despite her physical hardships, she said the worst pain came from the whispering gossip of Korean-Americans in New York. "Though there weren’t many of them, some Korean-Americans disliked me for having blamed the South Korean government and leaving the country. It made me pretty upset to know they saw me just some wretched woman." [Chosun Ilbo]
Instead of finding support from the Korean-American community she ended up finding it instead from the Korean War veterans community:
Kim found comfort in a group of aging American veterans of the Korean War whom she came to know in Nov. 2003. Several of the veterans, including Francis R. Carroll, the chairman of the committee behind the Korean War Memorial in Central Massachusetts, invited her to dinners, traveled with her and supported her. Meeting with the veterans, Kim began adapting to American life more quickly. She improved her English by watching television, joined a church and removed the dark clouds from her face by finding a roommate. [Chosun Ilbo]
These veterans have actually constructed a memorial in memory of her husband:
Also honored with Han were five other South Korean navy officers and sailors who were killed defending the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea. Han’s widow had traveled five hours by bus from New York to attend the ceremony. "There’s no sincere memorial like this in South Korea to honor the six sailors killed during the West Sea engagement," Kim said, her eyes closing gently. Known in the U.S. as Hanna Kim, she sat in the VIP section at the dedication. Her life could be the subject of a documentary. [Chosun Ilbo]
There is a memorial in Korea to the sailors but it is on a ROK Naval base and not accessible by the general public. Though the Korean government has been shameful in their treatment of the sailor and their families and the ROK Navy as well as USFK has been very diligent in honoring them over the years. However, the fact that the first public memorial to the sailors is being led by American Korean War veterans in Massachusetts is an absolute disgrace. How can any Korean national not be embarrassed by this?
It is even more disgraceful that the Korean government is now trying to surrender to North Korea the sovereign Korean territory they died fighting to defend. If Lee Myung-bak wins the presidential election one of his first orders of business should be to build a proper memorial to the sailors and end the disgraceful policies in regards to the West Sea Naval Battle put in place by the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Than next June the new president should attend the yearly memorial ceremony which Roh Moo-hyun has never acknowledged must let attended in his five years in office. The dishonoring of servicemembers who died protecting their country by their government is a disgrace that needs to end.
You can read more over at the Marmot’s Hole.
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11:50 am on October 25th, 2007 1
I am wondering how she ended up in NYC korea town. If she end up settling in DC area, she would have more conservative Korean American community who would have supported her instead of critisizing her. Many Korean Americans in DC area worked for Federal Gov’t and they tend to be more Anti-DPRK than other cities’ Korean Americans.
12:18 pm on October 25th, 2007 2
I don’t know anything about the NYC Korean community but I have plenty of ties through my wife with the LA and Seattle area Korean communities and they are very pro-US and anti-DPRK. Why the NYC area Korean community is allegedly different and against her is beyond me.
As usual there is probably more to the story that we don’t know about, but the bottom line is that an American veterans group has established a public memorial in Mass. while no public memorial exists in Korea. Why do American Korean War veterans care more about ROK servicemembers who died defending their country than the Koeran government? That is the big question.
2:12 pm on October 25th, 2007 3
Thank you GI Korea for the very interesting article concerning the widow of the 2002 West Sea Naval Battle. Firstly, it is hard to confirm if her experience with some NYC-area Koreans is typical of the entire community there. Secondly, I can suggest that the Orange County, California Korean communities would most likely have offered a much more positive experience for her. Thirdly, American Korean War veterans almost by definition tend to have their heads on straight. By contrast, products of university Marxist indoctrination as have commonly staffed the Roh Moo-hyun administration running the Korean government these last nearly five years can be counted upon to betray free Korea and the aspirations for freedom of people in northern Korea. The West Sea Naval Battle Memorial disgrace is but one marker in the vast array of evidence pointing in one direction.
12:24 pm on October 26th, 2007 4
GI,
As a Korean-American, allow me to make some presumptions… While I do agree that most Korean-American communities tend to be conservative and anti-NK, however, there is another demographic to the Korean-American community which hasn’t been discussed: university students (both undergraduate & graduate). While not really US citizens, Korean students are still considered part of the KA community in many aspects. I attended college in NYC a few years back and had many friends & acquaintances who were young to middle-aged college students. Having been born & raised in Korea for all their young lives, most of them shared the same left-wing ideals (i.e. pro-Sunshine Policy, kick US troops out) that would make Roh Moo Hyun proud. In fact, some of them refused to go back to Korea because they would have to serve in the army. In any case, if she actually lived in Manhattan (she would have to if she worked in Chinatown), the vast majority of the Korean demographic living there are young university students. Usually the conservative Korean-American families live outside of Manhattan (Long Island, Fort Lee NJ) and commute into the city to work.
Another presumption would be her age. I’m guessing she’s at least in her mid 20’s to 30’s. Most Koreans socially mingle within their own age group. Knowing certain aspects of Korean society, she would probably not be quick to tell older Koreans about her hardships in Korea. She would instead, try to make some friends and acquaintances within her age group and eventually reveal her hardships. Manhattan would certainly be the ideal place to meet Koreans within her own age. Additionally, her limited English skills upon arrival would make it hard for her to get around limiting her to the Korean enclave on 32nd Street.
Hope all this makes sense.
12:47 pm on October 26th, 2007 5
chopsticks,
Excellent comment. Like I said I know nothing about the Korean community in NYC and your reasoning makes a lot of sense.
11:16 am on October 27th, 2007 6
Chopsticks,
I thought that she was middle aged woman in her 40’s. You are right. She might be in her late 20’s or early 30’s. If her husband who was killed back in 2002 was ROKN Junior Petty Officer, then he was about in his mid 20’s and she might be little younger than him.