Northeast Asia is in the midst of great changes: social, cultural and political.
This site is a space for exploring some of those changes. In particular, it is a space for updates on: borders and migration in Northeast Asia; minority, refugee and human rights issues in Japan and the region; the “history wars” in Northeast Asia; ideas for future regional cooperation; and the story of…
- Exodus to North Korea Text
You can find a short video linked to the book
This is the story of one of the most extraordinary forgotten tragedies of the Cold War: the “return” of over 90,000 people, most of them ethnic Koreans, from Japan to North Korea from 1959 onward.
Presented to the world as a humanitarian venture and conducted under the supervision of the International Red Cross, the scheme was actually the result of political intrigues involving the governments of Japan , North Korea , the Soviet Union, and the United States . The great majority of the Koreans who journeyed to North Korea in fact originated from the southern part of the Korean peninsula, and many had lived all their lives in Japan . Though most left willingly, persuaded by propaganda that a bright new life awaited them in North Korea , I drew on recently declassified documents to reveal the covert pressures used to hasten the departure of this unwelcome ethnic minority. For most, their new home proved a place of poverty and hardship; for thousands, it was a place of persecution and death. In rediscovering their extraordinary personal stories, this book also casts new light on the politics of the Cold War and on present-day tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world.
I am interested in stories, photographs or films or documents connected to this event. People who had relatives or known of people who made the journey or who worked on the ships, the harbors or in organizations involved.
You can contact me in confidence, or (if you would like to speak to a wider audience) ask to have your story posted on this site. If you choose to do so, your story will posted here and will perhaps encourage others to come forward and add their story and memories of this still largely forgotten event in Japanese and Korean history.
If you do have a story to tell please add a comment, or send an email.
Thank you
Tessa Morris-Suzuki
For more Information about the book:
http://www.RowmanLittlefield.com/ISBN/0742554422
