오키나와의 아리랑 - 미군정기 오키나와의 잔류 조선인들과 남북한

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse how the "leftover" Koreans, who survived thebattle of Okinawa and then ended up settling down there, were first left totheir own devises and neglected, and then re-discovered. One of the reasonswhy they were re-discovered 20 years after Okinawa came under the directcontrol of the US military was the "state logic", to be applied to OkinawaKoreans under the terms of 1965 South Korea-Japan NormalizationAgreement. However, in the beginning, the South Korean Government didnot show an active interest in Okinawa's Koreans; it started to do so onlyafter Okinawa's reversion to Japan was agreed by Japan and USA in 1971. The reason for that was the feeling of crisis, as it was understood that thereversion would allow the pro-North Korean Chōsen Sōren to move freelyinto Okinawa. The first thing Sōren did on Okinawa was the investigation on theKoreans who died during the battle of Okinawa. This investigation continuedthe civilians-centred history recording movement which took momentumsince the late 1960s as a counterforce to the conventional, military-centreddescriptions of the battle of Okinawa. As the movement for re-writing thehistory with the "residents' logic" put squarely in the centre was booming,the remaining Koreans were discovered on Okinawa. The Sōren investigationinherited the successes of this movement, while aiming at creating analternative image of Okinawa battle, with Koreans being its main subject. Itwas discovered as a result of the investigation that a number of Koreans mobilized in preparation for war by the imperial Japan, were then re-mobilizedagain by the US military authorities after the Japanese defeat. The aim ofthe investigation report was thus to accentuate the persistence of colonialismin Okinawa by denouncing the war crimes committed both by imperialJapan and USA. The difference in the view on the "leftover" Koreans between the SouthKorean Government and Sōren reflected the divergence of South and NorthKorean views on the American military-ruled Okinawa. The South KoreanGovernment was positive on US military rule in Okinawa, supporting alsothe idea of establishing a pro-American, anti-Communist independent statethere. By contrast, North Korea solidarized since the mid-1950s with Okinawanreversion movement as a part of the Third World liberation movement,sharing the common aim of national re-union with the Okinawans. From thisviewpoint, we can define South Korea's logic as more military-based, whileNorth Korea's logic was closer to the wishes of the majority of generalpopulation, which supported the reversion. Sōren, however, could not operate in US military-dominated Okinawa. Its"residents' logic", in fact, did not fit into the realities of Okinawa-based"leftover" Koreans, who mostly wished to naturalise rather than to participatein a national liberation struggle. Despite such limitations, Sōren stillmanaged to play the role of an aid organization in relation to the "leftover"Koreans. On the discovery of these people victimized and forgotten by thestates and official history amidst the vicissitudes of the World War and ColdWar, it recognized them and offered them assistance and solidarity.