1958년 북한 발(發) ‘고아 구제’ 담화와 남한/일본에서의 북한행 역진 - 한국전쟁과 고아 심리/선전전 ①

Abstract

As revealed in the subtitle, this is the first article about the Korean War and the Orphan Psychological/Propaganda warfare. The Hot War/Civil War on the Korean Peninsula that represented the Cold War left numerous orphans on the ruins. The existence of those demonstrating the destruction of the Korean peninsula were separated and moved globally along the lines of the bloc under the active cooperation of the South and North Korean authorities who could not afford to take care of them during the war and post-war reconstruction period. Unlike South Korea, North Korean war orphans who were entrusted to Eastern European socialist brother countries were put on a mass ‘separation/movement’ for the purpose of consignment education. The boundary between loyalty and disloyalty, which is directly linked to the psychological warfare of Chapter 1, led to the view of global separation/movement as a “foot-to-foot vote” that affirms political loyalty. Therefore, Chapter 2 reveals that North Korean war orphans who went to Eastern Europe’s socialist brother countries could only emerge as a symbol of international socialism’s friendship and solidarity. In other words, they embodied the ‘selfless aid’ of international socialism. However, with the return of war orphans in 1958, North Korea turned to ‘international socialism with nationality,’ as I expressed it. In line with the transition of the regime, North Korea sent out an all-out and offensive relief discourse of Cabinet Decision No. 96, which was thoroughly ignored by the South Korean authorities. As discussed in Chapter 3, Cabinet Decision No. 96, which went far beyond the existing proposals, made the problem of the unemployed and wandering orphans the first issue of psychological warfare between the two Koreas by retelling the South Korean statement of “the people’s economic plight of 4,000 years.” Chapter 4 dealt with several incidents of attempts to go to North Korea from South Korea and Japan that responded to this. One of these incidents was an attempt to defection to North Korea accompanied by a working student refugee from North Korea and a GI baby, and the other was an attempt to the collective exodus to North Korea in the Yeosun area. Above all, the latter incident reflected the dream of free education and study in North Korea’s relief discourse. While Yeosun area group’s dream of going to North Korea was finally frustrated, Kim Haeng-il, who returned to the North Korea through the Japanese Chongryon in hopes of studying like them, deflected to South Korea and wrote the remains of his broken dream in 『the 575th days of the nightmare(악몽 575일)』. Although it was later revealed that the 『the 575th days of the nightmare(악몽 575일)』, which was advertised as an autobiographical escape, was reprocessed by the hands of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency(KCIA). Crossing the frustrations, settlements, and departures surrounding the exodus to North Korea, this paper attempted to critically retrace the stained history that even made <Finding Separated Families> the subject of psychological warfare against North Korea. The unfulfilled dreams and wishes of those who tried to reverse the bloc are reminding us that daily life of peacetime was never free from psychological warfare in the state of war.