아시아・태평양 전쟁기 한인 전쟁 포로의 심문조서 분석

Abstract

This study analyzed the POW interrogation reports of Korean military personnel and civilian employees(Gunzoku) who were captured by the Allied Forces in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during the Pacific War. In the Pacific War, the Empire of Japan mobilized human resources and supplies in a total mobilization system, and forcibly mobilized Koreans from colonial Korea. The mobilized Koreans suffered greatly under this system including death from Allied attacks, starvation due to the disregard for supplies by the Japanese army and navy, illness due to endemic disease, and death by drowning at sea during the sinking of transport ships. Among them, a small number of Koreans surrendered to the US military and other allied forces and became prisoners of war and survived. The Allied Forces captured Japanese military personnel and civilian employees and actively interrogated them. The information provided by the POWs was used in Allied operations against Japan. The Japanese, who had not been pre-educated to become POWs, exposed and provided information to the Allied Forces. Among them, Korean military personnel and civilian employees were also taken prisoners by the Allied Forces, and provided various information to the Allied Forces, from personal information to information on the Japanese Army and information on colonial Korea. Such information was compiled in interrogation reports and shared among the Allied Forces who used the information to strengthen the Allied war effort. Such Interrogation Reports have an exceptionally important value because they contain the vivid statements and descriptions of the Koreans who survived at that time. However, until now, they have not been used for research on the Koreans mobilized to the Southwest Pacific region. In this study, I investigated and analyzed the Interrogation Reports of Korean military personnel and civilian employees who were taken prisoners on the Southwest Pacific Front, and confirmed the records of 86 prisoners of war, including 41 military personnel and 45 civilian employees. These reports confirmed that most of them were special volunteer soldiers of the Japanese army, and those who joined the Japanese army were discriminated against and abused and were forced to volunteer. The civilian employees were army and navy civilian employees, and I was able to confirm the interrogation reports of the civilian employees who belonged to various units such as the Navy Construction Corps and the civilian employees belonging to the Navy Patriotic Work Group. From the process of their mobilization to their route to the battlefield as well as details of their suffering, the interrogation reports reveal a wealth of information recorded at that time. In the appendix of this study, I would like to organize the list of Korean POWs on the Southwest Pacific Front and contribute to the subsequent research.