I intend to cover the sad fate of the Korean People's Republic in my next entry (it was charged that it was 'communist' but the evidence is strong that it had spontaneous suppoprt from a wide range of Korean people) - then I can (at last) get into tragic events that have been covered up in western lore, but should not be - its far too sad. In both North and South Korea the will of the people became distorted.
fulltimestudent
JoinedPosts by fulltimestudent
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A Korean Tragedy
by fulltimestudent inthe modern history is full of deep, dark tragedies.
and, my intention, as i sat down to write of those tragedies for a fb page i look after for a macquarie university student society, was to tell the story of these very dark contemporary events.
but east asia history is complex and i think its helpful to try to have an overview of that history to understand what has happened in the recent past.
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Woman threw Watchtower in my face so I voted yes to Australian gay marriage.
by Witness 007 inyears ago on one of my last witnessing trips i left two magazines with an intelligent looking woman with a lovely house.
she gave my a donation and we carried on.
after 45 minutes she tracked us down at another house and returned the mags to me saying we "hate homosexuals and are preaching hatred..." she looked very upset and i was shocked by this and because someone actually bothered to read the magazines i just left!
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fulltimestudent
Witness 007: I for one now welcome our gay friends to the misery and prison of marriage. Enjoy, why should only I suffer.
Haha!! Yes, I was thinking much the same. Heterosexual people muck marriages up muich without any help from gays.
steve2: I am near retirement age so when I apply for the universal pension, I will have to declare my husband's income - whereas if I were not in a legally recognized relationship, I wouldn't.
More laughter from me. But in Aust. the pollies have already covered that one. A few years ago the Rudd govt. passed legislation that gave increased recognition to gay relationships, and declared that if they lived in a domestic relationship they would be counted as 'married' (or something like that) particularly when it came to pension rights.
Witness 007 : Governments once banned interacial unions. Who do they think they are? They are crossing the boundry of government/religion. Dont they have more important things to worry about like the failing economy. I think a man should be able to marry many wives if he wants. How can the government say no. Who are they!?
Well, its not governments, its the residual beliefs of the people who form governments. In most western countries, the residual beliefs are based on christian traditions.
So we need to get rid of xtianity, and things may change for the better.
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A Korean Tragedy
by fulltimestudent inthe modern history is full of deep, dark tragedies.
and, my intention, as i sat down to write of those tragedies for a fb page i look after for a macquarie university student society, was to tell the story of these very dark contemporary events.
but east asia history is complex and i think its helpful to try to have an overview of that history to understand what has happened in the recent past.
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fulltimestudent
What Koreans themselves may have wanted (and, it can be argued they nearly achieved it) became clear by events in August 1945,
The Japanese Colonial Administration, likely in close contact with Tokyo, knew that the end was near for their control of Korea, and with concern for the lives and property of Japanese citizens made an approach to a Korean Nationalist with conservative connections (Song Chin u), to establish a transitional government. Song refused. On the morning of August 2, 1945 the Japanese approached Yo Un-hyong, a highly respected and popular Korean politician. He was far to the left of Song, but was not a communist. (Remember that at this stage, the Japanese would have been expecting to find the Soviet Army in Seoul very soon). Yo accepted the Japanese offer, with three conditions: 1, All political prisoners were to be released immediately, 2. The Japanese were to guarantee three months food supplies. 3. And were not to interfere with any peace-keeping activity, and independence processes, or any Korean mobilization.
The Japanese administration did not like the terms, but had little choice but to accept.
Yo acted fast and formed a Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence (CPKI) and quickly contacted a wide range of Koreans throughout the nation, while calling for all Koreans to work together for National Unity and refrain from violence. The CPKI quickly developed into a de facto National government with branches of the CPKI spontaneously springing up, almost overnight across Korea, assuming control of local area administration. Within three months, there were CPKI committee’s at all administrative levels down to the smallest villages. The National CPKI convened a representative assembly in Seoul on September 6, and announced the formation of the Korean Peoples Republic and set about organizing future national elections.
So what happened to this spontaneous organization?
It’s a sad story.
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A Korean Tragedy
by fulltimestudent inthe modern history is full of deep, dark tragedies.
and, my intention, as i sat down to write of those tragedies for a fb page i look after for a macquarie university student society, was to tell the story of these very dark contemporary events.
but east asia history is complex and i think its helpful to try to have an overview of that history to understand what has happened in the recent past.
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fulltimestudent
What was happening in Korea while it was under Japanese control? Certainly, there were a lot of investments by Japanese companies. Heavy industry and mining developed in the north. Lighter industry developed in the south. But not many native Koreans were able to share in those developments.
The whole point of Japanese expansion was to gain control of “resources” and “markets” (as was the point of British control of India and her other Asian colonies). Japanese government policies in Korea therefore (on one hand) promoted development, and on the other hand, exercised tight control. The administration rewarded “co-operative elements in Korean society,' while increasing police control. An army of informers worked to eliminate political dissension before it could become organized. Even so, and in spite of heavy censorship of information, a sense of Korean identity and nationalism continued. That sense of nationalism was often conflated with leftist ideology, fed by growing interest in communist ideology among exiled Korean groups. Not surprisingly, considering the close proximity of Russia, the first formal Korean socialist organisations emerged among exile groups in Russian and Manchuria.
These groups often split and reformed and members may have belonged to, or have been involved in other groups with radical ideologies. Curiously, Japan itself was the home of at least some radical thinking. Korean students in Japan, often became members of such radical Japanese groups.* The increase in such groups led to efforts by the Japanese administration in 1925 to control political interests. That in turn led more Koreans to seek some sort of unity of purpose among the fractured leftist/nationalist groups.
Interestingly, it was the Korean Communist Party that became a major force for unity among these radical groups. In 1927, the New Korean Society, with top posts held by moderate nationalist was permitted to operate by the Japanese authorities. By 1930 this group claimed 386 branches throughout Korea, that managed to link worker groups, peasant groups and youth groups, but as this organisation grew, at local level, leftists were gradually elected to office. This led to a division on goals and by 1931 it collapsed.
1931 also saw the Japanese Kwantung Army manufacturing a pretext to attack Chinese troops in Manchuria, and Japan soon assumed control of all of Manchuria, as the puppet state of Manchukuo, with the last Chinese Emperor, Pu Yi as nominal Head of Government. In Korea, the Japanese now required a higher level of support from ordinary Koreans. This, in turn, led to more arrests for “political crimes” and harassment of the leaders of peasant and worker groups.
In the border zone between Korea and Manchuria, the Korean Communist Party began to organize underground guerilla groups, and this is likely where Kim Il Sung, may have begun to make his name.**
From (circa) 1935 there was an increased effort by the Japanese Colonial administration to enforce a cultural assimilation onto the Koreans, In schools, there was more emphasis on learning Japanese. All students and government employees had to attend Shinto services and adopt Japanese names.
In 1940, the administration re-organised all Koreans into 350,000 Neighbourhood Patriotic Associations. Each basic association consisted of ten households and became the basic unit for all government programs and requirements.
From 1943 all college students were required to serve in the Japanese military. And in later war years any ordinary Korean could be “mobilized” to work anywhere the government directed. By 1944,
16 percent of Koreans (4,000,000 people) were working outside Korea. This is the explanation for the wide dispersion of Koreans into other areas. Their descendants still live in both Japan and Manchuria. Socially, the policy aroused resentment, raised political and social consciousness and increased hatred for Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese. Korean prisons held thousands of political prisoners, which also spread radical ideologies.
· Japan is home to one of the largest non-governing Communist parties in the world, with 305, 000 members in over 22,000 branches. After the 2014 elections it held 21 seats in the House of Representatives and since 2016, 14 seats in the House of Councillors.
** There is some dispute as to whether the Kim Il Sung who became leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is the same person that was leading a guerilla group. In any case, a North Korean TV program claiming to show this Kim’s guerilla war is a total fairy tale.
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A Korean Tragedy
by fulltimestudent inthe modern history is full of deep, dark tragedies.
and, my intention, as i sat down to write of those tragedies for a fb page i look after for a macquarie university student society, was to tell the story of these very dark contemporary events.
but east asia history is complex and i think its helpful to try to have an overview of that history to understand what has happened in the recent past.
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fulltimestudent
The speed with which the Soviet armies crossed Manchuria was in contrast to the American experience in their invasion of Okinawa. On Okinawa, the Japanese defenders resisted with a dogged fierceness, and the horrific battle lasted from April 1 to June 22 in 1945. It is claimed by some observers that it was the strength of the Japanese resistance on Okinawa that influenced American strategists to think of using their newly developed atomic weapons to force Japan to surrender, reasoning that whatever casualties that weapon caused, would surely be less than the casualties that both the Japanese and American sides would suffer in an invasion.
So why then did the Russians succeed in their lightning drive across Manchuria and into Korea? I would appear that the formerly very strong Kwantung army occupying Manchuria had been greatly weakened by troop and equipment withdrawals, so that by 1945 the Kwantung army was only a shadow of its former fighting ability. If that was the case, and it appears a logical explanation for the speed by which the Russians were able to cross Manchuria, then the American strategists should perhaps have given consideration to planning an invasion of Japanese occupied China.
As for Korea, it does not seem that the Americans had at any point given much thought to the post-war future of Korea. At the Cairo Conference between the Allied powers, in December 1943, it was agreed that Korea should become free and independent “in due course.” It appears however, that Roosevelt’s “due course” could have been a long (40-50 years) trusteeship. Korea was discussed again in the 1945 conferences in Yalta and Potsdam, and a final resolution was achieved at the Moscow conference in December 1945. A four power trusteeship would govern Korea for up to 5 years and an American-Soviet Joint Commission would work to establish a “unified provisional government for Korea.” As far as is generally known, the American administration had given little thought to how all this may work in practice. That shall become clear.
And apparently little thought was given to what the Korean people may have thought or wanted. And what Koreans themselves wanted was soon to become very clear.
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North Korea's Holiday Resort and Understanding Kim Jong un's political goals
by fulltimestudent inreuters news agency published a north korean perspective, a little different to most recent reports which focused on this small nations bombs and rockets.. today's story was about the resort town of wonsan - a seaside resort in north korea's where the report claims that the kim family has a residence.
i'm posting this reuter's report because it may provide some balance to the way westerners may imagine north korea.. the main focus (by western journalism) is on nk's nuclear tests and missile tests and nothing else.
that aspect is, without doubt, a matter of deep concern.
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fulltimestudent
The Reuters view adds some details about the life of Kim Jong un. It is claimed he grew up in this city of about 350,000. Wonsan is the port city where the Russian ship that brought grandfather Kim back to Korea in late 1945 docked.
Here's Kim Il sung (on the extreme right) with some Russian Officers likely sometime in 1946.
And we also know now that Kim Jong un has a yacht, on which he may entertain visitors:
On board what is claimed to be his yacht, Jong un talks with Michael Spavour of the Paektu Cultural Exchange in September 2013.
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North Korea's Holiday Resort and Understanding Kim Jong un's political goals
by fulltimestudent inreuters news agency published a north korean perspective, a little different to most recent reports which focused on this small nations bombs and rockets.. today's story was about the resort town of wonsan - a seaside resort in north korea's where the report claims that the kim family has a residence.
i'm posting this reuter's report because it may provide some balance to the way westerners may imagine north korea.. the main focus (by western journalism) is on nk's nuclear tests and missile tests and nothing else.
that aspect is, without doubt, a matter of deep concern.
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fulltimestudent
Reuters News Agency published a North Korean perspective, a little different to most recent reports which focused on this small nations bombs and rockets.
Today's story was about the resort town of Wonsan - a seaside resort in North Korea's where the report claims that the Kim family has a residence.
I'm posting this Reuter's report because it may provide some balance to the way westerners may imagine North Korea.
The main focus (by western journalism) is on NK's nuclear tests and Missile tests and nothing else. That aspect is, without doubt, a matter of deep concern. However, there is a school of thought held by many western scholars is that NK's bombs/missiles are a NK strategy to secure their future. This school believes that the NK elite (and likely down to the middle classes (I doubt that many people can confidently speak for the lowest NK classes ) supports the Kim family's and the Korean Workers Party's policys. But now that they have reached a point where they may feel more secure the government will focus on improving the lives of ordinary Koreans.
This school of thought points to the changes in NK's economy since Kim Jong un's rise to power. There has been a proliferation of small businesses involved in the lowest levels of a market economy. Some of that came out of the famine conditions of the 1990s, a famine that (it is suggested) was caused by bad seasons, but also by the collapse of the North Koreans main support base, the USSR. (which collapsed in 1991). Thirty years on, things look different. New buildings have appeared all over Pyongyang and shops, large and small, area a feature of life. In Pyongyang (supposedly populated by government employees, members of the elite, and the lower levels of workers required to make urban spaces work), people in the streets look well-dressed and certainly not starving. It is also claimed that all along the border with China, the towns and villages have been tarted up. Whether that is a sign of increasing prosperity or merely a way of making NK look better from the location that many foreigners may choose to catch a glimpse of NK life?
Any way - read the Reuters report if you have an interest in attempting to understand what is happening in NK - likely the lasts place where the Cold War Propaganda war still rages.
The beach at Wonsan. The Kim family's answer to the Kennedy family's Hyannis Port or the Trump family'a Mar-a-lago.
Full story at : https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/northkorea-tourism-wonsan/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social
If you would like to see more images of Wonsan, try this German language video:
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What was the biggest thing that convinced you that
by Ponyo in.....the truth was not the truth... ?
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fulltimestudent
stuckinarut2 : The BIGGEST step? Is first giving oneself permission to START investigating the faith.
Absolutely! Without that mindset, we will always be imprisoned by the Christian exhortation to have faith without doubts.
Anyway, for me i think it started in August 1945, with a talk to elders (in the Greenacre Assembly hall) by Nathan Knorr and his sidekick, Freddy Franz. Knorr introduces Freddy saying something like,
"It seems that there is not enough time left in 1975, for all the things to happen that Bro. Franz says must happen before Armageddon can/will come, so Bro Franz will discuss this."
It was the body language between them that I focused on. Knorr was clearly irritated by the failure of Freddy's prophetic utterances. And nothing that Freddy said that night made much sense (I already knew his apologia - it was set out in the 'Life Everlasting' book of that time.
Bu worse was to come, a former Aussie Branch Overseer, Doug Held was sent out here to 'encourage' us. In his talk he commented that the big A. might be 20 years away. Huh!!! And all that after something like 5+years (prior to 1975) of constant reminders at meetings and assemblies and in the literature of the period to 'stay alive in '75.
And everytime I do get into a discussion with witnesses and someone tells me that they were in the 'truth' then and the organisation didn't say it, over enthusiastic brothers said it, it becomes clearer to me that I fell for the biggest load of bullshit ever.
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A Korean Tragedy
by fulltimestudent inthe modern history is full of deep, dark tragedies.
and, my intention, as i sat down to write of those tragedies for a fb page i look after for a macquarie university student society, was to tell the story of these very dark contemporary events.
but east asia history is complex and i think its helpful to try to have an overview of that history to understand what has happened in the recent past.
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fulltimestudent
Sorry for delays, but this project turned out to taker more time than I anticipated.
Anyway before i go on I thought I'd post a few images of the Russian invasion of Manchukuo (The Japanese name for the puppet state they created in North China). I have the impression after a couple of days searching that the number of images on the web have increased. A few years ago, I spent a year at Sydney University studying Korean history, and I did a presentation on the invasion, and found few images. OK, maybe I'm just better at searching these days, or maybe there are more piks. I now have nearly 20. I will only post a few, if anyone has a specific interest, send me a pm and I'll send you more. So here are five I've selected. I should note that often the details are sketchy (to say the least) - I would not use many of them in an academic exercise, but OTOH I have little reason to doubt that they are what they claim to be.
This is a getty image, apparently sourced from some Soviet source. It is claimed to be a pik of a Russian column driving into Manchuria.
Here's pik that's captioned as Soviet troops with Chinese civilians. No information as to what city. Note the Chinese man holding a flag of the then Republic of China (i.e. the GMD).
This pik is claimed to be of a Soviet tank entering Dalian (right down to the south end of the Liaoning Peninsula - a long way from the start point). It would have to be late in the drive, just before the Japanese surrender.
Japanese soldiers surrendering to Russian troops. No information as to where and the date.
And the last image is claimed to be of Soviet troops in Korea. No information as to precisely where, or the date. There's little doubt that it is a Russian troop formation. There clearly acting casually, so its likely taken after the Japanese surrender. It would be great to know how far south they were.
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"Circumcision is a sign to set you apart from the people of the nations"
by stuckinarut2 inwe know that the hebrew scriptures, or old testament states that the practice of circumcision (of males) was supposed to be yet another sign that set the jews apart from the "people of the nations".
but apart from so many odd things, how dumb is this?.
i mean, how did someone know if a male was circumcised or not??
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fulltimestudent
David_Jay: "It seems that the Jews and Greeks knew virtually nothing of one another until the Babylonian exile ended, the Hebrews being so insignificant as we were then."
David, I seriously doubt that!
I'm sure you appreciate that 'Greek' people lived on both sides of the Aegean sea. So on the Aegean coast of Asia minor Greek culture prevailed. And, in cities like Miletus, as elites developed, who had sufficient leisure time to think and discuss ideas, we find the first of the so-called Pre-Socratic Greek thinkers like Thales (c.624 – c. 546 BCE). So historians ask, Why Miletus? and the usual answer is that Miletus was on a trade route that linked that city (and others in Asia Minor) with older cultures of Babylon, Egypt, Phoenicia and so on.
Its considered axiomatic that 'ideas travel with trade,' and it so happens that the ancient Palestine area was on both a land and sea trade route that linked Asia Minor to Egypt, (And, as I have posted extensively before, long before that time, the Egyptian Empire controlled the area that encompasses the greater Palestinian area). I think it quite likely that the Israelite/Jews were, as you said, "insignificant,*' but that doesn't mean that the Israelite/Jews did not also pick up ideas of the world as traders passed through the area. For example, I once listened to Professor Boyo Ockinga compare the first chapter of Genesis to Egyptian ideas of creation. I left the lecture convinced that Genesis had been written by someone completely familiar with Egyptian creation concepts.
Then there is the Book of Job, Jewish tradition attributes it to Moses, but today's scholarship see it as being produced much later between the 7th and 4th centuries BCE. And its seen as comparable to "... several texts from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt (that) offer parallels to Job, and while it is impossible to tell whether the author of Job was influenced by any of them, their existence suggests that the author was the recipient of a long tradition of reflection on the existence of inexplicable suffering.
May I offer one more example. Where do you think the author of Daniel 2 (the dream image) got his imagery of the statue being formed from different metals, metals that became inferior to the previous one (i.e. There's a head of gold - representing Nebuchadnezzar- then breast and arms of silver and so on. (and for the benefit of bible believers, the third on is said to "rule over the whole earth." Surely, a real god in heaven would not say that).
Surely, if you have ever read Hesiod's (usually considered to have lived between 750 and 650 BCE) "Works and Days." you would immediately see the similarity with his five ages of Humanity.**
And, even if a particular Jewish document (i.e.OT) could be demonstrated as being produced at an early date (i.e. by a contemporary writer/observer of certain events) that would not mean that our copies (i.e. as we know the document) had not been redacted at another point in time. Why? Because we there are not many copies/extracts that reach back in time. And we now know that in the Dead Sea Scrolls, modified documents were sometimes being written.
Footnote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David - that entry notes that some scholarship considers Chronicles and Ruth to be fourth century documents
* My personal view is that Judaism (Jewish thought) only became important, and studied, because it was linked to Christian tradition and mythology. If Christianity had not become important in the western world, then Judaism would be even less important than ancient Babylonian thought.
** Hesiod divides human history into five distinct eras.The initial Age of Gold. then the Age of Silver, Then the Age of Bronze, The The Age of Heroes and finally the Age of Iron.