What happened to North Korea and South Korea in 1945?

Having a near-death experience from my brain aneurysm rupture in 2007 has made me to seek the underlying causes and the root of the problems for my health, my family, and my native country, South Korea. As a Korean-born living in America, I began to delve deeper to see the underlying causes of those events affecting Koreans. For the 36 years of the Japanese Occupation of Korea (1910-1945), thousands of Koreans, including several members of my extended family, were raped, tortured and slaughtered by the Japanese until America ended the war with the dropping of the two atomic bombs.

Upon Japanese unconditional surrender, an agreement was reached between the United States and the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference for the division of Korea. The United States occupied South Korea and the Soviet Union occupied North Korea. The Korean War was a conflict between the Communist, North and the non-Communist, South. Began on June 25, 1950, N. Korea invaded S. Korea. Many Chinese and American soldiers died in addition to the countless Koreans casualties. After having a prolonged treacherous fighting for three years and one month, it ended on July 27, 1953 without the signing of a peace treaty. We are still at war. These are the historical facts that we know.

However, I feel that some of these historical facts may not reflect what really happened.  According to the New York Times in October 1946, this agreement was made at the Potsdam Conference. I researched and examined the documentations related to the Potsdam conference, but could not find any agreement about Korea being halved. In my research, the Institute of Pacific Relations published a categorical statement in June 1946 that this agreement had been made at Yalta Conference. I looked the documentations related to the Yalta conference, but I could not find any information about Korea being halved. There was no formal discussion of the agreement reached between the United States and the Soviet Union to split the Korea. What happened to us? Why we are two?

There is a proverb in Korea about shrimps and whales. The little shrimps’ back get broken, when whales are fighting. Korea is the little shrimp while the US, Russia, China, and Japan are the whales. Korea’s back was broken in half into North and South. Whales either cover it up or erase history: the little shrimps with broken back are crying for their families, unbearable anguish, and the hope for the reunification of the two Korea. Divided in two always made us the victim country. On Korean Thanksgiving day and New Years’ day, some Koreans travel as far as they legally can within the DMZ. Facing to the North, they bowed down to the ground in front of the food-laden table and using chopstick, tossed some food to the North. This is where they left their families and where their hope to see them again. They cry in the DMZ longing for the family in the other Korea.

No matter how many different views I can think of, one thing never change— without our involvement, the Korean peninsula was split between the US and Russia in 1945 at the 38th parallel. Koreans have been suffering for years from the psychological impact of the War, which can be as destructive as actual wartime experience. The people who witnessed the slaughtering were transformed. I can ask, Who will rebuild our cultures and our history?  During the Japanese Occupation of Korea (1910-1945), the Korean War (1950-1953), and the Post-War period (1953-present), my mother, my father, and my grandmother went through unimaginable suffering and had to endure unimaginable atrocities: having their bodies, their lands, and their souls violated by multiple wars. Even though they were all died physically, they live within me through their stories and my memory that we have shared together.

Many theories of the cause of splitting Korea into two are still unanswered. I ask you to look into this and to produce unbiased history. I have the right to know, and we have the right to know the truth because without it, we cannot be healed. If we cannot be healed, we can never be whole. The truth needs to be told: What really happened to Korea?

The Dead Soul’s Railroad

 As my hometown, “Dead Soul’s Railroad” is located in Iksan, South Korea.  Because of the large number of people who died on that railroad, the village people called it the “Dead Soul’s Railroad.”


Located in Iksan, South Korea, this railroad line was built by the Japanese. Many people from the surrounding villages died during the aggressive military railway construction. This railroad was used to carry weapons to China during Japan’s imperialistic expansion. This railroad was also used during the Japanese Occupation of Korea (1910-1945), to take young Korean males to be used as human bullet shields and forced labors, and young Korean females were taken to be sex slaves for Japanese soldiers. Most of those taken away did not come back to our land, but died where they were taken. During the Korean War (1950-1953), a train full of people travelling on these tracks was fire-bombed, yet another deadly event on this rail line. Even after these brutal events, people disappeared and were found later floating on the river beneath this railroad line. That’s why the village people called it the “Dead Soul’s Railroad.”

My hometown, ‘Honam Plain’ region

My hometown, Iksan in Cholla-do, is located in the ‘Honam Plain’ region, consisting rich soil and flat land. It was blessed with rich soil, optimal for high-quality rice production. Like the generous land, the peasants who primarily lived on the ‘Honam Plain’ had warm, giving hearts, with a love of good food, of sharing, and of dancing. The people of this coveted land have been historically exploited by struggles for its possession. Therefore, the rich soil of the ‘Honam plain’ had been wet all throughout Korean history with struggling people's blood. The condition of Japan’s colonization got worse and worse. After having completed a land survey, Japan planned to meet its food grain shortage with increased rice productions in Korea and large quantities were shipped to Japan and to China for Divine Japanese soldiers. This left facing destitutions Korean farmers and starvations and, of course, my hometown on the ‘Honam Plain’ got the very critical heat. Japanese occupation (1910-1945), followed by Korean War (1950-1953) and Post-War were the most difficult time in our hometown due to the fertile soil conditions. But, the peasants in this generous land had to survive with severe exploitation—Heavenly Japanese Emperor forced to dress like them and speak only Japanese language—no more Korean language—no more Korean clothes—no more Korean name—no more Korean speaking.

My grandpa’s families, mostly Korean traditional doctors, were one of the richest families in the whole province. So, my grandpa, the third son in the wealthiest family, inherited one third of the property. They saved many farmers and children’s lives. Korean traditional doctors used natural ingredients, like herbs and roots, to heal others. Using basic and natural methods, my grandpa’s families taught farmers about our universal nature and the order of the cosmos. We were educated how to plant farming better and when to harvest on the dependency of the universal nature. Since they interpreted the movement of Moon according to the universal nature, our ritual activities were mostly conducted the movement of the moon cycle. So they were educators and healers! But my extented families were the people who were not pleased by the Japanese during the Occupation.  My grandmother was only one to survived.