Pukyong National University

The real hidden history of the refugees came out to the world for the first time in 70 years

- Busan government and PKNU co-published a 550-page record book of the war refugees <The 40 Korean War Refugees in Busan>

△ The cover image of 'The 40 Korean War Refugees in Busan'

"Straight up from Donggwang-dong and keep walking about 100 meters to the left at the top of the steps, refugees built up the shack-land. It used to be a park, but we had no choice but to build a shack there at that time. Where the statue and tower are now, there was a Marine Corps unit. We didn’t even have the land to build a shack, you see, it is at the top right now, right below the park, maybe 5 meters below? Under the park, we built a shack and lived there. The shack was made with straw bags and cardboard." (Kim Dong-Joo · Age 88)

The publication of <The 40 Korean War Refugees in Busan>, a book that directly records the testimonies of refugees of the Korean War and delivers the real-life scenes of the refugees and Busan, the capital of refugees at the time, is attracting public attention.

This book, co-published in December by the Busan government (Mayor Park Heong-Joon) and Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo), is a collection of verbal evidence for a time perspective of the historical and world heritage values of Busan, which was a refugee capital that is in the process of being registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This book provides a vivid description of life experiences of the war refugees settled in Busan based on the oral testimonies of 40 people, including laborers, doctors, teachers, military band members, nurses, medics, Korea Service Corps (A-Frame Army), a linen shop owner, bicyclist, and descendants of activists, in three parts and 550 pages.

Pukyong National University, which carried out academic research services for the Busan government, established the 'Verbal Recording Project Team on the Refugee Capital' with Chae Young-Hee, Vice-President for Academic Affairs (Professor, Dept. of Korean Language and Literature), as the lead researcher. In addition, the project team met and recorded a total of 62 verbal witnesses in person for about 20 months from May 2020 to December 2021, in which 40 of these testimonies were included in the book.

The memories of three people were recorded about the process of resettlement in Busan of the returning compatriots. Part 1 is the experiences of refugees from Hamgyeong-do, Pyeongan-do, and Hwanghae-do, and 24 people's memories of the process of settling in Busan. Part 2 is the memories of 13 people who immigrated from Busan and neighboring areas. Part 3 is a record of the memories of 3 people about the process of settling in Busan by the family of an independence activist who returned from China and the compatriots who returned from Japan.

Well... "Well… We had something called Jjamppang, which means food leftovers from the US military base. There was a man who personally brought it out of the unit. When the man brought it, we took it out and boiled it to make porridge. The man told his unit that the Koreans ate the leftovers well, and thankfully the soldiers never put cigarette butts and dirt in the Jjamppang after that. Instead, they put fruit, like peaches, inside for us." (Kwon Hyeok-Woo · Age 78)

Especially, this book is of great value in that it is a vivid testimony of the public written after <Inside Story of a Thousand Days in the Provisional Capital>, which recorded various incidents that occurred in Busan, the provisional capital, by the Busan Ilbo in April 1983.

Professor Chae Young-Hee, who managed the project, said, "We were hard-pressed for time, and it was a difficult task to record and organize the testimonies of the elderly, but through their stories, the epic of an era was finally completed like a puzzle. I think it's worth it and I felt rewarded."

She added, "Although it was difficult to record oral records due to Corona, the work was completed safely with the cooperation of the verbal witness's families and the Busan government. I hope that this book will be a small comfort to the verbal witnesses who hope that a tragedy like the Korean War will not happen again and that the countless young people who were sacrificed are never forgotten." <Pukyong Today>