Exodus to North Korea : shadows from Japan's Cold War / Tessa Morris-Suzuki.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morris-Suzuki, Tessa

Series:

Asian voices (Rowman and Littlefield, Inc.)

Asian voices

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Return migration--Korea (North).

Return migration.

Korea (North).

Repatriation--Korea (North).

Repatriation.

Koreans--Japan--History.

Koreans.

Japan.

History.

Korea (North)--Foreign relations--Japan.

International relations.

Japan--Foreign relations--Korea (North).

Cold War.

Physical Description:

x, 291 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, [2007]

Summary:

Ranging from Geneva to Pyongyang, this remarkable book takes readers on an odyssey through one of the most extraordinary forgotten tragedies of the Cold War: the "return" of over 90,000 people, most of them ethnic Koreans, from Japan to North Korea from 1959 onward. Presented to the world as a humanitarian venture and conducted under the supervision of the International Red Cross, the scheme was actually the result of political intrigues involving the governments of Japan, North Korea, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The great majority of the Koreans who journeyed to North Korea in fact originated from the southern part of the Korean peninsula, and many had lived all their lives in Japan. Though most left willingly, persuaded by propaganda that a bright new life awaited them in North Korea, the author draws on recently declassified documents to reveal the covert pressures used to hasten the departure of this unwelcome ethnic minority. For most, their new home proved a place of poverty and hardship; for thousands, it was a place of persecution and death. In rediscovering their extraordinary personal stories, this book also casts new light on the politics of the Cold War and on present-day tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world.

Contents:

Departures

Morning sun

Hostages to history

Geneva : city of dreams

Borderlines

Across the East Sea

To the field of dancing children

The borders within

Stratagems

The shadow ministry

The tip of the iceberg

The Pyongyang conference

Special mission to the far East

The first "return"

Resolution 20

Accord

Dream homes on the Daedong

The diplomats' diaries

From Geneva to Calcutta

Silent partners

A guide for Mr. Returnee

Arrivals

Toward the promised land

Return to nowhere

The willow trees of Niigata.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-280) and index.

ISBN:

0742554414

9780742554412

0742554422

9780742554429

OCLC:

71348682