Annotation source: Seoul Metropolitan Archive
ANNOTATION
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was an American intelligence agency established during WWII in June 1942. Its main tasks were to conduct espionage activities, collect information, prevent espionage, assess and censor information, and conduct psychological warfare and black propaganda during the war. Later, it became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Office of War Information (OWI) was established around the same time period. OSS was in charge of gathering information in the China-Burma-India theaters (CBI).
American intelligence agencies including OSS regarded the issue of “comfort women” as a useful tool in psychological warfare to erode the Japanese military’s morale, as well as to provoke anti-Japanese sentiment among the local population that was under Japanese occupation. The OSS believed that while the Japanese military mobilized “comfort women” to the frontline to boost soldiers’ morale, there could be internal complaints and conflicts regarding the use of comfort stations or implementation of the service. The agencies also posited that they could trigger the anger of local people by letting them know that the Japanese military had been forcibly mobilizing local women in the territories occupied by Japan. By emphasizing how cruel the Japanese were, the American agencies planned to provoke resentment of the local people to expedite a rupture of Japan's colonial rule in these areas.
For these purposes, OSS tried to collect information regarding the existence of comfort stations on the military base. If informants had been to comfort stations, data was gathered as to the number of “comfort women” and their nationalities. Information was also gathered as to the relationship between soldiers’ morale and “comfort stations” from the interrogation of Japanese POWs. Additionally, information was gathered regarding how “comfort women” had been mobilized, illustrating the Japanese military violence and insult against local women when interrogating civilians on the frontline.
This is an OSS report of interrogation of Harry Moon Sil Jim, a Korean POW who lived in Hawaii. It contains information about Koreans and an organization called the Korean National Association in Siam (today’s Thailand).
Harry Moon Sil Jim was mobilized to Siam during this period. According to this report, Harry Moon Sil Jim was born in Korea, went to Honolulu in 1925, and returned to Korea in 1933. When Japan declared war, Jim was conscripted and dispatched to Siam as a guard of POWs. He and other Korean guards of POWs were not in the Army but attached as civilian employees. In late August of 1945, Korean guards were dismissed by the Japanese military. These Koreans in Siam created an organization called the Korean National Association and were willing to cooperate with the Allied Forces. Jim was the president of this organization. According to Jim, a thousand or more Korean POW guards were sent to Siam and assigned in the POW camps scattered along the line of the Burma-Siam Railway. At the end of the report, information is found about the Korean “comfort women” in Siam. According to Jim, there were about 7,400 Koreans in total in Siam as of September 1945. This number includes 900 former POW guards (150 of whom were in Bangkok), 5,000 soldiers in the regular Japanese Army, and 1,500 “comfort women” who belonged to the Japanese troops in Siam.
Contributors
[Organization] Seoul National University, Chin-sung Chung Research Team, 2015~
[Organization] City of Seoul, Women and Family Policy Affairs Office 2011~
[Organization] Seoul National University, Chin-sung Chung Research Team, 2015~
[Organization] National Archives and Records Administration 1934~
#OSS #Siam #Thailand #psychological_warfare
LESSON PLAN
Note to teachers:
1. The discussion questions below are designed based on the original document, not the annotation. Teachers are recommended to use the primary document in teaching, instead of the annotation. However, the annotation provides useful background information for teachers when they prepare for the lesson.
2. This 2-page document has very little information about the "comfort women." However, it is important as it confirmed the existence of "comfort women" in Thailand. Additionally, this document shows the Koreans' resentment of the Japanese.
Explain the following words to your students before asking them to read the document:
- baht: the basic monetary unit of Thailand
- Siam: nowadays Thailand
- prostitute: a person, in particular woman, who engages in sexual activity for payment.
After reading the document, discuss the following scaffolded questions:
1. What kind of document is this?
2. What are the physical characteristics of this document?
a. Is it handwritten or typed?
b. Are there any marks? If so, what are they?
c. Any other physical features do you notice?
d. Does any of these physical characteristics interest you?
3. Who created the document?
4. Who was the targeted audience?
5. When was it created?
6. What's the name of the informant? What do you know about him based on the document?
7. How were the Koreans, who were mobilized by the Japanese during the war, treated by the Japanese? Explain.
8. Why did the Koreans in Siam decide to form Korean National Association?
9. Why did the Korean National Association ally itself with the Allies?
10. According to the informant, how many "comfort women" were in Siam at the time?
11. What questions do you have for this document?
12. Where can you find the answers?
* This lesson plan was designed by Jing Williams, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education at University of South Dakota.