The Korean Emigration Museum, operated by the Incheon Metropolitan Government (Mayor Park Chan-dae), announced that it will hold a special exhibition titled ‘Days Locked in Paradise: Records of Korean POWs at the Hawaii Internment Camp’ in its special exhibition hall from September 22 through February 21 of next year. Admission is free.
 [코리안투데이] A view of the Korean Emigration Museum special exhibition ‘Days Locked in Paradise’ © 장형임 기자 |
This special exhibition sheds light on the lives of Koreans who were mobilized for forced labor during the Pacific War and later became prisoners of the U.S. military. After launching into all-out war with the United States following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japan mobilized large numbers of Koreans to supply the Pacific front and to build military facilities such as airfields. Koreans who had suffered forced labor on remote islands in the middle of the Pacific were taken prisoner by U.S. forces as the Japanese military suffered a series of defeats, and were subsequently transferred to the Honouliuli internment camp in Hawaii.
The exhibition follows the perspective of Hwang Hae-su (黃海水), a real historical figure from Chungju, North Chungcheong Province. It vividly retraces the entire journey — from how Koreans were taken to the South Sea Islands and captured, to the interrogation process conducted by JICPOA, the U.S. military intelligence agency, as well as the ethnic conflicts between Koreans and Japanese within the camp and the daily lives of the prisoners.
It also addresses how the Korean community in Hawaii, upon learning of the transferred Korean prisoners, supported them by sending prayers, donations, and Christmas gifts. This is a passage that reveals the bond of fellow countrymen who held on to one another in a distant land during a period when national sovereignty could not reach them.
The exhibition unveils photographs depicting the reality of the South Sea Islands and scenes from the Hawaii internment camp, as well as JICPOA prisoner interrogation reports, badges actually worn by the prisoners, the ‘Report on the Inspection of the Hawaii Internment Camp,’ and ‘Jayu Haninbo’ (The Free Korean), a newspaper published by the Korean prisoners. A space recreating the barracks and dining hall where the prisoners lived is also presented to help visitors’ understanding.
This special exhibition is co-organized with the Center for Oral History at the University of Hawaii (Director M. Kunmi Yu Danico) and the Center for Korean Immigration Studies in Hawaii (Director Lee Duk-hee). The exhibition is held in the special exhibition hall of the Korean Emigration Museum.
Park Man-soon, director of the Korean Emigration Museum, said, ‘I hope this exhibition will serve as an occasion to look back on the existence of Korean POWs, who were forgotten after liberation, and to empathize with the pain of our people who were forced to be involuntarily dispersed during a period when national sovereignty could not reach them — much like the early emigrants of the early 20th century.’
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화
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