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Koreans on Tinian during World War II
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Posted on Aug 02 2005
I note that while Saipan Tribune is publishing a series of articles commemorating the end of World War II and the role of Tinian, we shouldn’t forget the Koreans on Tinian during the war years, most of whom were forced laborers under Japanese military rule. The following letter provides some insight as to their allegiance.
William H. Stewart
Military historical cartographer
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November, 1944 from the Korean people of Camp Churo, Tinian, to His Excellency, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the American Navy:
Greetings. Since the landings of Your Excellency’s forces on this island, we Korean people have been dedicating our lives to your cause and, though weak in ability to further the various aspects of your aims, have joined our efforts with yours in every possible way.
Nevertheless, we 2,400 Koreans have, in our hearts, felt strongly dissatisfied with merely this fact. Upon thinking it over and considering how best to show our sincerity, we have decided in conference that the most appropriate thing we could do would be to make a monetary contribution to American national defense. We have forthwith taken up a collection amounting to $666.35, which we humbly present to Your Excellency. It is not much money, but because it is the crystallized salt of the daily sweat of the 2400 Koreans living on Tinian, and because it represents a unanimous spirit, please accept it and use it for American Naval expenditures.
Every day, morning and evening, we join our hands in a great prayer that the objectives of this holy war may swiftly be accomplished. RI SHUM SAI as representative of 2,400 Koreans living on Tinian
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The “Directive for Military Government and Civil Affairs in the Japanese Mandated Islands” stated, “Koreans are regarded by the United States as having status different from that of Japanese subjects of Japanese race, and are regarded as citizens of a nation to be restored to sovereignty in due course.”
(Source: Richard, Dorothy E., United States Naval Administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands ,Volume I, 1957, U. S. Government Printing Office.)
