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Right, Cookie -
As you know ROKA high command was staffed by
Koreans who had served in the Japanese army. For example, Park Jung Hee,
Chae Byong Duk, Baik Sung Yup, Kim Suk Won, Lee Ung Jung, Kim Baik Il and
so on, were all graduates of the Japanese Military Academy or its branch in
Manchuria.
Now, so what? Well, most of these men
resented taking orders from their American advisors who they thought were
less-trained in the art of war. Privately, they referred to the Americans
as 'mi-guk-nom', where the suffix 'nom' denotes things bad (e.g., wai-nom for
Japanese - "dwarfish SOBs", ddong-ddae-nom for Chinese - 'shit-filthy
scums"...).
Capt. James Hausman, who was fluent in Korean, said
that he was offended more than once by his Korean officers calling him
"miguk-nom". Once he caught Park Jung Hee using the term.
BTW, there was an unreported incident that
illustrates the point in case. During a meeting, a Korean major crashed in
and pointed a pistol at Gen. Clark's head and threatened to shoot
him. Fortunately, the major was wrestled down and led away. The
major told his interrogators that he was angry at the Americans for "appeasing"
the communists. Gen. Clark told the audience to keep this incident to
themselves.
But this case was reported to Rhee Syngman and Rhee
ordered the major released at once, saying that he wished that there were
more patriots like the major in his army. Rhee believed that
most of his generals worked for the Yanks and trusted only a few including Gen.
Won Young Duk. Gen. Won orchestrated the release of anti-communist
POWs. He also murdered a Rhee's opponent on Rhee's direct order
(hand-written in English!), for which he was tried and imprisoned.
BTW, Chosun Ilbo wrote about this Clark incident
last year.
ysk
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