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Humanity Interrogated: Empire, Nation, and the Political Subject in U.S. and UN-controlled POW Camps of the Korean War, 1942-1960 by Monica Kim A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor Penny M. Von Eschen, Chair Associate Professor Sarita See Associate Professor Scott Kurashige Associate Professor Henry Em, New York University Monica Kim 2011 For my parents Without whom, this never would have been written ii Acknowledgements It has been my incredible fortune that a vision shared also means a life shared. And much life has been shared in the fostering and development of this project, as it moved from idea to possibility to entirely unpredictable experiences in the field and in writing. My dissertation committee members have been involved with this project ever since the beginning. I am indebted not only to their commitment to and support of my ideas, but also to their own relationships with work, writing, and social justice. By their own examples, they have shown me how to ask the necessary, important questions to push my own scholarship constantly into a critical engagement with the world. Penny von Eschen has granted me perhaps one of the most important lessons in scholarship – to write history unflinchingly, with a clarity that comes from a deep commitment to articulating the everyday human struggles over power and history. A wise teacher and an invaluable friend, Penny has left an indelible imprint upon this work and my life, and I am excited about working together with her on projects beyond this dissertation. Henry Em has modeled for me the core element of integrity through his own writing and his life, and I thank him for the lessons in how self-reflection and openness can become the basis for one’s life’s work. My own growth as a scholar is indebted to his dedication to rethinking and relearning in order to reimagine the relationship between ourselves and social change. Sarita See is an intellectual and writer who is unafraid – and her own fearlessness, the rare kind that stems from having a sense of intelligent humor in iii front of power, was a profound inspiration for me as I struggled to figure out my own way of paying attention to the historical archive, and my own way of writing a history of war. I could not have asked for a more amazing mentor than Scott Kurashige to be the constant throughout my graduate career, from the very beginning to the end. He granted me the gift of perspective, something oddly in short supply in graduate school, in many conversations regarding countless iterations of the project over the years. The very first person to welcome me to University of Michigan was Rebecca Scott, and indeed, it was a truly fortuitous meeting. I count it as a true privilege and honor to have had Rebecca and Jean Hébrard as two incredibly influential teachers regarding how I have come to wrestle with and delight in the complex, labyrinthine character of the archive. I thank Jean for taking many leaps of faith in my abilities as a scholar and introducing me to the academic community at the École des hautes etudes en sciences sociales. In Paris, Christophe Prochasson and Sophie de Schaepdrijver also taught me a great deal about history and writing about war. I consider myself exceptionally fortunate in how academic communities both within and outside the University of Michigan have provided both financial support and also collective spaces for the exchange of ideas throughout my graduate career. Meredith Woo brought me into the Center of Korean Studies soon after my arrival to University of Michigan, and I thank her for so firmly believing in my work. With David Chung, Nojin Kwak, Youngju Ryu, and Jiyoung Lee, the Nam Center for Korean Studies has been an intellectual home for me throughout all of my years at Michigan. And although Elder Nam has passed, I hope to continue his legacy of passion for Korean Studies. The Institute of the Humanities, with director Danny Herwitz, became an intellectual iv community for me upon my return from year-long fieldwork in Korea. The Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, headed by Ron Suny, was another such space of inspired dialogue. I thank Marilyn Young and Michael Nash for their invitation to present at the U.S. and the Cold War Center at New York University, and also thank Susan Carruthers for her insightful comments on the work. David Lloyd has been offering encouragement and support to this project with a great deal of his characteristic generosity. And I thank Bruce Cumings and Kyeong-hee Choi for welcoming me into another community at University of Chicago as this work evolves further. Additional funding for this project has come from the Department of History and the Rackham School for Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan, the Korea Foundation, and the Josephine de Karmàn Fellowship. My research and also language training in Korea was funded by grants from Fulbright, the Korea Society, and also the Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) and Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). But the organization and coordination of all these grants would not have been possible without the support and wisdom of Lorna Altstetter, Sheila Coley, Kathleen King, and Diana Denney in the Department of History. Any modicum of success or sanity of mine is all thanks to them. During the research for this project, I have depended upon the generosity and willingness of archivists to share their knowledge and time with me. The many months I spent at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, I hugely benefited from the kindness and good humor of archivist Richard Boylan and the dedicated staff. I also thank Randy Sowell at the Truman Presidential Library, David Keogh at the Military History Institute, Fabrizio Bensi at the International Committee of the Red Cross archives v in Geneva, Ken Klein at the Korean American archives at University of Southern California, and the archivists at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University for the conversations and support they provided me during my research trips. I thank Susan Uyemura for bringing me into the JA Living Legacy project and family. Susan is an exemplary oral historian, who is firmly committed to ensuring that the voices often unheard will be recorded. I thank the Japanese American veterans who were willing to share their stories and experiences with me, often welcoming me into their homes more than once, or transforming a small corner of a conference hall into one of personal history testament. Sometimes one gets lucky with the company one gets to keep, and it turned out that I had that luck in spades. Isabela Quintana and LaKisha Simmons – I could not have asked for more amazing friends with whom to begin and end the graduate program together. For those who have shared their time, ideas, and even food on many occasions, I thank you: Colleen Woods, Taymiya Zaman, Ji Li, Clay Howard, Jason Gavilan, Lily Geismer, Jinyeon Kang, Jeff Kaja, Dean Saranillio, Sam Erman, Sharon Lee, Joel Mowdy and Simona Vaitkosima. My fellow fellows from the Institute for the Humanities were an extraordinary bunch, and their talents, sensibilities, and humor still inspire me: Eva Dubuisson, Amy Rodgers, Danna Agmon, Lembit Beecher. The 2009 SSRC Dissertation Workshop for Korean Studies brought together a group of young scholars fated to have wonderful camaderie together – in particular, I thank Jaeyon Lee and Hyunok Lee for their ongoing support. My time in Korea and beyond has been enriched by Okhee Kwon, Hae Joo Kim, Ai Fukuda, Diana Park, Jamie Park, Song Myeon-gyu and Jae Won Chung. I thank the scholars I have met through my work with vi the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea – such collective work and commitment sustained this particular project in many more ways than I can express. It was truly a privilege to spend my time in Korea as a fellow at the Asiatic Research Center at Korea University, under the mentorship of Choi Jang-jip. His commitment to fostering a critical intellectual dialogue on politics and democracy in Korea has been a tremendous inspiration for my own work. Chung Yong-wook at Seoul National University is a historian of the highest order; his deep understanding of the archives and also the political stakes in Korean historiography always pushed my own work further. I met Kim Dong-choon while he was a standing commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea, and over the years, his work on Korean War history, his political activism, and constant engagement with the world has sparked many wonderfully challenging conversations that I very much hope continue through other future projects together. I also must thank Cha Cheol-uk of Pusan University and local historian and teacher Ju Yeong-Taek for embarking on research and interview trips with me along the southern coast of the peninsula. Jeon Gap-saeng, with his journalistic and research knowledge, taught me a great deal about the regional history around Koje-do, and Lee Yong-choel of the Geoje City Hall administration provided me with a tour and access to the libraries. Ryu Suk-hyeon honored me with a copy of her master’s thesis on the Koje POW Camp before I left Korea, and I very much look forward to sharing this work with her also. Pak Sang-hoon of Humanitas provided insight, perspective, and knowledge at critical moments in the research, and I thank him for his patient generosity.

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