From World War to Cold War: Music in US-Korea Relations, 1941-1960 Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Hye-jung Park Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2019 Committee: Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Ph.D., Advisor Ryan T. Skinner, Ph.D. Mitchell B. Lerner, Ph.D. Copyright by Hye-jung Park 2019 Abstract This dissertation examines music in US-Korea relations from 1941 to 1960. Beginning during World War II, the US government disseminated Western classical and American music in Korea. After the war, the United States also gained the confidence of Koreans by supporting Korean traditional music that had been suppressed under Japanese colonial rule. Yet South Koreans were not merely passive recipients of US propaganda. As the Korean War divided Korea into North and South, South Korean officials used music to affirm the anti-Communist alliance between South Korea and the United States. American music spread rapidly in South Korea, contributing to the formation of South Korean identities different from those of the Communist North. By tracing a history of musical relations in the transitional period from the colonial era to the early Cold War, this project emphasizes that US Cold War music propaganda programs were not an entirely new initiative but built on the foundations laid in the 1940s. By demonstrating that a peripheral country used music as a tool for political negotiations with a superpower, this project also expands the horizons of scholarship on music propaganda, which has focused overwhelmingly on US and Soviet interventions in Europe. The US government’s desire for hegemony provided both the political impetus and the resources for disseminating American music abroad, for music was an effective tool for cultural propaganda. The South Korean government's ambition of rebuilding a ii nationalist identity against the Communist North enabled the alliance and encouraged the acceptance of American music. Music diplomacy eventually supported a bilateral relationship based on shared political interests. The political purposes of the US and South Korean governments shaped listeners’ experiences of Western music in South Korea. iii Dedication To my family in Korea iv Acknowledgements I am genuinely lucky to have worked with the members of my dissertation committee. My advisor, Danielle Fosler-Lussier, has encouraged me to pursue this project from its vaguely identifiable beginnings. I could not have asked for a better advisor. Dr. Fosler-Lussier has consistently gone beyond the call of duty to support my research and me. Her boundless enthusiasm has been a main source of inspiration to me. Without her endless support, encouragement, and advice, this dissertation would not have come into being. Other committee members have also made invaluable contributions to my dissertation. Ryan Skinner’s seminars introduced me to the most fascinating theories and scholarly works in ethnomusicology, anthropology, and cultural studies. My chapter on the Korean Children’s Choir was methodologically inspired by his seminar, Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology. I also owe deep thanks to Mitchell Lerner for his very helpful comments and his advice for archival research as well as improvements to the dissertation. His research and his perspective helped me to understand the history of US- Korea relations on an entirely different level. I was fortunate to have received financial support from a number of sources. I am grateful for the Alvin H. Johnson AMS-50 Dissertation Fellowship from the American Musicological Society (2018) and the Margery Lowens Dissertation Research v Fellowship from the Society for American Music (2016). A Keitel-Palisca and Professional Development Travel grant from the American Musicological Society and the Annual Meeting Subvention Award from the Society for Ethnomusicology provided financial support that allowed me to present conference papers in New York and Colorado. The Ohio State University has been also very generous to me. The Graduate Student Research Grant of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, the Alumni Grant for Graduate Research, and the Ethnomusicology Field Research Grants of the department of musicology supported my archival and field research. My chapter on Ely Haimowitz could not have been undertaken without the involvement of Valerie Haimowitz, a daughter of Ely Haimowitz, who permitted me to stay in her home for a week to sort through her father’s collection. I am grateful to Valerie Haimowitz for her enthusiasm about my project and her willingness to answer all my questions and share her photographs with me. I would also like to thank the former members of the Korean Children’s Choir, Yi Kyu-do, Ch’oe Sŭng-ja, Son Myŏng-wŏn, and An Hŭi-bok. My conversations with them helped me better understand the cultural policy of the Syngman Rhee regime. Others who helped my research include the historians Charles Armstrong and Hŏ Ŭn, the musicologist Robert Fallon, and the archivists David Sager and Bryan Cornell who work at the Recorded Sound Research Center at the Library of Congress. Dr. Charles Armstrong was generous enough to share the documents on Ely Haimowitz he collected with me. During my field research in Seoul, South Korea, Dr. Hŏ also shared with me his own precious materials regarding cultural activities of the U.S. Information Agency in South Korea. Dr. Fallon gave me his vinyl record of the Korean Children’s vi Choir for my research. Archivists David Sager and Bryan Cornell helped me with my research at the Office of War Information Collection. I also owe an intellectual debt to Professors Morgan Liu and Arved Ashby whose deep academic insights inspired me. Additionally, I would like to thank Professor Ju Sung-hye, my former advisor at the Korea National University of Arts in Korea, and Dr. Kim Sung-hye, the senior researcher at the Korean National Research Institute for the Gifted in Arts. Professor Ju first introduced me the academic field of ethnomusicology and built my dream to be a musicologist. My research experience with Dr. Kim in the research project on the influence of the Korean soprano Chŏng Hun-mo in the music world of Korea during the Japanese colonial period opened my eyes to underrepresented musicians in music history. My extra special thanks go to my friends and family. My friends Kim Sŏn-do and Yŏm Ŭn-hye supported me in all kinds of ways and urged me forward. When I conducted my first archival research at the National Archives of the United States, I was already pregnant. Writing this dissertation began with the birth of my daughter, Lillian Sun. In the long journey of completing dissertation, her smile and laugh have continued to refresh me and make me happy even at the moments when I had to cope with a heavy workload. I am also grateful to my parents-in-law, Ren Jifang and Sun Jie, for traveling more than 7,000 miles to look after their granddaughter while I completed my dissertation. And, of course, thanks to my husband, Sun Wenyuan, for all the support he gave! Lastly, my deepest and most heartfelt thanks must go to my family in Korea. As always, my father, Pak Kyŏng-sik, trusted in me. My mother, Cho Min-ja, sustained me with her love, warmth, and care. They consistently show pride and joy in everything I do. I am extremely grateful to my younger brother Pak Hong-ryŏl who stands by my parents vii while I am living far away from home. He is my rock! This dissertation is dedicated to my loving family in Korea, Cho Min-ja, Pak Kyŏng-sik, and Pak Hong-ryŏl. viii Vita 2008……………………………B.A. Music, Korea National University of Arts 2011…………………………... M.A. Music, Korea National University of Arts 2013 to 2017 ……………......…Graduate Teaching Associate, School of Music, The Ohio State University 2017…………………………… Margery Lowens Dissertation Research Fellowship, Society for American Music 2018…………………………… Alvin H. Johnson AMS-50 Dissertation Fellowship, American Musicological Society Fields of Study Major Field: Music Area of Emphasis: Musicology/Ethnomusicology ix Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….... ii Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………… iv Acknowledgements ...…………………………………………………………………… v Vita …...………………………………………………………………………………… ix Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………x List of Figures .………………………………………………………………………… xii Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………... xiv Notes on Romanization ………………………………………………………………… xv Introduction………………………………………………………………………………. 1 Chapter 1: Music in US-Korea Relations Before Japan’s Surrender to the Allied Forces.…………………….……………………………….…….……………… 23 Chapter 2: Music in the US Army Military Government in Korea, 1945-1948 ………. 75 Chapter 3: The Korean Children’s Choir and South Korea’s Cold War Musical Diplomacy Toward the United States ……………………...……………….… 111 Epilogue: Rethinking Musical “Westernization” in Korea ………………………….... 148 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………... 160 x Appendix A: Key Events in Korea from the late 19th century to the First Republic of Korea…………………………………………………………………………... 192 Appendix B: Music in the OWI’s Korean Language Radio Broadcasts During the Second World War ……………………………………………………………………. 193 Appendix C: Songs Performed by the Children’s Choir in Korea Before Their US Tour of 1954 ……………………………………………..........………………………. 194 xi List of Figures Figure 1.1. Aegukka (Korean National Anthem with melody of “Auld Lang Syne”) … 30 Figure 1.2. Kimigayo, mm.1-8