Crossing Mount Bainang

Note the rugged terrain. Later, Kim Il Sung's family moved to the Chinese town of Lim-gang (Linjiang)

across Yalu.

Crossing Mount Bainang was hard on Mother. She carried my 3-year old brother Chul Ju on her back

and a bundle on her head. Her shoes wore out and her feet were a mess of bleeding blisters. Joong-gang

was a letdown for me. It was teaming with Japanese, not much different from the Hwang-gum or

Sehmun regions of Pyongyang. While we Koreans were forced to leave our home villages and wandered

around in alien places, why do these Japanese follow us even to the most remote boondocks and lord

over us? •Father told me that everywhere Koreans are, Japanese are there, too. I saw that Joong-gang

had a Japanese police station, a jail and a military police station. Joong-gang made me realize that all of

Korea was a gigantic dungeon.

More than half of Joong-gang was occupied by the Japanese immigrants and there was Japanese school,

a Japanese hospital and Japanese shops. I learned from Jung-gang residents that the Japanese occupation

began some ten years ago. Japan took over the rights to our timber in Ulsa Agreement and set up a timber

processing plant at Sinyiju and a branch at Joong-gang and brought Japanese woodcutters to settle in

Joong-gang. Among the woodcutters were many battle-hardened Japanese army veterans and they were

in fact paramilitary units ready to do battle at any time. In addition, there were a number of armed

Japanese police and regular army troops.

The main reason why Father moved us there was because Joong-gang was a hub of Korean nationalist

movement. He wanted to set up a hospital there and promote anti-Japan activities. He believed that being

a medical doctor, he would be less subject to Japanese surveillance and would have more degree of

freedom to move around; also, being a doctor would make it easier for him to see people.

We moved in Kang Ki Rak's lodging house. Kang gave us the cleanest and quietest room he had. After

getting out of prison, Father traveled in Kan-do and stayed in the this very room whenever he came to

Joong-gang. Kang Ki Rak ran the lodging "Yuh In Hotel" and also, a dental clinic and a photo shop. He

was a liaison for the Korean People's Association. Father operated from Kang's hotel room and

maintained contacts with Korean nationalists in Lim-gang, Jang-baik, Joong-gang, Byuk-dong, Chang-

sung. Chosan and other towns in the Yalu region.

Kang Ki Rak was well known in Joong-gang and visited the town hall at will. He passed on whatever

intelligence he gathered from the unsuspecting town officials to Father, which was invaluable to Father's

work. I worked for Father as a lookout and took care of the nationalists who came to see Father. I also

carried secret messages to Joong-sang and Joong-duk for Father.

One of the most memorable events in Joong-gang that I recall is the wrestling match I had with a

Japanese fellow. He was much bigger than I was but I won the match by doing a belly-throw on him. I

was called in to go after any Japanese kid that hassled Korean kids, which made the lodging proprietors

fear for Japanese reprisal. Father told him that we should never kowtow to anyone who look down upon

us, and he blessed my actions.   PAGE 40