Article

A dream betrayed : cold war politics and the repatriation of Koreans from Japan to North Korea

Tessa Morris-Suzuki

• Asian studies review, Vol. 29, December 2005, p. 357-381

English

Bibliography : p. 380-381

The mass repatriation of Korean residents from Japan to North Korea was, for many years a forgotten corner of East Asian history. In the last couple of years, however, rising tensions between Japan and North Korea, revelations over the kidnapping of Japanese citizens, and the growing outflow of refugees fleeing the crumbling North Korean state have encourage a 're-remembering' of the repatriation story. This paper looks at the repatriation movement as the product of Cold War politics. The author argues that it highlights three crucial features of the Cold War order in Northeast Asia: first, the formative influence of legacies from the Japanese prewar empire on the Cold War order; second, the extent to which the ideological divide between capitalism and communism was always infused with that other great postwar ideology - nationalism; and third, the important but ambivalent part played by international organizations and humanitarian NGOs - including the International Committee of the Red Cross - in mediating relations across the Cold War divide.

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