Korea's Fight for Freedom

So, I bet you thought I had stopped reading - NOPE, just forgot to post the books I had read. Here are a few from the last month.

Now this was an interesting book. For as long as I have lived in Korea I have heard Koreans talk about the attrocities commited by the Japanese during occupation (1905-1945 ish). I always suspected that there was a fair amount of exageration, especially when I asked for evidence. Asking a Korean for evidence will often land you blank stares and as such I was willing to shake off some of the more serous claims against the Japanese.

Korea's Fight for Freedom by F.A.McKenzie (1920) changed my line of thinking though. A jornalist from the turn of the century living in Korea, he gives an account of the Japanese occupation. From it's begining support with the King's father's power plays, the Sino-Japanese war, to the Russo-Japanese war, the stationing of troops on the peninsula, the subgigation of the korean people, and finally the abuses of the Japanese authorities.

He is writing before 1920 so keep in mind he is not the neutral historian one might expect. He does however give an interesting account and one worth the read (if you are interested in such things of course).