This is a great column in the Asahi on Page 1, no less:

VOX POPULI: An old song rings in my ears, filled with grief of Korea’s division

The song was titled “Namida ni Nureta Tomanko” (Tear-stained Tumen River)—a sorrowful ballad born during Japan’s colonial rule over Korea (1910-1945). It speaks of longing for a loved one separated by fate.

As I listened, I couldn’t help but wonder: Did this man, too, have someone dear to him he could no longer meet?

After we left the bar, my young female interpreter suddenly spoke, her voice was low but filled with anger.

“Why wasn’t it Japan?” she asked, her eyes sharp and unflinching. “Japan lost the war. So why was it Korea that ended up divided, instead of Japan?”

Couldn't load Tim's X link to the article. I wrote a translation of the song and brief explanation five years ago. It's a very beautiful and historically significant song.

눈물 젖은 두만강 Tumen River of Tears
This is a Han style piece, a traditional song, an old favorite. Han is the style of deep haunting sorrow that is one aspect of Korean culture. The Tumen River forms the northeast border of North Korea with China and Russia.

There were no subs, so I tried to translate:

두만강 푸른 물에 노젓는 뱃사공 흘러간
In the Tumen river's blue water the oarsman's boat floated
away.
그 옛날에 내 님을 싣고 떠나간 그 배는
That bygone day, that boat carried off my love,
어디로 갔소 그리운 내 님이여
Where has my missed lover gone?
그리운 내 님이여 언제나 오려나
My missed love, will you return sometime?.
강물도 달밤이면 목메어 우는데
The river too, if a moonlit night, chokes in tears,
님 잃은 이 사람도 한숨을 지니
Losing my love, this person too gives a sigh
추억에 목메인 애달픈 하소연
A choked heartrending moan of memory .
그리운 내 님이여 그리운 내 님이여
My longed for love, my longed for love
언제나 오려나 임가신 강 언덕에
Always on your way, on the hill by the river that took you
단풍이 물들고 눈물진 두만강에
The Tumen is dyed with fall colors and filled with my tears,
밤새가 울면 떠나간 그 님이
If I cry all night, that departed love
보고 싶구나 그리운 내 님이여
I miss so much, my yearning longed for love
그리운 내 님이여 언제나 오려나
My longed for love, will you return sometime?

(Hangul Source: http://lyrics.jetmute.com/viewlyrics.php?id=558519)

Below is the URL for Song So Hee's performance of Tumen River of Tears. White attire is worn after death. According to a note in the historical Kdrama, 이몽 I Mong, (Different Dreams) episode 14, the song was about the grief of a widow, Kim Jeung Son, who discovered after searching for years, that her husband, Moon Chang Hak, an independence movement fighter in the Heroic Corps ( 의열단; 義烈團 ), had been executed by the Japanese in 1923. The note explains the composer, Lee Si Wu, heard her crying all night in a inn near the river and composed the melody to emulate her lament.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eliY0dFAEY.

The song is a tribute to the Korean Independence Movement and the sacrifices made by Korean families during the Japanese occupation,* especially the separation of loved ones. A review of the Song So Hee performance by The Herald noted the original (1939) performer Kim Jung Gu, 김정구. In more recent times, the song is also performed in connection with events related to separated families from the Korean conflict. The popular rendition of the song title is Tearful Tumen River. My longed for love, perhaps better translated my longed for beloved, is understood to mean my beloved Korea, in occupation lexicon.

다섯번째로 무대에 오른 송소희는 고 김정구의 ‘눈물 젖은 두만강’을 선곡했다. 송소희는 “일제강점기 삶의 애환을 담아 부르던 노래라고 들었다. 곡이 가진 강점인 애환을 목소리로만 표현하고 싶다”는 각오를 드러냈다.*

*Herald.com online News downloaded Jan. 4, 2019. ‘국악소녀’ 송소희, ‘불후의 명곡’서 ‘눈물 젖은 두만강’ 열창, a review of the KBS performance on Aug. 25, 2018.

Why was North Korea selected for a Soviet occupation zone, rather than a substantial zone in Japan such as it had in E. Germany? Because the US wanted Japan for itself, the cold war had already started.

More grist for the ill fated relationships

Below is a link to a worthwhile essay in the The Diplomat concerning the history of Koreans in Japan at the time of the US nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I commend the effort to lay out a detailed history of the Korean victims of the US nuclear bombings of Japan near the very end of the war. Unfortunately, there is bias or political spin such as refusing to label Korean victims as forced labor or slave labor. That's what they were. It remains a historical issue between the two countries despite S.Korean conservative administration attempts to sweep the issue under the rug. Survivors of the nuclear attacks and descendants of the victims suffered discrimination and neglect for decades in both countries. There are other political opinions but the detailed account of some of the history redeems the article. I think readers here can judge for themselves.

Korea’s Nuclear Landscape: Past and Present

According to Japanese government records, in late 1944, more than 81,000 Koreans were living in Hiroshima Prefecture and over 59,500 in Nagasaki Prefecture. Their presence was the result of the Korean Peninsula’s colonization by Japan, and, increasingly in the latter years of the war, the exploitation of Korean labor to support Japan’s imperial and military ambitions.

Estimates by the Association of A-bomb Victims of South Korea suggest the combined number of Korean victims (those subjected to the atomic bombs) for Hiroshima and Nagasaki range from 70,000 to 100,000 with between 40,000 to 50,000 deaths. The exact total number of all deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, regardless of nationality, will never be known, but the tremendous scale of destruction, death, and suffering is indisputable.

"Thanks for the genocide, Mr Truman!"

Truman's grandson hopes S. Korea remembers U.S. president for '10 second' decision over Korean War https://t.co/bcFHSZVZCV

— Tim Shorrock (@TimothyS) June 26, 2025

Below is an interesting critique of Ri Sol-ju's Gucci handbag. Former First Lady Kim Gon-hee's unlawful receipt of bribes, including a Dior handbag and other corruption, AOK. Another interesting contrast is the criminal complaint against Kim Min-seok, the current nominee for prime minister in South Korea. It is alleged very vaguely in the complaint, that Kim has received gifts "unreported" in his financial disclosure. Kim allegedly stated that any such gifts were de minimis or words to that effect. One reporter with favorable views of Kim Min-seok, stated that Kim appeared to have one of lowest net worths, of any national politician in South Korea. His disclosures revealed his net worth be in the low 100 thousand dollar range.

South Korean media this morning fixated on Kim Jong Un's wife Ri Sol Ju's first public appearance in 1.5 years at a beach resort opening, with breathless coverage of her carrying a Gucci handbag worth millions of won despite international luxury sanctions. pic.twitter.com/QVBYUn9em2

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) June 26, 2025

(edited to add excerpt from The Diplomat)