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235 cHAPTeR 9 New Rivals and Detractors The Reedley Group and the Korean National Association of North America During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Koreans in the United States saw the outbreaks of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and the Pacific War between Japan and the United States in 1941 as opportunities to end Japanese imperialism in their own native land. a fever of independence arose among them in tandem with the resurgent Korean independence movement in China. many of these Koreans openly expressed antipathy toward rhee, labeling him “old and cranky”1 —and therefore hopelessly outdated. they included an array of ambitious younger-generation Koreans who had been educated in the United States, where they had acquired political sophistication and linguistic competence comparable to rhee’s own. Some of them were doubtless typical members of the nouveau riche class, willing to spend for the cause of Korean independence to show off their hard-won wealth. Yet they would learn that this “old and cranky” man still had plenty of energy and political acumen with which to frustrate their plans and ambitions. rhee’s critics in the United States at the time were divided into two ideologicalgroups.Onewasaconservativegroupwhosemembersbelonged to the Korean National association of North america (KNa–North america: Pungmi Kungminhoe), headquartered in los angeles. this was the successor organization of the KNa-Central. the KNa’s governance structure had been reformed from a presidential system to a committee system in mid-1936 in an effort to revitalize the organization, whose influence had waned since the capture of its former president, an Ch’ang-ho, by Japanese police in Shanghai in 1932.2 members of this group supported the right-wing leadership of Chairman Kim Ku of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) in Chongqing, China, until the eve of Korea’s liberation in 1945. the other major anti-rhee faction was a progressive group affiliated with two left-leaning organizations: (1) the Sino-Korean Peoples’ league (SKPl; Chung-Han minjung tongmaengdan) in Honolulu, founded by the followers of Kim Kyu-sik in 1938—a topic discussed separately in the following section; and (2) the Societies for aid to the Korean volunteer Corps in america (Chosŏn Ŭiyongdae miju-huwŏnhoe). the latter sprang 236 ChaPter 9 up in New York, los angeles, Chicago, and Honolulu in 1939 in support of the military activities of a communist sympathizer, Kim Wŏn-bong (alias Kim Yak-san, 1899–1958), in China.3 Both these left-leaning organizations supported the Korean National revolutionary Party (Chosŏn minjok Hyŏngmyŏngdang), a left-wing party organized by Kim Kyu-sik and Kim Wŏn-bong in July 1935 at Hankou, China, to rival Kim Ku’s Korean Independence Party (Han’guk tongniptang).4 among the supporters of Kim Kyu-sik and Kim Wŏn-bong were many socialists and communist sympathizers who wanted post-liberation Korea to join the growing ranks of “people’s republics.”5 Parenthetically, the Great Chosŏn Independence league that Pak Yong-man had founded in Honolulu in 1919 (see chapter 4) had ceased to be a major threat to rhee after Pak’s 1928 assassination in Beijing. Pak’s death was followed by the defection of about forty members to the Comrade Society. Pak’s former secretary, Yi Wŏn-sun, became a staunch rhee supporter after his boss’ demise and encouraged this change in allegiance.6 But members of the leftist organizations lacked sufficient manpower to oppose rhee’s leadership in the early 1940s, as shown below:7 Membership Strength of the Korean Organizations in the Continental United States and Hawai‘i, ca. 1942 KNa–North america 660 KNa-Hawaii 650 Comrade Society, Hawaii 650 Comrade Society, North america 100 Hawaiian Chapter of Korean Independence Party 250 Society for aid to Korean volunteer Corps 100 Sino-Korean Peoples’ league 30 Korean Women’s relief Society of Hawaii (Hawai taehanin Puin Kujehoe) 300 Korean Women’s Patriotic league–Hawaii (Hawai taehan Yŏja aeguktan) 150 Korean Women’s Patriotic league–North america (Pungmi taehan Yŏja aeguktan) 100 the premier leader of the conservative group was Kim Ho (alias Kim Chŏng-jin, Charles Ho Kim, 1884–1968; Fig. 9.1), an entrepreneurpolitician who had amassed wealth by breeding new varieties of fruits in reedley, California. His innovations included the fuzzless peach, trademarked “le Grand” and “Sun Grand,” which was developed in partnership with Kim Hyŏng-sun (Harry S. Kim, 1886–1977), with whom he cofounded...

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