Kilsoo Haan

Kilsoo Kenneth Haan (Korean: 한길수, Hanja: 韓吉洙, May 31, 1900 – July 1, 1976) was a Korean Nationalist, intelligence operative, anti-Japanese agitator, and both the source and translator of Kinoaki Matsuo’s contested and controversial book, The Three-Power Alliance and a United States-Japanese War (English: How Japan Plans to Win).

Early life

Haan was born in Chang Dan, Korea on May 31, 1900.[1] He was five years old when his family joined the Korean immigration to Hawaii as plantation laborers. Despite his father leaving for Korea in 1910, he and his mother remained in Hawaii, where Haan continued his education. He attended the Korean Compound School and the Ka'iulani School until the 8th grade.

In August 1920, Haan left Hawaii to spend a year preparing for the ministry at the Salvation Army Training School in San Francisco, California. Upon his return, he began his service as a Salvation Army representative on the island of Kaua'i. Haan rose through the ranks over the following six years to make Captain.

Haan's religious career ostensibly came to an end in 1926 when he married a Korean woman from Honolulu named Stella Yoon and resigned from the Salvation Army, reportedly because his new wife's religious beliefs were in conflict with his service in the Salvation Army. After resigning, the couple returned to Honolulu.

Career

In the 1930s, Haan became involved with the Korean independence movement by joining the Korean National Association (KNA) of Hawaii.[2]

Pearl Harbor controversy

On May 5, 1943, Haan appeared before Chairperson Samuel Dickstein’s House Immigration Committee on the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Law. He gave testimony that his network of spies in East Asia had discovered evidence of the Japanese government's plan to end the war in China and re-deploy its naval assets to convoy a force of over 100,000 seasoned troops to invade Crescent City, California, "before Christmas".[3]

Legacy

Haan's personal papers can be found in the University of California, Santa Cruz archives.[4]

In media

Haan (film)
Main article: Haan (film)

The South Korean spy thriller film Haan was released in 2005 based on Haan's experience as Korea's first notable double agent. The film follows Haan as he learns of Japan's impending attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and tries to warn the United States, but is ignored.[5]

Selected publications

Books translated

Further reading

Books

  • Grodzins, Morton (1949). Americans Betrayed: Politics and the Japanese Evacuation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226309408.[6][7]
  • Kim, Richard S. (2011). The Quest for Statehood: Korean Immigrant Nationalism and U.S. Sovereignty, 1905–1945. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195369991.[7][8]

Reviews

References
  1. Koster, John (2019). Action Likely in Pacific. Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1445692517, 978-1445692524.
  2. Kim (2011), p. 111.
  3. Hayashi, Brian Masaru (May 2014). "Kilsoo Haan, American Intelligence, and the Anticipated Japanese Invasion of California, 1931–1943". Pacific Historical Review. University of California Press. 83 (2): 277–293. doi:10.1525/phr.2014.83.2.277. ISSN 1533-8584. JSTOR 10.1525/phr.2014.83.2.277.
  4. Kilsoo Haan papers, 1933–1973. University of California, Santa Cruz. OCLC 52968618. Correspondence, clippings, commentaries, and other writings, including texts for the Korean underground report, written by Haan in his role as Sino-Korean Peoples' League representative.
  5. Paquet, Darcy. "Commercial Releases in 2005". www.koreanfilm.org. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  6. Suggested reading from Prof. Richard S. Kim, Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Asian American Studies at University of California, Davis.
  7. Kim, Richard S. "Kilsoo Haan" (profile). Densho Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on July 7, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  8. "Richard Kim" (Webpage). Densho Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on July 7, 2019. Retrieved July 7, 2019. Richard S. Kim is Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Asian American Studies. His research and teaching interests include 20th century U.S. history, Asian American history, transnationalism and diaspora, race and ethnicity, and social and political movements. He is the author of The Quest for Statehood: Korean Immigrant Nationalism and U.S. Sovereignty, 1905–1945 (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Bibliography
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