Jjok-baris village (lit. a village of Japanese) (3)

A Typhoon Swept Over Us And We Barely Survived

Next morning, the weather was the same as the previous day.
We could see land far away, and the 2 ships seemed to be sailing as they should.
However, around noon, the clouds became darker and the wind grew stronger.
The fishing boats, which were always around us, suddenly disappeared.
I was afraid that a typhoon was coming.
Then the tugboat approached, and the crew of both ships talked loudly as they looked up into the sky.
As I could see a typhoon was really coming, and it seemed that they were discussing how to deal with it.
The Japanese, who was in charge, explained that a typhoon was indeed approaching and they needed to move the ship nearer land so as to avoid danger. Also, if they got permission, they would enter port. If that was the case, we would be told to stay inside the hold.

Though it was not clear where they tried to avoid the typhoon, it seemed to be
west of Pyongsong, and near Chinnanpo.
As we neared the land, the waves began to get bigger and the shuddering of our ship increased.

It began to grow dark.
As we were looking toward a small port, a coastguard patrol boat approached us and one of its crew members boarded the tugboat.
He was pointing to our ship and talking with the tugboat crew, but after a while his boat moved away without inspecting our ship and he parted with his gesturing us to hollow.

Though we did not understand the exact details at that time, what was told to us later was that the coastguard just wanted us to shelter in the harbor.

The group decided that this was the right course of action so as to avoid the typhoon, as to tow our ships in such stormy conditions would be very dangerous. If we continued as before, there was a possibility of our being separated from the tugboat and so end up drifting away. Anyway, we didnt want it to leave us until we reached port safely.
Therefore, the group members decided to put three or four of us on the tugboat as a kind of security measure. Therefore suitable persons were needed urgently and as adults had to look after their families, we upper-graders of elementary school were chosen. So three boys including myself were transferred to the tugboat.
At first, I left the ship in rough seas, while the other two remained on board the ship.
However, one of them couldnt move out of fear.
As the tugboat captain didnt have time to waste, he got irritated, and refused to accept the two remaining boys. So that meant I was the only that became a hostage as it were.
Up to now, I had experienced a lot for my age. So I had guts.
And to get on the tugboat roused my curiosity.

At first, the captain was bad-tempered, because he thought that he wasnt being trusted by us.
But gradually he regarded me as a brave boy, who wasnt troublesome. He made me sit by the wheelhouse.
Instead of just saying, Now, here we go, he just winked and started off in the direction where the coastguard had suggested.

I had a great deal of curiosity and thought myself quite brave for a sixth grader. I still took things easy and was very optimistic.

While the wind strengthened and the crest of the waves became whiter, the tugboat and our two ships sailed among many small islands and tried to reach a port. Though we could see the silhouettes of freighters and fishing boats as well as town lights, it took almost one hour.

However, when we were several kilometers from the harbor, the wind grew suddenly stronger and the waves surged forward on our starboard side.

The captain steered the tugboat in that direction in order to catch the waves as they came toward us. However, one wave was as high as a wall and hit the ships bow violently.
Immediately after that, the tugboat seemed to float in the air, and the next to sink as it were as if being dragged to the bottom of the sea.
And a high wall of a dark wave rose higher and higher and plunged down on to the boat.

In an instant, the wave cracked like a whip and hit the wheelhouses window with such a crash that we couldnt see anything but foam.

The crew watched the 2 ships behind them and seemed to sense danger so they came into the wheelhouse. So now there were three people including myself in the small cabin.
The captain, who was steering in the center of the wheelhouse, straightened himself up, seemingly bewildered with such a rapid change of wind and waves.
He began to shout loudly.

Of course, if I could have understood what they were saying, it would have been impossible because of the sound of the spray.
However, from his gestures, it seemed as though it would be impossible to tow the 2 ships any further and that it would be better for them to drop anchor and remove the tow ropes.

Indeed, under such conditions, even to someone inexperienced as myself, I could see that this was the right thing to do As the function of the tugboat had been rendered useless, there was a danger on both sides: tugboat and the other ships.
The port was near, and even if they couldnt enter, the ships would manage to drop anchor outside it.
One of the tugboats crew members tried to lean out the window to give a sign. He even attempted to get out of the wheelhouse, but without much success due to the shaking.

After he made contact with the other ships crew through gesturing, they understand the situation. However, this didnt go very well under such conditions.
While they were trying desperately to complete their work, a high wave rose up and crashed down upon them. It tossed the boat around like a plaything and all that could be heard were banging, splashing, creaking and rattling noises.


At first, I wondered where the rattling sounds were coming from. However, later I noticed that they were coming from the screw, which could be seen underneath the ship as it flew up in the air.

The spray and the creaking noises became more violent, and the shouts of the crew gradually turned into screams.

I was becoming more and more afraid and I realized that this was now no laughing matter. I thought that the boat would be swallowed up by the waves and we could well sink. Such ominous images crossed my mind.
I was also worried about the ship, which my family was on. I was watching its stern from a small window while gripping the back of my chair firmly.
I could see its riding on the crests of the waves, being shaken about by the storm.
However, the amount of shaking must have been very different between a ship of 30 tons and one of 300.
If my boat could be compared to a leaf, then their ship would be a tree branch.
When I thought that if such a ship would sank, our boat was sure to go first. When that crossed my mind, I became suddenly scared.

However, in this situation, I understand that it was no good grieving about it.
What was the good of worrying.
All I could do, was to leave the ship to the captain and pray to heaven for the weather to improve.

There and then, I made up my mind that there was nothing to do other than fight against the rough sea by gripping the handrail firmly and stopping me from falling off the boat which was being thrown about all over the place.

How long had we been fighting the storm?
When the wind changed a little from right to left, and when the ship didnt move so violently, I could see the lights of the port in front of us. The wind had begun to drop just a little and the ferocity of the waves had lessened somewhat.
I now thought that I would possibly survive, and I was returning to some sort of sanity for the first time.
Outside, it was already dark.

I turned around but I couldnt see the ship that my family was on.
Perhaps at that time when it had dropped anchor, the ship separated from us

Though it was dark, I could sea the light of the pier quite close to us, which meant that our ship was very near land .

Through gestures, I asked the captain who had regained his composure by then, about the ship my father was on.
He replied in a smattering of Japanese and Korean that I neednt worry as he thought the ship was a bit further away. Anyway I felt relieved.

When the captain tapped me on my shoulder and commented that though I might have been scared, I had held up well, I thought him very trustworthy and began to look upon him as a close friend.
As the clock on board indicated nine oclock that meant we had kept fighting the storm for more than three hours.

After a while, the coastguard patrol boat approached and two officials in charge boarded us.
They talked for sometime but I couldnt understand what they were saying.
They occasionally saw me, but fortunately they didnt show any interest in me, and after 15 minutes they left.

The captain said to me in broken Japanese, that we would be letting the typhoon pass us completely and when dawn broke the next day, we would then join the two other ships behind us. Seeing that I was hungry, he gave me some corn bread and lukewarm tea, and then told me to go to bed.
As I later recalled, I hadnt eaten lunch that day. So I thanked him in Korean (komasumida) and started eating. I was relieved and ate my dinner. It seemed to me such delicious food that I hadnt eaten like this for so long time.

I worried about my family who were on the ship behind us, but it was useless to think too much about it.
Therefore, I believed what the captain had said and I threw myself down in the cabin and fell asleep instantly.


It had been a hairs-breadth escape: Where were we?

The next morning gave rise to unbelievably fine weather as drastically compared to the day before.
When I looked about, there was another port with several ships of great bulk moored ahead of us.
According to the captain, it was Nanpo port, though the closest port seemed to be Chinnanpo port. This was because, based on our original sailing plan, after leaving Dasado Island, we would pass the offing of Sinanju, Hanchon and Nanpo. However, it seemed that we were forced to call in at Chinnanpo port because of the storm. I had heard this name from my father. Apparently, it was in a well-known industrial zone where a great many Japanese had been living there.

By the way, in North Korea, there were ports, such as Rajin, Chongjin, Heungnam and Weonsan along the Sea of Japan, and from the north Yongampo (Dasado Island), Sinanju, Nanpo and Haeju on the Yellow Sea.
However, the biggest ports were only Nanpo and Haeju, with the former, which was located at the lower reaches of the Taedong River, flowing south of Pyongyang toward the west, being the more important. This port was also the entrance of the sea routes to China (Dalian, Shanghai), Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Japan.

Before the end of WWⅡ, there were many factories there such as:
Nippon Mining Co., Ltd. --Nanpo Refining Plant.
Korea Asahi Light Metal Co.,Ltd.-- Giyang Factory.
Korea Steel Corporation-- Daean Electric Smelting Factory.
Mitsubishi Steel MFG. Co., Ltd.--Yungdaehwa Electric Smelting Factory.

And in the nearby city of Songrim, there was Nippon Steel Corporations Gyeonipo Work, while Sariwon had both a spinning factory and a fertilizer plant.
Korea Asano Cement Co., Ltd. had a plant in Bongchul

Although there were fewer than ten thousand Japanese connected to these factories, there were other residents, who numbered several tens of thousands.

However, we were not sure how they were faring when we made a port call there.
As compared with Sinuiju where we had been living, we thought that because this region was nearer the 38th Parallel, they could be repatriated by regular means, and therefore, it would seem comparatively easy for those who had stayed behind to escape from there.

However, we were told later that many of the people in the southern and eastern parts of North Korea had had a difficult time trying to across the so-called border.
Probably, there were still a considerable number of people who remained there at that time.

While I was having my last look at Chinnanpo port, the same coastguard boat, which had appeared the day before, approached and the tugboat captain (PLEASE CHANGE THIS WAY THROUGHOUT) and the coast guard officer discussed something.
When they finished talking, the boat guided us to the 2 ships, which had become separated yesterday.

It left the pier and went a little out and I saw them, a little way from each other. They had dropped anchor and had been moored quite safely. The people on board saw us approaching, and some of them waved to us, shouting that they were all right. Naturally we were all happy to hear that.

When we reached the ship on which my father was, I climbed up the ladder, though those who pulled me up seemed exhausted but welcomed me with smiles as if they had forgotten the difficulties of the day before.
I was little ashamed, as though I had received a heros welcome, which I really didnt deserve.

My father met me on deck and praised me by saying that though he had been afraid the day before, nothing was better than knowing that I was safe. He asked me if had been injured. However, he didnt go as far as asking for my forgiveness.

When I got down into the hold, there were people putting things in order as their possessions had been scattered all over the place the night before, while others still seemed exhausted.
In my familys corner, my mother, sister and brother were waiting for me.
Mother had been worrying about me, explaining that they had never had such a frightening experience ever before as they had had last night. Anyway, we thanked heaven we were all safe. Mother asked me if I were hungry, though all she had was only a little corn bread.
While I shared this with my family, I recalled the captains face, who had given me the same kind of bread after the previous days frightening experience.
Mother resolutely said to me with all sincerity and warmth that she would never make me do such a danger again.

Mother resolutely said to me with all sincerity and warmth that she would never make me do such a dangerous thing again.