Roofless Factories and

Roofless Classrooms

Y.S.Kim (1995.11.21, rewritten in 2022).

• Russians are interesting people. Like Korea, Russia has been invaded many times by foreign powers. Unlike Koreans, they were able to repulse the invasions without foreign assistance. In this article, I will tell you first how Russians repulsed Hitler's invasion in the Second World War (1939-45). I will then discuss whether it has anything to do with Koreans.

  The T-34 tank of the Soviet Union was developed in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv before World War II. When German troops came to Ukraine, the tank factory was moved to places deeply hidden in the Ural Mountains. There, Russians did not have time to build factories. The production took place at open fields. Tank surfaces were not polished, and they were like rocks.

  On June 25, 1950, using these Soviet T-34 tanks, North Korean troops started the Korean War. Three days after, on June 28, these tanks were roaming around in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea.

  It is well known that the decisive battle during the last German invasion took place in Stalingrad. The decisive factor in this decisive battle was the number of Russian tanks. Hitler did not think Russians could make that many tanks. Then the question is how Russians made their tanks.

• When they were withdrawing from Ukraine during the initial stage of the War, Russians stripped their Ukrainian tank factories. They took every nut and every bolt as well as all light and heavy machines from Ukraine to the places called Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk deeply hidden in the Ural Mountains.

  They started making tanks on open fields, without even roofs to protect workers (mostly women) against rain and snow. The Russian weather is not so friendly during the winter, as you know. Those Russian workers managed to put engines, chains, guns to their tanks, but could not afford to polish their tank surfaces. The tanks from those roofless factories had unfinished surfaces like rocks. Ugly indeed, but they managed to do their job of destroying Hitler's army.

  After the War, Russians made better-looking tanks with polished surfaces. Those shiny tanks laughed at their ugly-looking predecessors asked why they are so ugly. Do you think their questions impressed those older tanks with an established battle record?

• In 1972, Korea's Chung Ju-Yung started building oil tankers without factory buildings. Tanker hulls can be constructed like house in the open air, but the engines and other accessories should bebult in factory buildings. Chung built them in the open air, and people compare this to Russia's roofless tank factories during World War II. Korea is now the No. 1 ship-building country in the world. However, this is a minor story.

  During the Korean War (1950-53), Koreans had to move from one city to another to avoid communists. From 1951 to 1952, my high school classes were held at open space on a mountain side. From our open air-air class we were able to see the harbor of Busan. It was exciting to watch the harbor bridge going up at 2:00 PM.

  In 2017, I was at this rising bridge. From there, I took a photo of the mountain (shown below) where I studied in my roofless classroom during the war years. Needless to say, I was quite emotional.

  Not many people seem to know that Koreans produced people (not tanks) in roofless factories, and I am one of those who had to study in roofless classrooms for one year, and two additional years in tent-like classrooms.

• Koreans of my age are tougher than those Russian tanks. We have built a respectable industrial base after pulling out ourselves from the chronic poverty and the war devastation. Korea is now one of the ten richest countries in the world.

• The reason is very simple. Koreans believe in the education of their children. During the difficult war years, Koreans were very diligent in educating their young people.

  The Korean war (1950-53) lasted during my high-school years (1948-54). I came to the United States in 1954 after high-school graduation, and I received my PhD degrees in 1961. This means that much of my ground work for the PhD degree was done during my high-school years.

  Indeed, the mathematics I learned during my my high-school years played the essential role in my research on Einstein. Click here for details.

• From our open-air classes on the mountain side, we were able to see the harbor of Busan. At 2:00 PM of every day, the harbor bridge was opening up. When I visited Busan in 2017, I went to that bridge and I had this photo of myself. From there, I took a photo of the mountain where I studied in my open-air class during the Korean War.

• This bridge connects the main land of the city with an island called "Yung-Do." This island was sparsely populated, and a number of Seoul-based schools had temporary campuses there during the Korean War (1950-53).

  Among them were two elite high school for girls. Korean high schools were and still are single-gender schools according to the Confucian doctrine.

  This photo was taken on a city train in Osaka (Japan, 2017). These girls looked like the Korean girls I used to see (but not to talk to) during my high school years (1948-54).

  Those Korean girls were wearing school badges like these.

• In Seoul, their campuses were near my campus, and I used to see those girls when I went to school in the morning, and when I went home in the afternoon.

  In Busan, those girls were walking in opposite directions in the morning and in the afternoon. We were happy to see them again in Busan. They were wearing school badges like these.

• I met one of those girls in the United States, and she became my wife in 1963. Here is a collection of her photos.

  Even after the mariage, I maintained and still maintain my interest in looking at the girls, and my wife enjoys taking my photos with those girls while travelling. Like to see those photos? Click here.

This short-wave radio was a very important instrument for my extra-curricula education. I could not bring it with me when I left Korea 1954, but I bought the same model in the United States.

• Thus, during the war years (1950-53), many Koreans in Busan were tuned to Japanese radio programs from the NHK transmitters in Fukuoka just across the Korean strait.

• In my case, I had a shortwave receiver (Hallicrafters Model S-38) looking like this. I was able to pick up programs directly from Tokyo, and I was able to pick up their radio signals even after we moved back to Seoul in 1953 after the cease-fire agreement was signed.

Why was I so intensely interested in Japan?

• Many of my high school teachers were educated in Japan, and they talked to us about how they competed with their Japanese classmates.

• We had to rely on old books written in Japanese for high-level mathematics and science, during my high-school years.

  This photo of Einstein and Yukawa appeared in Japan's Mainizi Sinbun (1953).

  Old photo of the NHK radio studio and antenna towers at the top of the Atagoyama (mountain at the center of the city) in Tokyo. This facility is now a museum. I was there in 1994.

• In 1949, Japan's Yukawa Hideki received the Nobel prize in physics. This inspired many young students in Korea. While developing my own research program after my PhD degree in 1961, I had to go back to Yukawa's papers for the starting point. Click here for the story.

During the Pacific War (1941-45), the B-29 bombers of the US AirForce completely destroyed Japanese cities and Japanese factories. They also destroyed Japanese Kokoro (Hearts and Minds). Yukawa's Nobel Prize started lifting up their Kokoro.

• In 1950, the Korean War started and Americans used Japan as their logistic base. In Japan, Americans had to refurbish their tanks and military vehicles abandoned in the Pacific islands during the war. In addition, Americans had to rebuild the Nissan and Toyota to manufacture trucks for the Korean army.

  The net result was that Japanese started making money and started to become cheerful. During the Korean War (1950-53), while Koreans are suffering, Japanese radio programs were filled with song parties. Ironically, their programs entertained many Koreans who could pick up the radio signals from Japan.

• The Japanese broadcasting system, called NHK (Nihon Hosho Kyokai), had two different frequencies with two separate programs. One was for the news and politics, and the other was for education and entertainments. I learned many things from their broadcasting system, using my shortwave radio.

Let us hear some of the old Japanese songs which may still be popular among old Koreans.

• Why Japanese songs? Why not Korean songs? Korea was under Japanese occupation until 1945, and Japanese authorities did not allow Koreans to compose Korean songs. Yet, some anti-Japanese Koreans started writing their songs. However, they were mostly leftists and went to the North and started writing for songs praising Kim Il-Sung and his family. Yet, they developed a very respetable song culturre.
  1. Let us hear one of their songs. Click here.

  2. Here is another video.

  3. Let us meet again.

  4. By 2000, Koreans in the South became exellent world-class songs producers. In 2018, a group of singers from the South went to Pyongyang to produce an excellent song party. Let see the Video.

  Thus, it took some years for Koreans in the South to develop their songs. Only after 1960, Koreans in the South started producing their own songs. Koreans are song-loving people, and Korea is now one of the most song-rich countries in the world. We can mention Lee Mi-Ja and Patti Kim as the two pioneering singers in the 1960s.

  1. Let hear one of Patti Kim's songs. Click here.

  2. Let us hear one of Lee Mija's songs. Click here.

  Indeed, these two ladies served as the pioneers in Korean songs in the 1960s.

  What happened before 1960? Since Koreans are song-hungry people, they had to rely on radio signals from Japan for Japanese songs particularly during the years of the Korean war (1950-53).

• Watanabe Hamako was a female singer born in 1910, and was a very active during our Busan period (1951-53). Before 1945, she travelled around in China in order to sing for Japanese soldiers. She was very patriotic and shouted "Den-no Heika Banzai" in front of those Japanese boys in China.

  After returning to Japan after the war in 1947, she was saying Hello-OK to American troops in Japan, and made a trip to the United States in 1949. She knew how to live. After her trip, she sang "San Francisco no China Town" in 1950.

  1. Let us hear this song and other songs we heard from the Japanese broadcasting. Click here.

  2. She was an energetic singer. Let us hear hear her Le Lai Xaing.

  3. Sina-no Yoru (China Night), with the sceanes of Hong Kong.

  4. Fefore 1945, she used to sing the song entitled Aikoku-no Hana (Patriotic Flowers).

  5. Click here for her best songs.

• Yamaguchi Yoshiko was born in 1920, and was known as Yi Hyang-Ryan to Koreans. She was a singer and actress. She was also in China (Manchu) during the war. She starred in the movie entitled "Shina-no-Yoru." In her movie, she sang "Shina-no-Yoru." However, in Japan after the war, she sang
  1. Hamabe-no Uda. Beautiful song.

  2. Kojo-no Tsuki, she sings. One of the most beautiful Japanese songs. In this video, she sings for the home-sick Japanese soldiers in China.

  3. Le Lai Xiang, Chinese song in all Asian countries.

  4. Another video by Yoshiko.

  5. As an actresses, she starred in a Japanese movie entitled "Shina-no Yoru"(China Night) and sang the title song.

  6. Click here for her personal history.

  7. In 1945, after the war, she came back to Japan and became a politician. She became elected to become a member of the Japanese Parliament.

• Takamine Mieko was born in 1918. She was an active singer and actress. She sang songs for the Japanse soldiers in the battle fields before 1945. She maintained her active life until she died in 1990. Let us hear her songs.

  1. Kohan-no Yado was a very popular song before 1945, and remained so after the war. This song was very popular among Koreans.

  2. Kohan-no Yado, the original recording. Kohan-no Yado means a lake-side summer house.

  3. Wakare-no Tango, Farewell Tango.

  4. Passionate Rumba.

  5. Bride from the South.

  6. with a male partner, she sings.

• Futaba Akiko was born in 1915, and started her singing career in the 1930s. Unlike other Japanese singers, she sang Western-style songs. I liked her songs. Let us hear some of them.
  1. Sayonara Rumba.

  2. Francesca-no Kane.

  3. Mizu-Iro-no Waltz.

  4. Yoru-no Platform.

• Takamine Hideko was born in 1924. She was an actress. She sang sang

  1. Ginza-no Kan-Kan Musume.

  2. This song was very popular among Korean boys and girls during the Korean war years (195-53). Here is party scene with this this song.

• Teresa Teng was a distinguished Taiwanese singer born in 1953. She went to Japan often and sang many songs in Japanese. She of course sang many songs in Chinese while in Japan. She sings the
  1. Lei Lai xiang very beautifully.

• Korean Lei Lai Xiang, song and dance. Until I left Korea in 1954, there were no TVs there. I could hear the songs only though radio speakers. Things became different. During the 1950s, Elvis Presley was shaking his body while singing, and people could see on TV screens.

  Since then singing culture became different. Singers should also dance. If the singer could not dance, the singer should be accompanied by a group of dancers in the background. This the standard format these days.

• Fujiyama Ichiro was born in 1911, was a respected male singer. He sang many songs before and after 1945. Among them, his

  Nagasaki-no Kane

  moved the hearts and minds of all Japanese men and women, who went through the painful war years against China and America (1933-45).

  The story of the song is about a man who came back from the battle field after the war in 1945.

  During the war, the usual story is that men go out to the battle and many of them die. Their wives become sad.

  However, in this case, a Japanese man from Nagasaki comes back alive after the war. He finds out his wife died from the nuclear bomb on Nagasaki. Very sad story.

  1. Click here for the same song by a female voice.

  2. Two female singers.

  3. Ginza Serenade by Fujiyama Ichiro.

  4. Tokyo Scenes during the Showa era (1947, after the war).

• While these singers were known during the war period before 1945, a new history-making singer emerged after 1945. Her name was Misora Hibari (1937-1989) . My Japanese friends are telling me that her grandfather was a Korean.
  1. Here is one of her early songs.

  2. She sang many song to make Japanese happy. Here is her last song Kawa-no Nagare-no Yoni (As the river flows).

  3. Her songs are still popular among young Japanese. Here is her her musical biography.

     Main Prayer Hall at the Yasukuni Shine in Tokyo.

  4. She sings Kudan-no Haha, a sad wartime song about a Japanese mother whose son comes back from the battlefield in an ash box. The box is transported from Tokyo's Ueno railway station (a secondary station) to the Yasukuni Shrine (cemetery), located at the Kudan district in Tokyo. I was there to take this photo in 1996.

  5. She sings a Korean song in Japanese.

The AFKN (Armed Forces Korea Network)

was the radio station for American troops in Korea. The network called itself

The Voice of Information and Education.

This radio was for the American soldiers in Korea. Since it is an open broadcasting, Koreans could pick up the signal freely. It thus served educational purposes to Korean students. I learned English and music from this AFKN station. This station had the program called "Symphonietta" every afternoon for classical music, such as those composed by Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, et al.
• As for the entertainments, the station sent out songs popular in their own country, the United States. Let me list some of their songs which became popular among Koreans.

• Teresa Brewer, born in 1931
  1. Till I waltz again with you.

  2. Sentimental Journey.

  3. Let me go.

  4. Dream a little dream of me.

  5. If you want some loving, let me know.

  6. Let me go, Lover

  7. Music, music, music.

• Patti Page, born in 1921.
  1. I went to your wedding

  2. I went to your wedding waltz Version.

  3. Happy to remember.

  4. Changing Partner

  5. Tennessee Waltz

  6. Mocking Bird Hill.

  7. Let me call you sweet heart.

• Les Paul and Mary Ford

  1. Vaya Con Dios

• Eddie Fisher, born in 1928.
  1. Oh My Papa, by Jim Nabor, known as Gomer Pyle.

  2. by Connie Francis.

How did I talk to Einstein?


I received my PhD degree from Princeton in 1961, seven years after high school graduation in 1954. This means that I did much of the ground work for the degree during my high school years. Click here for my high school diary.

• Click here for my home page.
• Princeton page.
• Einstein page.
• Travel around the World.
• Style page.
• Click here for my photo-biography

• I learned how to squeeze the circle to get an ellipse while in Busan during the war years (1951-53).

  This figure allows me to construct the following table.

  In terms of the language understandable to everybody, the above table means this genealogy.