Imperial Japanese police in Seoul raided amusement centers, cafes, parks late at night and rounded up ordinary residents labeled 'rebellious intellectuals' and 'insolent fellows', announcing 'every single idle person must be exterminated ... to bring down the hammer on the neon bugs' (August 1943)

If you suddenly found yourself in Seoul in 1943 and couldn’t stand your oppressive surroundings, you would have probably been tempted to hang out with friends at the local bars or cafes in the evening. For a little more privacy and to feel freer to speak in Korean, you may have chosen to hang out at a local park with friends late at night. But apparently, local police were conducting raids on all these places, deciding that you were an insolent ‘idle person’ or ‘neon bug’ worthy of ‘extermination’. Those caught up in the raids conducted in August 1943 included a government employee, a bank employee, students, a store owner, and a film distributor.

It may seem a bit strange that the Battle of Attu is mentioned in this article, because it resulted in defeat for Imperial Japan in May 1943, but the propaganda media machine routinely spun military defeats into stories of inspiration.

(Translation)

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) August 31, 1943

Simultaneous lighting raids on gathering spots

Honmachi Police Hunt for Delinquents

“Follow in the spirit of Attu!” Thus, Colonel Yamasaki‘s exalted spirit of loyalty, whose glory shone forth from the hearts of the people, serves as inspiration and encouragement for the hearts of the people on the home front. Now is the time for all 100 million people to rise up. Every single idle person must be exterminated at this time. In order to bring down the hammer on the “neon bugs” that are randomly piling up in Seoul at night, the Honmachi Police Department, led by Chief Masaoka, called an emergency meeting of several dozen members of the Judicial, Higher Police, and field work personnel, including Chief Shōji and other high officials. The police then carried out a simultaneous hunt for delinquents throughout the entire area covering Meiji-chō (now Myeong-dong), the Honmachi belt through Shin-machi (now Mukjeong-dong), Namiki-chō (now Ssangnim-dong), Sōkei Temple (now on Dongguk University campus), and Namsan Park on both August 28th and 29th.

More than 50 men were rounded up, including rebellious intellectuals who were found very drunk in the neon district, herds of students who spent their idle time in corners of coffee shops ignoring the autumn training season, and insolent fellows wriggling around like bugs in the darkness of the parks late at night. About half were detained, and the rest were released after strict admonition. The Honmachi Police Department’s wise decision to clear out the idle population attracted a great deal of attention. Among the drunks in Shin-machi were Yoshio Umada (pseudonym, 40-years-old), an engineer for a certain government agency, paper retailer Sōki Minami (26-years-old) of Jongno-3-chōme, who is thought to be a regular of a certain amusement center at Honmachi 5-chōme, and over ten others who were taken away chained together in a single file.

There were many male students from specialized schools in Seoul, and there was a surprisingly large number of students who had returned home from mainland Japan, including two students from Tokyo Women’s College. A group of three delinquent girls who frequented a certain coffee shop in Namsan-dong, a bank employee, a film distributor, and many other intellectuals were arrested. They were caught by surprise, and we will continue this and other efforts in the future to clean up the idle population.

Tobacco Retailers Perform Volunteer Work

1,000 of the 1,100 tobacco retailers in Seoul, who have sold cigarettes for a long time but have never experienced firsthand how cigarettes are actually manufactured, will perform volunteer work at the Uiju Street (now Tongil-ro) and Inui-dong factories for 20 days, excluding Sundays and holidays, starting on September 1. A total of 1,000 workers, including 800 workers at the Uiju Street factory who will serve for 16 days, and 200 workers at the Inui-dong factory who will serve for four days, will work from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day among the male and female workers to learn the actual production of cigarettes and increase production, so that they can appreciate the hard work of the laborers.

Source (page 3): https://www.archive.org/details/kjnp-1943-08-31

(Transcription)

京城日報　1943年8月31日

盛り場を一斉電撃

本町署の不良者狩り

”アッツ魂に続け”と崇高な山崎中将の尽忠精神が粛然と国民の胸を搏ち輝く余栄は銃後の民心を鼓舞激励する。今こそ一億総起ちだ。一人の遊休者もこの際絶滅を期さねばならない。夜の京城に漫然と積集する”ネオンの虫”に鉄槌を下そうと本町署では正岡署長を陣頭に東海林高等主任以下司法、高等、外勤各部署員数十名の非常召集を行って二十八、九両日管内盛り場明治町、本町一帯から新町、並木町、曹谿寺、南山公園全域に亘る一斉不良狩りを断行した。

ネオン街に酔い痴れる時局逆行の有識層や、錬成の秋をよそに喫茶店の一隅に無為な時を過ごす学生の群、深夜公園の闇に蠢動する不埒な徒輩等男子五十余名が一斉検束され、約半数は留置され残余は厳重説諭の上放免された。遊休者一掃の本町署の英断は時局柄多大の注目を引いたが、新町での泥酔者の中には某官庁技手馬田芳夫（仮名四〇）があり、本町五丁目某遊戯場では常連とおぼしき府内鐘路三丁目紙物商南相紀（二六）他十余名が珠数つなぎに連行された。

府内某専門学校の男子生徒多数がある他、東京女子大学生二名も加わる帰郷学生が意外に多い。南山町某喫茶店に入り浸る不良女子三人組の他銀行会社員、映画配給所員等有識階級多数が検束され、意外の感に打たれているが、これ等巷に横行する遊休者の一掃が今後引き続き断行される。

煙草小売人の奉仕

長い間煙草を売ってはいたが、その煙草がどういう風にして製造されているかと体験したことのない京城府内一千百名の煙草小売人中一千名が、来る九月一日から日曜、祭日を除き二十日間義州通り、仁義町で両工場勤労奉仕する。義州通り工場では十六日間八百人、仁義町工場では四日間二百人合計一千名が、毎日午前七時から午後五時まで男女工の間に伍して製造煙草の実際を体得増産に挺身して、工員の労苦を偲ぶこととなった。