Nakamura’s Transformation into a War Criminal

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

This thread follows Choi Sang-min, known as the Goanna, from colonial subordination into brutal authority and finally to execution.

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Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Korean Childhood A Korean Childhood from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". A Childhood of Subordination Work and Beatings Choi Sang-min leaves school early and works for Korean and Japanese families.

A Korean Childhood from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". A Childhood of Subordination Work and Beatings Choi Sang-min leaves school early and works for Korean and Japanese families.

A Childhood of Subordination Work and Beatings Choi Sang-min leaves school early and works for Korean and Japanese families. He receives little pay and regular physical punishment. A Future for Wages At fifteen, he joins the Japanese system as a guard because fifty yen a month seems a way forward. The promised wage becomes central to how he later measures his lost life.

Training in Obedience Training in Obedience from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". Learning to Strike Binta and Discipline Choi is trained to slap other recruits as part of a system of collective punishment and unquestioned obedience.

Training in Obedience from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". Learning to Strike Binta and Discipline Choi is trained to slap other recruits as part of a system of collective punishment and unquestioned obedience.

Learning to Strike Binta and Discipline Choi is trained to slap other recruits as part of a system of collective punishment and unquestioned obedience. When he tries to spare a fellow trainee, he is beaten severely. Violence as Inheritance The training teaches him that power belongs to those higher in the hierarchy. He carries the lesson into the prison camp, where he has authority over men who are larger than he is.

The Goanna in the Camp The Goanna in the Camp from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". Power Over Prisoners A New Authority As a guard, Choi Sang-min uses beatings to force prisoners to work and to assert himself over men who are bigger and more…

The Goanna in the Camp from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". Power Over Prisoners A New Authority As a guard, Choi Sang-min uses beatings to force prisoners to work and to assert himself over men who are bigger and more…

Power Over Prisoners A New Authority As a guard, Choi Sang-min uses beatings to force prisoners to work and to assert himself over men who are bigger and more confident. Becoming the Monster The Australian prisoners call him the Goanna. He takes a sense of importance from their fear, though the violence is also shaped by the Japanese system above him.

A Conviction and Sentence A Conviction and Sentence from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". The Trial Charges and Uncertainty Choi Sang-min is convicted of ordering a prisoner’s death and mistreating others.

A Conviction and Sentence from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". The Trial Charges and Uncertainty Choi Sang-min is convicted of ordering a prisoner’s death and mistreating others.

The Trial Charges and Uncertainty Choi Sang-min is convicted of ordering a prisoner’s death and mistreating others. Evidence against him is complicated and partly shaped by testimony from senior Japanese officers. Unequal Accountability He believes powerful men escape punishment while low-ranking guards are executed. His own responsibility and the system’s injustice remain entangled rather than cancelling each other out.

The Last Morning The Last Morning from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". A Man Without a Nation Searching for Meaning Choi Sang-min cannot find a national ideal that makes his death meaningful.

The Last Morning from "The Narrow Road to the Deep North". A Man Without a Nation Searching for Meaning Choi Sang-min cannot find a national ideal that makes his death meaningful.

A Man Without a Nation Searching for Meaning Choi Sang-min cannot find a national ideal that makes his death meaningful. He remembers his sister’s disappearance and the wages he never received. Final Resistance He fights the guards and tries to kill a cockroach before being hanged. His death ends a life shaped by violence without resolving whether he was only a victim, an agent, or both.

Before Choi joins the Japanese military as a teenager

During military training in Pusan

During the construction of the railway

After the war, during proceedings at Changi

The morning of Choi’s execution