It isn't as black and white for the era, which explains the non-Japanese part of anti-Korean sentiment.
By the late 19th century, and I'm disclosing this as general information, as I'm sure you're mostly aware, nationalism was on a global rise, dependent on how developed said nation was, by the then-standards, how many colonies they had.
To escape the land and food shortages, the still feudal Joseon and Qing Dynasties had seen their population scattering out towards new lands. In the case of Korea, with the turn of the century and ever growing Japanese influence, they migrated to China, Russia, Japan, other Asian colonies and North America. By the time Manjukuo was established, Koreans lived as far Sakhalin, and still had their culture, but no national identity, as it was part of the empire. While South Korean directors and screenwriters like to make it seem as there was one unifying cause (independence), nothing could be further from the truth. New political ideologies, like fascism, anarchism, and communism have rivaled that of nationalistic independence, so movements had infighting as well. Bear in mind, France was no different in that aspect.
The important thing is, that Koreans had one cultural identity, but different loyalties. Under Stalin's orders, the NKVD had gotten rid of Koreans and Chinese in the Russian Far East by hauling them to Central Asia and Western Russia. The Japanese were aware of that purge, which is why once the Far Eastern branch chief defected to them, they "warned" non-Japanese residents of the empire, that fleeing north would mean abduction or worse, for the local Koreans and the ones coming from Korea it was out of the frying pan and into the fire. Civilian Korean Soviet citizens did not have it any better, as they were conscripted into the Red Army. I've once met a Central Asian soldier of the Red Army (we were occupied by them) and for a long time I thought they have the same features as people from the Far East, until I learned they were from there. Actually, Korean linguists have a constant connection to Central Asian countries, as the Koreans living there speak an archaic dialect, that characters from sseguk doramas should speak.
Anyway, the SS really did have conscripts and also volunteers. Some of these forcibly hauled citizens joined for the aforementioned reason of escaping hell of German POW camps for Red Army soldiers, but also because they knew, they can never get back home were they were born. Only a select few with a traumatic past of a country can understand having one language and culture, and still not understand or help each other. Victims of the Pacific war have grounds to hate Koreans, as some of them came with the Japanese, and were exploiters themselves, or even executioners. Both the pacifist and the militarist leaders of Korea had Japanese education, as it was customary for the time.
By far the worst off were people, who fell into captivity after the Manchurian offensive. The Japanese Empire rescinded their citizenship, the Soviet Union denied to give them one, if they were lucky not being forcibly transported to Central Asia or the new North Korea.
I'm not surprised he died in America. Many expats hailed from what is known today as North Korea, it's obvious why they can't go there, and for decades, South Korea was pretty poor as well. It would grant another movie about Japanese American soldiers in the Korean War. It's criminally lacking in discussion, how the French and British Asian colonies were guarded by the Japanese after the Allies arrived until they could send reinforcements.
Though some claim the film is full of cliches and glaring errors, it's also true, it's one of the few, were not all Japanese are bad guys, people can change by seeing their own former blindness, and that some victims turn into animals.
I live in the Gordius Apartment Complex, my interior designer was M.C. Escher.
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