Who is Commandant from Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood and what is their importance?

Commandant is the name of the officer in charge of the detention camp that jailed the boy's father at the end of the war. The commandant turned over the camp to Koreans and sent Japanese guards back to Pyongyang when he heard the Japanese Emperor surrendered. Dressed in a kimono in front of everybody, he committed hari-kari with a ceremonial knife after ordering a deputy to behead him.