Roughly six months ago, on January 14, 2014, the Chinese Government (PRC), dedicated a memorial to a Korean Freedom Fighter in Harbin, (Manchuria) China. The memorial, which was in the form a train station platform, was named after Ahn Jung Gun (it is also spelled variously) aka Thomas Ahn, who shot the Japanese Resident General (same as Governor General) of Korea Ito Hirobuni in 1909 at that exact spot on the Harbin train station platform. Ito was essentially a ruler of Korea, a ruthless individual, who was in the process of working out the formalities for the annexation of Korea. He was in Harbin for a conference and signing of an agreement with the Tsarist Russian officials. Harbin was referred to at the time as Russian Harbin! Ito was hated by the anti-Japanese Koreans and was considered to be the primary enemy of Korean Freedom Fighters. Ahn had come to Harbin from Vladivostok, specifically for the purpose of killing Ito. This he succeeded in doing and wounded two additional Japanese officials in the process.
Ahn Jung Gun was a young Korean who was strongly opposed to the Japanese occupation of his country. At the turn of the century, he, along with his younger brother, joined the rapidly growing anti-Japanese movement, mostly made up of young Koreans. He was soon identified by the Japanese as the "enemy" and was hotly pursued. Ahn escaped to Vladivostok in 1907 and remained there until 1909. He was a catholic and was baptized Thomas. While in Vladivostok, he planned the assassination of Ito, and when it was announced that Ito was coming to Harbin, Ahn immediately set out for Manchuria. There, at the train station, he shot and killed Ito and wounded two of Ito's companions. He was immediately apprehended. But before his capture, after shooting Ito, he managed to pull out a Korean flag and wave it, shouting in Russian,"Koreya Uhrah!" ("Korea Hurrah!").
Despite his insistence that he was a soldier, a Korean Freedom Fighter with a rank of commander (which he was), and wanted to be executed by a firing squad, the Japanese chose to treat him like a terrorist. After a "quickie" trial with an inadequate defense (a Japanese defense attorney who was not interested in defending him!), he was hung like a common criminal. In Korea he became a legendary figure. Ironically, even in Japan he became a cult figure among anti-militarists who were strongly opposed to Japan's aggressive foreign policy and militaristic attitude.
So, Manchuria not only became the place where Korea's war of liberation against Japan started with Ahn's assassination of Ito, but where a monument in Ahn's honor was established at the exact spot where the assassination took place! Naturally the nationalists in the Japanese government, including Prime Minister Abe, condemned China's designation of a memorial for Ahn in Harbin.
Shortly after Ahn's execution by the Japanese, another Korean Freedom Fighter established himself in Manchuria. Lee Ho Young was a very different kind of a Freedom Fighter from Ahn. Lee was a scholar and not a man of action. But, he was strongly opposed to Japanese rule of Korea and he was also considered an "enemy" by the Japanese, so he escaped to Manchuria. Although there was a Japanese presence in Manchuria, it was still under the control of China by way of warlord Chang Tso Lin. So the Japanese could not go around arresting people at will, although Ahn was allowed to be arrested because at the time Harbin was Russian, and it would have put Russia in a very awkward position had they refused to allow the Japanese to arrest Ahn after he had just killed Ito!
Lee Ho Young came to Manchuria and established a unique learning center. He ran a center for Freedom Fighters! However, his center of learning was not for building bombs or on conducting ambushes and assassinations, it was a center for learning how to conduct civil disobedience, peacefully! In short, he ran a school on how to fight oppressors non-militarily, non-violently, not a terrorist training camp! A unique institution, perhaps the only one of its kind, ever! I don't know whether you could receive college credit or whether it was accredited, but it was apparently very popular with young Koreans, both expatriates and local residents as well. He was a dignified, scholarly gentleman who did not believe that Korea could achieve independence from Japan through violence. He essentially taught his students how to achieve their goals politically. However, the Japanese arrested him as soon as they gained control of Manchuria. He was, like Ahn, also executed.
So, Manchuria became a center for Korean Freedom Fighters' activities. In fact, all of the fighting that took place between the Japanese and the Koreans mostly took place in southern Manchuria, along the Korean border. Although there was some anti-Japanese activity on the Korean peninsula itself, all of the major events, except for the March 11th uprising of 1919, possibly the most significant date in modern Korean history, took place in Manchuria. A year after Japan's annexation of Korea, on the 1st of March 1919, there was a peaceful demonstration held by Koreans protesting Japanese rule. The Japanese soldiers quickly and violently broke up the demonstration, which grew into a violent movement. The outcome was that several thousands of Korean demonstrators were ruthlessly killed and imprisoned by the Japanese. Sahm Wohl Il Il, as it is called in Korean is a more important date to Koreans than August 15th, 1945, the day of liberation from Japan. After the March 1st Incident, most of the anti-Japanese activity moved to Manchuria.
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