A History of Korea (65 page)

In a nationwide search conducted in 1910 for works on Korean history and geography, the Japanese confiscated and burned 200,000 to 300,000 works. Included in the vandalism were biographies of Korean national heroes of earlier centuries such as
Ŭ
lchi Mun-d
ŏ
k, Kang Kam-ch’an, Ch’oe Y
ŏ
ng, and Yi Sun-sin; Korean translations of foreign books treating independence, the birth of the nation, and revolution such as biographies of the German Otto von Bismarck and the Russian Peter the Great; and histories of the founding of Switzerland, American independence, and Italian unification. Many ancient Korean texts describing the Japanese as inferior and uncivilized were found and destroyed. The Government-General reinterpreted and distorted Korean history to suit Japanese tastes and, to this nationalistic end, employed many government-patronized historians, both Korean and Japanese. The Japanese specifically tried to limit the scope of Korean history to the Korean peninsula and sever it from the Asian continent, thus seriously distorting Korean history
to justify its colonial rule. The “Mimana Nihon-fu” story is a typical example of Japan’s desperate efforts to annihilate the Korean national consciousness and national spirit.

The Koreans had violently resisted Japanese control of their country even before annexation. National consciousness grew increasingly among all classes under Japanese rule, but as overt protests became almost impossible at home, many Korean nationalists fled to safe havens overseas, particularly the Jiandao region in southeastern Manchuria and the Maritime Province of Russia. Beginning in the later Chos
ŏ
n period, many Koreans migrated into Jiandao and Russian Siberia across the Tumen River near the Korean border to lead a new life, and after Japanese annexation, Korean migration into the regions continued, this time to escape Japanese oppression. Those who moved to Manchuria developed fertile farmland with new irrigation systems in the vast Manchurian plains. With these financial and population resources, Korean nationalist activists were able to establish military bases there.

One famous base for armed independence operations in Manchuria was the Sinh
ŭ
ng mugwan hakkyo, or Military School of the New Rising. In 1911 Yi Hoey
ŏ
ng, Yi Si-y
ŏ
ng, Yi Tong-ny
ŏ
ng, and Yi Sang-nyong founded the Ky
ŏ
nghaksa, or Cultivation and Learning Society, a self-governing body for Koreans in the Jiandao region. The same year they established the Sinh
ŭ
ng kangs
ŭ
pso, or Training School of the New Rising, to train independence fighters, and in 1919 it was renamed the Sinh
ŭ
ng mugwan hakkyo. In 1914, in the Russian Maritime Province, Yi Sang-s
ŏ
l and Yi Tong-hwi established the Taehan kwangbokkun ch
ŏ
ngbu, or Government of the Korean Restoration Army, the first Korean provisional government in Vladivostok, and organized an independence army to wage an armed struggle against Japan.

Another center for the overseas Korean independence movement was established in Shanghai, China. Korean exiles in the area forged covert relations with China, exemplified by Sin Kyu-sik’s organization of the Tongjesa, or Mutual Assistance Society, in 1912. In 1919 Korean nationalists formed the Sinhan ch’
ŏ
ngny
ŏ
ndan, or New Korea Youth Corps, and sent Kim Kyu-sik to the Paris Peace Conference to appeal for self-determination of Korea. Kim left Shanghai in February and arrived in Paris just as the March First Movement began in Korea. Kim submitted two petitions protesting the injustice of Japanese colonialism in Korea and asking for help to achieve independence, but the Allies,
including the United States, ignored them, as they feared offending Japan and saw no benefit for themselves in the transaction.

In the United States Syngman Rhee (Yi S
ŭ
ng-man) founded the Kungminhoe, or Korean National Association, in Hawaii in 1909. When S
ŏ
Chae-p’il, a reformer and independence activist, established the Independence Club in 1896, Rhee joined it. In 1898 he was charged with government subversion and remained in prison until 1904, during which time he converted to Christianity. Upon his release Rhee went to study in the United States: at George Washington University, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree; at Harvard University, where he received his master’s degree in international relations; and at Princeton University, where he was awarded a doctoral degree in political science in 1910. (The topic of his dissertation was “Neutrality as Influenced by the United States.”) He stressed that Korea should recover its independence by diplomatic means. When the Korean Provisional Government (
KPG
) was established in Shanghai in April 1919, he was elected its first president, despite his stay in the United States. He went to Shanghai to take office as president of the
KPG
in December 1920 and returned to the United States in May 1921. He was impeached by the
KPG
legislature in March 1925 on various charges, including embezzling funds amassed in the United States, lacking devotion to the
KPG
, and damaging the prestige of the
KPG
and the legislature. In the United States, he led the Korean Commission which he established in Washington, D.C., in August 1919 to lobby on behalf of Korean independence. By the time of Korea’s liberation in August 1945, he had become Korea’s best-known political figure overseas.

In contrast to Rhee, Pak Yong-man advocated armed struggle and established a military school for Korean youth in Hawaii. By 1915 Korean residents in Hawaii split into the pro-Syngman Rhee and pro-Pak Yong-man groups. An Ch’ang-ho, who primarily emphasized education, founded the H
ŭ
ngsadan, or Society for the Fostering of Educational Activities, in San Francisco in 1913, to promote Korean education and moral standards.

Within Korea, meanwhile, the Japanese repressed Korean independence activities harshly. In October 1911 the Japanese police arrested more than 600 members of the Sinminhoe, falsely charging them with plotting to assassinate Governor-General Terauchi Masatake when he attended the dedication of the railway bridge over the Yalu River in December of the previous year. These men were imprisoned, without trial, until June 1912, when 123 were indicted before the district court of Seoul. The trial ended in September 1912, with the conviction of 105 men, all of whom had been severely tortured; it has come to
be known as the “Case of the One Hundred Five.” After this fabricated conspiracy case, the Sinminhoe itself dissolved. Its ideals survived, however, and thereafter a number of secret organizations were established by almost all segments of Korean society, including former
ŭ
iby
ŏ
ng leaders, religious leaders, teachers, and students.

In 1912 the Tongnip
ŭ
igunbu, or Righteous Army for Korean Independence, was organized by Im Py
ŏ
ng-ch’an, who had led a
ŭ
iby
ŏ
ng unit with Ch’oe Ikhy
ŏ
n in Seoul in 1906. Engaged in armed struggles against Japan in South Ch
ŏ
lla province, Im was apprehended in 1914 by the Japanese. The year before, in 1913, the Taehan kwangboktan, Corps for the Restoration of Korea’s Independence, had been formed in Taegu, but in 1915 it was renamed the Kwangbokhoe, or Society for the Restoration of Independence, with the aim of training independence fighters and punishing pro-Japanese collaborators. In 1915 the Chos
ŏ
n kukkw
ŏ
n hoeboktan, or Corps for the Restoration of Korean National Sovereignty, was established in Taegu by S
ŏ
Sang-il, Yun Sang-t’ae, and Yi Si-y
ŏ
ng. Later it actively participated in the March First Movement in the Ky
ŏ
ngsang region. In the northwestern area the Chos
ŏ
n kungminhoe, or Korean National Society, was organized by Sungsil School students and Christian youth in 1915. It launched a fund-raising campaign for the independence fighters and took part in the March First Movement in the P’y
ŏ
ngan region. Many clandestine societies also were formed by teachers in Seoul and other cities, advocating the promotion of education and of economic strength for the Korean people. The Korean spirit of resistance, which was strengthened through the nationalist movement at home and abroad in the 1910s, culminated in the March First Movement of 1919.

On 1 March 1919 Korean nationalism came to the fore in massive demonstrations against Japan’s harsh colonial rule. Known collectively as the March First Movement, the seminal event in the growth of modern Korean nationalism was triggered by a number of foreign and domestic factors. Koreans’ resentment against the Japanese had only grown stronger with the passage of time, inspired anew by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, and particularly the principle of “self-determination” clarified on 8 January 1918. Wilson may have been thinking primarily of people who had been forcibly placed under the control of the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires, but the term “self-determination” struck a cord with millions of colonial peoples around the world, including Koreans.

As Korean students and intellectuals, especially those abroad, became aware of the principle of self-determination, a national effort to regain independence intensified. To express Koreans’ desire to restore independence, leaders of Korean nationalist groups planned to demonstrate against their Japanese colonial rulers.

The massive independence movement was stimulated by Korean students in Japan who had always been sensitive to national consciousness. About 600 Korean students gathered on 8 February 1919 at the hall of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Tokyo, where they issued their own declaration of independence. This event ignited nationwide demonstrations for Korean independence.

Although the principle of self-determination renewed hope for Korean independence, the immediate spark for the March First Movement was the death of the former king Kojong on 21 January 1919, when rumors spread that he had been poisoned by a Japanese physician, further inciting the Koreans against Japan. A state funeral was to be held in Seoul on 3 March and large crowds were expected to attend.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, major religious leaders from Ch’
ŏ
ndogyo, the successor to the Tonghak movement, and from Christian and Buddhist denominations, secretly gathered and drafted the Declaration of Independence. Thirty-three leading religious figures signed the document as “representatives of all the Korean people,” and thousands of copies were distributed throughout the country. Of the 33 original signers, led by Son Py
ŏ
ng-h
ŭ
i for Ch’
ŏ
ndogyo, Yi S
ŭ
ng-hun for the Christian groups, and Han Yong-un for the Buddhists, 15 were followers of Ch’
ŏ
ndogyo, 15 were Christians, and 3 were Buddhists. They planned to send the declaration, along with a petition, to the Japanese government and the Paris Peace Conference, then under way, two days before the funeral rites for the former king. At the time these religious groups took full responsibility for the actual planning, as under harsh colonial rule only churches were equipped with the necessary infrastructure for communication and mobilization.

At 2:00 on the afternoon of 1 March, 29 of the 33 signers of the Declaration of Independence met at the T’aehwagwan restaurant (also called the My
ŏ
ngw
ŏ
lgwan) near P’agoda Park where the declaration was scheduled to be read aloud. The signers had not initially planned to provoke nationwide demonstrations with the reading of the proclamation and so had changed the location to a restaurant from the original large outdoor venue, fearing that the latter would incense more radical nationalists to transform a peaceful appeal
into a violent uprising. Despite their best-laid plans, however, the reading of the Declaration of Independence, even by these conservative “national representatives,” was the catalyst for approximately 1,500 demonstrations that would ultimately involve more than 2 million Koreans nationwide.

Although none of the signers of the Declaration appeared at P’agoda Park after the reading, a crowd of people, mainly students, gathered there and began demonstrating in the streets. As they waved Korean flags, T’aeg
ŭ
kki, and shouted “Taehan Tongnip Manse!” (“Long Live Korean Independence!”), more and more people joined in the demonstrations, which soon spread across the country, reaching their peak in early April. Similar protests occurred in Manchuria, the Russian Maritime Province, and other overseas areas.

This large-scale independence movement was so well coordinated and planned in such secrecy that the Government-General was caught by surprise. The stunned Japanese reacted to the peaceful demonstrations with harsh repression. By mid-April 1919, throughout the country, more than 7,500 demonstrators were killed, some 16,000 wounded, and more than 46,000 arrested. The Japanese also destroyed or burned 715 houses, 47 churches, and 2 schools. The cruelest and most tragic incident occurred at Cheam-ni near Suw
ŏ
n, just south of Seoul, on 15 April. While worshipers were meeting inside the church, the Japanese locked the doors from the outside and torched the building, burning people alive. Twenty-nine people died in this “Cheam-ni massacre.” Sadly, after all these sacrifices, Korea had failed to win independence. But the movement inspired Koreans with a spirit of independence and freedom, and served as a major symbol of Korean nationalist aspirations. It also forced Japan to modify and reform its colonial policy as a “Cultural Policy.”

The massive Korean struggle against brutal Japanese colonial rule became known to the world primarily through Western missionary channels, inciting strong international criticism. This was not followed, however, by any official response from the international community. Japan’s Western allies were reluctant to condemn Japan’s cruel actions, mainly because they had their own colonial holdings.