the world revolts at the idea of the individual or the irresponsible group
of individuals taking to themselves the right of inflicting death at their
will.
Next, they strengthen the cause they attack. They place themselves on or
below the level of the men they seek to punish.
A third reason is that the assassins in many cases reach the wrong man.
They do not know, and cannot know, because they have had no full
opportunity of learning, what the other has had to say for himself. Too
often, in trying to slay their victim, they injure others who have nothing
to do with the business.
To attack one's victim without giving him an opportunity for defence is
essentially a cowardly thing. Assassination--I prefer to give it its
simpler name, murder--is wrong, whatever the supposed excuse, fundamentally
wrong, wrong in principle, fatal in its outcome for those who adopt it.
Have nothing to do with it.
The murder of Prince Ito was a cruel blow for Korea. It was followed by an
attempt to assassinate the Korean Premier, the man who had handed his
country over to Japan. For some time the military party in Japan had been
clamouring for a more severe policy in the Peninsula. Now it was to have
its way. General Count Terauchi was appointed Resident-General.
Count Terauchi was leader of the military party in Korea, and an avowed
exponent of the policy of "thorough." A soldier from his youth up, he had
risen to the General Staff, and in 1904 was Minister of War in the fight
against Russia, earning his Viscountcy for brilliant services. Strong,
relentless, able, he could only see one thing--Japan and the glory of
Japan. He regarded the Koreans as a people to be absorbed or to be
eliminated. He was generally regarded as unsympathetic to Christianity, and
many of the Koreans were now Christians.
Terauchi came to Seoul in the summer of 1910, to reverse the policy of his
predecessors. He was going to stamp the last traces of nationality out of
existence. Where Ito had been soft, he would be hard as chilled steel.
Where Ito had beaten men with whips, he would beat them with scorpions.
Every one knew ahead what was coming. The usual plan was followed. First,
the official and semi-official plan was followed. The _Seoul Press_, now
the lickspittle of the great man, gave good value for the subsidy it
receives. It came out with an article hard to surpass for brutality and
hypocrisy:--
"The present requires the wielding of an iron hand rather than a
gloved one in order to secure lasting peace and order in this
country. There is no lack of evidence to show an intense
dissatisfaction against the new state of things is fermenting at
present among a section of the Koreans. It is possible that if
left unchecked, it may culminate in some shocking crime. Now
after carefully studying the cause and nature of the
dissatisfaction just referred to, we find that it is both foolish
and unreasonable....
"Japan is in this country with the object of promoting the
happiness of the masses. She has not come to Korea to please a
few hundred silly youngsters or to feed a few hundred titled
loafers. It is no fault of hers that these men are dissatisfied
because of their failure to satisfy them.... _She must be
prepared to sacrifice anybody who offers obstacles to her work_.
Japan has hitherto dealt with Korean malcontents in a lenient
way. She has learned from experience gained during the past five
years that there are some persons who cannot be converted by
conciliatory methods. _There is but one way to deal with these
people, and that is by stern and relentless methods_."
The _Japan Mail_, as usual, echoed the same sentiments from Yokohama. "The
policy of conciliation is all very well in the hands of such a statesman as
the late Prince Ito," it declared. "But failing a successor to Prince Ito,
more ordinary methods will be found safer as well as more efficacious."
Viscount Terauchi settled in the capital, and it was as though a chill had
passed over the city. He said little, in public. Callers, high and low,
found him stern and distant. "He has other things to think of than pleasant
words," awed Secretaries repeated. Things suddenly began to happen. Four
Japanese papers were suspended in a night. An item in their columns was
objectionable. Let others be very careful. The police system was reversed.
The gendarmerie were to be brought back again in full force. Every day
brought its tale of arrests. Fifteen students were arrested this morning;
the old Korean President of the Railway Board had been hurried to prison;
the office of a paper in Pyeng-yang had been raided. It was as though the
new Governor-General had deliberately set himself to spread a feeling of
terror.
The Korean must not so much as look awry now. Police and gendarmes were
everywhere. Spies seemed to catch men's thoughts. More troops were coming
in. Surely something was about to happen.
Yet there were some smiling. They were called to the Residency-General to
hear good news. This man was to be made a peer; he had served Japan well.
This man, if he and his kin were good, was to be suitably rewarded. Bribes
for the complaisant, prison for the obstinate.
Men guessed what was coming. There were mutterings, especially among the
students. But the student who spoke bravely, even behind closed doors
to-day, found himself in jail by evening. The very walls seemed to have
ears.
Then it was remarked that the Ministers of State had not been seen for some
days. They had shut themselves in, refusing to see all callers. They feared
assassination, for they had sold their country. Policemen and troops were
waiting within easy calls from their homes, lest mobs should try to burn
them out, like rats out of their holes.
And then the news came. Korea had ceased to exist as an even nominally
independent or separate country. Japan had swallowed it up. The
Emperor--poor fool--was to step off his throne. After four thousand years,
there was to be no more a throne of Korea. The Resident-General would now
be Governor-General. The name of the nation was to be wiped out--henceforth
it was to be Chosen, a province of Japan. Its people were to be remade into
a lesser kind of Japanese, and the more adept they were in making the
change, the less they would suffer. They were to have certain benefits. To
mark the auspicious occasion there would be an amnesty--but a man who had
tried to kill the traitor Premier would not be in it. Five per cent of
taxes and all unpaid fiscal dues would be remitted. Let the people rejoice!
The Japanese expected an uprising, and were all ready for one. "Every man
should be ready to fight and die in the cause of his nation's
independence," they said tauntingly to the Koreans. But the people's
leaders kept them in. Up on the hills, the Righteous Army was still
struggling. The people must wait for better times.
One man stuck a proclamation on the West Gate, threatening death to the
traitors. Man after man, scholars, old soldiers, men who loved Korea,
committed suicide, after telling of their grief. "Why should we live when
our land is dead?" they asked.
The Japanese sneered because the people did nothing. "We may assume,
indeed, that all fear of a national uprising is now past," declared a
semi-Government organ. "The nation obviously has no leaders competent to
execute and direct a crusade in the cause of independence. Whether that
lack is due to adroit management on the part of the Japanese or to
unpatriotic apathy on the part of the Koreans we cannot pretend to judge."
The Japanese decree announcing the annexation of the country was in itself
an acknowledgment that the Japanese administration so far had been a
failure. Here is the opening paragraph:--
"Notwithstanding the earnest and laborious work of reforms in the
administration of Korea in which the Governments of Japan and
Korea have been engaged for more than four years since the
conclusion of the Agreement of 1905, the existing system of
government of that country has not proved entirely equal to the
work of preserving public order and tranquillity, and in addition
a spirit of suspicion and misgiving pervades the whole peninsula.
"In order to maintain peace and prosperity and the welfare of the
Koreans and at the same time to ensure the safety and repose of
foreign residents, it has been made abundantly clear that
fundamental changes in the actual regime of government are
actually essential."
The declaration announced various changes. It abrogated all Korean foreign
treaties, and brought the subjects of foreign nations living in Korea under
Japanese law. In other words, extra-territoriality was abolished. The
Government agreed to maintain the old Korean tariff for ten years both for
goods coming in from Japan and abroad. This was a concession to foreign
importers whose trade otherwise would have been swamped. It also allowed
ships under foreign registers to engage in the Korean coasting trade for
ten years more.
The annexation was put in the form of a treaty between the Emperors of
Japan and Korea, as though the surrender of their land had been the act of
the Koreans themselves, or their ruler.
His Majesty the Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Emperor of
Korea having in view the special and close relations between
their respective countries and to ensure peace in the Extreme
East, and being convinced that these objects can best be attained
by the annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan have resolved
to conclude a Treaty of such annexation and have for that purpose
appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say,
His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Viscount Maskata Terauchi,
His Resident General.
And His Majesty the Emperor of Korea, Ye Wan Yong, His
Minister President of State,
Who, upon mutual conference and deliberation, have agreed to the
following articles.
Article 1. His Majesty the Emperor of Korea makes complete and
permanent cession to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of all
rights of sovereignty over the whole of Korea.
Article 2. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan accepts the cession
mentioned in the preceding Article, and consents to the complete
annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan.
Article 3. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan will accord to their
Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Korea and His Imperial
Highness the Crown Prince of Korea, and Their Consorts and Heirs
such titles, dignity and honour as are appropriate to their
respective rank and sufficient annual grants will be made for the
maintenance of such titles, dignity and honour.
Article 4. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan will also accord
appropriate honour and treatment to the members of the Imperial
House of Korea and their heirs, other than those mentioned in the
preceding Article and the funds necessary for the maintenance of
such honour and treatment will be granted.
Article 5. His Majesty the Emperor of Japan will confer peerages
and monetary grants upon those Koreans who, on account of
meritorious services, are regarded as deserving of such special
treatment.
Article 6. In consequence of the aforesaid annexation, the
Government of Japan assumes the entire government and
administration of Korea, and undertakes to afford full protection
for the property and person of Koreans, obeying the laws then in
force, and to promote the welfare of all such Koreans.
Article 7. The Government of Japan will, so far as circumstances
permit, employ in the public service of Japan in Korea those
Koreans who accept the new regime of Japan loyally and in good
faith, and who are duly qualified for such service.
Article 8. This Treaty, having been approved by His Majesty the
Emperor of Japan and His Majesty the Emperor of Korea shall take
effect from the day of its promulgation.
Some defenders of Japan have wasted much effort in attempting to show that
in destroying the Korean Empire Japan did not break her word, although she
had repeatedly pledged herself to maintain and preserve the nation and the
Royal House. Such arguments, under the circumstances, are merely
nauseating. Japan wanted Korea; so soon as she was able, Japan took it. The
only justification was
"The good old rule ... the simple plan,
That he shall take who has the power,
That he shall KEEP, who can."
XI
"I WILL WHIP YOU WITH SCORPIONS"
The Japanese administration of Korea from 1910 to 1919, first under Count
Terauchi and then under General Hasegawa, revealed the harshest and most
relentless form of Imperial administration. When formal annexation was
completed in 1910 all the hindrances which had hitherto stood in the way of
the complete execution of Japanese methods were apparently swept on one
side. The Governor-General had absolute power to pass what ordinances he
pleased, and even to make those ordinances retroactive.
Extra-territoriality was abolished, and foreign subjects in Korea were
placed entirely under the Japanese laws.
Japanese statesmen were ambitious to show the world as admirable an example
of efficiency in peace as Japan had already shown in war. Much thought had
been given to the matter for a long time ahead. The colonial systems of
other countries had been carefully studied. Service in Korea was to be a
mark of distinction, reserved for the best and most highly paid. National
pride and national interest were pledged to make good. Money was spent
freely and some of the greatest statesmen and soldiers of Japan were placed
at the head of affairs. Ito, by becoming Resident-General, had set an
example for the best of the nation to follow.
Between the annexation in 1910 and the uprising of the people in 1919, much
material progress was made. The old, effete administration was cleared
away, sound currency maintained, railways were greatly extended, roads
improved, afforestation pushed forward on a great scale, agriculture
developed, sanitation improved and fresh industries begun.
And yet this period of the Japanese administration in Korea ranks among the
greatest failures of history, a failure greater than that of Russia in
Finland or Poland or Austria-Hungary in Bosnia. America in Cuba and Japan
in Korea stand out as the best and the worst examples in governing new
subject peoples that the twentieth century has to show. The Japanese
entered on their great task in a wrong spirit, they were hampered by
fundamentally mistaken ideas, and they proved that they are not yet big
enough for the job.
They began with a spirit of contempt for the Korean. Good administration is
impossible without sympathy on the part of the administrators; with a blind
and foolish contempt, sympathy is impossible. They started out to
assimilate the Koreans, to destroy their national ideals, to root out their
ancient ways, to make them over again as Japanese, but Japanese of an
inferior brand, subject to disabilities from which their overlords were
free. Assimilation with equality is difficult, save in the case of small,
weak peoples, lacking tradition and national ideals. But assimilation with
inferiority, attempted on a nation with a historic existence going back
four thousand years is an absolutely impossible task. Or, to be more exact,
it would only be possible by assimilating a few, the weaklings of the
nation, and destroying the strong majority by persecution, direct killing
and a steady course of active corruption, with drugs and vice.
The Japanese overestimated their own capacity and underestimated the
Korean. They had carefully organized their claque in Europe and America,
especially in America. They engaged the services of a group of paid
agents--some of them holding highly responsible positions--to sing their
praises and advocate their cause. They enlisted others by more subtle
means, delicate flattery and social ambition. They taught diplomats and
consular officials, especially of Great Britain and America, that it was a
bad thing to become a _persona non grata_ to Tokyo. They were backed by a
number of people, who were sincerely won over by the finer sides of the
Japanese character. In diplomatic and social intrigue, the Japanese make
the rest of the world look as children. They used their forces not merely
to laud themselves, but to promote the belief that the Koreans were an
exhausted and good-for-nothing race.
In the end, they made the fatal mistake of believing what their sycophants
and flatterers told them. Japanese civilization was the highest in the
world; Japan was to be the future leader, not alone of Asia, but of all
nations. The Korean was fit for nothing but to act as hewer of wood and
drawer of water for his overlord.
Had Japan been wise and long-sighted enough to treat the Koreans as America
treated the Cubans or England the people of the Straits Settlements, there
would have been a real amalgamation--although not an assimilation--of the
two peoples. The Koreans were wearied of the extravagances, abuses and
follies of their old administration. But Japan in place of putting Korean
interests first ruled the land for the benefit of Japan. The Japanese
exploiter, the Japanese settler were the main men to be studied.
Then Japan sought to make the land a show place. Elaborate public buildings
were erected, railroads opened, state maintained, far in excess of the
economic strength of the nation. To pay for extravagant improvements,
taxation and personal service were made to bear heavily on the people. Many
of the improvements were of no possible service to the Koreans themselves.
They were made to benefit Japanese or to impress strangers. And the
officials forgot that even subject peoples have ideals and souls. They
sought to force loyalty, to beat it into children with the stick and drill
it into men by gruelling experiences in prison cells. Then they were amazed
that they had bred rebels. They sought to wipe out Korean culture, and then
were aggrieved because Koreans would not take kindly to Japanese learning.
They treated the Koreans with open contempt, and then wondered that they
did not love them.
Let us examine the administration more closely in detail.
Its outstanding feature for most of the people is (I use the present tense
because as I write it still continues) the gendarmerie and police. These
are established all over the country, and they have in effect, although not
in name, power of life or death. They can enter into any house, without
warrant, and search it. They destroy whatever they please, on the spot.
Thus if a policeman searches the room of a student, and sees a book which
does not please him, he can--and does--often burn it on the spot. Sometimes
he takes it into the street and burns it there, to impress the neighbours.
One of the police visits most feared by many villagers is the periodical
examinations to see if the houses are clean. If the policemen are not
satisfied, they do not trouble to take the people to the station, but give
them a flogging then and there. This house examination is frequently used
by police in districts where they wish to punish the Christians, or to
prevent their neighbours from becoming Christians. The Christian houses are
visited and the Christians flogged, sometimes without even troubling to
examine the houses at all. This method particularly prevails in parts of
the Pyengyang province.
The police can arrest and search or detain any person, without warrant.
This right of search is freely used on foreigners as well as Koreans. Any
Korean taken to the police station can, in practice, be kept in custody as
long as wanted, without trial, and then can be released without trial, or
can be summarily punished without trial by the police.
The usual punishment is flogging--only Koreans and not Japanese or
foreigners are liable to be flogged. This punishment can be given in such a
way as to cripple, to confine the victim to his home for weeks, or to kill.
While it is not supposed to be practiced on women, on men over sixty-five
or on boys under fifteen, the police flog indiscriminately.
The Japanese Government passed, some years ago, regulations to prevent the
abuse of flogging. These regulations are a dead letter. Here is the
official statement:
"It was decided to retain it (flogging), but only for application to native
offenders. In March, 1912, Regulations concerning Flogging and the
Enforcing Detailed Regulations being promulgated, many improvements were
made in the measures hitherto practiced. Women, boys under the age of
fifteen and old men over the age of sixty are exempt from flogging, while
the infliction of this punishment on sick convicts and on the insane is to
be postponed for six months. The method of infliction was also improved so
that by observing greater humanity, unnecessary pain in carrying out a
flogging could be avoided, as far as possible,"[1]
[Footnote 1: Annual Report of Reforms and Progress in Chosen. Keijo
(Seoul), 1914.]
So much for the official claim. Now for the facts.
In the last year for which returns are available, 1916-17, 82,121 offenders
were handled by police summary judgment, that is, punished by the police on
the spot, without trial. Two-thirds of these punishments (in the last year
when actual flogging figures were published) were floggings.
The instrument used is two bamboos lashed together. The maximum legal
sentence is ninety blows, thirty a day for three days in succession. To
talk of this as "greater humanity" or "avoiding unnecessary pain" gives me
nausea. Any experienced official who has had to do with such things will
bear me out in the assertion that it is deliberately calculated to inflict
the maximum of pain which the human frame can stand, and in the most long
drawn out manner.
Sick men, women and boys and old men are flogged.
In the disturbances of 1919 wounded men who were being nursed in the
foreign hospitals in Seoul were taken out by the police to be flogged,
despite the protests of doctors and nurses. There were many cases reported
of old men being flogged. The stripping and flogging of women, particularly
young women, was notorious.
Here is one case of the flogging of boys.
The following letter from a missionary in Sun-chon--where there is a
Presbyterian hospital,--dated May 25, 1919, was printed in the report of
the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. I have seen other
communications from people who saw these boys, amply confirming the letter,
if it requires confirmation.
Eleven Kangkei boys came here from ----. All the eleven were
beaten ninety stripes--thirty each day for three days, May 16, 17
and 18, and let out May 18th. Nine came here May 22nd, and two
more May 24th.
Tak Chan-kuk died about noon, May 23rd.
Kim Myungha died this evening.
Kim Hyungsun is very sick.
Kim Chungsun and Song Taksam are able to walk but are badly
broken.
Kim Oosik seemed very doubtful but afterwards improved.
Choi Tungwon, Kim Changook, Kim Sungkil, and Ko Pongsu are able
to be about, though the two have broken flesh.
Kim Syungha rode from ---- on his bicycle and reached here about
an hour before his brother died. The first six who came into the
hospital were in a dreadful fix, four days after the beating. No
dressing or anything had been done for them. Dr. Sharrocks just
told me that he feels doubtful about some of the others since
Myungha died. It is gangrene. One of these boys is a Chun Kyoin,
and another is not a Christian, but the rest are all Christians.
Mr. Lampe has photographs. The stripes were laid on to the
buttocks and the flesh pounded into a pulp.
Greater humanity! Avoiding unnecessary pain! It is obvious that the method
of police absolutism is open to very great abuse. In practice it works out
as galling tyranny. A quotation from the _Japan Chronicle_ illustrates one
of the abuses: