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 Viscount Kim, one of the two who have petitioned 
 and are prosecuted. 
 
The 
 
 Rebirth of Korea 
 
 The Reawakening of the People 
 Its Causes, and the Outlook 
 
 BY 
 HUGH HEUNG-WO CYNN 
 
 Principal Pai Chai Haktang, 
 Seoul, Korea 
 
 THE ABINGDON PRESS 
 NEW YORK CINCINNATI 
 
^ 
 
 cP 
 
 Copyright, 1920, by 
 HUGH HEUNG-WO CYNN 
 
 Jfr"- 
 
 ,~*t****'t' .»»•*• • t 
 
TO THE 
 WOMEN 
 
 IN 
 KOREA 
 
 435780 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction 9 
 
 Foreword 11 
 
 PART I 
 
 chapter THE REBIRTH 
 
 I. The Historic March Fh*st 15 
 
 II. Agitation and Repression 33 
 
 III. Christian Missions Face to Face with 
 
 Militarism — - \ — 61 
 
 PART II 
 
 CAUSES 
 
 IV. Japanese Administration 83 
 
 V. Japanese Administration (Continued) . 99 
 
 VI. The Rise of Democratic Sphut 126 
 
 PART III 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 VII. Japan's Policy and Korea 151 
 
 VIII. Democracy and the Future of Korea 171 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 A. — An Opinion of Missionaries 191 
 
 B. — A Statement of Missionary Position 
 
 on Korean Agitation 215 
 
 C. — The Korean Situation 220 
 
 D. — Treaty of Amity and Commerce. . . 223 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 E. — The Japanese-Korean Treaty 237 
 
 F. — Supplementary Treaty between 
 
 Japan and Korea 244 
 
 G. — Protocol Concluded between Japan 
 
 and Korea 251 
 
 H. — Agreement between Japan and 
 
 Korea, Signed August 22, 1904. . . 254 
 I. — Agreement between Japan and 
 
 Korea, Signed April 1, 1905 256 
 
 J. — Agreement Respecting the Coast 
 
 Trade of Korea 261 
 
 K. — Agreement between Japan and 
 
 Korea, Signed November 17, 1905 265 
 L. — Agreement between Japan and 
 
 Korea, Signed July 24, 1907 268 
 
 M. — The Treaty of Annexation, Signed 
 
 August 29, 1910 271 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Viscount Kim, one of the two who have 
 petitioned and are prosecuted. 
 
 — Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Crowd shouting "Mansei!" in front of 
 Tuksoo Palace, Seoul, March 1, 
 1919 16 
 
 The Independence Gate, outside of West 
 
 Gate, Seoul 48 
 
 Map of Korea, showing principal areas 
 where the demonstrations took 
 
 PLACE 62 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Any contribution of fact or interpretation 
 touching the Korean situation will be wel- 
 come at this time to all true friends of Korea. 
 There is a special value in the statement and 
 conclusions of one who has had the training 
 of Mr. Hugh H. Cynn and the opportunities 
 which have been his for obtaining information 
 at first hand. Educated in the University of 
 Southern California, Mr. Cynn has been for 
 several years the principal of the Pai Chai 
 School in Seoul. His duties have, on the one 
 hand, kept him in close contact with the 
 Japanese educational authorities, while on the 
 other he has been in sympathetic relations with 
 his own people for whom he is a loyal cham- 
 pion. He has been modest, temperate, and 
 firm in securing and protecting the rights of 
 the important school which has grown steadily 
 under his leadership, and has devoted himself 
 to its interests. One who reads, however, 
 what is herein recorded will find a spirit which 
 is concerned with issues outside of the academic 
 realm. The author is a Christian and a patriot, 
 eager for the best that Korea can achieve, 
 convinced of the justice of his country's appeal 
 
 9 
 
10 'f. ....... INTRODUCTION 
 
 for freedom and self-government, satisfied, if 
 once the main contention is accepted, to make 
 progress by delay if the time for full autonomy 
 shall seem not yet to have come. Mr. Cynn 
 has a wide circle of acquaintances and friends, 
 Koreans, Japanese, American. To them there 
 will be a peculiar interest in these candid 
 chapters in which, with clearness and courage, 
 he makes record of his impressions and his 
 convictions. 
 
 Frank Mason North. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 To be an "author" in a tongue that is not 
 his native has never been the ambition of the 
 writer. When he left Seoul, his home city, 
 in the latter part of last April, to come to 
 America for a short visit, it was his intention 
 merely to return as soon as the business for 
 which he was coming was finished. When the 
 time for the intended return came, however, 
 several friends suggested to him to give a 
 series of lectures in some of the Eastern institu- 
 tions of learning before leaving, and wisdom 
 counseled the acceptance. 
 
 While preparing for the lectures the thought 
 of putting them in some permanent form and 
 presenting before the public as an interpreta- 
 tion of one of the phases of Korean life grad- 
 ually developed, and with encouragements re- 
 ceived from his American friends he has ven- 
 tured into a field entirely new to him. 
 
 Chapters IV and V are taken from a report 
 made before the executive members of the 
 Commission on Relation with the Orient of the 
 Federal Council of the Churches of Christ 
 in America in the early part of last June. The 
 other chapters were given in substance in the 
 
 11 
 
12 FOREWORD 
 
 Drew Theological Seminary and the Boston 
 University, in three lectures at each place. 
 
 The writer has no apology to make on the 
 subject-matter; he only feels a keen regret 
 at the inadequacy in the presentation. For 
 obvious reasons he has depended almost en- 
 tirely upon the government reports for statis- 
 tics and official statements and upon such 
 other documents and testimonies that are 
 quite well authenticated and known by this 
 time. 
 
 As he now turns his face again toward the 
 Far East, he wishes to avail himself of this 
 opportunity to express his very deep appre- 
 ciation of the courtesies and kindnesses shown 
 him by Dr. Frank Mason North, of New York, 
 Dr. John Franklin Goucher, of Baltimore, and 
 the Rev. Bishop Herbert Welch, of Seoul, 
 Korea. While these gentlemen have no respon- 
 sibility for any part of the contents, their per- 
 sonal sympathy and helpful encouragement, 
 during some of the blackest moments, have 
 enabled the writer to make an attempt and 
 
 complete the task. 
 
 Hugh Heung-wo Cynn. 
 New York City, 
 October 24, 1919. 
 
PART ONE 
 THE REBIRTH 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 
 
 "Mansei! Mansei! M-a-n-s-e-i !" Ten 
 thousand years for Korea! Long live Korea! 
 Thus in the midst of mighty shouts the Korea 
 that had been "dead and buried" for eight 
 and a half years "rose from the dead" at two 
 o'clock in the afternoon of the first day of 
 March, 1919. A different nation this reborn 
 Korea is from the old, of whose passing an 
 author wrote over a decade before. The 
 tragic cry she uttered in her last moment was, 
 "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
 me?" Now her inspiring and assuring words 
 are, "Be not afraid: go tell my brethren." 
 Be not afraid, you who abandoned me in my 
 hour of trial; be not afraid, you who have 
 done me to death, for I am not going to be 
 revengeful; be not afraid, you my children 
 who have suffered so much in humiliation and 
 despair. Go tell my brethren, men of all 
 colors and races, to take courage, for right- 
 eousness will soon triumph. My fullest realiza- 
 tion is not yet, but it is bound to come, be- 
 cause I am fighting on the side of "God the 
 
 15 
 
16 THE REBIRTH OP KOREA 
 
 Invisible King," and my rebirth is dedicated 
 to making the world safe for righteous living. 
 
 Ever since the signing of the armistice there 
 were visible many evidences of a new spirit 
 rising among the Korean people. The con- 
 scienceless might that trampled down under 
 foot every vestige of international law and 
 personal rights was at last humbled before the 
 banner of "righteousness and humanity," and 
 the erstwhile "supermen" sued for peace at 
 the hand of an academician. The hateful dis- 
 tortion of truth, which was made to say, "Might 
 is right" is changed back so as to declare that 
 "Right makes might." Hope leaped, and faith 
 in a righteous cause mounted on its wings. 
 
 Then, again, Korea's sons and daughters 
 did not witness in vain the heroism and sac- 
 rifice of the millions who fought with cool 
 courage and impetuous daring in the trenches 
 and "over the top" in "No Man's Land"; and 
 who worked with patience and devotion in 
 the factories and in the homes. The stories 
 so full of pathos and inspiration told by Hankey 
 and Casalis and a host of others moved the 
 hearts of many who heard them, very pro- 
 foundly. The exploits of Guynemer and 
 D'Annunzio thrilled and impelled the minds of 
 the young people to something sublime and 
 self-sacrificing. The shining and soaring ideals 
 
THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 17 
 
 of President Wilson flashed from one continent 
 to another, and his clear and keen notes rang 
 from shore to shore. All these things, con- 
 trasted with their own unendurable condi- 
 tions, made the Korean people impatient with 
 the gods that withheld from them an oppor- 
 tunity to express their yearnings and to attain 
 their hearts' desires. What less could be ex- 
 pected of the Koreans, who have a proud his- 
 tory of over forty centuries, and whose hearts 
 have been steeled by ten years of military 
 rule of another people? The New Korea had 
 to rise, and it did rise. 
 
 On that memorable March 1st there were 
 more than two hundred thousand people on 
 the streets of Seoul. The state funeral of the 
 former Emperor of Korea, who died in Jan- 
 uary, was to take place two days later; and 
 special trains had been running for days, 
 bringing people from all over the country, 
 who wanted to pay their last respect to the 
 memory of one in whom all the bygone days 
 of national independence was symbolized. 
 Every inn and every home was full to the 
 uttermost limit with people. The whole na- 
 tion was in the most profound mourning, as 
 never before on any other similar occasion. 
 Flags draped with black crape were spon- 
 taneously hung out from every house, and 
 
18 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 even school children of six to ten years of age 
 wore marks of mourning. There were signs of 
 unanimity and determination on the part of 
 young and old alike. For days and nights the 
 square before the palace gate and the main 
 thoroughfares were thronged with mourners. 
 
 Before the dawn of that day there was an 
 extraordinary incident, which roused the keen- 
 est interest of everybody. A handbill was 
 posted and distributed throughout the south- 
 western section (the busiest section) of the 
 city, and it said that the former Emperor was 
 treacherously poisoned by hired traitors upon 
 his refusal to sign a paper, which was said to 
 have declared that Korea was perfectly happy 
 under the Japanese regime, and which was 
 said to have been used in case of necessity as 
 a counter instrument against the Koreans try- 
 ing to get a hearing of the Peace Conference 
 at Versailles. This, added to the fact of the 
 sudden and mysterious death of the former 
 Emperor, fired the people with new indigna- 
 tion and horror. At about ten o'clock one 
 of the Christian schools for boys near the 
 West Gate was surrounded by police, and the 
 class rolls of the preceding day were minutely 
 examined and the office staff was closely ques- 
 tioned. At one o'clock in the afternoon the 
 police rushed to the Central Young Men's 
 
THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 19 
 
 Christian Association and instituted a search of 
 the buildings as well as of every member of 
 the staff and all the employees. The atmos- 
 phere of the whole city was electrified with 
 some vague expectancy, mingled with anxiety 
 and boldness. 
 
 While this search was going on, all of a 
 sudden, as a bolt from the blue sky, in the 
 neighboring park, the Pagoda Park, a young 
 man mounted the pavilion, held up a paper, 
 and began to read in a loud voice. The crowd 
 had already been great, but this unusual pro- 
 cedure soon gathered an immense mass of 
 people, who strained their ears to listen; and 
 to their astonishment and joy it was the 
 Declaration of Independence of Korea! The 
 salient points of the text are here given: 
 
 "We herewith proclaim Korea an independ- 
 ent state and her people free. We announce 
 it to the nations of the world, and we also 
 make it known to our posterity for ten thousand 
 generations that they may -hold this right as 
 free people for all time. . . . 
 
 "Victims of the inheritance of an ancient 
 age of plunder and brute force, we have come, 
 for the first time in our history of thousands 
 of years, to taste for a decade the bitterness of 
 oppression by an alien race. How great a loss 
 to the right of existence, what a hindrance to 
 
20 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 the development of mind, what damage to the 
 honor of our people, what lack of opportunity 
 for any originality we may possess to contribute 
 to or aid in the onward march of civilization! 
 
 "We do not wish to find fault with Japan 
 who made so favorable a treaty with us in 
 1876, for insincerity in breaking, time and 
 again, this and that provision of that solemn 
 agreement, nor blame her lack of honesty when 
 her literati, speaking from the platform, and 
 their officials, by their acts, count the inher- 
 itance of our fathers as a colony of their own, 
 or treat our civilization as that of savages, 
 only to be satisfied when they have beaten us 
 to submission and put to shame the founda- 
 tions of our society and pur best mental en- 
 deavors. 
 
 "We, who have special need to reprimand 
 ourselves, should not spend time on the faults 
 of others; we, who need to organize for the 
 present, should not waste a moment in finding 
 fault with the past. Our one responsibility is 
 to establish ourselves and not to pull down 
 others. In line with the dictate of a clear 
 conscience our duty is to break up the fallow 
 ground of our new destiny, and, not for a 
 moment, through long smothered resentment 
 or passing anger, spitefully attack. 
 
THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 21 
 
 "Our wish is to move the Japanese govern- 
 ment, bound though it is with old ideas and 
 passed-by influences, a victim of the love of 
 fame that acts and manifests itself in un- 
 natural and unreasonable errors, to change to 
 something better and return by a straight road 
 to the place of innocence. 
 
 "The result of unasked-for annexation has 
 been oppression, timeserving partiality, statis- 
 tics based on false reports intended to show the 
 opposite of the truth in a profit-and-loss ac- 
 count between our two peoples. The farther 
 they go the deeper they dig a trench of resent- 
 ment between us that no reconciliation can 
 bridge. Behold the present result. 
 
 "Let them make right what is wrong and, by 
 a just comprehension based upon sympathy, 
 open up a new and kindly relationship which 
 shall put an end to trouble and bring blessing 
 to both. Is not their need this realization? 
 
 "Independence for us to-day, while it means 
 an honor due Korea, at the same time means 
 Japan's departure from an unjust way to one 
 in which she may truly assume the great re- 
 sponsibility of the protector of the Far East, 
 as well as removing from China those disturb- 
 ing fears which she cannot escape even in her 
 sleep. It means too a step toward the peace 
 
£* THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 and happiness of the whole human race, in 
 which the peace of the Far East is so important 
 a part. This is not a question which rests on 
 trivial emotion. 
 
 "A new world is opening before our eyes; 
 the age of force departs and that of truth and 
 righteousness comes in. The refined, clarified 
 mind of humanity, matured and trained by the 
 ages of the past, now begins to cast the morning 
 light of a new civilization on the history of 
 the race. A new spring is dawning and all 
 life hastens to awake. As insects, paralyzed 
 by the season of ice and chilling snow, under 
 the influence of soft winds and warm sunshine, 
 return to life and being, so do we, beholding 
 the renewal of the world and the turning of 
 the tide of the age, step forward without 
 hesitation or fear. 
 
 "Holding fast to the inherent right of lib- 
 erty, let us find satisfaction in the pursuit of 
 happiness, and, developing our distinctive abil- 
 ity which alone can satisfy the heart, let the 
 inner nature of our people bloom forth in the 
 great world flooded with the light of spring. 
 
 "We now rise in power. Our conscience is 
 with us and truth accompanies us. We awake, 
 without distinction of age or sex, from the 
 old nest of gloom into an activity in which all 
 creation will attain to a joyous resurrection. 
 
THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 23 
 
 The spirits of past generations inspire us, un- 
 seen, while the forces of the world assist us 
 from without. A beginning means a successful 
 completion. All that is required is to press 
 forward toward the light that shines before. 
 
 "Three Items of Agreement : 
 
 "1. Our work to-day is the demand any 
 people would make in behalf of truth, human- 
 ity, life, and honor, so let us manifest the 
 spirit of independence only, and not the spirit 
 of strife. 
 
 "2. To the last man and very end, let each 
 one express his real opinion. 
 
 "3. Let' everything be done in order, so that 
 our purpose and attitude, in every circum- 
 stance, may commend themselves as right. 
 
 "The 4252d year "Representatives of the People: 
 
 of the Kingdom (Signed) Son Pyeng-heui, Kil Sun-joo, 
 
 of Chosen, and thirty-one other names.", 
 March 1st." 
 
 After finishing the reading, the young man 
 lifted his arms high in the air and began a 
 rousing cheer for Korea, which was instantly 
 caught up by the impassioned throng, and in 
 the twinkle of an eye, the surging mass of 
 people in the Park and in the main thorough- 
 fare adjoining were giving deafening cheers for 
 
U THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 the independence of Korea. Soon, from the 
 East Gate to the West Gate and from the 
 Bell Tower in the center of the city to the 
 South Gate, a veritable pandemonium of en- 
 thusiasm and joy reigned. Students with books 
 in one hand and uplifted cap in the other; 
 stately white-robed old gentlemen with their 
 hoary beards flowing and their wrinkled hands 
 waving; young girls with their dark skirts 
 streaming and upturned faces shining; elderly 
 ladies with their characteristic green veils on 
 top of the immaculate dress; mechanics with 
 their rolled-up sleeves and some of them with 
 tools still in hand; sons of the rich with their 
 shimmering silk coats flying; rustic farmers 
 with horny fingers and bony arms lifted toward 
 the blue heavens; stocky-limbed cart-pullers 
 with their long white cloth wound tightly 
 round the head and hung loosely behind; staid 
 and substantial-looking merchants and shop- 
 keepers, some with their long pipes, and 
 others with pen either in their hands or behind 
 their ears; fat and plump youngsters with their 
 baggy wadded pantaloons, some in wooden 
 shoes, and some in silk slippers; smart-looking 
 young men dressed in European style and 
 wearing rimless spectacles; and men and women 
 of every and sundry description, age, and rank 
 — one and all — were in a happy delirium, 
 
THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 25 
 
 shouting, "Mansei! Mansei! Tok-rip Man- 
 seir 
 
 All this time, what were the thirty-three 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence do- 
 ing? Before they delegated the young man to 
 go to the Pagoda Park to read the Declaration 
 before the public they met in formal session in 
 the Tai-Wha Kwan, "Seoul's Galerie des 
 Glasces. Like the palace of Versailles, here 
 the independence of Korea was signed away 
 ten years ago and here the first proclamation 
 of freedom was issued March 1st, 1919." It 
 is said that all the Japanese high officials had 
 been invited to the function, and that there 
 had come one, representing all the others who 
 had official duties elsewhere. In due form 
 they read the Declaration of Independence, and 
 drank success to the movement that was thus 
 launched out. (Imagine the consternation of 
 the Japanese official present!) They then im- 
 mediately notified the police what they had 
 done and where they were. The wonderful 
 police, who claim to be second only to that 
 of Germany, and who struck such a terror in 
 the minds of the Koreans that the austerity of 
 their mere presence prevented the "conspir- 
 ators" from harming Count Terauchi in 1911, 
 were searching the pockets and purses in the 
 Y. M. C. A., while this epoch-making pro- 
 
26 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 ceeding was going on less than a block 
 away! 
 
 The police immediately surrounded the res- 
 taurant and "succeeded" in putting them under 
 arrest. There were fifteen who belonged to 
 the Chundoism (Religion of Heavenly Path), 
 fifteen Christians (mostly preachers), and three 
 Buddhists. Motor cars from neighboring 
 garages were hurriedly commandeered, and they 
 were taken to the Central Police Headquarters 
 below the South Mountain. On their way the 
 streets were so dense with people and the 
 cheerings were so vociferous, it is said, that 
 the police escorting the prisoners had also to 
 cheer as a ruse. The overflowing enthusiasm 
 and the utter disregard for themselves of the 
 men arrested were illustrated by their dis- 
 tribution of copies of the Declaration right and 
 left from the motor cars as they were being 
 borne away to their destination of unknowns 
 and unknowables. 
 
 At this point the crowd divided itself into 
 three groups. One headed for the Tuksoo 
 Palace, where the body of the former Emperor 
 was lying in state, and where all the members 
 of the former imperial family were gathered 
 in mourning, and entered the square within 
 the precinct. Here they gave three cheers, 
 and withdrew very quietly. Another group 
 
THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 27 
 
 was formed and went to the foreign consulates- 
 general, first to the American and next to the 
 French. There was still another large group 
 that headed for the Japanese government- 
 general. They passed the Bank of Chosen and 
 entered the Japanese section of the city. Here 
 they met opposition by the police, gendarmes, 
 and Japanese civilians, who took part in 
 nearly all the subsequent measures of repres- 
 sion. By this time the setting sun was hover- 
 ing on the crest of the western hills, and the 
 streets were filled with soldiers, gendarmes, and 
 police. They were stopping and searching 
 pedestrians and arresting people at random, 
 but there were no consequential encounters, as 
 there was no resistance of any kind. The 
 experience of one of the government school 
 students is here given in his own words: 
 
 "After we had declared independence in 
 Pagoda Park we all rushed up the street 
 toward the Palace shouting 'Mansei!' Some 
 went up to the consulates and some to the 
 government-general offices. I went with the 
 latter crowd. We had not gone far down 
 Chin-go-gai before two policemen arrested me. 
 They immediately struck me with the scab- 
 bards of their swords both on the head and 
 body. While being led to the police station I 
 was constantly kicked and struck by the Jap- 
 
28 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 anese civilians. One man even removed his 
 wooden shoes and struck me. I was taken to 
 the Central Police Headquarters, where I re- 
 mained without examination until the 4th. 
 On the first day a small ball of rice wrapped 
 in paper was thrown in to us. On the following 
 day and most of the succeeding days we were 
 given a dish and chopsticks. They were 
 occasionally withheld, and the officer remarked 
 that 'such dogs are not worthy of chopsticks.' 
 We were absolutely forbidden to speak. 
 
 "On March 5th I was brought before some 
 official who questioned me as to (1) 'Who 
 was behind proceedings? (2) Did I know any 
 of the instigators?' I replied that I did not 
 know, for which I was slapped in the face. 
 I still persisted that I was absolutely ignorant 
 of these matters, which was quite true. He 
 then tied my hands tightly behind me and 
 passed the loose end of the rope over the right 
 shoulder, around the front of my neck, over 
 the left shoulder and back to the hands where 
 it was drawn tight and fastened. He again 
 asked for information which I was unable to 
 give. The officer continued to slap my face 
 and poke me in the ribs with a bar of iron. 
 While painful at the time, I was not seriously 
 injured. I was also frequently struck on the 
 head with a knotted rope. The punishment 
 
THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 29 
 
 was now changed. I was told to hold a chair 
 in my hands over my head. The weight of 
 the chair soon made my arms ache badly, 
 and I had to drop the chair. For this I was 
 beaten and again made to hold up the chair. 
 I was again questioned but refused to tell the 
 little I knew and would give no information. 
 On the sixth day I was brought before a proc- 
 urator, who asked me about age, occupation, 
 etc., and also if I was satisfied with the present 
 government. I replied, 'Very dissatisfied.' He 
 further asked why I wanted independence. 
 
 "In the evening I was sent to the jail. . . ." 
 Parenthetically, the one who took down the 
 statement said, "The boy told me he had 
 called 'Mansei' even since he got out of jail." 
 
 Simultaneously with Seoul there were sim- 
 ilar demonstrations in all the important centers 
 throughout the country, in every case start- 
 ing precisely at the same hour of the day. 
 The one that took place in Pyeng Yang is 
 quite typical, and it is briefly related here. 
 In this city the Christians took the leading 
 part, because they form the predominating 
 element, as it is often called "the spiritual 
 capital" of Korea. At one o'clock there were 
 held in the two largest churches memorial 
 services for the former Emperor. What is 
 given here is a narrative of an eyewitness of 
 
80 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 what took place in these churches and what 
 occurred afterward. There were in the church 
 a large group of men, women, and children. 
 The leading pastors and lay workers of the 
 neighboring churches led the service, and it 
 was carried out in the spirit of solemnity and 
 reverence that befits such an occasion. Toward 
 the end of the program one of the Japanese 
 secret service men, who was then present, 
 as they are always detailed after such and all 
 other meetings, caught a glimpse of a Korean 
 flag hidden under a student's clothes. With 
 a remarkable agility he rushed away, appar- 
 ently to report in all haste. A few moments 
 later, police officers, gendarmes, and police- 
 men came in a gallop on horseback. When 
 they reached the church the service was al- 
 ready over and the people were filing out. 
 Outside of the church the crowd formed a 
 line, each with a Korean flag, and all joined 
 in cheering "Mansei" for the independence of 
 Korea. Here, as elsewhere, the police and 
 gendarmes were taken completely unawares, 
 and they simply stood round and looked for 
 the moment. 
 
 The long and motley line of men, women, and 
 children slowly wended its way down the 
 tortuous roads to the main thoroughfare in 
 the heart of the city, where another throng 
 
THE HISTORIC MARCH FIRST 31 
 
 marching out in the same manner from the 
 other church was met. The multitude now 
 increased to an immense size, densely filling 
 the streets, and all the while shouting "Mansei" 
 and waving the Korean flags. They paraded 
 the main streets, stopping at short intervals 
 before the government offices to cheer for the 
 independence. Toward dusk they stood be- 
 fore the police headquarters, and a vociferous 
 "Mansei" went up. In an instant the fire 
 brigade, which must have been lying in readi- 
 ness, rushed out and turned the fire-hose upon 
 the multitude. Some one accepted this as a 
 mark of contempt as well as a challenge, and 
 a stone was thrown. Before anyone could 
 realize what was happening, sharp reports 
 rang out, and men and boys were seen falling. 
 Volley after volley followed, and the day 
 closed with numerous casualties. 
 
 In the other centers where the demonstra- 
 tions took place on the same day they had 
 varying results. In some cities the death 
 lists were greater than in Pyeng Yang; and 
 in others, as in the capital, nothing worse than 
 beating and arresting occurred. The practice 
 of atrocious methods was in the main reserved 
 for later days, after the people were made to 
 understand that the "Formosan methods" 
 would be resorted to. The closing of this 
 
£2 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 never-to-be-forgotten day found Korea in her 
 throes with much loss of blood and with a 
 promise of more, but it was her birth-pain; 
 and she was reborn — never again to die. What 
 form her career would take in the days to 
 come time alone can unfold, but already the 
 contagion of her new life is influencing the 
 spirit and changing the policies of the whole 
 Orient. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 AGITATION AND REPRESSION 
 
 The next day, March 2d, was Sunday and 
 the young people planned to have a big demon- 
 stration, but some of the Christian leaders, 
 true to their apostolic scruples about Sabbath 
 observance, prevailed upon them to postpone 
 it to a later date. The following day was 
 Monday, but the state funeral of the former 
 Emperor took place, and it extended to the 
 4th, and anything that would disturb the 
 solemnity of the occasion was out of question. 
 Consequently, the two days passed very quietly. 
 
 A word might be said about the funeral 
 ceremony. Not a little friction was caused 
 by the insistence on the part of the Japanese 
 authorities upon having everything done in 
 Japanese form, whereas the Koreans naturally 
 wanted to have it done according to the Korean 
 customs that have been handed down from 
 times of old. Finally the officials representing 
 the Japanese imperial household, the Tokyo 
 government and the government-general de- 
 cided to have the Japanese ceremony observed 
 from the palace to the city gate, and the 
 Korean custom from the gate to the tomb. 
 
 33 
 
34 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Of course the Koreans were not in a position 
 to make an effective protest, but ill feelings 
 could not very well be repressed. All the 
 hundreds of thousands who came purposely to 
 the funeral went outside of the city, and all 
 the students who were ordered to be present 
 at the Japanese ceremonies absented themselves. 
 
 Another question that gave much trouble 
 was the wording of the inscription on the 
 banner that accompanied the bier. It was a 
 choice between, "the Grand Emperor of Korea," 
 because that was the title given him when he 
 abdicated, and "the Grand Prince." Officially 
 the latter was appointed to be used, and that 
 caused a good deal of bitterness. The great 
 crowd that went out to see the funeral never- 
 theless had the satisfaction of seeing a large 
 silken banner of imperial color bearing an 
 inscription which said "The Grand Emperor 
 of Korea." It was carried by some loyal 
 soul, who eluded all the vigilance of the police 
 and managed to get into the line and marched 
 along. It goes without saying that he was 
 arrested when discovered. 
 
 On the 5th of March, the day after the 
 funeral, another demonstration took place, and 
 this time the teeth of militarism were plainly 
 shown. A pamphlet called, The Korean Situa- 
 tion: Authentic Accounts of Recent Events by 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 35 
 
 Eyewitnesses , was recently issued by the Com- 
 mission on Relations with the Orient of the 
 Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in 
 America, and the following paragraph is quoted 
 from it to show what an American saw that 
 day: 
 
 "On Wednesday, March 5th, at the stroke 
 of nine in the morning, commotion was heard 
 on the main street in front of the railway 
 station. Young men were swarming out of 
 the stores and alleys and making toward the 
 railway station, calling out their national cry. 
 In a remarkably brief time a man in a rickisha 
 started up the street toward the South Gate, 
 surrounded by the throng, who with uplifted 
 arms, carrying red bands, ran through the 
 gate and into the old city toward the palace. 
 This demonstration was composed almost en- 
 tirely of students, and as it proceeded was 
 joined by high-school girls. The police appar- 
 ently had been taken by surprise, for the 
 demonstrators had run about half a mile 
 before they were opposed. In the large open 
 space in front of the palace the police were 
 drawn up and charged the crowd with sabers. 
 Many wounds were inflicted. No respect was 
 shown to sex, girls being handled roughly and 
 beaten. Hundreds of arrests were made, in- 
 cluding a number of school girls. No violence 
 
36 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 was attempted by the students. Their object 
 apparently was merely to demonstrate, and 
 they considered it an honor to be arrested 
 for their country. Nearly all of the student 
 nurses at Severance Hospital rushed out when 
 the crowd passed by the street. They were 
 carrying bandages and were prepared to do 
 Red Cross work if required. Fifteen were 
 arrested and were held in the police station 
 until afternoon. They were questioned closely 
 as to whether the heads of their institution 
 (the missionaries) had ordered them out. The 
 younger high-school girls who were taken did 
 not fare so well. Most were kept in custody, 
 and more will be told of their sufferings in 
 the jail later." 
 
 In roughly handling the crowd the Japanese 
 civilians and coolies were conspicuous. They 
 pulled young girls by the hair, rolled them into 
 the gutter, kicked them and beat them until 
 the police would come round and take charge 
 of them. In some cases, even while the police 
 were holding the persons, the Japanese coolie 
 continued the beating; and one policeman was 
 heard to say, "Don't you overbeat him, be- 
 cause I must walk him to the headquarters." 
 When they were taking the girls to the sta- 
 tion they held two or three in each hand by 
 the hair, and never ceased kicking and cuffing 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 37 
 
 on the way. What happened after reaching 
 the police station is found in numerous testi- 
 monies given by the girls after they were 
 released, and portions of a few are here quoted: 
 
 ". . . At the entrance of the police office 
 twenty or more Japanese policemen who stood 
 in line sneered and kicked me and struck me 
 with their swords and struck me in the face 
 so many times that I did not realize whether 
 they were beating me or some one else. 
 
 "I was led into a room. They dragged me 
 on the floor, they struck me in the face, they 
 struck me with their swords, they flung me to 
 the corner of the room. At this point I must 
 have been completely unconscious, as I do not 
 remember what happened after that. 
 
 "On recovering my senses I found myself 
 in a room packed with young men and women. 
 After some time we were cross-examined by 
 a police officer one by one. I was made to 
 kneel down with my legs bound together, and 
 each question and answer was accompanied 
 alternately by blows in the face. They spit 
 in my face. This with curses and invectives of 
 the worst kind. I was ordered to expose my 
 breasts, but, refusing, they tore my upper 
 garment from me, and I was told all sorts of 
 inhuman things. They tied my fingers together 
 and jerked them violently. This made me feel 
 
38 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 as if my fingers were being torn from my 
 hands. I shut my eyes and dropped down on 
 the floor. Thereupon the examining officers 
 uttered a loud angry roar and ordered me 
 to kneel down as before, then rushed at me, 
 seizing me by the breast and struck me vio- 
 lently. He then shook me fiercely by the hair. 
 He pulled me by the ear. He was not satis- 
 fied with this, so he beat me on the head with 
 a stick. They made me extend my hands and 
 hold up a heavy chair, which, if I let drop 
 he would strike my elbow with a stick. He 
 made me kneel down near a window with the 
 chair held up as before. If the chair was 
 lowered or it touched the windowpane, he 
 would come and strike me. An hour or so was 
 passed in this manner, when I was told to go 
 down the stairs. I could not walk. I crawled 
 on the floor with much difficulty, even with 
 the help of one of their professional spies, who 
 followed me. I arose and attempted to go down- 
 stairs. As I made the first step down my 
 strength gave out, and so I rolled down the whole 
 length of the stairs. I was again unconscious. 
 
 "On recovering my senses I was obliged to 
 crawl into a room. The policeman in charge 
 of the room laughed loudly at my misery. 
 Then I prayed and seemed to see Jesus and 
 was much comforted from on high. 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 39 
 
 "I spent five days in all at the police station. 
 Then I was sent to the West Gate penitentiary. 
 There I was stripped naked and was looked 
 at by the men. Then I was allowed to put 
 on my dress and was led into a room. I was 
 sneered at and cursed beyond my power to 
 realize. In this room there were sixteen per- 
 sons who were like myself. The room was 
 not very large, and so we were densely packed 
 together. The toilet arrangements are placed 
 in the room just like the pig's shelter. The 
 room was so filthy that it was not fit even 
 for pigs. We were given beans and salt to 
 eat. While we were eating now and then some 
 one would look in and call us all sorts of names 
 — 'You dogs!' 'You pigs!' etc. 
 
 "On the second day a person called the 
 police doctor and several others came in and 
 weighed me stripped naked. They too sneered 
 and spat upon me. Now and then I was told 
 by the keeper there that I would be tried 
 publicly. I looked forward to that with a 
 great deal of consolation, as I thought I would 
 have some chance to state my case without 
 reserve, but alas! I was led out one day with- 
 out trial and without being told the nature 
 of my offense, or, indeed, that there had been 
 legal offense." 
 
 From other testimonies one can learn a 
 
40 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 good deal about the rank and character of the 
 Japanese officials and about the attitude of 
 the Korean employees. One eighteen-year-old 
 girl has the following in her testimony: 
 
 "... At this place [Chongto Police Station] 
 for four days successively I was examined 
 each day by a different officer. I told the 
 same story each day. On the second day I 
 was not beaten as much as the first day. The 
 officer was of higher rank than the one who 
 examined me on the first day. The first day's 
 record was before the officer at which he 
 looked. On the first day and on each suc- 
 ceeding day there were present a secretary 
 and a Korean interpreter. 
 
 "After the preliminary examination had been 
 through, the officer said, Then have you led 
 an evil life?' etc. 
 
 "The officer then came up to where I was 
 standing and tried to take off my clothes. I 
 cried and protested and struggled, and said, 
 'This is not the way to treat a woman/ He 
 desisted. When he was making these vile 
 statements about us he did not use the Korean 
 interpreter, but spoke in broken, faltering 
 Korean. The Korean interpreter was ordered tc 
 beat me. He said he would not beat a woman; 
 he would bite his fingers first. So the officer beat 
 me with his fist on my shoulders, face, and legs. 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 41 
 
 "The third day I was again examined but 
 not beaten. Only the regulation questions 
 were asked. On Saturday (fourth day) the 
 officer examining me had three gold stripes. 
 I was asked the regulation questions again, 
 and was beaten by this officer, but not as 
 hard as on the first day. On Sunday, March 9 
 at — p.m., I was taken bound with other 
 girls to the West Gate prison, three police 
 guarding us. We were not allowed to look 
 up or to speak. The driver, a Korean, spoke 
 aloud once, loud enough for us to hear. 'Don't 
 be discouraged and allow your health to be 
 weakened; not yet condemned; this is only 
 to break the spirit (murder the mind).' We 
 reached the prison. While the Japanese police- 
 man went to the prison office we were still 
 sitting in the auto. A Korean who appeared 
 to be a student came to the auto, put his 
 hand on the side, and said, 'Be of good cheer; 
 we cannot be dying all the time. The time to 
 live is coming, since God is just and he will 
 give us what we ask.' He then disappeared." 
 What took place in the prison to this girl 
 was precisely the same as that described in 
 the first testimony. One girl, however, 
 added : "These men examined our naked bodies, 
 and what we went through at their hand 
 I would be ashamed to write on paper. 
 
42 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Though I say only this, you may guess the 
 rest." 
 
 The above quotations reveal several very 
 significant facts. First, of the four examina- 
 tions that at least two were carried out by 
 the officials of the law court is certain from 
 the descriptions given; the man with three 
 gold stripes can be no other than the chief 
 procurator of the Seoul District Court. He 
 is a civil official of a very high rank, and accord- 
 ing to the statement, he beat the girl prisoner. 
 Second, that stripping the women and girls 
 naked and subjecting them to all sorts of 
 unspeakable indignities cannot be said to have 
 been isolated cases perpetrated by individual 
 police officers, because the reports from all 
 the girls, in so far as they could be obtained, 
 not only in Seoul, but in Pyeng Yang and 
 elsewhere, relate the same thing. Third, in 
 a highly centralized government where every 
 action is regulated to the minutest detail, 
 it is unthinkable that any lower official can 
 indulge in such gross irregularities entirely on 
 his own responsibility. 
 
 After the experience of the 1st and 5 th of 
 March the military authorities posted at every 
 corner a batch of soldiers and had all the 
 streets patroled constantly, and sometimes in 
 order to overawe the populace machine-guns 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 43 
 
 and field pieces were displayed. They tried 
 to make the demonstrations physically im- 
 possible. If four or five were gathered, the 
 soldiers would go and disperse them. If any 
 attempt were made to either read or speak 
 in public, the soldiers and gendarmes rushed 
 at the person or persons and dealt mercilessly 
 with swords and bayonets. Constant arrests 
 were made, so that in a short while the news- 
 papers reported that there were over six 
 thousand agitators in jail in different parts 
 of the country. In Pyeng Yang and other 
 country places the firemen assisted the police 
 by using long-handled iron hooks on passers-by 
 so that innumerable people received ugly 
 wounds. 
 
 From this time on the demonstrations and 
 suppression took the character of hide-and- 
 seek in Seoul, and sometimes the people thor- 
 oughly amused themselves. For instance, word 
 would be sent round so that the Japanese 
 police would get it that on a certain day a 
 great demonstration would be held in the 
 east ward of the city. Of course at the pre- 
 cise hour the place would be fairly swarmed 
 by soldiers and police, but they would be 
 doomed to disappointment, because imme- 
 diately after the first word another had been 
 sent round, this time so that the Japanese 
 
44 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 could not get it, that the demonstration was 
 either called off or was to be held in the west 
 ward. Then again the youngsters got not a 
 little fun at the expense of the police. They 
 would make Korean flags secretly, tie a stone 
 at each corner, and throw them up on the 
 telephone lines. Some of them climbed up tall 
 and difficult trees and hoisted up large Korean 
 flags. Nearly every night somebody would go 
 up either the South Mountain or the North 
 Peak and plant a Korean flag. One morning, 
 it is said, the police went up the South Moun- 
 tain and found a Korean flag floating from 
 the top of a tree, the trunk of which was in 
 such an uninviting state that they cut the 
 tree down rather than attempt to climb it. 
 
 When the watch became so strict that it 
 was impossible to have any demonstrations in 
 the daytime, they took advantage of the cover 
 of night. Here is what happened in one of 
 these night demonstrations. "On March 27th, 
 at about 9 p. m., a large body of young men 
 gathered at Andong, Seoul, and shouted 
 'Mansei.' The shouting had continued for a 
 few minutes when a strong force of police, 
 gendarmes, and soldiers arrived and dispersed 
 the gathering. A young man named Koo 
 Naksoh, like the others, was going peaceably 
 home and was alone, walking along a small 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 45 
 
 street, when suddenly some one pushed him 
 violently in the back, causing him to stumble 
 and fall. His assailant was a policeman, who 
 had seen him in the crowd and followed him 
 to the place where he thought fit to make the 
 attack. After throwing him to the ground, 
 the policeman drew his sword and literally 
 hacked at him 'like a woodsman would attack 
 a rough old oak.' His skull was cut right 
 through so that the brain was visible. This 
 had been accomplished by at least three sword 
 cuts falling in and near the same place. His 
 hands were terribly cut; his left wrist was 
 also cut through to the bone. Those who 
 saw the corpse stated that there were twenty 
 sword cuts, but the photograph only revealed 
 ten. 
 
 "After this brutal attack on this unarmed 
 and defenseless young man the officer ran 
 away, leaving him to expire in terrible agony 
 in a few minutes. Some Koreans happening 
 to pass by carried him to the nearest native 
 hospital (Tuk Chei Hospital), but little could 
 be done, so they placed him on a stretcher 
 and started out for the Severance Union Med- 
 ical College, still thinking that his life might 
 be saved. While hurrying to the Severance 
 Hospital they were stopped by a policeman 
 from the Honmachi police station, who spoke 
 
46 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 to them in a threatening way and did all he 
 could to prevent the case being taken to a 
 foreign hospital. They remonstrated, declaring 
 that the case was so serious that a delay in 
 taking the man to the Japanese hospital, 
 which was some distance away, would surely 
 result fatally. The Japanese are naturally 
 anxious that such cases should not be seen by 
 foreigners. On arriving at the Severance Hos- 
 pital medical examination revealed the fact 
 that the man was already dead. It is impos- 
 sible to say when he died. His dead body 
 presented the most pitiable appearance. Num- 
 bers of sword cuts had mutilated his head 
 and hands. His clothing was saturated with 
 blood; it was, indeed, a sight never to be for- 
 gotten." 
 
 When the soldiers were reenforced from 
 Japan, and the vigilance of the police and 
 gendarmes became such that no demonstration 
 on a large scale could be held in the thickly 
 populated sections of the city, the people went 
 up the hills in the nights and built bonfires 
 like the beacon fires of the days of yore, and 
 shouted for the independence of the country. 
 In the country districts they often utilized the 
 market days. In the outlying districts the 
 people fared even far worse than in Seoul. 
 Oftentimes the first thing that greeted their 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 4*7 
 
 shouts was rifle shots, but they will be described 
 in the next chapter. 
 
 On the same day when the Declaration of 
 Independence was read there appeared a news- 
 paper called The Independence News. The 
 first editor was Mr. Yun Ikaun, president of 
 a private law school called the Posung College 
 of Law and Commerce. He was promptly 
 arrested of course, but that paper never has 
 missed a day up to this time. The police 
 searched everywhere and confiscated every 
 printing implement and material, but it comes 
 out faithfully every day. Nobody knows who 
 the editors are, nor how it is distributed, but 
 every morning it makes its appearance. The 
 following is a translation of one of the issues: 
 
 THE INDEPENDENCE NEWS, March 10, 1919 
 
 The Independence Arch under Mount Inwang with 
 the Korean flags engraved upon its keystones has re- 
 mained an empty name for ten long years. The arch 
 as those who know it is a massive structure more than 
 30 feet high and 20 feet wide with an inner stairway 
 leading out on top of the masonry. The Japanese per- 
 haps because they loved the arch so much, locked the 
 inner door and placed a fence around it, thereby pre- 
 venting anybody from passing through the gates. On 
 the morning of March 5th the lines on the engraved 
 flags were noticed to be deep red. We do not know 
 who accomplished this brave deed. During the day 
 multitudes of Koreans desiring to see the flags crowded 
 
48 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 in from all directions. They conversed with each other 
 about the wonderful occurrence, questioning as to how 
 it had been done without scaffold or ladder. To many 
 it seemed to be nothing short of a miracle performed 
 by the hands of angels. 
 
 The Japanese authorities were greatly annoyed to 
 see so many people coming to this, and so they did all 
 they could to prevent them. Being so annoyed by the 
 way these newly painted flags attracted the people, 
 the authorities determined to remove the paint by means 
 of water and so brought out the city fire brigade. But 
 alas! To the gratification of the people, the dark red 
 merely turned a lighter hue. Spellbound, they stood 
 and gazed at these strange flags, and being unable to 
 close the eyes of the people the government-general 
 became most uneasy. 
 
 This incident has more than ever made the Koreans 
 feel the impossibility of living together with the Jap- 
 anese. Following this and stimulated by it, the con- 
 ductors of the street cars, the employees of the tobacco 
 company, and many other workers have gone on strikes. 
 
 Large Student Parade. Many thousand students, all 
 shouting "Mansei" at the top of their voices, formed a 
 procession and went from the South Gate Station to 
 the West Palace. They were most fearless; and march- 
 ing with empty hands showed the utmost contempt for 
 the swords and bayonets that surrounded them. Many 
 were cut on the hands and head by the swords and bay- 
 onets of the Japanese. 
 
 The business men could not endure to sit still at their 
 trade while the young men and women of Korea were 
 thus giving their lives for the nation, so from the day 
 of the parade most shops were closed. 
 
 The Japanese are very much annoyed at this action 
 
w 
 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 49 
 
 of the shop-keepers and are trying to make a counter 
 move against them. 
 
 Some wicked Japanese wearing Korean clothes and 
 mixing with Koreans are trying to incite riots. O brothers, 
 be very careful of them! 
 
 {Translator's Note: "I saw the painted 
 flags, and the statement in the above news- 
 paper is substantially correct. After this event 
 one of Korea's greatest philosophers said to a 
 government official, 'You Japanese have made 
 one error which is typical of all the errors 
 you have made during your administration.' 
 Being asked what the error was, he replied, 
 'Taking the city fire brigade out to wash the 
 paint off Independence Arch.' ") 
 
 It was true that the government had irri- 
 tated the people unnecessarily at this, and in 
 this way revealed its narrowness and lack of 
 wisdom. 
 
 "One Japanese who was dressed as a Korean 
 was brutally attacked by other Japanese 
 gendarmes. As far as it is known the poor 
 Japanese dressed as a Korean was doing 
 nothing worthy of such treatment, but such 
 things are of daily occurrence." 
 
 As the Independence News has said, the 
 stores in Seoul closed on the 5th of March 
 and continued until the 1st of April, when 
 they were forced to reopen. The closing of 
 
50 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 the stores in Seoul has historically a special 
 significance. Even though Korea always main- 
 tained a monarchical form of government, there 
 were many checks upon the extravagant use 
 of the king's prerogatives. There were the 
 grand censors, the referendum of the literati, 
 and various other institutions. As one of the 
 last resorts, in case the king is obdurate, 
 comes the merchant guild's strike, which means 
 the closing of all the business concerns on Bell 
 Street, the nerve center of Korea's commercial 
 life. According to the traditions, when the 
 stores are closed for three days consecutively, 
 the king must descend from the throne. So 
 it shows what a powerful weapon it meant 
 to be upon despotism and oppression. 
 
 On April 2d, the Seoul Press, the official 
 organ of the government, printed the following: 
 
 Story No. 1 
 
 "Yesterday at 10 a. m. Governor Matsunaga 
 summoned over 40 representative Korean mer- 
 chants in Seoul and advised them to reopen 
 their shops immediately, promising them due 
 protection from intimidation by agitators. At 
 the same time the Governor issued a warning 
 to Korean shopkeepers urging them to resume 
 business. In consequence Korean shops in 
 Chongno (Bell Street) and other principal 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 51 
 
 streets were seen to reopen at noon." Upon 
 this a Britisher (?) has the following comment 
 (abridged) to make: 
 
 "So simply done apparently, but this is 
 only half of the story. Everyone who has 
 followed the movement in Korea has been 
 struck by the action of the merchants, both 
 large and small, in closing their stores and 
 refusing to do business since the beginning of 
 the Independence Movement. Early last month 
 when the stores first closed, the Prefect called 
 a meeting of merchants and remonstrated with 
 them for their foolish action. But this had 
 no effect. They decided almost unanimously 
 to remain closed. They would reopen on only 
 one condition, they said: 'When you let all 
 our brothers, sisters, and friends out of jail, 
 we will open shop.' 
 
 "I might say that the foolish statement that 
 the shops were kept closed because the owners 
 were afraid of assault from agitators can be 
 disproved in at least six ways: (1) That it 
 was the decision of the shopkeepers whereby 
 they hoped to obtain the release of their im- 
 prisoned brethren. (2) That those stores that 
 remained open were not molested except in a 
 few instances. (3) That after the majority of 
 the larger shops were opened by the police 
 and no assault by the agitators followed, hun- 
 
52 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 dreds of large and small stores on the smaller 
 streets still remained closed, indicating that it 
 was something more than police protection 
 that they required to reopen. (4) The Koreans 
 knowing the absolute protection they could 
 obtain if they desired to open, did not so 
 desire; on the contrary, they had to be threat- 
 ened, struck, and imprisoned before they would 
 'open up.' (5) When bankruptcy was facing 
 them the business men would not keep from 
 opening shops for fear of an impossible attack 
 by agitators. (6) Police officers when asked 
 whether the Koreans were desirous of opening 
 their shops, replied 'No.' The following stories 
 need no explanation and could be duplicated 
 by a hundred [only one given here]: 
 
 Story No. 2 
 
 "On April 1st a Japanese policeman and a 
 detective came to my home and asked to see 
 the owner. I replied that the master of the 
 house had gone to the country. I was then 
 told to telegraph immediately for him, saying 
 that the police required to see him at once. 
 The officers then told me that I must go with 
 them to the Provincial Police Bureau. I asked 
 that they go first and I would follow right 
 away. To this they replied, 'We must go 
 together.' 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 53 
 
 "On arriving at the police box the policeman 
 telephoned somewhere, stating that the master 
 was away and that [ he was bringing one of the 
 employees, and asked whether that was satis- 
 factory. The reply was, 'Yes.' I was then 
 escorted by these officers to the Police Bureau 
 of the Kyeng-Keui Province, where on enter- 
 ing I found a large number of business men. 
 We were then spoken to and given a notice 
 which we were told to read carefully. We 
 were further told that we had broken the law 
 and had done very badly for a whole month 
 by keeping our stores closed, but for that 
 offense we would be forgiven. If, however, 
 after this special forgiveness we again offended 
 by not opening, we would be punished severely 
 by the law. We were then told to sign the 
 following guarantee: 'If you will please help 
 and protect us, we will open our shops imme- 
 diately.* We were told that if we refused to 
 sign this document, we would not be released. 
 As far as I know all signed. A spy then accom- 
 panied me to the store and threatened that 
 if I did not open, he would take me back to 
 the Police Bureau. I opened reluctantly, and 
 in a short time one Japanese and one Korean 
 spy came and stayed around the store until 
 closing time. 
 
 "On April 2d I did not come to the store 
 
54 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 until late in the morning. When I arrived 
 I found that the lock had been wrenched and 
 the staple broken so that the door could be 
 opened. I had not been in the store long when 
 a policeman came and stated that I must re- 
 port to the police box at Kurigai. I went 
 along with the policeman, and the son of the 
 proprietor accompanied us. We were asked 
 why we had not opened early. A Japanese 
 policeman slapped me on the face. The son 
 of the proprietor was also slapped quite fre- 
 quently. I was slapped only a few times. 
 One of the officers in the police box wrote on 
 a piece of paper, 'I promise to open the store 
 at about 8 o'clock in the morning.' To this 
 I had to put my seal. 
 
 "On April 3rd I came down to the store at 
 9: 00. Pretty soon a policeman came and said, 
 'Why did you not open at 8: 00 o'clock?' 
 I made some excuse, so again I was told to go 
 to the police box. Once more I was scolded 
 but not struck. The officer said that I must 
 write another statement in which I was allowed 
 to open between 8 and 9 a.m., but not later. " 
 
 As there is a persistent attempt to create 
 an impression that the movement was en- 
 gendered and carried on only by certain self- 
 interested parties, and that the Korean people 
 are too well contented to be drawn into it, 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 55 
 
 two of the many illustrations that prove the 
 contrary are related here. 
 
 Toward the end of March in one of the 
 public common schools (government primary 
 school) in Seoul, there was held a graduation 
 ceremony. The age of the youngsters ranged 
 between eight and twelve years, and the 
 principal and almost all of the teachers were 
 Japanese. The ceremony began as usual, with 
 the singing of the Japanese national anthem, 
 followed by the reading of the Japanese Im- 
 perial Rescript on Education, during which 
 everyone present was made to maintain the 
 posture of the most profound bow. In due 
 time the diplomas were given out to the grad- 
 uates. It is customary for the principal to 
 give an "introduction" to the graduates at 
 this point on loyalty to the Emperor, self- 
 sacrifice for the nation, etc. Just as the prin- 
 cipal mounted the platform and was about to 
 open his mouth, out came from the inside of 
 the coat of each of the youngsters, a Korean 
 flag, and a burst of "Mansei" greeted him! 
 The poor pedagogue was thunderstruck. The 
 children filed out into the yard, formed a line, 
 and marched away to the Palace to shout, 
 "Ten thousand years for Korea!" 
 
 The second fact that illustrates the una- 
 nimity of the people is shown by the, number 
 
56 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 of petitions sent to the Governor-General and 
 to the Premier by the various groups, most 
 notably the one presented by the two leading 
 literati, both made viscounts under the Jap- 
 anese regime, President and Vice-President re- 
 spectively of the government Confucian Col- 
 lege, and held Cabinet posts under the old 
 Korean Government. The petition is here 
 given. 
 
 "Petition by Viscounts Kim Yun-sik 
 and Yi Yong-Chik 
 
 "A way of doing things is good only as it 
 accords with the time; and a government 
 succeeds only when it makes its people happy. 
 If the Way is not in keeping with the age, 
 it is not a perfect Way; and if a government 
 fails to make its people happy, it is not a 
 good government. 
 
 "It is now ten years since Japan and Korea 
 were unified, and though there has resulted 
 from it no little profit to the people with the 
 clearing away of abuses, still it cannot be 
 said to have made the people happy. 
 
 "To-day when the call for independence is 
 given in the street, voices without number 
 answer in response. In ten days and less 
 the whole nation vibrates with its echo, and 
 even the women and children vie with each 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 57 
 
 other with no fear of death in their hearts. 
 What is the reason for such a state of things 
 as this? Our view is that having borne with 
 pain and stifled resentment to the point of 
 bursting, and being unable to repress it further, 
 at last they have found expression, and like 
 the overflowing of the Whang-ho River the 
 waves have broken all bounds, and once hav- 
 ing broken away, its power will brook no re- 
 turn. We call this an expression of the people, 
 but is it not, rather, the mind of God himself? 
 
 "There are two ways of treating the condi- 
 tions to-day, one a kind way and one the way 
 of repression. The liberal way would be to 
 speak kindly, soothe, comfort so as to remove 
 fears and misgivings. But in that case there 
 would be no end to the demonstrations. The 
 use of force, on the other hand, that would 
 cut down, uproot, beat to pieces, extinguish, 
 will but rouse it the more and never conquer 
 its spirit. If you do not get at the cause, 
 you will never settle the matter. 
 
 "The people, now roused to action, desire 
 that restored to them that they once possessed, 
 in order that the shame of their slavery be re- 
 moved. They have nothing but bare hands, 
 and a tongue with which to speak the resent- 
 ment they feel. You can tell by this that 
 no wicked motive underlies their thoughts. 
 
68 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 "The good and superior man would pity and 
 forgive such as this, and view it with tender 
 sympathy. We hear, however, that the Gov- 
 ernment is arresting people right and left till 
 they fill the prisons. There they whip, beat, 
 and torture them, until they die violent deaths 
 beneath it. The Government also uses weapons 
 till the dead lie side by side, and we are unable 
 to endure the dreadful stories we hear. 
 
 "Nevertheless, the whole state only rises the 
 more, and the greater the force used to put it 
 down, the greater the disturbances. How 
 comes it that you look not to the cause, but 
 think only to cut the manifestation of it down 
 by force? Though you cut down and kill those 
 who rise up everywhere, you may change the 
 face of things, but the heart of it, never. Every 
 man has written in his soul the word Inde- 
 pendence, and those who in the quiet of their 
 rooms shout for it are beyond the possibility 
 of numbering. Will you arrest and kill them 
 all? 
 
 "A man's life is not something to be dealt 
 with as the grass that grows. In ancient 
 times Mancius said to King Sun of Che King- 
 dom, 'If by taking possession of the state you 
 can make the people of Yun happy, take 
 possession; but if taking possession will render 
 them miserable, forbear to do it/ 
 
 
AGITATION AND REPRESSION 59 
 
 "Though Mancius spoke the king paid no 
 attention, and, as a result, came to a place 
 where he finally said that he was greatly 
 ashamed. This is, indeed, a mirror from his- 
 tory worthy to be looked into. Even the sage 
 cannot run counter to the times in which he 
 lives. We read the mind of God in the atti- 
 tude of the people. If a people are not made 
 happy, history tells us that there is no way 
 by which their land can be held in possession* — > 
 
 "We, your servants, have come to these 
 times of danger and difficulty. Old and shame- 
 less are we, for when our country was an- 
 nexed we accepted the rank of nobility, held 
 office, and lived in disgrace, till, seeing these 
 innocent people of ours in the fire and water, 
 are unable to endure the sight longer. Thus 
 we too in privacy have shouted for the inde- 
 pendence just like the others. 
 
 "Fearing not presumption on our part, we 
 speak forth our hearts, in the hope that your 
 Excellency will be in accord herewith, and let 
 His Imperial Majesty know so that the Cabinet 
 may consider it, and set right the cause, not 
 by mere soft words, not by force, but in accord 
 with the opportunity that Heaven above grants 
 and the wishes of the people speak. Thus may 
 Japan give independence to Korea and let 
 her justice be known to the whole world in- 
 
60 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 eluding those nations with whom she is in 
 treaty relation. Undoubtedly, all will grant 
 their approval, and like the eclipsed sun and 
 moon Japan will once again resume the light 
 and splendor of her way. Who will not look 
 with praise and commendation on this act 
 of yours? 
 
 "We, your servants, behind closed doors, 
 ill and indisposed, and knowing not the mind 
 of the world, offer our poor woodmen's counsel 
 to the state. If you accede to it, countless 
 numbers of people will be made happy; but if 
 you refuse, we two alone will suffer. We have 
 reached the bourn of life, and so we offer our- 
 selves as a sacrifice for our people. Though 
 we die for it, we have no complaints to make. 
 In our sick chamber with our age upon us, 
 we know not how to speak persuasively. We 
 pray your Excellency to kindly give this your 
 consideration. In a word, this is what our 
 hearts would say." 
 
 Needless to say that both were immediately 
 arrested. 
 
CHAPTER in 
 
 CHRISTIAN MISSIONS FACE TO FACE 
 WITH MILITARISM 
 
 Almost immediately after the news began to 
 spread about the demonstrations, a Tokyo 
 paper came out with an interview granted to 
 a reporter by Mr. M. Komatsu, a former 
 director of foreign affairs under Count Terauchi, 
 in which he was alleged to have said that the 
 foreign missionaries were responsible for the 
 uprising. He himself later denied the correct- 
 ness of the report, and Mr. Sangai Kokubu, 
 director of judicial affairs, gave out a state- 
 ment, the gist of which is as follows: 
 
 "Rumors have been rife that foreign mis- 
 sionaries incited the disturbances, or, at least, 
 showed sympathy with the rioters. These 
 rumors owe their origin to the fact that among 
 the leaders of the rioters there have been 
 found Christian pastors and students of mis- 
 sion schools, so it is not to be wondered that 
 they gained currency. But that they are 
 entirely groundless has been established by the 
 result of investigations into the matter con- 
 ducted by the authorities. The authorities 
 have carried out thorough and strict inquiries 
 
 61 
 
62 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 concerning it and are satisfied that there is 
 no trace whatever that foreigners instigated the 
 disturbances. Nor is there any evidence that 
 they knew beforehand of the occurrence of 
 the trouble or gave support to the rioters. 
 It is wrong to harbor suspicion against foreign- 
 ers without justifiable grounds. It is still 
 more to be condemned to spread through the 
 press false reports and baselbss accusations 
 against foreigners, fabricating su^ch reports and 
 accusations out of mere suspicion. Such acts 
 will excite the ill feeling of foreigners against 
 Japan and may cause trouble in international 
 relations. Should any foreigners be found guilty 
 of sedition or similar offense, the authorities 
 will have no hesitation in prosecuting them; 
 but, as none have been found to be respon- 
 sible for the recent trouble, people at large 
 should cast away whatever doubt they may 
 still entertain against them." 
 
 Despite this and other pronouncements made 
 by the civil officials of the government absolv- 
 ing the missionaries, and the clear fact that 
 this is a general uprising of the entire nation, 
 the traditional hatred and suspicion of Chris- 
 tians, foreign and Korean, on the part of the 
 Japanese militarists was accentuated to the 
 utmost degree, and their wrath of vengeance 
 knew no bounds. Their sentiment was plainly 
 
fflj Principal Cities 
 
 (+|. Centers 
 
 Map of Korea, showing principal areas where the dem- 
 onstrations took place. The number of demonstra- 
 tions far exceeds the number of areas represented on 
 this map. 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 63 
 
 shown in the March 12th issue of the Chosen 
 Shimbun, a Japanese daily published in 
 Chemulpo and said to have been the official 
 organ of the Police and Gendarmery Depart- 
 ment. An extract from the said issue is given 
 herewith: 
 
 "The stirring up of the minds of the Koreans 
 is the sin of the American missionaries. This 
 uprising is their work. In investigating the 
 cause of the uprising two or three mission- 
 aries have been arrested and examined. There 
 are a good many shallow-minded people among 
 the missionaries, and they make the minds of 
 the Korean people bad, and they plant the 
 seeds of democracy. So the greater part of 
 the 300,000 Korean Christians do not like the 
 union of Japan and Korea, but they are wait- 
 ing for an opportunity for freedom. 
 
 "The missionaries look upon the present 
 Korean as they did upon the old Korean, and 
 they consider it proper for the Korean to say 
 anything he wants to, if they only enter the 
 Christian schools. They take the statement 
 of Wilson about the self-determination of na- 
 tions and hide behind their religion and stir 
 up the people. However, the missionaries have 
 tried to apply the free customs of other nations 
 to these Korean people who are not fully 
 civilized. From the part that even girl stu- 
 
64 THE REBIRTH' OF KOREA 
 
 dents in Christian schools have taken it is 
 very evident that this uprising has come from 
 the missionaries. 
 
 "Behind this uprising we see the ghostlike 
 apparition waving his wand. This ghost is 
 really hateful, malicious, fierce. Who is this 
 ghost wearing the dark clothes? The mis- 
 sionaries and the head of the Chundoism. 
 These missionaries who have come out to 
 Korea — their wisdom, character, and disposi- 
 tion — is of the low trash of the nation. They 
 have sold themselves for the petty salary of 
 $150 a year, and they have crept out as reptiles 
 on their belly, as far as Korea; there is nothing 
 good that can be said of their character, knowl- 
 edge, and disposition. 
 
 "These messengers of God are only after 
 money, and are sitting around their houses 
 with a full stomach. The bad things of the 
 world are got into the league with the Chundo- 
 ism. If we take all this into consideration, 
 these missionaries are all hated brutes." 
 
 Everything in the above quoted invective 
 shows such an obsession of mind with blind 
 fury that it hardly would be worthy of serious 
 notice were it not for the fact that the under- 
 lying spirit was soon translated into frightful 
 actions. It is positively false to say that the 
 missionaries are at the back of this movement, 
 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 65 
 
 even though some may admit with no small 
 degree of pride the truth of the charge that 
 they "plant the seed of democracy," because 
 Christianity itself is the seed of democracy. 
 The statement, that the fact that girl students 
 in Christian schools have taken part in the 
 demonstration is an evidence that the uprising 
 has come from the missionaries is untenable 
 because the same argument necessarily will 
 make all the principals and teachers in the 
 Government schools traitors to their country 
 for the simple yet ample reason that the girls 
 and boys in the Government schools also took 
 very prominent parts in the uprising. The 
 government higher common school student, a 
 part of whose testimony has been quoted in 
 the last chapter, told his principal after his 
 release from the jail that he was trying to 
 live up to what he had learned in school. 
 
 Teaching in the abstract rests with the 
 teacher, but the application must rest with 
 the will of the learner. That is something that 
 cannot be regulated by rules or outside forces. 
 Mankind is very slow at learning this great 
 lesson, and those who rely solely upon force 
 and might for the accomplishment of things 
 that they consider great, laugh at such a truth 
 as an empty platitude and fall into the pit- 
 falls they themselves have so laboriously dug. 
 
66 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Some of those who consider themselves even 
 wiser try to keep the people in ignorance and 
 darkness, but they fail to realize that knowl- 
 edge is humanity's common heritage, and is 
 as pervasive as water, and that right prin- 
 ciples are as free as air. No one needs to be 
 told to be patriotic: the love of one's own is 
 already there in the hearts of men and women 
 and it asserts itself when the proper time comes. 
 Be that as it may, terrible things soon made 
 visitations upon the churches and individual 
 Christians. 
 
 The massacre and burning of Che-Am-Ri is 
 a familiar story by this time. It was published 
 in the newspapers and magazines both in the 
 East and West, and it is now in the United 
 States Congressional Records. The following is 
 a graphic description of what a British subject 
 witnessed and heard three days after the firing 
 of the village: 
 
 "On Thursday, April 17th, news was brought 
 to Seoul by certain foreigners that a most 
 terrible tragedy had occurred in a small vil- 
 lage some 50 ri (17 miles) south of Suwon. 
 The story was that a number of Christians 
 had been shut up in a church, then fired upon 
 by soldiers and when all were either wounded 
 or dead the church had been set on fire, in 
 this way insuring their complete destruction. 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 67 
 
 Such a story seemed almost too terrible to be 
 true, and being of such a serious nature, I 
 was determined to verify it by a personal 
 visit. The following day I took a train to 
 Suwon and from there cycled to within a few 
 miles of the village. A police station and gen- 
 darmery lying this side of the village, and 
 knowing the strenuous objections that would 
 be made to my visit, I made a detour of several 
 miles over a mountain pass and thus gained 
 access to the stricken village. 
 
 "Before entering I questioned many people 
 as to the reported burning of the village, but 
 none had any very accurate information, and 
 all were very much afraid to speak about the 
 affair. I finally met a boy who lived in the 
 village where the massacre had occurred, but 
 he absolutely refused to tell me anything. He 
 protested ignorance. Terrorism was bearing 
 its fruit. The people were almost paralyzed 
 with fear. 
 
 "Making a sharp turn in the road, I came 
 suddenly into the village and to my surprise 
 found a number of government officials, mil- 
 itary and civil, holding an investigation. After 
 a conversation with some of these officials I 
 was allowed to look further over this village 
 and take some photographs. From Koreans I 
 could get practically no information. They 
 
68 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 seemed to be dazed and stupefied, especially 
 the women, while the younger men pretended 
 ignorance of any detail. 
 
 "The Village. The appearance of the village 
 was one of absolute desolation. About eight 
 houses remained; the rest (31) with the church 
 had been all burned to the ground. All that 
 remained were the great stone jars of pickle, 
 chang, and edibles. These stood in perfect 
 order silent among the ruins. The people 
 were scattered about sitting on mats or straw. 
 Some had already improvised little shelters 
 adjoining the hillside. There they sat in si- 
 lence looking down in bewilderment at the 
 remains of their once happy homes. What 
 had they done that this terrible judgment 
 should overtake them? Why should they sud- 
 denly be made widows and their little ones 
 orphans? Surely, some mistake had been made. 
 
 "The Massacre. Before long the Government 
 party left the village, and when the last officer 
 was well out of sight the tongues of some of 
 these poor frightened people loosened and they 
 revealed to me the story of the brutal murder. 
 The story was as follows: On Tuesday, April 
 15th, early in the afternoon some soldiers had 
 entered the village and given orders that all 
 the adult male Christians and members of the 
 Chundo-Kyo were to assemble in the church, 
 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 69 
 
 as a lecture was to be given to them. In all 
 some twenty-three men went to the church 
 and, as ordered, sat down, wondering what 
 was to happen. They soon found out the 
 nature of the plot, as the soldiers immediately 
 surrounded the church and fired into it through 
 the paper windows. When most of them had 
 thus been either killed or injured the devilish 
 soldiers set fire to the thatch and wooden 
 building that readily blazed. Some now tried 
 to escape by rushing out, but they were imme- 
 diately bayoneted or shot. Six bodies were 
 found outside the church, these having tried 
 in vain to make their escape. Two women 
 whose husbands had been ordered to the 
 church, being alarmed at the sound of the 
 firing went to see what was happening to their 
 husbands, and tried to get through the soldiers 
 to the church; both were brutally murdered. 
 One was a young woman of nineteen; she was 
 bayoneted to death; the other, a woman of 
 forty, was shot. Both were Christians. The 
 soldiers then set the village on fire and left. 
 This is briefly the story of the bloody massacre 
 of Che-Am-Ri. The blame for this cannot 
 be placed upon the shoulders of the ignorant 
 and boorish Japanese soldiers; officials higher 
 up were cognizant of if not directly party to 
 the plot. 
 
70 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 "Some foreigners who were at the village 
 the day after the burning and photographed 
 one of the dead and burned bodies said that 
 'the smell of the burning flesh was frightful.' 
 Do you wonder that the people were paralyzed 
 with fear? The story was told me by several 
 of the villagers; all their stories were sub- 
 stantially the same. The poor people begged 
 me to give them protection. They said they 
 were living in constant dread of further atroc- 
 ities. They did not know when some more 
 police and soldiers would come and, maybe, 
 exterminate them. One young widow who had 
 previously passed through a mission school 
 came up and shook hands with me and told 
 me in tears how her husband had been killed. 
 Then another woman told me of her grief, then 
 another and another. They wondered when 
 the missionaries would come again, yet they 
 were afraid that if they did come it would make 
 things worse. Their plight was heartrending; 
 their tears and sobs would break a heart of rock. 
 
 "I left them with some words of comfort, 
 and while going one dear woman said, 'They 
 can kill us or do what they like, but we will 
 always believe in Jesus.' My presence seemed 
 to have broken to some extent the spell that 
 had been over them. They began to realize 
 more keenly what had happened, and then 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 71 
 
 across the valley came the sounds of the 
 women wailing for their husbands and cries 
 of the orphans for their parents. 
 
 "I returned that evening, and again stopped 
 to give a few hurried words of comfort. While 
 speaking a youth came running to me. He 
 had escaped, but he said he had lost both 
 father and mother. His mother worrying by 
 her husband being in the church when the 
 soldiers commenced to fire, had gone to rescue 
 him, and as reported above she was murdered 
 on the spot. I had to leave them, hard as it 
 was. Who would not want to stay and com- 
 fort these poor helpless souls? I left a little 
 girl preparing the evening meal for her widowed 
 mother, in a pot held up by some broken 
 stones, with a little straw for kindling. I 
 left a little orphan baby lying wrapped up in 
 a few rags on a mat of straw. I left them 
 desolate and broken, yet they realized that 
 while alone they were not alone; they had 
 the company of One who has a special care 
 for the * widow and the fatherless.' ' 
 
 This is not the only village in the same neigh- 
 borhood that met the frightful fate. One 
 foreigner who visited the district remarked that 
 from a hilltop smoke coming up from ten or 
 eleven different places could be seen. One 
 more report is here quoted: 
 
72 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 "The hamlet of Su-Chon is beautifully sit- 
 uated in a pretty valley some four or five miles 
 from Che-Am-Ri, where the previously re- 
 ported massacre occurred. I arrived at the 
 outskirt of the village at four o'clock on the 
 afternoon of April 17th, and seeing a woman 
 standing on the top of a high bank which here 
 flanks the road on the left side, I asked whether 
 I had arrived at the village of Su-Chon. She 
 replied, 'Yes, it lies at the bottom of the hill.' 
 After a word or two with regard to the village 
 she said in a broken voice, 'Are you a Chris- 
 tian?' I replied, 'Yes, are you?' She answered 
 by rushing across the road and grasping my 
 hands. She said, 'O I am so thankful! O I 
 am so thankful!' She continued, 'Our village 
 has been burnt, the church destroyed, and 
 many of the people badly hurt; please come 
 and look at the village.' I said that I had 
 come for that purpose, and would cycle in 
 ahead of her. She then introduced me to the 
 two boys who were standing with her. They 
 were the sons of the pastor. All three were 
 standing on the hilltop watching the direction 
 in which a small company of soldiers were go- 
 ing. They were awfully afraid of the soldiers 
 and were anxious to make sure of their definite 
 departure. 
 
 "It had been a beautiful village, so prettily 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 73 
 
 located, with such cozy cottages, but the Hun 
 had been there, and his fingerprints black and 
 brutal lay heavily upon the landscape. The 
 narrow streets were lined with ash heaps. Out 
 of about forty-two cottages eight alone re- 
 mained. Little attempt had yet been made 
 to clear away the debris, for what security of 
 life and property had they — might not their 
 new homes perish like the old? Some old women 
 were sitting by their few belongings. Their 
 grief had almost overcome them. They were 
 listless and indifferent, and one wondered if 
 they were not wishing that they too might 
 have perished when the cruel flame swept 
 away their homes. There were some little 
 children picking herbs out in the fields. They 
 must have something to eat, and all their 
 stock of rice and other food had been destroyed. 
 The police and soldiers being absent, the 
 people flocked around me and seemed anxious 
 to tell me of their misfortune. They had re- 
 covered from the first shock, but were in the 
 same constant fear lest the soldiers should 
 come back once more and destroy them in 
 the same brutal way as they had destroyed 
 their homes. 
 
 "The Story of the Crime of April 6th. Before 
 daybreak, while all were sleeping, some soldiers 
 entered the village and had gone from house 
 
74 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 to house firing the thatch roofs, which quickly 
 burned and destroyed the entire home. The 
 people rushed out and found the whole village 
 blazing. Some tried to put the fire out but 
 were soon stopped by the soldiers, who shot 
 at them, stabbed them with bayonets, and 
 beat them. They had to stand by and watch 
 their village burn to ashes. After completing 
 their nefarious work the soldiers left them to 
 their fate. They said one man alone was 
 killed but many seriously injured. I asked 
 if wind had spread the fire from house to 
 house. The reply was: 'The village was on 
 fire at several places at the same time. The 
 soldiers carried matches and lit the thatch of 
 many houses.' A survey of the village showed 
 the impossibility of the fire spreading to all 
 the houses, the space between in some cases 
 being many yards. Also the village was in 
 three sections, a small valley and hill making 
 this natural division. I asked to see the 
 wounded, and was taken to an inner room of 
 a house, and there found a middle-aged man 
 in most pitiful condition. His left arm from 
 elbow down was swollen to twice its normal 
 size, the sore cut at the elbow was full of 
 pus; also the rags which had been used for 
 dressing. The smell was sickening. The man 
 was a Christian, and said that when the vil- 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 75 
 
 lage was fired he had gone out and was imme- 
 diately attacked by a soldier who cut him 
 with his knife (most likely bayonet). He had 
 had no medical attention and said that he 
 was feeling very ill. His respiration was 36 
 and his pulse was 120. He seemed to be in 
 much pain and had become somewhat ema- 
 ciated. I told the people that he must be taken 
 to a hospital immediately or else he would 
 likely die. After bathing the wound and 
 putting on a clean dressing, I left the poor 
 fellow with a few words of cheer and a prom- 
 ise of further attention. Fortunately, the next 
 day we made arrangements for him to be 
 taken to a government hospital. When the 
 local policeman saw him in his house before 
 removal to the hospital, he immediately said, 
 'We did not do that.' I replied, 'You did'; 
 but he was insistent. Then he said, 'This 
 man is a very bad man.' 
 
 "As I left the house an old man came 
 hobbling on a stick and told me he had been 
 badly hurt. I asked him to show me. Rolling 
 up his trousers, I saw five or six punctured 
 wounds in the upper leg, all of them healing 
 nicely. I asked how it happened, and he told 
 me that on the morning of the fire a soldier 
 jabbed him with a bayonet. He then showed 
 me the other leg which was greenish yellow 
 
76 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 in many places. He said that another soldier 
 tried to kill him, clubbing him with his rifle. 
 
 "I went into another house and found two 
 men in one room lying quietly on the floor. 
 I asked what the trouble was, and they re- 
 plied, 'The soldiers beat us badly.' As I re- 
 member this story, they had been led out of 
 the village and beaten on the roadside with 
 a club. I saw their bodies; the bruising was 
 indeed frightful. 
 
 "Nothing definite could be said about the 
 church. It may have caught accidentally or 
 have been definitely fired — they did not know. 
 
 "I told them I must go immediately and 
 make arrangements for the wounded man to 
 get to a hospital if his life was to be saved. 
 There were many things they wanted me to 
 see and many things they desired to say. 
 They pleaded for protection, '0 when will 
 the soldiers go?' 'When will people come and 
 help us?' They were terrified, and in constant 
 dread of burning, shooting, and arrest. I 
 hurriedly said farewell and promised to return 
 the next day with help for the wounded. 
 They were so thankful and begged that I return. 
 
 "Note. The following day a number of 
 missionaries visited the village, but due to 
 the presence of the police, the people were 
 unable to say anything." 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 77 
 
 Further recital of these gruesome stories is 
 harrowing, even though this brief account does 
 seem inadequate without any of the many 
 stories of cruelties that have been perpetrated 
 upon the Christians and of desecrations of the 
 churches in the northern provinces. Suffice is 
 as a summary to append the following para- 
 graphs taken from an extended report on the 
 situation, found in the United States Con- 
 gressional Record, 1919, p. 2859: 
 
 "From the very first day of the demonstra- 
 tions the officials have paid more attention to 
 Christian participation than to that of any 
 other class. Arrests of those actually taking 
 part in demonstrations and made upon the 
 spot were naturally made without discrimina- 
 tion, but in the campaign of general arrests 
 which followed throughout the country, Chris- 
 tians have been singled out for marked dis- 
 crimination, even before demonstrations have 
 taken place, in many instances. 
 
 "Throughout the country the police imme- 
 diately began to arrest pastors, elders, and 
 other church officers. Some of these have been 
 released after weeks of imprisonment and 
 examination. Sentences against others are be- 
 ing daily announced, even in the case of men 
 who took no part in the demonstrations, rang- 
 ing from six months to three years of penal 
 
78 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 servitude. Of course no apology is intended 
 for those who took part in the uprising de- 
 liberately and expecting the consequences. We 
 are emphasizing the fact of the wholesale 
 arrest and beating of Christians simply because 
 they are Christians. In some places the men 
 and women of the village were called together; 
 all those who admitted they were Christians 
 were maltreated or arrested and the others 
 sent away. Wayfarers met by soldiers and 
 gendarmes are asked whether they are Chris- 
 tians, and beaten and abused on the admission 
 of the fact. Korean Christians remaining in 
 the villages are given all sorts of announce- 
 ments by local police and gendarmes. They 
 are told that Christianity is to be exterminated, 
 that all Christians are to be shot, that meet- 
 ings are to be forbidden. 
 
 "We cannot go into further details in this 
 report. But it cannot be doubted that a 
 persistent campaign is being carried on against 
 Christianity under the plan of suppressing 
 revolt. 
 
 "Vilifying, beating old men and little chil- 
 dren, breaking up meetings by armed officers 
 and men, wholesale arrests, brutal treatment 
 of those under arrest, threats and intimidation, 
 and massacre are all being employed to break 
 the spirit of Christians and to prevent the 
 
FACE TO FACE WITH MILITARISM 79 
 
 spread of Christianity. These statements are 
 supported by photographs, signed statements, 
 and narratives on file." 
 
 As it has already been dwelt upon, ana as 
 all other competent facts will show, this move- 
 ment is distinctly a nation-wide Korean move- 
 ment; and no one section of the country, nor 
 any one group or class of people has a monopoly 
 in its guidance. As Yi Sang-Chai, the Tolstoy 
 of Korea, has said when he was asked by a 
 secret service man who the people were that 
 were running it said, "All the Korean people 
 from Fusan to the Ever-White Mountains 1 
 and beyond. They are all in it. They are 
 the committees back of the agitation." 
 
 1 The Ever- White Mountains, or Chang- Paik San, are the 
 long range of high mountains between northern Korea and 
 Manchuria. 
 
PART TWO 
 
 CAUSES 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 
 
 To treat the causes of the Korean uprising 
 exhaustively is obviously a hopeless task. 
 The elements that enter into racial sympathies 
 and antipathies should be studied. One has 
 to recognize the sociological "consciousness of 
 kind," as Professor Giddings has termed it. 
 A historical setting that goes as far back at 
 least as 1592, the time of Japanese invasion 
 of Korea, is of vital importance for the proper 
 comprehension of our problem. 
 
 A nation's memory is not erasible. As soon 
 as a Korean child is able to understand, it 
 picks up here and there the story of the terri- 
 ble scourge that swept the country over three 
 centuries ago. Tens of thousands of men, 
 women, and children were massacred in the 
 most horrible manner. Cities and hamlets 
 were burned down to the ground. Whole 
 villages were deported. Travelers and stu- 
 dents who go to Japan now are reminded of 
 the barbarities perpetrated upon their fore- 
 fathers, by the sight of what is called the 
 "Ear Mound." It is traditionally told with 
 pride by the Japanese that over two hundred 
 
 83 
 
84 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 thousand ears cut off from the Koreans during 
 the invasion are buried under the mound. 
 
 But space does not permit the recital of 
 those parts of history that transpired during 
 the past centuries, nor admissible is the re- 
 cital of the intrigues, intimidations, and em- 
 ployment of armed forces since February 26, 
 1876, when intercourse between Korea and 
 Japan was reestablished, until August 22, 1910, 
 when the Treaty of Union 1 was signed. Our 
 task is of necessity confined to the conditions 
 that obtain since the year 1910, when the 
 two nations were politically unified. (For 
 information on historical matters, the reader is 
 referred to Hulbert's History and Griffis' Corea.) 
 
 Material Improvements 
 
 It is due to justice to give full credit to the 
 Japanese in power for the material improve- 
 ments introduced during the eight years, even 
 without questioning the major motives that 
 actuated the introduction or as to whom the 
 improvements benefit most. Along with the 
 Japanese, the Koreans ride on the railways, 
 use the extended communication system, which 
 
 1 Even though Annexation is more generally used, Union 
 conveys the exact meaning of the original Chinese term used in 
 the text of the Treaty. 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 85 
 
 include postal, telephone, and telegraph, and 
 travel on the improved or new roads, which 
 have been built with their commandeered labor 
 and land. The farmers take advantage of the 
 encouragement given by the Government and 
 better the methods of agriculture and afforesta- 
 tion. The inhabitants on the seacoast either 
 buy new appliances from the Japanese or make 
 slight changes in the old ones to conform 
 with the new ways of fishing. Sometimes the 
 new ways do not work, but the experiment is 
 an education in itself. 
 
 According to the latest official statistics, the 
 length of railway lines increased from 674 
 miles in 1910 to 1,066 miles; the number of 
 post offices from 447 to 526; telegraph wires 
 from 9,516 miles to 17,385; telephone lines 
 from 12,544 miles to 26,382; and there were 
 at the end of March, 1917, 1,923 miles of 
 first-class roads (24 feet wide); 3,422 miles of 
 second-class roads (18 feet); and 2,118 miles 
 of third-class roads (12 feet). The output of 
 rice, according to the Annual Report, in- 
 creased from 7,917,621 bags to 12,531,009; 
 wheat and barley from 3,548,441 bags to 
 6,259,007 (1 bag = 4.96 bushels); cotton from 
 11,473,170 keun to 45,335,505 (1 keun = 1.32 
 lbs.); cocoons from 13,931 bags to 71,921; cat- 
 tle from 906,075 heads to 1,353,108; and the 
 
86 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 sea products from $3,621,247 to $7,875,711 in 
 value. 
 
 While some of the greater disparities in the 
 comparative figures can be, to an extent, 
 accounted for by the better facilities afforded 
 in getting more accurate reports during the 
 recent years than formerly, owing to the more 
 elaborate systems worked out by the police 
 and other governmental offices, the increase 
 nevertheless resulting from the improved meth- 
 ods and modern appliances has been remark- 
 able. It bespeaks amply the efficiency of the 
 Japanese administrative machinery in bring- 
 ing about certain desired results along ma- 
 terial lines, and the capacity of the Korean 
 people for making progress under conditions 
 where adaptation is possible. 
 
 Treatment of the People 
 
 Attitude of the People in 1910. At the time 
 of the fateful "Union of Japan and Korea" 
 the people could be divided roughly into 
 three groups: 
 
 First, those who were "profoundly sorrowful" 
 over the termination of separate existence of 
 the country. These were the progressives and 
 the reform elements, who through long years 
 of hard struggle had first to contend with the 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 87 
 
 conservatives in the old regime and then in 
 turn with the Japanese, the Russians, and 
 again the Japanese. They suffered imprison- 
 ment, expatriation, and all other privations 
 imaginable. But the cunning intrigues and the 
 brutal forces were too much for them, and the 
 opening of the Hermit Kingdom to the Western 
 civilization was of too late a date to enable 
 them to gather enough strength to turn the 
 scale in the national crisis. 
 
 Second, those who were indifferent and self- 
 sufficient. In number at least these predom- 
 inated, but they utterly failed to comprehend 
 the true import of the political disaster. Their 
 attitude was that Korea had governed herself 
 under her own monarch and with her own 
 laws for over forty centuries, and that no 
 outward change could make a real difference. 
 Little they knew that this time outward change 
 spelled inward change as well! True, they 
 would say, "We had our relations with the 
 Chinese from time to time, but we always 
 ruled ourselves. Now, you say that the Jap- 
 anese are going to make some sort of con- 
 nection with us, but what can the little Islanders 
 do?" So on continued their dreamy talk, 
 until their national life was cut short and their 
 innocent slumber unceremoniously wakened by 
 mailed fist. 
 
88 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Third, those who placed themselves under 
 the influence of the Japanese. They were the 
 least in number, but they found themselves 
 able to be the loudest in their sophisticated 
 talk. They argued that Japan was one of the 
 first-class powers of the world and that she 
 had just laws and enlightened government. 
 Under the Japanese laws, the Westerners could 
 not exercise the exterritoriality, and their 
 arrogance would become a thing of the past. 
 Japan had the universal educational system, 
 and as soon as Korea united with Japan all 
 the children in Korea would be in school. 
 Japan had a higher tariff than Korea, so 
 Korean industry would be well protected. In 
 short, Koreans would live under the same 
 laws, get the same education, enjoy equal 
 rights and privileges, and be happy ever after- 
 ward. But by irony of fate these same people 
 have taken the leading part in this Independ- 
 ence Movement, their vain hope having been 
 ruthlessly dashed to the ground. 
 
 Peerage, The mind of the world was care- 
 fully prepared for the Unification. The West- 
 ern nations were told that the Korean Court 
 was hopelessly incapable, the officials irredeem- 
 ably corrupt, and the people lost at once in 
 stupidity and cunning, incredulity and super- 
 stition, illiteracy and sophistry, drudgery and 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 89 
 
 laziness, etc., and that the Japanese rule was 
 a "political necessity" as well as a would-be 
 blessing to the Korean people. So the world 
 believed, and the outcome was watched with 
 great expectation. 
 
 The very first act that followed the coup 
 was the creation of peerage and grant of mone- 
 tary gifts to the old officials — the same old 
 corrupt officials, who, up to the moment, were 
 so studiously denounced before the world. The 
 peerage was practically a new thing in Korea, 
 but it was not the novelty that threw the 
 people into consternation. The record and 
 character of the persons who were chosen to 
 constitute jthe ~oe w nobility were a standing 
 challenge to the sincerity of the new regime, 
 which elevated them. There were some 
 ftP!Vftnt. y-t.wo. who were made barons, vis- 
 counts, counts, etc., and with a very few 
 exceptions they were all the corruptionists and 
 "squeezers" who had ruined the country. 
 Some of the more upright and respected 
 statesmen were conspicuous by their omission. 
 It was an evidence of a strange turn of psy- 
 chology. A group of persons, hated and 
 denounced when they had their own way, 
 become so converted and metamorphosed over- 
 night that their new worth is recognized by 
 hereditary nobility and monetary grants, rang- 
 
90 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 ing from 25,000 yen to 200,000 yen, to add to 
 the ill-gotten millions which some of them 
 already have in their possession. 
 
 How, on the other hand, were those who 
 belonged to the former progressive party 
 treated? They found their lives most miser- 
 able. Through the police espionage and gen- 
 darme's bullying, life was so unbearable for 
 them that most of them had to leave the 
 country and escape to Manchuria and Siberia, 
 and some to Hawaii and America. Those who 
 remain in the country have the possibility of 
 becoming "the government's guest" staring 
 into their faces night and day. In this world 
 of interdependence, in theory at least, the 
 interest of one social group is not necessarily 
 incompatible with that of another, and may 
 be mutually helpful; yet zealousness on the 
 part of the Koreans for the interest of their 
 own people often is looked upon as anti-Jap- 
 anese. It is altogether easy that even an 
 individual difference between a Korean and a 
 Japanese receives such an interpretation. The 
 duty of the ever-busy secret police under the 
 military rule calls for the collecting of evi- 
 dences of every action and inaction of these 
 marked men (joo-eui-mool) , and when they are 
 pieced together it is not unnatural if a con- 
 struction not free from some preconceived no- 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 91 
 
 tion of the police should result. So they are 
 in constant toils. 
 
 Laws 
 
 1. Legislation. On the 15th of April, 1919, 
 the Governor-General of Chosen promulgated a 
 decree that on and after that date any Korean 
 participating in the independence movement 
 either in or outside of Korea would be punish- 
 able by ten years' imprisonment. This is one 
 of the many laws applicable only to the Koreans. 
 Its enactment and enforcement are practically 
 at the pleasure of the Governor-General. The 
 following is the text of the Imperial Ordinance 
 empowering the Governor-General to legislate: 
 
 Ordinance No. 324 Relating to Laws and Ordinances 
 to Be Enforced in Chosen 
 
 August 29, 1910 
 
 Article 1. Matters requiring the enactment of a law 
 in Chosen may be regulated by a decree of the Governor- 
 General of Chosen. 
 
 Article 2. The Imperial sanction shall, through the 
 Minister President of States, be obtained for promul- 
 gation of decree mentioned in the preceding article. 
 
 Article 3. In case of urgent necessity, the Governor- 
 General of Chosen may immediately issue the decree 1 
 mentioned in Article 1. 
 
 Imperial sanction shall be obtained for the decree 
 mentioned in the preceding clause immediately after 
 the promulgation; and if the Imperial sanction is not 
 
 1 Italics are mine. 
 
92 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 given to the said decree, the Governor-General of Chosen 
 shall declare that the same decree shall cease to be effec- 
 tive for the future. 
 
 The purport of the last clause appears to be 
 to preserve the dignity of the imperial prerog- 
 ative, but the question may be asked, What 
 about the unfortunate men and women who 
 shall have been dealt with under the decree 
 from the time of promulgation until the declar- 
 ation of the ineffectiveness for the future of the 
 same decree? Again, what safeguard have the 
 Korean people against a Warren Hastings pro- 
 mulgating another and similar decree and en- 
 forcing it until the sanction is officially with- 
 held? It is presumed that government officials 
 do not err, and it may be that that is thought 
 to be a sufficient guarantee. 
 
 By virtue of this ordinance, the whole set 
 of Peace Preservation Laws has been decreed, 
 and under these laws many have been ban- 
 ished to lonely and far-away islands even with- 
 out a public trial. To give one instance, there 
 was a Christian pastor, named Son, doing 
 missionary work in Manchuria. He was ar- 
 rested, brought to Seoul, and confined in the 
 police jail. He was not tortured. Torturing 
 is against the laws of enlightened Japan. He 
 was only "severely admonished" during exam- 
 inations. The stories he told his friends after 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 93 
 
 his release were pathetic indeed. Sometimes 
 in the night he would be taken before the 
 examiners. After asking some questions, they 
 would proceed with the "admonition." They 
 would bring his arms behind him, one arm 
 over the shoulder, and tie him by his two 
 thumbs. Then they would sling the rope over 
 the door and pull it until his big toes barely 
 touch the floor. When he is thus getting the 
 full effect of this mechanical aid to his mem- 
 ory the inquisitors go back to their seats 
 and play the game of go and sip away their 
 cups of sake. Once so often they come back 
 to him and tickle him, burn him with a lighted 
 cigarette, or beat him, until he becomes uncon- 
 scious. They kept this up for eight nights, but 
 he would not confess anything he had not done. 
 So he was, later, banished to the Chinto Island 
 for two years, as usual, without a public trial. 1 
 2. Penal Codes. Not only is there the dif- 
 ference in the procedure of legal enactment, 
 but the penal codes are also different in degree 
 and in kind in their application to Korea. 
 The codes applying to Koreans are severer, 
 on the assumption they need heavier penalties 
 in order to bring about a desired result. The 
 
 1 The method of extorting confession described here is only 
 one of many. The same man was subjected to many other 
 forms as well. 
 
94 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 legal method of administering punishment to 
 Koreans has also differences. To illustrate, one 
 of the most primitive and disgusting methods 
 of corporal punishment is systematized and 
 retained for the "benefit" of the Koreans. A 
 prisoner is stripped from waist down, made to 
 lie prone upon a T-shaped paraphernalia, arms 
 tied to the horizontal and legs to the longi- 
 tudinal, and flogged on the gluteal region with 
 a cane that has its thickness, length, and 
 weight prescribed by the law. During the 
 month of March and April, thousands of people 
 from all over the country have been made to 
 undergo this brutal and humiliating "punish- 
 ment" at the rate of thirty strokes for each 
 shout of "Mansei." Those who gave three 
 cheers for their country were given ninety 
 strokes, thirty per day for three days con- 
 secutively. That was because no human being 
 could undergo the full count in one day with- 
 out disastrous physical consequences. Many 
 fatalities have occurred. It is said, as an 
 excuse, that old Korea had it, and therefore 
 it is retained. In the first place, the Korean 
 method was not as severe as the new. The 
 writer has a personal knowledge of cases under 
 the old regime, where men were given as 
 many as one hundred strokes without having 
 the skin torn. Under this innovated method 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 95 
 
 the skin and flesh become a pulp before thirty 
 are counted. Furthermore, was it not that 
 because of just such barbarities of the old 
 Korean officialdom, Japan claimed the right 
 to step in and "clean up"? Japan posed and 
 still poses as the torch-bearer of civilization in 
 the Orient, and yet the militaristic rule has 
 given new sanction and increased the horrors 
 of such barbarities. Time and again it is 
 claimed that Koreans are living under par- 
 ticular social conditions, and that therefore 
 they must be treated in these particular man- 
 ners. Assuming that the conditions are par- 
 ticular, if that is to be taken as an excuse for 
 these particularly barbarous manners of treat- 
 ment, is not that tantamount to a confession 
 that the Japanese militarists are no better 
 than the Korean yangbans? And does not 
 that confute either the claim of the bureaucrats 
 for their efficiency, or their declaration of their 
 altruism, or both? 
 
 3. Police Summary Judgment. The police and 
 gendarmes play such a powerful role in the 
 affairs of Korea and upon the life of the people 
 that they must be discussed under a separate 
 heading; but since they are empowered to 
 exercise a very extensive measure of judiciary 
 function, they are briefly described here. To 
 quote from the official Annual Report: 
 
96 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 "In the Peninsula, minor offenses relating to 
 gambling, bodily harm, etc., or to a violation 
 of administrative ordinances," (Peace Preserva- 
 tion Laws included) "which would ordinarily 
 come under the jurisdiction of the lowest 
 court, are adjudicated by the police instead of 
 by ordinary judicial procedure. . . . 
 
 "The total number of criminal cases de- 
 cided during the year 1916 by the police 
 summary judgment reached 56,013, involving 
 82,121 offenders, being an increase of 14,777 cases 
 and 21,750 offenders over those of the preceding 
 year. Of the persons implicated in these cases, 
 81,139 were sentenced, 30 proved their innocence, 1 
 and the remaining 952 were pardoned." 
 
 In the statement quoted above, the follow- 
 ing points are to be noted: 
 
 First. The police, in addition to the regular 
 function of prevention and arrest of crimes, 
 have the power to adjudicate — to sentence 
 prisoners to fine, flogging, imprisonment, and 
 exile. A political suspect, against whom 
 nothing can be proven, is often banished to 
 some inaccessible island, as it was the case 
 with the Christian pastor referred to above. 
 
 Second. The "administrative ordinances" re- 
 ferred to include such ordinances as that which 
 
 1 Italics are mine. It must be noted that the burden of 
 proof is upon the accused. 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 97 
 
 was promulgated by the Governor-General on 
 April 15, 1919. The number of people sen- 
 tenced during 1916 shows the far-reaching scope 
 of these ordinances. 
 
 Third. The fact that out of 82,121 persons 
 only 30 proved their innocence leads the ob- 
 server to one of two conclusions: that either 
 the Japanese police in Korea are so superior 
 to those of all other nations in detecting crime 
 that they almost never run down any but the 
 actual criminals, or, the Koreans, when they 
 get into the meshes of the police and gen- 
 darme-interpreted ordinances, find it next to 
 impossible to prove their innocence. 
 
 4. Law Courts. To quote again from the 
 same official report: "Along with the develop- 
 ment of the idea of rights among Koreans who 
 seek protection under the law, and with progress 
 in the police system which enables a careful 
 search to be made for criminals, judicial cases, 
 both civil and criminal, are yearly on the in- 
 crease, as shown in the following table": 1 
 Year Civil Cases Criminal Cases 
 
 1912 
 
 Received 
 
 40,722 
 
 13,695 
 
 1913 
 
 M 
 
 41,970 
 
 17,294 
 
 1914 
 
 it 
 
 40,307 
 
 18,125 
 
 1915 
 
 U 
 
 39,695 
 
 20,420 
 
 1916 
 
 « 
 
 37,834 
 
 24,282 
 
 1 Abridged. The number of decisions of the courts of 1st, 
 2d, and 3rd instances has been omitted. 
 
98 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 But it is curious that the table of statistics 
 does not bear out the explanatory statement. 
 It shows that the civil cases have been on 
 the steady decrease, excepting the one year 
 of 1913. What does the fact of decrease in 
 the civil cases and increase in the criminal 
 cases signify in the light of this official explana- 
 tion? Would not the clarified facts necessitate 
 a different interpretation, namely, that "along 
 with the development of the idea of rights 
 among Koreans who seek protection under the 
 law," the civil cases are yearly on the de- 
 crease? "and with progress in the police sys- 
 tem which enables a careful search to be 
 made for criminals," the criminal cases "are 
 yearly on the increase"? It is often asserted 
 that a civil suit, in which a Japanese is de- 
 fendant, is both a costly and unsatisfactory 
 affair. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 
 
 (continued) 
 Education 
 
 A great deal has been said during the 
 past years concerning the system of education 
 inaugurated under the new regime. It is 
 frequently assumed that under the old Korean 
 government education was never fostered and 
 held without value. Nothing is further from 
 facts than this assumption. Incredible as it 
 may sound to some, Korea accorded educa- 
 tion a place of far greater importance than 
 it is done now. From the very olden times 
 Korea had the Ministry of State for Education, 
 equal in rank with all other ministries in the 
 Cabinet. To be honored by an appointment to 
 that post has always been a recognition to 
 which all men aspired, excepting the prime 
 minister and possibly the ministers of interior 
 and treasury. This veneration of education, 
 carried to excess and at too great an expense 
 of military preparedness, accounts for her 
 misfortune more than any other single factor. 
 
 1. Place of Education under New Regime. 
 When the Japanese militarists came into power 
 
 99 
 
100 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 in Korea they immediately reduced the De- 
 partment of Education to a Bureau and placed 
 it undei the Department of Internal Affairs. 
 The director of the Bureau of Education is a 
 subordinate officer to the director of internal 
 affairs. Not content with this reduction, there 
 was a talk of abolishing even the Bureau and 
 retaining only the Section of Education. About 
 two years ago, when the then incumbent of 
 that office was transferred to another office 
 in the government-general and ordered to retain 
 the post only as an additional duty, it produced 
 an apprehension that that was done with the 
 view to the final abolition. 
 
 2. Expenditures in Education. This reduc- 
 tion of the educational office would not have 
 been of such a serious significance, were it 
 not associated with other facts that unmis- 
 takably led the observer's mind to a certain 
 conclusion. According to the latest official re- 
 port, the amount of money allotted for educa- 
 tion under the head of Ordinary Expenditure 
 for 1917 was $306,165.50, while the same for 
 police was $1,557,447, and for Law Courts 
 and Prisons, $1,373,088. In other words, for 
 Law Courts and Prisons about four and half 
 times as much, and for police more than five 
 times as much as for education is expended. 
 Under the Extraordinary Expenditure for the 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION T01 
 
 same year, even though the amounts for the 
 education and police do not maintain the 
 same discrepancy, the allotment for the latter 
 is still larger than that for the former. The 
 Extraordinary Expenditure includes such items 
 as subsidies to the primary and industrial 
 schools, erection of school buildings and hostels, 
 etc., of more or less incidental and temporary 
 nature, and the Ordinary Expenditure includes 
 the running expenses of government schools, 
 compilation and publication of textbooks, build- 
 ing repairs, etc., which are of regular yearly 
 occurrence. It is highly interesting to study 
 the ordinary budget in detail, because there 
 the educational policy of the government is 
 manifest. The itemized budget of the year 
 1916 is the latest available, and here follows: 
 
 Ordinary Expenditure 
 
 Schools $233,959.00 
 
 Text-Books 48,323.00 
 
 Students sent to Japan 11,294.00 
 
 Lectures 3,499.50 
 
 Building Repairs 3,470.00 
 
 $300,545.50 
 
 The first item of $233,959 may easily be under- 
 stood to mean for the government schools for 
 Koreans, but that was not quite the case, for 
 about forty per cent of that goes to the schools 
 
1,Q& V 1REJE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 for the Japanese youths. The following table, 
 based upon the Annual Report, explains itself: 
 
 Ordinary Expenditure for Government Schools 
 (1916) 
 
 5 Korean Secondary Schools $101,300.50 
 
 1 Korean Special School 10,400.00 
 
 Total Korean Schools $111,700.50 
 
 3 Japanese Secondary Schools 68,914.50 
 
 1 Mixed Medical College 14,748.50 
 
 1 Mixed Technical College 39,058.00 
 
 Total Mixed Schools 53,806.50 
 
 Grand Total for AH Schools $234,421.50 
 
 The amount actually spent as shown in the 
 above seems to have exceeded the original 
 estimate. Since both the medical and tech- 
 nical colleges admit the students of two 
 peoples, if the expenditures are divided into 
 two equal parts and added to each of the two, 
 it will show that the amount for the Japanese 
 schools in Korea is about forty per cent of that 
 for the Korean. This, viewed in connection 
 with the fact that the population of Koreans 
 by official count is 16,309,179, and that of 
 Japanese is 320,938, is all the more significant; 
 but this phase of the question will be dis- 
 cussed more fully later. 
 
 It should be noted that the foregoing has to 
 do with what are called "government" schools. 
 The government, that is, the central govern- 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 103 
 
 ment, maintains only the secondary and higher 
 schools. Schools of primary grade are main- 
 tained by the local government and are called 
 the "public" schools. The central government 
 gives subsidies to the public schools wherever 
 needed and keeps general supervision over 
 them. The subsidies come from the Extraor- 
 dinary Budget as stated above. In 1916, the 
 amount of subsidies granted to the Korean 
 public schools was $296,338, and that to the 
 Japanese public schools was $171,040. 1 
 
 3. Number and Kind of Schools. Concerning 
 the number of the government and public 
 schools, the following tables will be of interest: 
 
 Government and Public Schools for Koreans 
 (End of March, 1916) 
 
 schol- applica- 
 ktnd of school number ars tions 
 
 Public Common Schools 426 65,654 
 
 Government Higher Common 
 
 Schools 3 1,111 2,561 
 
 Government Girls' Higher 
 
 Common Schools 2 323 187 
 
 Government Special School . . 1 128 383 
 Government College of Med- 
 icine 1 204 261 
 
 Government College of Tech- 
 nology 1 107 200 
 
 Industrial Schools 18 1,504 2,114 
 
 Elementary Industrial 
 
 Schools.. 72 1,449 
 
 x It should be explained that there are two government 
 primary schools in the country, but they are schools attached 
 to the teacher training courses for model teaching. 
 
104? THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 elementary industrial schools are run in conjunction with 
 and in the common schools, so they can hardly be con- 
 sidered as separate institutions except in the technical 
 
 Government and Public Schools for Japanese 
 (March, 1916) 
 
 kind of schools schol- applica- 
 
 number ars tions 
 
 Elementary Schools 324 34,148 
 
 Middle Schools 3 1,138 1,425 
 
 Girls' High Schools 9 1,381 648 
 
 Commercial Schools 2 462 (-) 220 
 
 Elementary Commercial 
 
 School 3 222 
 
 College of Medicine 1 25 
 
 College of Technology 1 91 
 
 The figure includes that of a private commercial school. 
 
 These tables show us that 426 primary 
 schools distributed among 16,309,179 Koreans 
 give one school for every 38,284 inhabitants, 
 while 324 primary schools for 320,938 Japanese 
 give one school for every 987 settlers. Then, 
 again, the number of scholars these schools 
 together are capable of receiving and caring 
 for, in comparison with the population of each 
 people, is worth considering. The 65,654 
 Korean children that are able to find accommo- 
 dation in these schools represent one to two 
 hundred and fifty of the Korean population, 
 while the 34,143 Japanese children in their 
 schools represent more than one to ten of the 
 total number of Japanese settlers in Korea, 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 105 
 
 In this connection, it may not be out of 
 place to quote a passage from the United 
 States Congressional Record, for July 17, 1919. 
 On page 2863 it says: "This does not mean 
 that the Koreans are unwilling to educate 
 their boys. The Governor-General reports the 
 existence of no fewer than 21,800 old -type 
 village schools, which must provide the ele- 
 ments of education to some 500,000 boys. 
 To this must be added the 22,542 children 
 attending Christian schools." The status of 
 the Christian schools and other "private" 
 schools will be discussed later. 
 
 4. Educational Standard. It will have been 
 noted in the foregoing that the names used 
 to designate the primary and secondary educa- 
 tion of Koreans and Japanese are not the 
 same. For the former, "common schools" and 
 "higher common schools" are used; and for 
 the latter, "elementary schools" and "middle 
 schools" are used. This is because the sys- 
 tems for the education of the two peoples are 
 different. The long and short of the two sys- 
 tems can be seen from the following: 
 
 School System for Koreans 
 
 Common School 4 or 3 Years 
 
 Higher Common School 4 and 3 Years (for Girls) 
 
 Special School or College .... 3 to 4 Years 
 
 Total for Boys 10 to 12 Years 
 
 Total for Girls 6 or 7 Years 
 
106 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 School System for Japanese 
 Elementary School, 5 or 6 Years. Special School 
 
 Middle School 5 Years. or Profes- 
 
 Higher School 3 Years. sional Col- 
 University 3 Years. lege, 4 Years 
 
 University Hall (Grad.) % Years. Total (College) 
 
 14 or 15 Years. 
 
 Total (University), 16 
 or 19 Years. 
 
 Concerning the school system for Japanese, 
 nothing much needs to be said, because it is 
 identical with the one in force in Japan. From 
 the elementary school to the completion of 
 one of the professional colleges, it takes a boy 
 from fourteen to fifteen years. To finish a 
 course in one of the Imperial universities a 
 Japanese youth gets sixteen or seventeen years' 
 training with a provision for a postgraduate 
 work in the University Hall that takes from 
 two to three years more. 
 
 When it comes to the school system for 
 Koreans it needs some elucidation. To quote 
 from the official Report: "The school age for 
 Koreans being eight, is two years later than 
 that for Japanese. The period of study for 
 common school is four years, but it may be 
 shortened to three years according to local 
 conditions." It should be noted that the same 
 for the corresponding school for Japanese is 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 107 
 
 six years. To quote further: "The higher 
 common school gives a liberal education to 
 Korean boys of not less than twelve years of 
 age for a period of four years." The corre- 
 sponding Japanese middle school requires five 
 years. This shows that while eleven years are 
 provided for the Japanese youths for primary 
 and secondary education, only eight years are 
 allowed the Korean youths; and the law says 
 that that may still be lowered to seven years, 
 while no extension whatsoever can be lawfully 
 be made under any circumstance. After the 
 common and higher common schools comes 
 either the Seoul Special School, where the 
 rudiments of law and economics are taught, 
 or one of the two professional schools. The 
 educational system ends there, as far as the 
 government provisions in the land are con- 
 cerned. 
 
 The sons of well-to-do people and a few 
 who are selected by the government go to 
 Japan to further their preparations for life, 
 but there they are greatly handicapped, be- 
 cause the only system that was accessible to 
 them does not articulate with the system they 
 are entering into. Even if he were able to 
 take the entrance examination and qualified 
 himself, he is given only a certificate when he 
 completes the course, for the reason that he 
 
108 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 does not hold the diploma from the next lower 
 school in the same system. It goes without 
 saying that the holder of a certificate does 
 not enjoy any of the privileges that a regular 
 diploma carries. 
 
 5. School Curricula. A detailed and extensive 
 discussion is impossible without violating the 
 sense of proportion in this brief survey. There- 
 fore only certain indications are made as 
 follows: 
 
 (1) Common School: 
 First 2 Years: 
 
 Entire Curriculum, 26 hours per week, (of which) 
 Japanese Language, 10 hours per week. 
 
 Last 2 Years: 
 
 Entire Curriculum, 27 hours per week, (of which) 
 Japanese Language, 10 hours per week. 
 
 (2) Higher Common School: 
 First 2 Years: 
 
 Entire Curriculum, 30 hours per week, (of which) 
 Japanese Language, 8 hours per week. 
 
 Last 2 Years: 
 Entire Curriculum, 30 hours (32, if English is taken) 
 Japanese Language, 7 hours per week. 
 
 Throughout 8 Years: 
 
 Japanese Geography, 2 hours per week for 1 year. 
 Japanese History, 2 hours per week for 1 year. 
 Foreign Geography, 1 hour per week for 1 year. 
 Foreign History, 1 hour per week for 1 year. 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 109 
 
 From the above it is evident that after the 
 time required for studying the Japanese lan- 
 guage is subtracted there are not very many 
 hours left to be divided among Morals, Korean 
 Language, Chinese Literature, Mathematics, 
 Nature Study, Singing, Physical Exercises, 
 Drawing, Manual Work, Sewing and Handi- 
 craft, Elementary Agriculture, Elementary 
 Commerce, History, Geography, Natural Sci- 
 ence, Industry, Law and Economics, Caligraphy 
 and (optional) English. It has been sug- 
 gested, incidentally, that these curricula are 
 probably the highest unintentional compliment 
 the educationists of Japan pay upon the 
 extraordinary ability of the sons and daughters 
 of the "Land of Morning Calm." 
 
 6. Private Schools. The official Report for 
 1911-12, the fiscal year immediately following 
 the Union, had this to say: "According to 
 the new regulations, private schools must ob- 
 tain recognition of the Governor-General, and 
 should use textbooks compiled by the Govern- 
 ment-General, or those examined and approved 
 by the Governor-General, if they are compiled 
 by any other than the Government-General." 
 Private schools as well as public schools must 
 use the curricula fixed by the government- 
 general, and in no case are they permitted to 
 be modified. It is also insisted that all lessons, 
 
110 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 excepting foreign languages (English) and liter- 
 ature (Chinese) must be taught in Japanese. 
 To continue with the quotation, "a private 
 school will be compulsorily closed should the 
 school violate the provisions of laws and 
 ordinances, should its work be considered in- 
 jurious to peace and order, or to the public 
 morals, or should it disobey the order given 
 regarding the correction of above mentioned 
 matters. . . . 
 
 "Several years ago the establishment of 
 private schools became popular among the 
 Koreans, so that one time there were more 
 than two thousand private schools in the 
 Peninsula. . . . By the end of the fiscal year 
 1911, the number of private schools, except 
 those on the same level as common schools 
 or industrial schools, had decreased to about 
 1,700." During the five years following more 
 than 700 of these schools were closed. Thus 
 the Report for 1916-17 says: "The total 
 number of private schools at the end of the 
 fiscal year 1916 was 970, and that of their 
 pupils 53,000. Of these, 578 schools with a 
 roll of 31,000 pupils were secular, and 392 
 schools with 22,000 pupils were religious." 
 
 These constant and rapid decreases are very 
 significant, and the causes may deserve con- 
 sideration. First, it is often stated that "on 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 111 
 
 account of financial difficulty," the number 
 closed during such and such year reach so 
 many. True, the people are poor, but if they 
 have been enjoying material prosperity as they 
 are declared to have been, and if they were 
 getting enlightened through the marvelous in- 
 fluence of this modern education, the tendency 
 should have been on the increase. No one 
 can reasonably assume that the Koreans by 
 nature do not care for schools, because the 
 official Report says specifically that the estab- 
 lishment of private schools was "popular 
 among the Koreans." If they were interested 
 in establishing schools, they would be also 
 interested in maintaining them, if other things 
 were equal. Second, it is stated that these 
 schools were not up to the standard in the 
 way of equipment, teaching staff, etc. True, 
 they were far from what they ought to be, 
 but is it not at all conceivable that a school of 
 limited facilities is better than no school, 
 especially in view of the fact, that the govern- 
 ment, as it is authoritatively stated, is not 
 yet financially able to establish schools with 
 any degree of rapidity? Then, again, what is 
 the core of the standard? Is it not principally 
 the proficiency in the Japanese language rather 
 than anything else? A scholar in history or 
 science, no matter how proficient he is in his 
 
11& THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 knowledge, unless he can speak Japanese, is 
 disqualified. Further than that, can there be 
 a shadow of doubt that the valuation of a 
 teaching staff of a given school is based upon 
 the number of Japanese teachers on it? (They 
 require nearly twice as high salaries as the 
 Koreans.) Still further than that, does not 
 the government insist that the head-teacher 
 of a given school should be a Japanese? and is 
 it not true that a school is found fault with as 
 "inefficient" until these requirements are met? 
 Third, the Koreans are told that they have 
 nothing to do with political affairs. A Korean 
 is not to discuss politics and is not to write 
 politics. In the same breath he is told that 
 industry is what he wants. He should' be 
 thrifty, he should eat beans and coarse rice, 
 and export the best rice to some other land. 
 A good part of this preachment is quite whole- 
 some if it were not of certain inevitable im- 
 plications. All these things, with the general 
 atmosphere of the whole situation, have worked 
 as discouraging influences upon the promoters 
 and supporters of the schools. 
 
 7. Educational Ideal and Aim. The aim of 
 education for Koreans is set forth in Articles 
 II and III of the "Imperial Ordinance No. 
 229," promulgated on August 23, 1911. "The 
 essential principle of education in Chosen shall 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 113 
 
 be the making of loyal and good subjects," 
 and it "shall be adapted to the needs of the 
 times and the condition of the people." 
 
 In order to understand properly the meaning 
 of these Articles, one has to look at them from 
 the point of view of the Japanese, whether 
 one is in sympathy with that viewpoint or no. 
 Japan took Korea, and she means to retain 
 her hold upon her; therefore her aim is to 
 make "loyal and good subjects" of the Koreans, 
 and her immediate modus operandi is to start 
 from the actual "condition of the people," 
 considering, at the same time, "the needs of 
 the times." That is the most apparent mean- 
 ing. When it comes to the practical applica- 
 tion of the Ordinance by the officials, however, 
 the possibility of a large amount of elasticity 
 is discernible. "The condition of the people," 
 instead of being used as the starting point, 
 can be taken as the landmark; and "the needs 
 of the times," instead of being taken as some- 
 thing transitional, leading up to something 
 higher and better, can be looked upon as a 
 fixed objective. To venture a pronouncement 
 as to which is the working interpretation, 
 conscious or unconscious, of those who have 
 immediate charge of education in Korea 
 seems suggestive of a task that is gratuitous, 
 as the facts that lead to visible results reveal 
 
114? THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 the truth, and the same or altered facts will 
 most decisively confirm in the future some of 
 the conclusions that may already have been 
 formed. 
 
 Police and Rights of the People 
 
 As has been already intimated, the police 
 and gendarmes in Korea hold almost an unre- 
 stricted power over the everyday life of the 
 people. They can trail and spy openly, search 
 both person and domicile, arrest, detain, fine, 
 imprison with hard labor, flog and banish 
 any Korean whom they may deem it proper 
 and necessary to punish, at any time with 
 impunity. In the single year of 1911, 14,443 
 were flogged, and 1,734 were subjected to 
 major fines, besides those upon whom other 
 punishments were inflicted; and it is reported 
 that over 11,000 have been flogged, in con- 
 nection with the independence agitation, be- 
 tween March 1 and the middle of July, 1919. 
 
 1. Organization. As it is announced in the 
 Report, the police administration is conducted 
 by placing all the police forces and gendarmes 
 (military police) under the same command 
 of the commander-in-chief of the Garrison 
 Gendarmery. In other words, the ordinary 
 police, as well as the military police, are placed 
 under the military direction. Not only is this 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 115 
 
 true with the central organization, but all the 
 powers of the chief of police of each province 
 are vested in the person of the chief of the 
 Divisional Gendarmery, and the individual 
 gendarmes exercise the full police power in 
 addition to their own. 
 
 In passing: one curious thing about the 
 relative number of police and gendarmes since 
 the unification is the increase of the latter, in 
 spite of the belief the people have been led to 
 entertain that the military rule would grad- 
 ually disappear as the time went on. Thus, 
 in 1911 there were 6,006 police and 7,749 gen- 
 darmes, showing an increase of 292 gendarmes 
 while the police decreased by 385. Further, 
 whereas the total of the forces of the two de- 
 creased by 93, the number of stations and 
 substations increased from 1,621 to 1,790, 
 showing an addition of 179 during the same 
 period of time. As far as these figures go, 
 they show the opposite tendency of what the 
 people and the outside world in general have 
 been reasonably expecting. 
 
 2. "Judicial Police." Aside from the police 
 summary judgment, which has already been 
 briefly dwelt upon, there is in the police organ 
 what is termed the judicial police, which "is 
 a literal rendering of the German 'justiz polizei', 
 by which certain police authorities are charged 
 
116 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 with the duty of searching criminals, of in- 
 vestigating criminal evidences as a preparatory 
 measure for the preliminary hearing, and other 
 quasi judicial measures." (See the Annual 
 Report for 1911-12, p. 41.) 
 
 In "searching criminals" and in "investi- 
 gating criminal evidences" the governing prin- 
 ciple that pervades the whole system manifests 
 itself to be to include not only the actual 
 cases but all potential cases as well; and the 
 very efficiency of the system cannot exclude 
 any person from the purview. Consequently, 
 every man, woman, and child must be regis- 
 tered, all movements that may require any 
 length of time must be reported, and the 
 privacy of any household can be entered when- 
 ever it is conceived necessary "for the verify- 
 ing of the register." Delicacy forbids any 
 rehearsal of extreme cases, but when we con- 
 sider that the police are the interpreters and 
 executors of the various laws and ordinances, 
 and the people have nowhere to seek redress 
 than the police themselves, it is apparent that 
 the people are in serious plights. 
 
 3. Espionage. Dovetailed with the system 
 of judicial police is the espionage branch of 
 the police, which is called the "Higher Sec- 
 tion." This has to do with getting information 
 of all kinds, shadowing and tracking people, 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 117 
 
 and keeping minute record of all individuals 
 whom they consider likely to have some in- 
 fluence over men and affairs. If anyone of 
 this character goes from one city to another, 
 the "Higher Section" police follow in close 
 proximity, and not rarely keep an uninter- 
 rupted company in an open and "friendly" 
 way; and if the one followed is real game and 
 good-natured about it, a good deal of amuse- 
 ment can be gotten out of the otherwise un- 
 comfortable situation. One can look at the 
 man from a detached and philosophical view- 
 point. He is simply earning his bread and but- 
 ter for himself and his poor family, and why 
 should one have a hard feeling against him? You 
 and he are in a bad "fix" created by the system, 
 and he is not to blame. So the moral is to make 
 the best of the thing you cannot yet help. 
 
 4. Rights of Publication. There is not a 
 single newspaper or magazine as such pub- 
 lished by Koreans in Korea. No permit is 
 given to a Korean. There are two sets of 
 laws controlling publishing work, one on peri- 
 odicals and another on ordinary publications. 
 To publish a periodical a certain sum of money 
 is required to be deposited with the police in 
 order to meet the contingency of a fine, and 
 when an issue is printed two copies are required 
 to be sent to the police censor. At the time 
 
118 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 of annexation all the papers owned and man- 
 aged by Koreans were shut down. "At the, 
 end of the fiscal year 1916 there were 20 news- 
 papers published in Chosen, of which 18 were 
 in Japanese, 1 in Korean, and 1 in English," 
 says the Report, but they were all Japanese, 
 and three of them, including the last two, are 
 government organs. Time and again Koreans 
 tried to conform to the law controlling the 
 publishing of ordinary books, etc., which law 
 has this difference from the other: the man- 
 uscript must be submitted to the censor, and 
 his stamp of approval gotten on each page, 
 before printed. After printing, two copies are 
 also sent to the censor, the same as it is with 
 the periodical. Several tried to publish mag- 
 azines under the last provisions, but all failed 
 with heavy losses of money on account of 
 the difficulty of getting the approval and of 
 the irregularity and delay entailed in receiving 
 back the manuscripts, which made it impossi- 
 ble to maintain any semblance of periodicity. 
 
 5. Right of Assemblage. The Annual Report 
 states that "most of the political associations 
 and similar bodies were ordered to dissolve 
 themselves at the time of annexation, as it 
 was deemed necessary to take such a step 
 for the maintenance of peace and order. Since 
 then there has been no political party or 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 119 
 
 association, as such, among the Koreans." 
 "The holding of public meetings in connection 
 with political affairs, or the gathering of crowds 
 out of doors, was also prohibited, except open- 
 air religious gatherings or school excursion 
 parties, permission for which might be ob- 
 tained of the police authorities." Political 
 affairs are referred to in the above, but the 
 same prohibitive principle holds true regarding 
 all other gatherings — even a field meet, in 
 which two or more schools contemplate par- 
 ticipation. From the foregoing one gets the 
 impression that religious meetings are exempt 
 from the severe police restrictions, but the 
 facts are otherwise. Even a Y. M. C. A. 
 meeting has to report the date, hour, speaker, 
 topic for discussion, etc., beforehand for the 
 police approval. A few years ago such a 
 purely academic society as the "Law and 
 Economics Association" was given "advice" to 
 dissolve, and who is there that can afford to 
 be heedless of such an advice? 
 
 The most frequent excuse is that, if asso- 
 ciations and meetings are permitted, the 
 Koreans would meddle in politics. What 
 valid reason is there that a Korean must 
 never be otherwise than blind, dumb, and deaf 
 to political affairs that concern his own body 
 and soul? There is nothing in the Treaty 
 
120 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 that brought the two peoples together that 
 in any way can be construed as precluding 
 Koreans from political participation. On the 
 other hand, the same instrument, by virtue of 
 which the present regime came into being, both 
 specifically and impliedly provides for Koreans 
 to have share in the public affairs of Japan; 
 and how can they possibly take a real share 
 while they are excluded from political concern- 
 ment? Would it not, for the sake of mutual 
 good of the two peoples, as well as for the 
 sake of expediency, be better to welcome 
 rather than to suppress and prohibit a whole- 
 some and natural and irresistible development 
 of the political life of the Korean people? 
 
 As a summary on the whole situation, a 
 further analysis of which is too long to make, 
 a document called, "Some Reasons Underlying 
 the Present Agitation in Chosen," which was 
 presented to "important Japanese in Tokyo" 
 by a committee of foreigners from Korea, is 
 here appended in the hope that it will make 
 clear to the reader that these are facts as 
 seen by disinterested third parties whose views 
 can be relied upon as unbiased. 
 
 (Copy) 
 
 May 10, 1919. 
 
 The following paper is a condensed statement of what 
 
 appear to be the most important of the underlying causes 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 121 
 
 of the present agitation in Korea. All of the reasons 
 given have appeared in some form or other in declara- 
 tions, petitions, and bulletins issued by the Koreans, 
 and so may be taken as an expression of Korean opinion. 
 The statement contains only what seem to some friends 
 of Japan and Korea to be the most important of the 
 causes involved. 
 
 It should be said also that it does not embody the 
 immediate causes of this outbreak, such as the rumors 
 in connection with the work of the Peace Conference, 
 prevalent ideas of "self-determination," the activities of 
 Koreans abroad, and the death of the ex-Emperor of 
 Korea. 
 
 I. The Desire for Independence 
 
 It must be remembered that the assimilation of an 
 alien race is a difficult task at best, and that in this case 
 it is made more difficult by the fact that the Koreans 
 as a people never in their hearts have been reconciled 
 to annexation. 
 
 II. The Rigor of the Military Administration 
 Koreans do not know what it would be like to be 
 under a civil administration. Their whole idea of the 
 Imperial Government is drawn from their experience 
 of military rule. 
 
 1. The fact that the police have gendarmes and sol- 
 diers associated with them in the administration of 
 law leads the Korean to fear the police and to regard 
 them not as civil servants and protectors but as oppressors. 
 
 2. This impression is deepened by the harsh and \ 
 indiscriminate manner in which laws are administered. \ 
 In the report issued by the government-general in July, 
 1918 (covering the year 1916-17), it is stated that out 
 of 82,121 offenders dealt with in "police summary judg- 
 
>\ 
 
 122 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 ment," 952 were pardoned, 81,139 were sentenced, and 
 only 30 were able to prove their innocence. The un- 
 
 ^ avoidable result of such a system is that a naturally 
 peaceful and gentle-minded people are living in a state 
 of constant terror. 
 
 3. The spy system has added to the terrorization of 
 I the people. Spies, usually low-class Koreans, are every- 
 where. No one knows when nor in what form the most 
 harmless acts or words may be reported to the authorities. 
 
 4. The treatment of those arrested adds to the fear 
 and hatred of the police. 
 
 5. The show of force on all occasions adds to the 
 irritation. Civil officials, even primary school-teachers* 
 wear swords. 
 
 / 6. This system has brought the people to believe 
 / that the administration has no idea of leading them, 
 I but only of compelling obedience. 
 
 III. Denationalization 
 
 1. The Koreans are a different race, with different 
 history, traditions, ideals, ethics, and customs. The 
 
 ? present administration seems to aim at the elimination 
 | of many things traditionally Korean and the substitution 
 ■ of things new and strange. There seems to be no sys- 
 tematic attempt to win the Korean's loyalty for Japan 
 but to make over the Korean into a Japanese. 
 
 2. The exclusion of the Korean language from schools, 
 courts, and legal documents is a great source of irrita 
 tion. It is recognized that the question of language 
 presents a problem to the government, but the effect 
 of the present policy on the mind of the Korean cannot 
 be minimized. 
 
 3. The elimination of Korean history from school 
 curricula is another source of irritation. The Koreans 
 feel that the presentation of the subject of Korean his- 
 
JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 123 
 
 tory is neither as full nor as accurate as its importance 
 would warrant. 
 
 IV. The Koreans have no real share in their govern- 
 ment, either legislative or executive, and no hope of 
 securing this has been held out to them. 
 
 1. Some Koreans do hold office, but usually minor 
 ones, and in the case of those holding an important office 
 they usually can be overruled by Japanese officials of 
 lower rank. 
 
 2. The inferior education given to the Korean stu- 
 dents deprives them of the hope of securing positions 
 
 by competitive merit in the future. 
 
 V. Discrimination Against Koreans 
 
 1. There is discrimination in salaries for the same 
 services in Government institutions, in business houses, 
 and in labor. 
 
 2. In Government schools the curriculum is different 
 for Japanese and Koreans. The latter have from two 
 to three years shorter course than the former. In the 
 matter of JEm^lish also, which all desire to learn, the 
 Japanese have four days a week for five years, while the 
 Koreans have only two hours a week for two years. Such 
 differences in educational facilities may be accounted 
 for by the Government's inability to provide full courses 
 as yet, but it works an evident hardship and is resented 
 by the Koreans. 
 
 3. Corporal punishment can be legally administrated 
 only to Koreans. 
 
 4. There is discrimination in many apparently minor 
 but really significant matters. For instance, Koreans are 
 rarely employed as train boys or akabos, and Japanese 
 rickisha men are given the best positions at railway 
 stations. 
 
124 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 VI. No Liberty of Speech, Press, or Assembly 
 (Christian Koreans were arrested who were heard 
 
 praying for a spiritual revival, the authorities insisting 
 
 that this meant a political revival.) 
 
 VII. Limited Religious Liberty 
 /\. Religion cannot be taught in private schools ac- 
 cording to the government revised educational ordinances, 
 / which recognize no difference between government and 
 V^ private schools. 
 
 2. In the case of Christianity, the Bible cannot be 
 taught in private schools opened since March, 1915, 
 or in any schools after 1925. 
 
 3. Ceremonies are required which seem to be a viola- 
 tion of conscience to Koreans. 
 
 4. Local officials constantly intimidate Christians and 
 those intending to become Christians, in what appears 
 to be an effort to discourage Christianity. 
 
 VIII. Practical Prohibition of Korean Study 
 and Travel Abroad 
 
 1. Koreans know that Japan's progress is largely 
 traceable to foreign studies at the beginning of the Meiji 
 Era and since, and desire the same opportunity for im- 
 provement. With the exception of certain specially 
 favored cases, Koreans are not permitted to go abroad, 
 and those who have received their education abroad 
 are not permitted to return. 
 
 2. Even Koreans who have been educated in Japan 
 are so constantly watched by the police on their return 
 to Korea that they can make no proper use of their edu- 
 cation. 
 
 IX. Expropriation of Crown Lands 
 
 In many sections of Korea crown lands have been 
 occupied and farmed by the Koreans for generations on 
 

 JAPANESE ADMINISTRATION 125 
 
 \ 
 
 the basis of a moderate rental. In many cases the lease- 
 hold of these lands had acquired a value almost equal 
 to that of land held in full possession. These lands, 
 however, were in many cases turned over to the Oriental 
 Development Company, and the former occupants re- 
 quired to pay greatly increased rents, which compelled 
 them to abandon the land in favor of Government-assisted 
 Japanese settlers. 
 
 X. Demoralizing Influences Newly Iintroduced 
 
 1. Licensed prostitution in all cities and towns has made 
 this form of immorality more open and accessible, and hence 
 has had a more demoralizing effect as well as a more wide- 
 spread influence upon the young men of the country. 
 
 2. The persistent sale of the morphine needle has been // 
 unrestricted in many sections. 
 
 XI. Forced Migration to Manchuria 
 The extensive migration of Japanese farmers into 
 central and southern Korea and their occupation of 
 often unjustly secured lands has forced the migration of 
 thousands of Koreans into the less desirable and unde- 
 veloped sections of Manchuria. 
 
 XII. Many Improvements Benefit Japanese 
 More than Koreans 
 
 1. Industrial, e. g.: The lumber industry, although-" 
 extensively developed, brings no additional benefit to 
 the Koreans. In fact, lumber costs more than formerly. 
 
 2. Commercial: The Korean merchants lack modern 
 business training and experience, which makes it difficult 
 for them to withstand the unrestricted competition of 
 Japanese merchants. 
 
 3. In many cases licensed monopolies work great ^ 
 hardship to the Koreans and cause resentment; e. g., the 
 cotton monopoly and the fertilizer monopoly in Sen Sen. ^ 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 
 
 It would be stating only a part of the truth, 
 however large a part that may be, to say 
 that the character of the Japanese adminis- 
 tration is the sole cause of the Korean up- 
 rising. Man's desire to govern himself is an 
 inevitable, irresistible, and innate nature. It 
 is a part of his being, and in that sense it is 
 beyond his control or responsibility. 
 
 There was a very touching scene before the 
 writer's own eyes some two and half decades 
 ago, which impressed him so strongly that 
 the vivid picture remains with him always. 
 It was in the year 1894, immediately after the 
 promulgation of the emancipation law by the 
 reform government of Korea. Up to that time 
 there were many slaves belonging to the fam- 
 ily. Some of them had been slaves for over 
 four generations. In the main they were all 
 well treated. Supplying of their bodily needs 
 did not worry them. They were fed, clothed, 
 and sheltered by the master. Further, being 
 slaves to a respectable family, they could 
 exercise a certain amount of influence upon 
 the common people in the neighborhood. Yet, 
 
 126 
 
• 
 
 RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 127 
 
 one early morning the following soul-stirring 
 act was performed by a slave. 
 
 A trim-looking woman, not quite middle- 
 aged, approached the outer quarter of the 
 house where the master was. With due show 
 of respect and modesty, she went and stood 
 before him. He, looking up, said, "What is 
 it?" She hesitated a little and in a faltering 
 voice replied, "Please, sir, give me the title- 
 deed of my little daughter." He produced a 
 paper, yellow with age, and handed to her, 
 expressing his regret at breaking the bond 
 which had been in existence for so many 
 generations. She received the paper politely, 
 and with tears streaming down her cheeks 
 said: "Your slave has served your Honor's 
 family for over four generations, and has been 
 privileged to receive many bounties, but has 
 always longed to make this little daughter of 
 mine free. This is the God-given opportunity, 
 for which your slave is profoundly grateful." 
 So saying, she took out a match from her 
 bosom, struck it, lighted the end of the paper 
 and held it until the entire sheet was con- 
 sumed. Then she made a sort of graceful 
 obeisance and quietly retired. Ties of gen- 
 erations' standing, old personal associations, 
 considerations of bodily needs and risks attend- 
 ing an unknown future weighed nothing or 
 
128 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 little when freedom and liberty were involved. 
 Heredity and environment show no effect upon 
 these fundamental qualities of manhood and 
 womanhood. As water is to the fish and air 
 to the birds, so is freedom to man. Life de- 
 pends on it, and it is the first requisite for 
 growth and perpetuation. 
 
 In the furtherance of modern democratic 
 principles, the Christian religion rendered a 
 distinct service in Korea. This does not mean 
 that the followers of the church have con- 
 sciously or unconsciously gone into the polit- 
 ical arena as a body and busied themselves 
 with national questions, nor does it mean that 
 the Christians as individuals always have 
 stayed out of politics. As it has been the 
 case with the followers of other religions in 
 Korea, there have been many shining examples 
 of honest statesmanship and upright leadership 
 among the Christians, but there never has 
 been an attempt at religious domination of 
 or machination in politics on the part of the 
 Christians, Korean or foreign. While it is 
 true that the foreign missionaries had en- 
 joyed up to 1910 a certain amount of privileges 
 at the hand of local officials, it was due to 
 their national status with regard to exterri- 
 toriality and more largely to their personal 
 qualities. 
 
RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 129 
 
 When it is said that Christianity has fur- 
 thered the democratic principles, it means 
 that the democratic ideals are so allied to the 
 Christian teaching, and that the democratic 
 institutions are so linked with the Christian 
 usages, that they are inseparable and indis- 
 tinguishable. This is due, historically, to the 
 fact that the principle and practice of democracy 
 are the emanation and interpretation of Chris- 
 tianity. This is the true explanation of the 
 reason why the rise and falj in the curve of 
 the growth of Christianity have maintained 
 such a remarkable parallelism with that of the 
 democratic movement in Korea. 
 
 Not understanding this, or refusing to under- 
 stand, outside critics attributed to ulterior 
 motives the phenomenal growth of the mission 
 work in the peninsula. At one time an ig- 
 norant journalist stated in such a well-known 
 monthly as the Tokyo Taiyo that the Chris- 
 tians were paid so much each to join the 
 church. Some ingratiating foreign writers 
 talked about "rice Christians," etc. These are 
 not surprising when we hear men of that ilk 
 making even more preposterous statements to 
 the effect that the Koreans are paid ten cents 
 each to go out and shout "Mansei!" — ten 
 cents to be hacked and shot! Life (of others) 
 is held by some people very cheap, but it is 
 
130 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 worth more than ten cents (to those who live 
 it). As to "rice Christians," suffice it to say 
 Christianity as a "profession" has never been 
 profitable in the way of worldly goods to any- 
 one anywhere in the world, especially since the 
 prevalence of high cost of living. Some of the 
 best and most able Christian pastors are doing 
 in their homes cobbler's work or any other work 
 that comes in hand these days in order to 
 help their family budget. In the following 
 pages it is hoped to show how the Christian- 
 ization has been also the democratization of 
 the people in Korea. 
 
 Though Christianity came to the notice of 
 Korean scholars in the winter of the year 1777 
 through some tracts that had been brought 
 from Peking by the Korean embassy, and the 
 first Korean to be baptized was a son of the 
 third ambassador to the Chinese emperor in 
 the year 1783, the real propagation work done 
 by the Christian churches on their own rights 
 did not begin until the country was opened 
 up to the Western nations in the year 1882. 
 Dr. Horace N. Allen, an American Presby- 
 terian missionary physician, arrived in the fall 
 of 1884. In the following spring the Rev. 
 Mr. Henry G. Appenzeller and Dr. W. B. 
 Scranton, both representing the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church in America, sailed from San 
 
RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 131 
 
 Francisco for Korea. The first Presbyterian 
 missionary for the evangelistic work, the Rev. 
 Mr. (later Dr.) Horace G. Underwood, arrived 
 in Seoul the same year. 
 
 Medical work was the entering wedge, then 
 education followed, and then the evangelistic 
 work as such gained a foothold. The story how 
 Dr. Allen gained a way to the presence of the 
 King by saving the life of Mr. Min Yung Ik, 
 the Queen's cousin, is a familiar story now. 
 At any rate, a hospital was started under 
 government auspices with Dr. Allen at the 
 head of it. It was christened "Che-Choong 
 Won," or "the Multitude-Saving Bureau." 
 
 In what way is the modern hospital under 
 Christian management a democratizing agency? 
 The answer is simple. Probably the class 
 distinction that was many centuries old re- 
 ceived its first shock in the dispensary and 
 operating room of this institution. It is also 
 probable that the first gentle touch that has 
 led to the process of doing away with the 
 seclusion of women, and that is leading to the 
 demand for equal rights for women, was felt 
 here. The doctrine that all men are born 
 equal was not preached here, but it was lived 
 here; and all those who came to this place 
 had to breathe and move about in the same 
 atmosphere. A slave and master received the 
 
132 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 same kind of medical treatment, the same 
 professional care and attention and the same 
 personal regard, because to the Christian 
 doctor they are both his brothers. His Chris- 
 tian ethical standard made him without know- 
 ing to show greater deference to the weaker 
 sex, however beggarly the person might have 
 happened to be. He may not even have 
 dreamed of the import of what he was doing 
 and of what the future effect would be, but 
 the little leaven of a tremendous principle 
 (equality) slipped in without having anybody's 
 eyes raised. 
 
 There are numerous such seemingly trivial 
 yet really significant instances that can be 
 properly cited. Take, for instance, the family 
 life of the missionary, contrasted with that of 
 the people. What he first found was the old 
 patriarchal family. In this religio-legal family, 
 the father holds the supreme authority over the 
 entire household. Austerity is the pervading 
 atmosphere and obedience the paramount vir- 
 tue. The father's wisdom never must be 
 questioned and his judgment must be taken 
 as law. Any manifestation of romanticism is 
 frivolity, and a show of family affection is 
 considered unmanly. The marriage is ar- 
 ranged by the elders, the bride and groom 
 having no opportunity to see each other be- 
 
RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 133 
 
 fore the wedding ceremony. Even after mar- 
 riage, for decades, as long as the parents are 
 living, they are nothing more than mere 
 acquaintances to each other, and it is a viola- 
 tion of good form to speak to each other before 
 parents. This follows out from the careful 
 interpretation of the Five Moral Principles of 
 Mancius, one of which is that "there must 
 be distinction between husband and wife." 
 
 Imagine the contrast between this and the 
 "romantic family" the missionary brings into 
 the land. The very expression he and his 
 wife wear when they see each other is a con- 
 trast. Wherever they go, or whatever they 
 do, their presence and their action preach, 
 though silently and unconsciously, a social 
 evolution and revolution. The people with 
 whom they come in daily contact cannot help 
 observing, and if there is anything that is 
 good and beautiful, they cannot fail to adopt 
 it in their own lives. 
 
 The next thing after the medical was the 
 educational work. Letting in the light and 
 knowledge and dispelling the darkness and 
 ignorance are the fundamental duties of Chris- 
 tians. Furthermore, the pioneer missionaries 
 saw that education would be the most effective 
 and lasting channel through which their faith 
 could be propagated. So in the year 1885, 
 
134 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 the first Christian school came into being and 
 was formally opened in 1886 in a newly built 
 modern brick building, under the King's own 
 patronage. He gave the name Pai Chai 
 Eaktang, the "Hall for the Rearing of Useful 
 Men." Mr. Appenzeller, the Methodist pio- 
 neer, was the founder and became the first 
 principal of the school. 
 
 Of all the Christian institutions, perhaps this 
 school has done more than any other in usher- 
 ing in the agencies and instruments that 
 helped the people to gain the knowledge of 
 modern democratic ideals. As an industrial 
 department of the school to help students of 
 needy circumstances, a modern printing and 
 publishing work in three languages — Korean, 
 English, and Chinese — was started. It was 
 the first of its kind at that time. This press 
 published the first English monthly, The 
 Korean Repository, in Korea. A little later 
 the first Korean weeklies, the Korean Advocate 
 and the Mutual Friendship Weekly, were pub- 
 lished, the latter by the students for the general 
 public as well as for themselves. Soon after 
 that the first Korean daily paper was started 
 by the faculty and the students of the school. 
 
 In the halls of this school the first public 
 lectures were given under the leadership of Dr. 
 Philip Jaisohn, now in Philadelphia, and these 
 
RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 135 
 
 lectures grew out into the formation of the 
 famous Independence Club, which played so 
 important and dramatic a part in infusing the 
 principles of democracy and patriotism in the 
 hearts of the Koreans during the latter years 
 of the 90's. Hundreds of young men, after 
 once pasing through the halls of this school, 
 wherever they went, have been walking testi- 
 monies for the excellence of Christian and 
 democratic ideals. 
 
 The reasons are not far to seek. If a man 
 is at all sincere, he cannot be a Christian and 
 at the same time not be democratic in spirit. 
 "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" were the 
 great political principles during the bio dy 
 French Revolution. They were preached to 
 frenzied mobs, and in their name many horrible 
 works have been wrought. But where have 
 those principles originated, and what more 
 effective and wholesome method of producing 
 a firm conviction is there than that of a man 
 sitting down quietly and calmly meditating 
 over the Golden Rule? Fraternity is there 
 when one is taught to love one's enemy. Equal- 
 ity is there when one is told that there is only 
 one Master, and that if any man would be 
 first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all. 
 Liberty is there when one is told to gain free- 
 dom from self and make one's righteousness 
 
136 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 exceed that of those who fulfill only the letter 
 of the law. 
 
 This revolutionizing effect of the Christian 
 educational work is not only true in the case 
 of young men, but it is equally so with the 
 young girls and women. The pioneer Christian 
 education of women was undertaken by Mrs. 
 F. M. Scranton in Seoul under the auspices 
 of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. The school 
 opened about the year 1885, and it was named 
 the Ewha Haktang, or the "Pear Blossom 
 School," the ground upon which the school 
 stands having once been occupied by a noble- 
 man's villa of that same name. Through the 
 transforming influence of this and other sim- 
 ilar institutions that followed during the later 
 years, the meaning and outlook of women's 
 lives have been greatly changed and broad- 
 ened. Instead of "reverence to ancestors and 
 hospitality to guests" being almost the sole 
 duties of women, other things that make life 
 worth while have been added. They have 
 come to the point where they feel that knowl- 
 edge is just as important to them as to men 
 for the full enjoyment and development of 
 life. They have to a large measure restored 
 to music and art the place of honor and re- 
 spect which it once occupied in the life of 
 
RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 137 
 
 noble women, but had been neglected and 
 lost during the latter years. 
 
 It has been distinctly fortunate for Korea 
 that the leadership in the broadening of the 
 sphere of women has been taken by the Chris- 
 tian women, and all the quiet but effective 
 transforming movements went hand in hand 
 with Christian service of one form or another, 
 because without the association of the Chris- 
 tian virtues the result might have been dis- 
 astrous to the edification of homes. 
 
 There are other schools established by the 
 Presbyterian Church in different parts of the 
 country. The most notable among them are 
 the John D. Wells Academy and the Woman's 
 Academy in Seoul, the former started by the 
 late Dr. Horace G. Underwood; the Pyeng 
 Yang Christian College; and, more recently, 
 there have developed under union management 
 the Severance Medical College and the Chosen 
 Christian College, both under the presidency 
 of Dr. O. R. Avison. All these schools have 
 exerted and continue to exert a powerful in- 
 fluence of Christian democracy upon the lives 
 of young men and women. All these men and 
 women who devoted so many years of the 
 best part of their lives in the advancement of 
 knowledge of the Korean youths have shown 
 conscientious scruples with regard to direct 
 
138 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 meddling with things political. They have 
 been teachers of great truths of eternal and 
 world values, but they always refrained from 
 being iconoclastic reformers. They have taught 
 the truth regardless of applications, which were 
 wisely left with those who received the teach- 
 ing. During the twenty-five years of more 
 or less close association with them the writer 
 never once has heard a missionary giving advice 
 as to what political course one should take, 
 even when such an advice is asked for. 
 
 Chronologically, next after the schools is the 
 evangelistic work proper. In the case of the 
 Methodist Church the first church organiza- 
 tion was formed in the chapel of the school, 
 namely, the Pai Chai School. A nucleus was 
 formed in the school with the students and 
 their friends, and it later developed into a 
 church, the First Methodist Episcopal Church 
 of Seoul, from which grew other churches in 
 the city and in the outlying districts. Even 
 to this date schools form the most powerful 
 link between the church and the non-Christian 
 community in a given area. During the re- 
 cent years, the inability to support a church 
 school has proven to be a great handicap to 
 the evangelistic work. If the evangelistic work 
 is going to have its full scope, all the church 
 schools, both primary and higher, must be 
 

 RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 139 
 
 retained, and the facilities enlarged. This re- 
 tention and enlargement are justifiable as long 
 as the government is not in a position to make 
 provision for universal education of children 
 possible and are permissible as long as nothing 
 but education pure and simple is given 
 therein. 
 
 Soon after the effective organization of the 
 churches with strong and nascent constituency 
 — that is, since the beginning of the present 
 century — the growth of the evangelistic work 
 has been phenomenal, and it is quite well 
 known throughout the world. From an abso- 
 lute nothing thirty-five years ago to 300,000 
 now is remarkable indeed. Korea has more 
 Christians in proportion than either China or 
 Japan has — in fact, than any other country in 
 the Orient. The Protestant work in China dates 
 back to 1807, whereas in Korea only to 1884. 
 According to the latest statistics available, 
 China has a missionary body of 5,517, while 
 Korea has less than 400. Yet, the Christian 
 population in China is only 511,142 out of a 
 total population of nearly 400,000,000. That 
 means that China has one Protestant Christian 
 in every 800 of her population, and that Korea 
 has one in every 55. 
 
 What is the secret of the extraordinary 
 growth? Various answers have been given, and 
 
140 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 certain insinuations have not been lacking, as 
 it already has been touched upon; but the 
 writer will try to state his own answer as a 
 Korean in the light of what he knows and what 
 he has experienced. 
 
 First, Christian teaching makes for an 
 abundant life. The hospitals, the schools for 
 both men and women, the splendid ways of 
 organization, the periodicals, the literature and 
 art, and a host of other things that help to 
 make life full and interesting have followed 
 the train of Christianity. These are the things 
 that help to make life happy and worth while, 
 whether we call them democratic institutions 
 or by any other name. Whether the question 
 that they grew out of the Christian religion is 
 debatable or not, they are now the part and 
 parcel of the church, and wherever the church 
 goes they follow. 
 
 Second, Christianity recognizes the personal- 
 ism of individuals. Man is not merely a part 
 of a mass of humanity, but he has his own 
 peculiar personality distinct from any other's, 
 and that personality is in the final analysis 
 solely responsible to the Supreme Being. Every 
 person has his worth, his rights, and duties. 
 This is a mighty germ for liberalism and de- 
 mocracy. This helps one to find one's own 
 place in the world scheme of things, and it 
 
RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 141 
 
 compels one to recognize and respect the per- 
 sonality of others. This doctrine is not in- 
 terested in any political or social idea of a 
 given period, but it holds up a lofty ideal for 
 the whole of humanity to reach approximately. 
 This doctrine abolishes slavery without antag- 
 onizing it, it removes oppression without draw- 
 ing a sword, and it steadies radicalism without 
 being reactionary. 
 
 Third, Christianity gives an undying faith 
 and a living hope. This universe, according 
 to Christianity, has not been brought about by 
 spontaneity and is not sustained spontaneously, 
 but there is a Master Mind, which is con- 
 stantly evolving this order of things to a some- 
 thing better and higher. That gives the 
 Korean mind something to depend on. To the 
 Koreans the outside circumstances look black 
 enough, but once they get this eternal faith 
 and hope that good will come out of all these 
 evils, that right will make might, that their 
 triumph will come when the Master Mind 
 triumphs, and that there is a great future 
 awaiting everybody, their immediate difficulties 
 seem trivial, discouragement vanishes, and life's 
 outlook seems bright to them. 
 
 Fourth, Christianity teaches self-sacrifice for 
 the fulfillment of life's mission. Up to the 
 time when Christianity came, the mental 
 
142 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 horizon of the Korean people was rather cir- 
 cumscribed within the geographical limits of 
 the three seas and the Ever- White Mountains. 
 We were hermits within those limits, and isola- 
 tion was quite Utopian. But Christianity 
 comes and teaches that every life, individual 
 or national, has a mission — "Go ye therefore 
 and teach all nations, . . . teaching them to 
 observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
 manded you"; and this must be done by self- 
 sacrificing love. This lifts the Koreans from 
 an isolated self-centered life to the world life. 
 They are to take a place in the affairs of the 
 world, they are interested in the welfare and 
 advancement of other peoples, and they are 
 eager to contribute toward the common good 
 of the whole humanity. While they think of 
 helping others pari passu they help themselves. 
 This shifting of thought center from self to 
 the world is the greatest blessing Korea has 
 received from Christianity, and this will lead 
 to the complete transformation of the religious, 
 social, and political life of the whole East. 
 
 All the potent factors that enter into the 
 teachings of the Son of man, only a few of 
 which are enumerated above, have been the 
 vital and transforming forces that worked 
 silently and unostentatiously upon the minds 
 of the Korean people, who in due time have 
 

 RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 143 
 
 arrived at the place where they are conscious 
 of the necessity of appropriating those forces 
 for their advancement and the world's better- 
 ment. Such a consciousness and desire are the 
 logical and inevitable result of the teaching 
 of the eternal truth. 
 
 This emphasis upon the potency of Chris- 
 tianity, and its inevitable realization in the 
 lives of the people, which have characterized 
 the missionary enterprise during the last three 
 decades in the "Land of Morning Splendor," 
 must not be understood as saying that aside 
 from the Christian movement there has been 
 none other which directly promoted the demo- 
 cratic ideals, for there have been many with 
 varying degrees of success. They have become 
 a part of the Korean and Eastern history, and 
 they need not be detailed here, but a mere 
 indication of a few of them seems proper. 
 
 In the year 1884 a group of young and pro- 
 gressive men conceived of a plan to free Korea 
 from all foreign influences. Both Japan and 
 the United States officially recognized the inde- 
 pendence and integrity of Korea, but the 
 historical relation with China was still a 
 mooted question. Yuan Shih Kai was the 
 Chinese envoy to the Korean Court, and his 
 personal influence and official prestige were 
 quite strong. The young and ardent patriots 
 
144 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 were impatient with the situation, and were 
 determined to overthrow the influence of 
 China. In trying to do so they adopted a 
 wrong method. Instead of taking time to 
 build up a strong and healthy constituency 
 which will ultimately overwhelm the con- 
 servatives who favored China, they planned a 
 coup d'etat, by which they endeavored to ex- 
 terminate the conservatives and cast out the 
 Chinese shadow. A company of men, pro- 
 gressive and sincere, led by Mr. Kim Ok-Kiun, 
 Prince Park Yung Hio, Soh Kwang-Pum, Soh 
 Chai-Pil (Dr. Philip Jaisohn), Hong Yungsic, 
 and Cynn Chwa-Mo, took possession of the 
 person of the King with the aid of the Japanese 
 and tried to change everything at one stroke. 
 The Korean military were not with them, the 
 people took alarm and sided with the conserva- 
 tives, and the Chinese were stronger and better 
 prepared than the Japanese. Consequently, 
 after a bloody struggle of a few hours, the pro- 
 gressives were ousted and outlawed. Hong and 
 Cynn were killed in the fray, and of the remain- 
 der nearly all escaped to Japan, and a few 
 went to the United States. This gave an 
 undisputed advantage to Japan over China, 
 and later over Russia, as a nation that espoused 
 the cause of progress and freedom before the 
 eyes of the world. Their ardent love for 
 
RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 145 
 
 their country and their sacrifices were un- 
 wittingly turned into plowing a fertile field 
 for the crop of a third party! 
 
 In 1894, when the Chino- Japanese War was 
 fought, Prince Park returned, and others soon 
 followed, excepting Mr. Kim Ok-Kiun, the 
 arch-patriot of Korea, who was brutally mur- 
 dered in Shanghai the year before. These 
 men introduced remarkable reforms, and their 
 achievements are of lasting value, but their 
 hands were not entirely free. After a few 
 months, Prince Park had to leave the country 
 again, and men more amenable to the wishes 
 of the power behind the scene took his place. 
 Mr. Soh Kwang-Pum also left the country as 
 Korea's minister to Washington. Dr. Jaisohn 
 remained a few years longer, having started a 
 bilingual daily (Korean and English) called 
 The Independent, and also having organized the 
 Independence Club. But it was not very long 
 before he had to leave also. He intrusted his 
 paper to Mr. Yun Chi-Ho, a tried Christian 
 and a leader of balanced judgment, and left 
 the country with his family for America. The 
 Russian Czarism was getting stronger and 
 stronger in the politics of the Orient, and the 
 democratic movement in Korea was getting 
 its full effect. The Independence Club was 
 soon dissolved, and many of its members were 
 
 
146 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 imprisoned and killed. Among them probably 
 the most notable one is Dr. Rhee Syngman, 
 whom the present movement has chosen to 
 be the President of the Provisional Govern- 
 ment. Owing directly to his activities in the 
 Independence Club he was imprisoned for life, 
 but was released in 1904 when the Russians 
 were defeated. 
 
 From 1904 until 1910 the democratic move- 
 ment acquired a new energy, and it was grow- 
 ing rapidly. Newspapers and magazines rose 
 here and there in rapid succession, literally 
 thousands of schools were established all over 
 the country by private persons, and asso- 
 ciations looking toward the promotion and 
 strengthening of the welfare of the people and 
 the country were formed with great enthusiasm 
 in all the important centers. The former 
 leaders of the Independence Club rallied them- 
 selves and organized what was called Cha-Kang 
 Hoi, or the "Self -Efficiency Association," with 
 Mr. Yun Chi-Ho as their president. This and 
 other associations moved the people tremen- 
 dously to come to a social and national con- 
 sciousness. One of the most sturdy and 
 conspicuous leaders in these and the previous 
 movements is Mr. Yi Sang-Chai. An Amer- 
 ican who is a great leader in the Christian 
 movement in America and the Orient once 
 
RISE OF DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT 147 
 
 said to the writer that in his opinion Mr. Yi 
 was one of the greatest men in the world, and 
 now foreign opinion is fast coming to the same 
 conclusion. A fearless and rugged character is 
 his, and though he embraced Christianity in 
 his late years — for he is an old man — he is one 
 of the most inflexible yet the sunniest Christian 
 one can meet anywhere. His fearlessness and 
 humor were illustrated in his answer to the 
 secret agent, as briefly narrated in a previous 
 chapter. 
 
 All these movements came to a sudden stop 
 in the fall of the year 1910, when the country 
 was annexed to Japan and a rigorous military 
 regime inaugurated. Liberalism was taboo, 
 and the machinery and agencies of democracy 
 were systematically suppressed. All associa- 
 tions have been dissolved, all newspapers have 
 been suppressed, all voices and writings on 
 political matters silenced and stopped; even 
 schools were feared to have any political lean- 
 ing, and, therefore, certain circumstances were 
 created which led to their gradual elimination. 
 
 There are other factors besides those which 
 have been given in the preceding three chapters 
 that enter into the causes of the Korean up- 
 rising, but in the main they are the chief and 
 immediate factors. The outcome of the World 
 War has been alluded to in the first chapter 
 
148 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 in an incidental way, and much more might be 
 said along that line, but, in the opinion of the 
 writer, the victory of the Allies, though it had a 
 great influence upon the Koreans, such influence 
 was that of hastening the awakening rather than 
 giving cause to it. In other words, whether 
 there had been a war and a victory of the world 
 democracy or not, the Koreans could not go 
 on much longer with their stifled aspirations. 
 The situation might be likened to water in a 
 vessel, which when heated to its evaporating 
 point, will throw off any lid, no matter how 
 heavy it may be. 
 
PART THREE 
 CONCLUSION 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 
 
 The natural question that rises in one's 
 mind after these analyses is, Why is Japan in 
 Korea? Japan claims that her occupation of 
 that country has been costly to her both in 
 money and in man-power. The initial cost of 
 the coup that brought about the "Union" was 
 twenty million yen, and she has two divisions 
 of her army garrisoned in Korea. Since the 
 outbreak she has sent six battalions in addition. 
 Recent reports say that fifteen hundred police 
 have been asked to be sent from Japan to 
 reenforce some fourteen thousand police and 
 gendarmes that are already there. She has 
 in the meantime received some very strong 
 criticisms and condemnation from the out- 
 side world on account of her administration of 
 Korea. Why, then, is she so determined in 
 holding on to the possession of the peninsula? 
 
 As far as the official explanations go, they 
 vary according to the exigencies of the times. 
 Up to the middle 90's it was claimed that 
 Japan's noble and broad altruistic instinct 
 could not let her sit complacently by and see 
 Korea laboring under the old conservative 
 
 151 
 
152 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 influences. It was said that she was getting 
 the full blessing of the Western civilization as 
 a result of her early and ready intercourse with 
 America and European nations; and Korean 
 reformers were told that the first step toward 
 an unhampered progress was the total separa- 
 tion from the Chinese. Then, and only then, 
 the three countries could maintain a tripodal 
 relation of perfect harmony, and the peaceful 
 development of the East would be assured. 
 Before the outside nations Japan was an 
 apostle of the Western enlightenment and an 
 exponent of the most progressive ideals. She 
 was their spokesman and messenger, and, 
 therefore, to them it seemed natural that she 
 should be so solicitous about the welfare of a 
 neighboring country, and her disinterested good 
 will was to be greatly praised. 
 
 After 1895, when the Chino- Japanese war was 
 fought and won, the official countenance 
 changed its complexion somewhat. Now it 
 was said that the independence and integrity 
 of Korea must be preserved, because a buffer- 
 state was needed between China, Russia, and 
 Japan for the defense of Nippon. In this her 
 profession of altruism was in a degree weak- 
 ened. The situation gradually developed into 
 a tug-of-war between herself and Russia. The 
 initial mistake was made by Japan in her 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 153 
 
 dealings with Korea. Instead of pursuing a 
 broad and sympathetic policy, she tried from 
 the beginning to control everything herself. 
 She appointed her "advisers" to all the depart- 
 ments in the Korean government. Her mili- 
 tary masters drilled the Korean army, her 
 agents controlled the finance, communication, 
 and the police. On account of the uncom- 
 promising attitude of the Korean Queen, she 
 was removed in a most horrible manner. All 
 these acts created an opposite effect on the 
 Koreans. Inexcusable as it was, the King 
 felt that anything was better than the circum- 
 stances under which he was placed, so he fled 
 into the open arms of the unscrupulous and 
 ambitious Russians. This fatal act ushered in 
 the ascendence of the Russian influence and 
 caused the total expulsion of the Japanese 
 from the places of importance for the time 
 being. Japan's defeat at the hand of Russia, 
 as one of the three nations which protested 
 against her taking Liao-tung from China, and 
 her discomfiture in Korea at the same hand 
 have worked as a cumulative cause of the 
 Russo-Japanese War in 1904. There is no 
 intention of condoning the wantonness of the 
 Russians or of belittling the significance of 
 the flight of the Korean Emperor, but a future 
 historian might well make a query as to whether 
 
154. THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Japan could not have avoided the war, which 
 was so costly in blood and wealth, and removed 
 the need of all the subsequent troubles, including 
 the present one in Korea and in China, if she 
 had followed a different policy — a policy of 
 genuine magnanimity and good will toward 
 her neighbors — immediately after the war in 
 1894. Until her own aggressiveness embittered 
 the minds of the progressive leaders of Korea, 
 the new Japan had the confidence of the 
 Koreans. They were willing to forget the 
 invasion of 1592, and were ready to join hands 
 in the forward march. Her open espousal of 
 the cause of Korea was taken as sincere by the 
 Koreans as well as by other peoples. But it 
 is always the same mistake that brings dis- 
 aster to her, namely, her inability to overlook 
 petty interests for the fulfillment of larger 
 things. The same dominating instinct that 
 urges that even a railway porter must be a 
 Japanese is manifest in all her political deal- 
 ings. 
 
 In 1904 the great war between Russia and 
 Japan was fought, and the latter came out 
 a victor. In the consequent treaty at Ports- 
 mouth she gained Russia's acknowledgment of 
 her "preponderating interest" in Korea. Al- 
 most immediately after this the immigration 
 question suddenly began to loom up before the 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 155 
 
 Japanese and the American public. The San 
 Francisco school question served as a good 
 prelude, and it proved itself to be a very 
 opportune one. The official reason of Japan's 
 interest in Korea changed its complexion once 
 more. Japan was growing rapidly in popula- 
 tion, and her territory was too congested 
 already. She must have more room, and since 
 America does not want her overflowing popu- 
 lation to migrate to the Pacific Coast, she 
 must go to Korea and Manchuria. The 
 argument seemed logical, and it was held that 
 if she went to those places the immigration 
 question would be at once settled for all times. 
 Whether that was considered so or not, Pres- 
 ident Roosevelt was the first to withdraw the 
 legation from the Korean capital in 1907. 
 Subsequent events have proven that the Amer- 
 ican immigration question was not solved then, 
 and it is not solved yet. 
 
 Let us study this problem of colonizing the 
 "unoccupied" lands in Korea and Manchuria 
 by the Japanese at a close range, to see whether 
 Japan's occupation of the peninsula can be 
 for that reason or not. 
 
 Has Japan reached the maximum degree of 
 the cultivation of her land so that she cannot 
 find any room anywhere except by going to 
 some other country? Some eminent author- 
 
156 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 ities, who can be taken as competent judges 
 on agricultural questions of this nature, do not 
 think so. The late Professor F. H. King, of 
 the University of Wisconsin, in Farmers of 
 Forty Centuries, page 425, as quoted by Bishop 
 Bashford in his monumental work China: An 
 Interpretation, speaks as follows: 
 
 "If all lands having slope of less than fifteen 
 degrees may be tilled, there yet remains in the 
 four main islands of Japan as much as sixty- 
 five per cent of the uncultivated land which 
 may yet be brought under cultivation. If 
 the new lands to be reclaimed can be made 
 as productive as those in use, there shall be 
 an opportunity for an increase in population 
 to the extent of about 35,000,000 people. 
 While the lands remaining to be reclaimed 
 are not as inherently productive as those now 
 in use, improvement in management will more 
 than compensate for this difference; and the 
 empire is quite certain to double its present 
 maintenance capacity and provide for at least 
 100,000,000 people in the four islands with 
 many more comforts than they now enjoy." 
 
 On the other hand, what is the feeling of 
 the Japanese people, the agricultural class, 
 with regard to the question of emigrating to 
 these areas in the East? Whatever argu- 
 ments the publicists may put forward to the 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 157 
 
 contrary, the facts stand that the Japanese 
 farmers have not responded to any appreciable 
 degree to the call of "new" opportunities in 
 these countries. There are at least four rea- 
 sons why they are apathetic to the efforts 
 for colonization on the part of their govern- 
 ment. 
 
 First. There is the reason of climatic differ- 
 ence. Japan is a warmer country than either 
 Korea or Manchuria, and the Japanese as a rule 
 cannot stand the severely cold weather prevail- 
 ing invariably in Manchuria and frequently in 
 Korea. Through the powerfully subsidized 
 Oriental Colonization Company many induce- 
 ments are offered to the settler, such as leasing 
 the former Korean state land on small rents, 
 together with some cash capital and an option 
 of letting the rest go into the payment for the 
 land in case he should decide to buy it after 
 so many years, but excepting in the southern 
 provinces of Korea the offer has been very 
 little taken advantage of. In the central and 
 northern provinces it has been the large land- 
 owners of Japan who acquired large tracts 
 of farming land either through the above- 
 named organization or by reclamation under- 
 takings. Men like Prince Tokugawa, of Tokyo, 
 are said to own a great deal of land near 
 Chemulpo and elsewhere, but the number of 
 
158 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 small farmers who own and cultivate the land 
 in Korea is quite negligible. 
 
 Second. There is the reason of economic 
 disadvantage. The price of labor is cheaper 
 in Korea than in Japan, and the cost of living 
 is even higher to them in some cases, because 
 they want many things that are made in their 
 own country and imported to Korea. Further- 
 more, as soon as they are placed on equal 
 footing with the Korean people they lose out 
 in competition. Without the tacit and open 
 preferential treatment they get under the 
 officials of their own nationality they are at 
 a decided disadvantage. Prince Ito is said 
 to have acknowledged that long ago while 
 he was living; and Professor Iyenaga, "the unoffi- 
 cial spokesman of Japan," has been quoted by 
 Bishop Bashford in his book, giving expression 
 to the same opinion of his people in comparison 
 with the Chinese in Manchuria. Whether the 
 authoritative opinions of the Japanese agree 
 or not on this point, the Koreans do not fear 
 the Japanese competition, if they can be 
 assured of being left to their own individual 
 resources. 
 
 Third. There is the reason of the subor- 
 dination of the industrial, agricultural, and 
 commercial to the political considerations on 
 the part of the government officials. Con- 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 159 
 
 sequently, greater degree of limitation and 
 more "red tape" are met with by them in 
 Korea than in Japan. The Japanese them- 
 selves often complain that their government in 
 Korea is far more regulative and paternalistic 
 than their government in Japan, and that 
 nothing is left to personal initiative. 
 
 Fourth. There is the reason of the clan 
 psychology of the Japanese people. They are 
 so attached to their native land and to their 
 kinsfolk that they cannot think of permanently 
 settling in another country. They may go to 
 Korea or Manchuria, the United States or 
 Canada, Mexico or South America, but always 
 to earn money and return to Japan in the end. 
 In this they cannot be blamed, because it is 
 natural for them to wish to go back to their 
 native land, in which they take a great pride, 
 and live in opulence and honor rather than 
 remain alien throughout life and fill an un- 
 known grave in death. Nor must the fact 
 be lost sight of that to change the local con- 
 ditions of all those parts of the world where 
 they go to the degree of their own satisfaction 
 in compelling the inhabitants of those local- 
 ities to accord them the places of honor and 
 respect is a task that is as yet remote from 
 realization. 
 
 It must be plain from these facts, together 
 
160 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 with the official statistics, which have shown 
 us that during all these years there have been 
 not more than three hundred and twenty 
 thousand Japanese of all classes in the penin- 
 sula, that the plea for more room for the 
 "overflowing" population cannot be a serious 
 one. The extent of her own land-cultivation, 
 the climatic and economic disadvantage (if 
 unaided) in Korea, and then her people's 
 psychological consideration would naturally 
 lead her to more extensive and intensive farm- 
 ing of the four main islands, if the agricultural 
 question purely is reflected upon. Further- 
 more, Japan is fast developing into an indus- 
 trial country, and in order to get the raw 
 material for her industries she needs the good 
 will of her neighbors rather than their lands. 
 
 Then, why is it she feels that she must have 
 a foothold upon the Continent at such a 
 cost and at the risk of a permanent alienation 
 of the good wishes of her friends, who are 
 beginning so severely to criticize her on ac- 
 count of her recent acts in Korea? China is 
 at the present moment rent in internal dis- 
 sension, and it will be many years before she 
 will be strong enough to be reckoned as a 
 menace to Japan, even if she were inclined to 
 act aggressively. The Russian bogy has long 
 passed into oblivion. No stretch of imagina- 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 161 
 
 tion can make one believe that the United 
 States, for some reasons now inconceivable but 
 which may develop in the future, would mo- 
 bilize her troops over Alaska, cross the Bering 
 Strait, come down through the Pacific littoral 
 provinces of Siberia, occupy Korea and thrust 
 "an arrow into the heart of Japan." Grant- 
 ing, for the sake of argument, that America 
 could and would do that, Japan is well able 
 to defend herself on her own ground. She has 
 a well-disciplined army of 21 corps (42 di- 
 visions), and the total strength of her field 
 army is taken at about 600,000 combatants. 
 
 On the other hand, is there a possible danger 
 of a foreign navy breaking through the Jap- 
 anese Sea forces and occupying the Korean 
 peninsula, thereby endangering the existence 
 of Japan? Without doubt Japan has the 
 strongest navy on the Pacific, besides her five 
 naval bases and fortified zones. The follow- 
 ing table may be of interest to those who wish 
 to make comparisons: 
 
 A Statement of the Japanese Fleet Similar to 
 That Given for Others 1 
 
 Completed at the end of 
 1917 1918 1919 ? 
 
 Dreadnoughts 10 10 9 13 
 
 Pre-Dreadnoughts 13 13 13 13 
 
 x The Statesman's Year-Book, 1919. 
 
12 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 67 
 
 92 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 18 
 
 39 
 
 162 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Completed at the end of 
 1917 1918 1919 
 
 Armored Cruisers 13 
 
 Light Cruisers 13 
 
 Torpedo Gunboats, Scouts, 
 
 Etc 5 
 
 Destroyers 62 
 
 Torpedo Boats 26 
 
 Submarines 16 
 
 Of the dreadnoughts there are four that have 
 a speed of 27 knots, and another four that have 
 each a main armament of twelve 14-inch guns. 
 The four that are being built now will each 
 have eight 16-inch guns, with a displacement 
 of 32,000 tons. 
 
 The only other navy on the Pacific is that 
 of the United States, and, even though no rea- 
 sonable person could foresee any possible con- 
 tact between the two, a study of the composition 
 of the American navy is of some interest: 
 
 A Classified Statement of the Strength of the 
 U. S. Navy on December 31 
 
 1916 
 
 Dreadnoughts 13 
 
 Pre-Dreadnoughts 23 
 
 Armored Cruisers 10 
 
 1st, 2d and 3d Class Cruisers 27 
 
 Monitors 7 
 
 Destroyers 50 
 
 Coastal Destroyers 16 
 
 Torpedo Boats 19 
 
 Submarines 48 
 
 Effective at end of 
 
 
 1917 
 
 1918 
 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 19 23 
 
 23 
 
 23 
 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 
 27 
 
 26 
 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 
 58 
 
 90? 
 
 
 16 
 
 20 
 
 
 19 
 
 19 
 
 
 66 
 
 92? 
 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 163 
 
 Of the dreadnoughts there are five that have 
 each an armament of twelve 14-inch guns, a 
 speed of 21 knots, and displacement of 32,000 
 to 32,300 tons. The four battleships that are 
 being built now will each mount eight 16-inch 
 guns, and are designed to have a speed of 
 21 knots. There are six battle-cruisers that 
 will have, when built, each a main armament 
 of eight 16-inch guns and a speed of 35 knots. 
 
 The United States navy as a whole is larger 
 than that of Japan, but when it is divided into 
 two equal parts, one for the Atlantic and 
 another for the Pacific, each fleet will be 
 considerably smaller. At the present there 
 are three fleets, namely, the Atlantic and the 
 Pacific Fleet of equal strength, and a small 
 Asiatic Fleet. 
 
 The foregoing has, again, proven to us that 
 Japan's desire to hold on to a territory on the 
 Continent cannot be out of fear of a possible 
 attack from a third power that may be made 
 upon her by first occupying that territory 
 either by land or sea. If it is mainly neither 
 for colonization nor for defense of her empire, 
 what, then, is the controlling object? 
 
 The history of Japan's soul-pervading object 
 that is seen to be the animating spirit of all 
 the political actions in her international rela- 
 tions in the Orient dates back to the time 
 
164 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 of Hideyoshi, if not, indeed, earlier. It must 
 be remembered that his ultimate aim was to 
 conquer China, and that Korea was attacked 
 in 1592, when he was refused the right of way 
 through the peninsula to China. To keep 
 faith with China and to preserve her honor, 
 Korea chose the harder road, which led her 
 to the complete exhaustion from which she 
 never has been able sufficiently to recuperate. 
 What a parallel in the circumstances between 
 this war and the more recent and greater one 
 in Europe! After eight years of hard struggle 
 the allied armies of China and Korea drove 
 the invaders to their island homes. But 
 Japan's object to be some day the dominant 
 factor does not seem ever to have been re- 
 linquished. Fortune smiled upon her in the 
 nineteenth century by letting her come in 
 early contact with the Western civilization, and 
 she has acquired the modern method by which 
 she can enforce her will upon her neighboring 
 peoples. Her object is apparently the hegemony 
 of Asia, and her desire to have a territorial 
 foothold upon the Continent lends itself to 
 appear as for nothing else but to have a step- 
 ping-stone for her final goal. 
 
 This may be an obsolete idea in these modern 
 times, but the Japanese militarists seem to be 
 imbued with that idea of pan-Asian empire, or 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 165 
 
 a world-empire, as all militarists are, and Korea 
 lies on their way now as she did over three 
 hundred years ago. From this one idea have 
 resulted all the things that have been touched 
 upon in the preceding chapters. This idea 
 has been found to be the central thought in 
 her administration in Korea. The laws, the 
 educational system, the police system, the 
 indirect encouragement of Shintoistic ideas and 
 usages all had their bearing upon this con- 
 suming object. Koreans, to these militarists, 
 must be "amalgamated" with the Japanese 
 so that they shall be an asset to their plans, 
 but in the meantime they must be kept down 
 so that nothing vital to the attainment of that 
 object should be interfered with or risked. 
 
 When the present uprising started, the mil- 
 itarists thought that it must be put down at 
 the earliest moment, no matter what it cost. 
 Terrorism was employed, because they hoped 
 to cow the people to submission in the twinkling 
 of an eye, and thereby occasion the least dam- 
 age to their cause. It is perfectly reasonable 
 to suppose that, if they had thought that 
 some other method would bring about a speedier 
 result and at the same time would have accel- 
 erated the fulfillment of their dream, they 
 would without a doubt have employed that. 
 The apparent concession they have made with 
 
166 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Premier Hara may also be viewed in that 
 light. If the Korean uprising had occurred 
 during the time when Prussian militarism had 
 its way, it wquld in all probability have fared 
 even worse than it has; but now, since democ- 
 racy is in ascendance, a belated reform is 
 talked of. In other words, this military impe- 
 rialism is a heartless thing, and one that always 
 chooses the line of least resistance to its goal. 
 
 The statement made public by Premier Hara 
 sounds fair to an outsider, and it promises 
 various changes. He owns the guilt of the 
 military that has done the massacring and 
 burning and says that the gendarmes will be 
 removed in a qualified way. He also says 
 that in due course Korea is to be treated in all 
 respects as being on the same footing with 
 Japan, but is there in the whole of his lengthy 
 statement anything that indicates a change in 
 the main issue — that Koreans are to be recog- 
 nized as a people with history and aspiration 
 and are to be allowed further to develop their 
 civilization for the benefit of humanity at 
 large? Or is it simply that another cloak is 
 to be put on them to act as a convenient help 
 in her push toward the long-cherished object? 
 The statement itself follows: 
 
 Nearly ten years have elapsed since Korea was in- 
 corporated into the Empire of Japan, and in view of 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 167 
 
 significant changes which meanwhile have presented 
 themselves in the conditions of the country, a plan of 
 various reforms in the Korean administrative system for 
 some time has been engaging my attention. Unfor- 
 tunately, in March last disturbances broke out in several 
 parts of the peninsula which for obvious reasons have 
 retarded the introduction of the contemplated reforms. 
 It will not be necessary at this moment to file a full ac- 
 count of those disturbances. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that, as is generally the 
 case under the circumstances, they gave birth to wild 
 and baseless representations, some of which even went 
 so far as to make new stories out of old incidents ante- 
 dating the annexation. Being determined to be perfectly 
 just and fair in the conduct of affairs connected with the 
 recent uprisings, the Government will admit no excuse 
 for any culprit, whether he be a Government official 
 or a private citizen. Take the Suigen occurrence, for 
 instance. There the Government has caused the respon- 
 sible officers who had already been subjected to administra- 
 tive censure to be brought for trial before a courtmartial. 
 
 In proceeding to the reorganization of the system of 
 the Governor-General of Korea, I regret to announce 
 the resignation of Marshal Hasegawa, Governor-General, 
 and of Yamagata, Director-General of Administration, 
 both of whom have rendered eminent service to the State 
 at the important posts which they have occupied for 
 several years. To fill the vacancies caused by their 
 retirement, Baron Saito and Mr. Midzuno have now 
 been appointed respectively as Governor-General and Di- 
 rector-General of Administration. Baron Saito, who had 
 long distinguished himself as a Minister of State, requires 
 no introduction for his high personality and powers of 
 statesmanship. 
 
168 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Nor is there any need to refer to the high esteem in 
 which Mr. Midzuno is held at home and abroad as a 
 public servant who has not only filled with credit several 
 important executive posts during a period of more than 
 twenty years, but also held a Ministerial portfolio in the 
 late Cabinet. I have no doubt that these two gentlemen 
 will prove equal to the trust placed in them for carrying 
 out the contemplated reforms in Korea in conformity 
 with the expressed wishes of the Government. Korea 
 is united geographically with the main islands of Japan 
 and the two peoples are closely related to each other 
 in race, in manners and customs, and in sentiments. 
 
 No distinction of inequality should be allowed to exist 
 between them as loyal subjects of the same sovereign, 
 whether politically, socially, or otherwise. These con- 
 siderations are understood invariably to have been kept 
 in view in the imperial rescript issued at the time of the 
 annexation, as well as in that which has just been issued. 
 It should be noted that the existing administrative sys- 
 tem of Korea is not meant to be of a permanent and 
 unalterable nature, but that it embodies provisional 
 arrangements calculated to meet the passing needs of 
 the transitory period until the final goal is reached. 
 
 In pursuance of this policy the Government are now 
 decided to carry out various reforms in Korea, and it 
 is their fixed determination to forward the progress of 
 the country in order that all differences between Korea 
 and Japan proper in matters of education, industry, and 
 of the civil service may finally be altogether obliterated. 
 The Government are, moreover, confidently looking 
 forward to the eventual adoption in Korea of a system 
 of provincial and municipal administration similar to 
 that in operation in Japan proper, so far as circumstances 
 would permit. For a speedy attainment of the objects 
 
JAPAN'S POLICY AND KOREA 169 
 
 one naturally cannot rely solely on the force of organ 
 and machinery: a great deal must necessarily depend 
 upon the efforts of Koreans themselves toward their 
 own upliftment. 
 
 I am well aware that the system of gendarmery pre- 
 vailing in Korea is being made a subject of criticism at 
 home and abroad, but I would call attention to the fact 
 that the institution originated in attempts to meet the 
 exigencies of the situation under the regime of residents- 
 general and was never intended to be a permanent arrange- 
 ment. It is now proposed to have gendarmery replaced 
 by a force of police to be placed under the control of 
 local governors in a manner similar to that which obtains 
 in Japan proper, except in districts where conditions 
 make immediate elimination inadvisable. 
 
 It is not possible at this moment to make any further 
 announcement on the details of the contemplated re- 
 forms, which it remains for the newly appointed author- 
 ities to work out. To sum up, however, it may be stated 
 that Korea and Japan proper, forming equally integral 
 parts of the same empire, no distinction should in prin- 
 ciple be made between them, and that it is the ultimate 
 purpose of the Japanese government in due course to 
 treat Korea as in all respects on the same footing with 
 Japan proper. In this wise may be attained the only 
 true object of the annexation, and on these lines may be 
 expected the permanent advance and enlightenment of 
 the Koreans. I trust that the above brief observa- 
 tions may assist the public at home and abroad to arrive 
 at a full comprehension of the true intentions and policy 
 of the Japanese government. 
 
 The statement speaks for itself, and no 
 comment is necessary except to call attention 
 
170 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 to the fact that the same deferment of the 
 necessary reforms is found In the phrases such 
 as, "may finally," "eventual adoption," "in 
 principle," "in due course," etc., and to the 
 fact that the same insistence is made that the 
 Koreans are related to Japan "in race, in man- 
 ners and customs, and in sentiment." On 
 May 15, he gave an interview to Bishop Her- 
 bert Welch, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and an account of it appeared in the New York 
 Evening Post on August 23, in which the 
 Bishop says: "The central thought in his 
 mind, coming out repeatedly during the inter- 
 view, was that the Koreans were not sub- 
 stantially different from the Japanese. He 
 recognized the close kinship in race and in 
 tradition, and this view was evidently de- 
 terminative of his whole policy." In what 
 respect does this differ from the policy of his 
 predecessors? The same insistence ignores the 
 Koreans as a people, the same insistence spells 
 their obliteration, and the same "in principle" 
 but not in fact will perpetuate the discrimina- 
 tion. The Korean desires to be recognized 
 as man, and a mouthful of rice more or less, 
 or a copper or two more or less does not weigh 
 with him much. "What is a man profited if 
 he shall gain the whole world, and lose his 
 own soul?" 
 
CHAPTER Vin 
 
 DEMOCRACY AND THE FUTURE 
 OF KOREA 
 
 What is going to be the outcome? To ven- 
 ture a forecast is at the least foolhardy. But 
 there are some unmistakable signs that come 
 with the changing times, and they help us to 
 form conclusions which the future may prove 
 not too far from being correct. 
 
 The World War has shaken up humanity in 
 a way that is unprecedented. Men of all 
 classes, nations, and races have been on one 
 side or the other; and they have been all on 
 equal footing. They have been in the "Army 
 of Democracy." In the Student at Arms its 
 author describes how men of all stations, high 
 and low, rich and poor, appeared alike, when 
 they were made to discard their civilian 'clothes 
 of various kinds, which ordinarily gave the 
 distinguishing marks, and were made to don 
 the uniforms and line up for inspection. Then 
 he tells us how in the trenches and behind the 
 barbed-wire entanglements when the sand-bags 
 had to be refilled, the real distinguishing mark 
 — between a "white man" and a "worm" — 
 came out. 
 
 171 
 
172 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Not long ago, in an Eastern city in America, 
 the following story was confirmed by one of 
 the guests at a friendly gathering as a part 
 of his own rather humorous experience. There 
 was a colonel in service "over there," and he 
 had with him, as it is the custom, an orderly 
 whose duty it was to clean his boots, brush 
 his clothes, etc. Every time when he was 
 pleased with the work the orderly did, he gave 
 him a dime or a quarter as a reward or "tip." 
 The orderly always received the money politely 
 and put it in his pocket. This went on for 
 quite a while. But the time for the raising 
 of the Liberty Loan came, and to the utter 
 amazement of the colonel, the orderly sub- 
 scribed $500,000 in cash! Later the colonel 
 found out that the orderly belonged to a 
 prominent banking family in one of the New 
 England States. 
 
 This great shaking-up has made the men 
 instinctively feel that the society in which they 
 have been living has many things that need 
 reform. It has made them feel that a revalua- 
 tion and a new appraisement were a necessity. 
 Then, again, the sufferings of their parents, 
 wives, and friends, who are counted by mil- 
 lions, have helped humanity to focus its atten- 
 tion upon the higher and nobler ideals. These 
 have crystallized into a demand for the wider 
 
THE FUTURE OF KOREA 17S 
 
 scope of democracy and the fuller application 
 of its principles. This is not only true in 
 America and Europe, but there is also in the 
 Far East a rising tide of democracy, which in 
 time will sweep away every obstacle before it. 
 
 China took up the democratic form of 
 government some years ago, but she is now 
 experiencing a new democratic spirit, in which 
 the younger men and women figure very 
 largely. They have come to see that the 
 danger confronting them is real and that they 
 need to busy themselves. Their immediate 
 political fortune is secondary in importance. 
 They may or may not succeed in the things 
 they try to accomplish, but the spirit they have 
 wakened in themselves and in others is some- 
 thing permanent, and that spirit knows only 
 one goal toward which to travel, and that is 
 Success. It momentarily may experience re- 
 tardation, or it may at times receive even an 
 actual setback, but ultimately it will reach 
 the goal. 
 
 The democratic movement is also gaining 
 its momentum in Japan, especially among the 
 younger intellectuals, such as Professor Yoshino 
 and his associates, and among the industrial 
 class. Such associations as the Democratic 
 League are being formed and fostered in Kioto, 
 Osaka, and elsewhere. In spite of the police 
 
174 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 interferences, the organizations grow, and their 
 publications increase in circulation. 
 
 The high cost of living prevailing in that 
 country as elsewhere is also hastening this 
 movement. Even school-teachers talk about 
 going on "strike," and the salaried men have 
 formed unions. They demand "that net profit 
 be divided between capital and labor equally, 
 after an amount equal to bank interest on the 
 capital has been deducted and given to the 
 capitalist." True to the time-honored pater- 
 nalism, the government tries to organize labor 
 unions under the patronage of the state and 
 capital, but the workers have begun to take 
 their own initiatives. They have organized 
 what is called the Nippon Rodo Rengo Kai, 
 or the "Japan Associated Labor Society." 
 The women of Japan also are taking their 
 place. At a recent meeting a factory girl 
 said in effect: 
 
 "Labor is the most serious problem in Japan 
 at present, and so a number of learned men, 
 politicians, statesmen, capitalists, and others, 
 are trying to solve this serious problem by the 
 application of various principles; but I think 
 we ought to find the solution ourselves. 
 
 "The workers must hasten to participate in 
 corporations. According to the investigation 
 made by the Department of Agriculture and 
 
THE FUTURE OF KOREA 175 
 
 Commerce, in 1916, there were four hundred 
 and fifty-eight thousand male workers and six 
 hundred and thirty-eight thousand female 
 workers in Japan in that year. The problem 
 regarding female workers, which must naturally 
 be serious, is far behind that regarding the 
 male workers in the consideration it receives. 
 As we women get a wage for our work just 
 as men do, we are right in striving to elevate 
 our position. Therefore this society cries for 
 cooperation and union." 
 
 Of course, while this need not be taken as 
 an evidence and expression of a generally 
 awakened social consciousness, it is a clear 
 indication of the direction which the mind 
 of the Japanese men and women will take 
 when the general awakening once is experienced. 
 
 Then it must be kept in mind that there is 
 in Japan a Christian element that is as yet com- 
 paratively small in number but fearless in spirit 
 and growing in vigor and influence quite rapidly. 
 The devotion of Christians to their faith has 
 been historically demonstrated, and their fair- 
 mindedness was brought to the surface in 
 connection with the Korean uprising. 
 
 When the news of the military atrocities 
 began to leak out of the country the Federa- 
 tion of Churches in Japan sent a deputation 
 to Korea together with a similar one of the 
 
176 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Federated Missions of the foreign missionaries 
 for investigation. When they returned one 
 member of the Japanese deputation reported 
 the whole thing without fear or attempt at 
 mitigation before a large gathering in Tokyo. 
 Here is a part of what a foreigner who was 
 present at the meeting describes: 
 
 "I went to church, wondering just what the 
 speaker would do. I confess that I was afraid 
 that he would make a colorless speech. ... I 
 prayed hard that the Lord would make him 
 bold, but now I feel sure that he never needed 
 my prayers at all. 
 
 "In the first part of his speech he told about 
 the reasons for the discontent of the Korean 
 people — the educational discrimination, the 
 land question, the police and gendarme system, 
 the incubus of hateful militarism everywhere, 
 even in the schools; the difficulty of educated 
 Koreans to advance in any field of activity; 
 the constant police surveillance, even over 
 Koreans here in Japan. He said that the 
 Japanese residing in Korea were almost as 
 dissatisfied as the Koreans with the present 
 administration of affairs there. 
 
 "Then he drew a vivid contrast between the 
 attitude of the missionaries toward the Koreans 
 and the attitude of the Japanese over there. 
 He told about the intelligent sympathy of the 
 
THE FUTURE OF KOREA 177 
 
 missionaries as contrasted with the harshness 
 of the Japanese, and said that it was natural 
 that the Koreans went to the missionaries in 
 their troubles and depended upon them. They 
 had no freedom of publication, and their only 
 intelligent means of communication among 
 themselves or with the outside world was 
 through the missionaries. 
 
 "Then he started in to tell about the atroc- 
 ities. He told them all, and he told them from 
 the Korean standpoint, and with no excuse 
 or whitewash or palliation for the government. 
 He told the story of the massacres in the church 
 in detail and in the village too. He added 
 the fact, which I had not heard before, that 
 the Governor-General had given 1,500 yen out 
 of his own pocket for the rebuilding of that 
 and other churches. Then he told about the 
 floggings in jail and the treatment of women, 
 and all the rest. His voice broke in trying 
 to tell it, and he could hardly continue the 
 story of the sufferings the Korean people had en- 
 dured. You can imagine the condition of our 
 eyes who listened. Then he ended with a 
 very fine religious outburst, saying with broken 
 voice that if the Japanese officials and the 
 Japanese people had the love of the God of 
 the New Testament in their hearts such things 
 could not have happened. 
 
178 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 "The whole service was one of the greatest 
 Christian services I have ever been in. My 
 confidence in the genuineness of the Japanese 
 Christian Church has risen high." 
 
 These growing forces in Japan — the new 
 intellectuals, the restless industrial class, and 
 the conscientious Christians — are fast converg- 
 ing to something definite and eventful. They 
 all hate militarism, they all are enemies of 
 bureaucracy, and they all either by choice or 
 by force of circumstances espouse the cause of 
 democracy. It may need a crisis for them to 
 join hands to work for a common cause, but 
 their meeting ground does not seem to lie very 
 far hence. 
 
 When we come back to Korea, what con- 
 ditions do we find? Have they been "dis- 
 illusioned," as some people would call it, or 
 are they just as eager and just as hopeful 
 about their cause now as they were before? 
 They are neither "disillusioned" nor just as 
 eager and hopeful, but they are more eager and 
 hopeful than they were ever before. Here is 
 a part of a report of Dr. J. Z. Moore, superin- 
 tendent of the Methodist work in Pyeng Yang 
 District, where the storm raged fiercely. The 
 resolve and the determination of the Chris- 
 tians is quite illustrative of the whole move- 
 ment: 
 
THE FUTURE OF KOREA 179 
 
 In the midst of this darkness, with fear and 
 trembling, I decided to call a workers' con- 
 ference. The call went out to the workers 
 who remained. To my surprise a total of 
 fifty-six came to the meeting. 
 
 "Our first hour was spent in prayer and 
 meditation on 'Have Faith in God.' It was 
 a great hour and got us back to bed rock. 
 Then we called the roll and found who were 
 present and who absent from the district. The 
 following facts were brought to light: Seven 
 of our ordained preachers, fifteen local 
 preachers, nineteen exhorters, twenty class lead- 
 ers, one district steward, thirteen men and 
 three women school-teachers, three students, 
 and sixty members were in jail on account of 
 the independence movement. This is a total 
 of one hundred and forty of our leading workers 
 and members. One had been killed and three 
 were still in the hospital on account of wounds 
 received. 
 
 "After this report on the situation we had 
 another session of prayer. Then came an 
 effort to care for the work. For instance, 
 Pyeng Yang City, with five churches and 
 formerly six ordained pastors, was without a 
 single pastor. Some country sections were un- 
 touched, and others were all shot to pieces, the 
 congregations not having met for three months. 
 
180 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 The problem was to cover the work with the 
 fragments that remained. In fact, that was 
 the subject of the Korean pastors' talk at the 
 beginning of this session. Such a spirit of 
 unity, of unselfishness, of willingness to give up 
 for the good of the whole work I never have 
 experienced among the Korean workers. One 
 of the country circuits willingly gave up its 
 pastor for Pyeng Yang City, and he was given 
 the work six men formerly did. 
 
 "There was a tenseness, an earnestness, a 
 reality about it all I never had experienced 
 before. Plans for the summer campaign were 
 made, including the summer workers' con- 
 ference, for the first week in August, and we 
 closed one of the best workers' conferences ever 
 held on Pyeng Yang District. 
 
 "Even the men in prison are not idle. One 
 pastor reports that he is in a room with nine- 
 teen. At first there were but three Christians. 
 Now they are all Christians and have service 
 in their cell. One boy, a student, said it had 
 meant more to him than a year of study. 
 
 "Whatever may or may not come of this 
 independence movement, it has opened the 
 minds and hearts of the Korean people as 
 fifty years of ordinary days could not have 
 done. Never have I preached to such eager, ear- 
 nest congregations. The new day is upon us." 
 
THE FUTURE OF KOREA 181 
 
 The effect or, rather, noneffect, of torture 
 and imprisonment upon the young men and 
 women can be seen in the testimonies of those 
 who were released during last summer. The 
 following is one given by a young lady, who is 
 a college graduate and a teacher in one of the 
 Christian schools in Seoul (in her own English) : 
 
 "On Mar. 12th, accompanied by Miss , 
 
 I was taken to police headquarters and ques- 
 tioned. Miss was compelled to leave me 
 
 there and I did not see her again until June 
 16th. As long as I live, I shall not forget that 
 one look, neither shall I ever cease to remember 
 my feelings when the first meal came in bearing 
 her name, as I was practically starving after 
 nine days of prison fare which I could scarcely 
 eat at all. Yes, I have known what it is to be 
 hungry, and cold, and the utter torture of 
 inactivity. 
 
 "After more than a month of sitting in an 
 uncomfortable position with absolutely nothing 
 to read and no one to speak to, nothing to see, 
 I received with joy unspeakable a copy of the 
 New Testament in my own tongue. I read it 
 thru in two and a half days, then read it again, 
 and memorized Matt. 5, 1 and II Samuel, 
 and the Psalms. I read twice, memorizing 
 Psalms 1, 23, and 121, also David's bow song. 
 
 "I never knew before what the Bible could 
 
182 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 mean to a human being, and God was my 
 one hope, my all. My constant prayer was: 
 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on 
 earth as it is in Heaven.' My first Sunday 
 there, when I heard some one sing, 'Nearer, 
 my God, to Thee,' it was like a river of peace 
 flowing into my soul, and I knew all was well, 
 if we only have His presence and comfort. 
 Many times every day I sang T hear my 
 Saviour calling,' and knew that he would w go 
 with me all the way.' 
 
 "July 3rd I received an English Bible, which 
 was a real feast to my soul until I was released. 
 For eight days I read eleven hours a day, 
 almost ruining my eyes. I read much of the 
 Old Testament and all of the New in the 
 language which lends such beauty to God's 
 Word. 
 
 "The only other book given me was a book 
 of the Chinese Classics. I memorized ten 
 pages of this. 
 
 "When not reading I often occupied myself 
 composing descriptions, in prose and poetry, of 
 my life in prison, and, by recording in my 
 mind my inspirations from nature and friends, 
 I memorized these and am now putting them 
 into written form. 
 
 "I found what a wonderful faculty memory 
 is, and got not only comfort but amusement 
 
THE FUTURE OF KOREA 183 
 
 from recalling past experiences and impres- 
 sions. God has been wonderfully good to me, 
 and I only love Him the more because of these 
 experiences. 
 
 "I was kept in prison 133 days and, when 
 released on July 28th was told I had broken 
 no law." 
 
 The following was composed in English while 
 in prison: 
 
 "When I was shut up in prison I was troubled, 
 worried, and lonely. I felt like one being 
 thrown into the wide, deep ocean, and also 
 like a wanderer in the desert. The dark clouds 
 of sorrow were around me and no earthly friend 
 could help me. I was merely helpless. 
 
 "But suddenly a hopeful sound rang thru 
 my ear. It was a sweet, tender voice saying, 
 'Trust the Lord.' I bowed my head amid the 
 darkness around me and prayed: 'Father, I 
 trust Thee only. "Throw out the lifeline" 
 and save me while I am drowning in the ocean, 
 and show me the way while I am wandering 
 in the desert. Come and stay with me when 
 I am so lonely and friendless. Give me Thy 
 perfect peace. Father, I need Thy love, sym- 
 pathy, and care more than ever before. With 
 Thee all things are possible; I just trust Thee 
 and obey Thee. Amen.' 
 
 "When I prayed, thru the darkness I saw 
 
184 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Christ kneeling in Gethsemane, and Calvary, 
 where Jesus hung on the cross and shed His 
 blood for me. I felt as if I were standing be- 
 neath the cross, and prayed again: 'I give my 
 life to Thee for my own Chosen people. I'll 
 be true to Thee forever.' 
 
 "All my troubles were gone; and His peace 
 was in my heart. 0, how sweet it is to trust 
 the Lord! No matter what comes to my life, 
 even tho death comes to me, I'll be happy 
 and at peace, if I only trust Him. These 
 three words, 'Trust the Lord,' are my life. 
 They will lead me to the throne of God, my 
 Father." 
 
 What has been described, interpreted, and 
 said in the foregoing brief chapters leads one's 
 mind to the following considerations regarding 
 the course before the Korean people: 
 
 When Korea first fell into misfortune there 
 were discernible three, or perhaps only two, 
 steps on her course toward her coming to her 
 own. Those steps, as it seemed, might or 
 might not synchronize with visible political 
 changes. The fortune of immediate activities 
 might hasten or retard the steps, but the steps 
 could not be arrested by friend or foe. 
 
 The steps discerned are none other than the 
 stages in the irresistible upward movement of 
 
THE FUTURE OF KOREA 185 
 
 the psychology of a people. Just as water 
 seeks its own level, the forces of modern civil- 
 ization permeate the thoughts of individuals, 
 then of groups, and then of society. When a 
 principle has a merit of being right and just, 
 it takes root, grows, and bears fruit. A tyrant 
 now and then or a despot here and there makes 
 futile efforts to extirpate it, but always fails 
 in the end. Otherwise, evolution is an im- 
 possibility and the universe is a black chaos. 
 
 The first step for the Korean people ap- 
 peared to be the social consciousness. It does 
 not mean that it had been totally lacking, but 
 for centuries there were no occasions for them 
 to bring it out into prominence. Hunger 
 feeling is physiologically in every human be- 
 ing, but one does not feel it until one expe- 
 riences hunger itself. In their homogeneous, 
 but isolated, life this consciousness of the 
 Koreans existed in a latent state. But, thanks 
 to the sufferings and humiliation, they are 
 awakened to it — much sooner than any prophet 
 could have predicted. Their rigorous measures 
 of forcible assimilation have produced the 
 opposite effect. 
 
 Since it has come into bemg, It will grow; 
 it has grown already. What do the Pyeng 
 Yang report and the touching words of the 
 young woman quoted above indicate except- 
 
186 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 ing this growth? This process of growth and 
 maturity will steadily go on. A sudden lib- 
 eration of the cumulative democratic forces in 
 Japan may furnish the second step to the 
 Koreans, but this may come simultaneously 
 with the final step, which will mean the fullest 
 realization of the ideals of the Koreans. 
 
 What is this final step going to be? Before 
 answering that, let us take an account of the 
 world's growing interest in the Orient. Take, 
 for instance, the case of China. Will the 
 interest of Great Britain, France, the United 
 States and other great Powers be best served 
 by partitioning China? Partitioning means the 
 sowing of seed for immediate troubles among 
 those nations that take share, and it will end 
 in a sure disaster to all the Occidental nations. 
 Therefore, to keep one out they all will try 
 to keep out, at least for the time being. This 
 is China's opportunity, and apparently she is 
 taking it. Then, again, when all nations are 
 decrying militaristic imperialism, can any one 
 power long maintain it single-handed? When 
 democratic spirit is growing everywhere, can 
 any one group of militarists forever stifle it? 
 It is, therefore, certain that the growing in- 
 telligence on the part of the Occidental na- 
 tions in Oriental affairs, the awakening of 
 China, and the rise of democracy in the peo- 
 
THE FUTURE OF KOREA 187 
 
 pies of the East will all come together to a 
 climax. That climax is the final great step. 
 
 The processes leading to the climax may 
 take the shape of a slow and gradual evolu- 
 tion, or they may assume a very sudden and 
 violent character. Results will depend largely 
 upon the foresight of the statesmen who are 
 at the helm of affairs of the nations of the 
 world. It usually is credited that the states- 
 men of Japan, when they see an approaching 
 crisis, meet it by going one better. Will they 
 do it in this case? 
 
 Whatever the maneuvering of each group of 
 statesmen may be, it is certain that the spirit 
 of democracy will triumph, and in that tri- 
 umph Korea will have a share. By her worth 
 manifested and acknowledged, she will get 
 justice — full justice. In that full justice Korea 
 will become free from all bonds but the love 
 for humanity, and will endeavor to bring 
 spiritual and material blessing, particularly the 
 former, upon the other peoples in the Orient. 
 Her progress and unselfish service to the other 
 peoples will spell true peace in the Orient, 
 and the world. Statesmen may come and 
 statesmen may go, but the ideals of the Korean 
 people will be realized, because their faith 
 and hope are in the "Invisible King" and their 
 love is for humanity! 
 
APPENDICES 
 
AN OPINION OF MISSIONARIES AS TO 
 
 WHAT CHANGES ARE DESIRABLE 
 
 IN THE EXISTING LAWS AND 
 
 IN THE ATTITUDE OF THE 
 
 GOVERNMENT TOWARD 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 AND MISSION WORK 
 
 IN KOREA 
 
 From the time disturbances began on March 
 first the opinion has been freely expressed 
 that the Japanese government would adopt a 
 different and more liberal policy in Korea. 
 The highest officials in Korea have repeatedly 
 said that modifications were necessary, and, 
 indeed, that they were in contemplation when 
 the revolt began. Officials and publicists in 
 Japan also, in public speech and through the 
 press, have urged the necessity of making 
 radical changes in the Japanese policy in 
 Korea. The present official opinion seems to 
 be that Korea should be bound to Japan by 
 other than physical force, and that a confi- 
 dence should be created, which would con- 
 vince the Korean people that it is to their 
 interest to be a part of the Japanese empire. 
 
 191 
 
192 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 We may assume, therefore, that questions 
 touching changes in the present policy of 
 administration soon will be open for discus- 
 sion in concrete form. Mission Boards oper- 
 ating in Korea and missionaries engaged in 
 work there will be vitally interested in these 
 changes and especially in such as affect their 
 special field. It would seem proper, therefore, 
 for those related to the missionary enterprises 
 in Korea to study the situation as it affects 
 their interests and formulate suggested changes 
 that look to relief at any point where their 
 work may have been improperly hindered or 
 interfered with. 
 
 In presenting this statement with its sug- 
 gestions for change in governmental regulations 
 or policy, we do so with the idea of securing 
 real religious liberty in Korea under whatever 
 government may exist; but in no sense do 
 we presume to interfere in the political situa- 
 tion or in the effort for independence now being 
 carried on by the Koreans. We are not pro- 
 posing anything in the nature of a settlement 
 of that question, or anything which may be 
 suggestive of a settlement of the political de- 
 sires of the Korean people. What we present 
 is a statement of our own opinion as to what 
 is called for under any government in order to 
 secure real religious liberty and freedom for the 
 
APPENDICES 193 
 
 church to develop, without being directly or 
 indirectly hampered by the government. 
 
 We Urge That Religious Liberty, Which is 
 Already Guaranteed by the Constitution of the 
 Empire of Japan, as of All Other Great Na- 
 tions, be Made Effective. 
 
 Ten years' experience under the rule of the 
 government-general of Korea has proved to us 
 conclusively that real religious liberty cannot 
 be enjoyed under the laws as now adminis- 
 tered. The reason for this is that religious 
 liberty is not possible where the government 
 insists upon regulating the minutest details of 
 the church. The requirement that all sorts 
 of exacting reports be made by the church, 
 mission, church schools, and mission hospitals 
 implies that freedom is not intended, but 
 that the government reserves the right to 
 interfere in the management of the church and 
 mission whenever it desires to do so. 
 
 The intricate rules and regulations applying 
 to evangelistic, educational, and medical work, 
 the censorship and curtailment placed upon 
 the publication of religious literature, the 
 restrictions so often placed upon the freedom 
 of assembly even for religious purposes, are all 
 contrary to the idea of religious liberty. 
 
 Moreover, the multitudinous ways the police 
 have of injecting their presence upon the 
 
194 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 church and the mission, of arrogating to them- 
 selves the right to dictate as to what is allowed 
 and what is forbidden, is contrary to the spirit 
 of religious liberty. 
 
 The changes which we herein suggest in the 
 interest of the missionary enterprise, are made 
 with the hope that the government will adopt 
 a more liberal policy, granting religious liberty 
 in fact as well as in form. 
 
 In Regard to Our Evangelistic Work We 
 
 Respectfully Request: 
 
 1. That fewer restrictions be placed upon the 
 church and upon missionaries. 
 
 The propagation of the gospel is continually 
 hindered. Christian workers are interfered 
 with when attempting to preach by the road- 
 side, on the street, and in the market places. 
 The distribution of scriptures and tracts is 
 often stopped. Groups are prevented from 
 meeting for worship in Christian homes on the 
 ground that they do not have a permit. Per- 
 mits are required before organizing a church 
 or preaching place. A permit must also be 
 secured before erecting or altering a church 
 building. These permits are delayed, or even 
 refused, much to the detriment of our work. 
 Even Bible classes, evangelistic services, and 
 meetings of church officers are not free from 
 
APPENDICES 195 
 
 needless restrictions and unwarranted inter- 
 ferences. Missionaries in their travels are 
 watched constantly and often needlessly inter- 
 fered with by officials. The arrival of each 
 foreign guest must be reported within a day's 
 time; under this law, if an itinerating mission- 
 ary does not stop within easy reach of a gen- 
 darmsie, he causes his Korean host great 
 inconvenience. 
 
 The result of such restrictions is hampering, 
 and we request that they be removed, in order 
 that the propagation of Christianity be not 
 curtailed by such limiting regulations. 
 
 2. We ask that discrimination against Chris- 
 tians and against Christianity by the officials 
 be not allowed. 
 
 It has often happened that people arrested 
 have been held in custody if they are Chris- 
 tians and let go if they are not. Reports from 
 those who have been in prison give abundant 
 proof that those who are Christian are more 
 severely beaten than those who are not, that 
 they are mocked by nonbelieving officials, who 
 say slighting, insulting things about Christian- 
 ity and about the foreign missionaries. Teach- 
 ers in many government schools forbid or dis- 
 courage their pupils from attending Christian 
 Sunday schools. 
 
 We also deprecate the fact that newspapers 
 
196 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 are permitted to persistently publish false and 
 unfounded charges against missionaries and 
 Korean Christians. The effect is to create 
 prejudice in the minds of the people against 
 Christianity. 
 
 3. We ash that officials do not depreciate the char- 
 acter of the church nor the ability of church officers. 
 
 This attitude is not uncommon on the part 
 of officials in their public addresses and in 
 their writings. They publicly suggest that we 
 place emphasis on numbers rather than the 
 intelligence of Christians, and they further 
 insist that church officers are not sufficiently 
 well educated. Christianity is not primarily a 
 matter of education, but of belief in God and 
 in Jesus Christ his Son as the Saviour of the 
 world, and in the Bible as the Word of God, 
 together with upright living corresponding to 
 such a belief. Whether the believer is edu- 
 cated or ignorant, rich or poor, high or low, 
 is not of primary importance. The history of 
 the Christian movement in any country shows 
 that there is always a trend toward education 
 and toward the training up of an educated 
 leadership. This has been true in Korea. 
 Christian women have learned to read, schools 
 have been established for boys, for girls, for 
 young men and women, for church leaders. 
 Officials should recognize and appreciate this. 
 
APPENDICES 197 
 
 It is not fair for them to intimate that Korean 
 Christians and church officers are ignorant and 
 by so doing depreciate the character of the 
 church. 
 
 4. We ask that the government encourage the 
 right of petition and complaint. 
 
 That missionaries and Korean Christians be 
 made to feel that they are at liberty to report 
 to the government any grievance against local 
 officials, or to make request for change or 
 leniency in applying the existing laws, with- 
 out being regarded as offenders, and without 
 fear that the authorities will assume an un- 
 friendly attitude toward the petitioners. 
 
 5. We request freedom from annoyance from 
 petty officials. 
 
 This takes the form of intimidating Koreans 
 to prevent them from becoming Christians; of 
 troubling church members with all sorts of 
 questions in connection with the visit of a 
 missionary; of unnecessary and annoying inter- 
 views with our lady missionaries while itiner- 
 ating; of forbidding Christians for inadequate 
 reasons from holding their regular church 
 services; of calling out Christians to work on 
 the road and to meet officials on Sunday; of 
 local police assuming that they have the right 
 to control the churches. We deprecate the 
 custom of sending officials and plain-clothes 
 
198 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 men to our church services; but if this is deemed 
 necessary, we request that the officials sent 
 do not in any way interfere with the regular 
 church service, and while later reporting all 
 that they saw and heard, do it without mis- 
 representation and prejudice. 
 
 6. That the system of reporting be abolished 
 or simplified. 
 
 The application of the law for reporting 
 churches and propagandists as applied at 
 present is a serious embarrassment to the 
 prosecution of our missionary work and is an 
 annoyance to both missionaries and to church 
 officials. Long delays occur between the time 
 of presenting the application for the registra- 
 tion of a church and the granting of recog- 
 nition by the government. According to the 
 law, no service can be held till such recognition 
 is granted; thus under certain circumstances a 
 congregation is denied church privileges for 
 months. The police will not permit the erec- 
 tion of a church building till recognition is 
 granted by the government, so that serious 
 delays occur in building construction which in- 
 volves financial loss to both the mission and 
 to the contractor. These delays are frequently 
 caused by the local officials insisting that the 
 proposed new building is not needed, sup- 
 porting their arguments by the statement that 
 
APPENDICES 199 
 
 other church buildings are already erected in 
 the city or section, and also that there are 
 not numerically enough Christians to warrant 
 the erection of a church building. 
 
 Greater leniency should be granted churches 
 that for valid reasons fail to report on time, 
 and in case reports are returned. As it is, 
 fines are threatened, and church officers are 
 frightened. The failure on the part of the 
 propagandist is not from a lack of willingness 
 but from uncertainty as to the requirements, 
 and also from the lack of uniformity of de- 
 mands on the part of local officials. We meet 
 the difficulty of having men refuse to hold 
 office in the church for the sole reason that 
 they are embarrassed by the responsibility of 
 having to make these reports. 
 
 Again, the method of registration of prop- 
 agandists opens the way for continual espion- 
 age on the part of the police which results in 
 intimidating the pastor, church officials, and 
 members of the congregation and prevents 
 non-Christians from entering the church; thus 
 the zest and spirit of our Christian people 
 have been greatly impaired by the present 
 application of the law of making reports of 
 churches and of propagandists. 
 
 7. We ash reparation for church 'property that 
 has been destroyed. 
 
200 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 We request that the burning of all churches 
 and the destruction of church property in the 
 recent disturbances be looked into by the 
 government, and if in any case the damage was 
 done by soldiers, police, or gendarmes, or by 
 others with their knowledge, or connivance, 
 that the government make restitution for the 
 property and buildings destroyed. 
 
 We ask that in the investigation the govern- 
 ment depend not only upon reports from offi- 
 cials but that also evidence be obtained from 
 missionaries, Korean Christians, and others. 
 
 In Regard to Medical Work: 
 
 1. That the details of the management of our 
 hospitals be left to the staff without interference 
 from officials. 
 
 The chief governmental difficulties we have 
 had to contend with have been caused by 
 what we regard as an overdemand in the way 
 of minute reporting concerning matters which 
 we think should be left to those in charge of 
 our hospital, and these are retained in the new 
 regulations which went into effect June 1, 1919. 
 
 In special we may refer to Sections 2 and 
 3 of Article XVII, which require reports: 
 
 (2) When making or changing hospital regulations. 
 (S) When appointing or dismissing . . . doctors, pharma- 
 cists, midwives, or nurses. 
 
APPENDICES 201 
 
 It seems to us that the regulations of a 
 hospital are matters which the president and 
 staff should be considered to have enough 
 wisdom to determine. They have to be fre- 
 quently changed to meet changing conditions 
 and experiences, and no government officials 
 are well enough acquainted with the condi- 
 tions to enable them to decide upon their 
 necessity or otherwise. 
 
 In regard to the appointment of doctors, 
 nurses, etc., also it would seem to us that the 
 authorities should trust the president, who 
 naturally will employ men and women capable 
 of doing the work satisfactorily. 
 
 2. That the application of the government 
 regulations for private hospitals be uniform, nor 
 overstrict for the higher grade and not too lenient 
 for the lower grade. 
 
 This would raise the general standard while not 
 making it overdifficult for mission hospitals to 
 operate with their limited equipment and means. 
 
 3. That Korean and Japanese gifts to mission 
 hospitals be encouraged. 
 
 The existing law is too stringent, requiring 
 as it does a special permit to solicit contribu- 
 tions, and in case the permit is granted only 
 gifts for a specific purpose in connection with 
 the work of the hospital may be solicited. 
 Since mission hospitals are charity institutions, 
 
THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 with no thought of profit, gifts to the general 
 support of the hospital should be allowed 
 without special permit. The existing law is 
 so restrictive that so far as we know no mis- 
 sion hospitals have attempted to solicit gifts 
 from Koreans and Japanese. Such gifts are 
 very much needed, and, indeed, necessary, if 
 mission hospitals are ever to grow into self- 
 supporting institutions. 
 
 4. That local officials be not allowed to inter- 
 fere with Koreans coming to our mission hos- 
 pitals, as occurred in several places during the 
 recent disturbances. 
 
 In Regard to Christian Literature We 
 Request: 
 
 1. That the censorship be abolished or else 
 made less onerous. 
 
 At the present time Christian literature in 
 Korea is placed at a disadvantage regarding 
 preparation, production, and sale by the re- 
 strictive regulations and general attitude of the 
 Police and Educational Departments of the 
 government. The repressive measures they 
 adopt are those of censorship, confiscation, and 
 limitation of circulation. 
 
 By the Law of Publication of 1911 all books, 
 newspapers, magazines, and tracts issued by 
 foreigners have to be completely printed before 
 
APPENDICES 203 
 
 they can be submitted to the police for in- 
 spection. The censor declines to pass on 
 manuscripts. Immediately on completion two 
 copies of every publication must be sent to 
 the police authorities for examination, and 
 must be in their hands for three clear days 
 before the date of publication. If any of the 
 contents are considered objectionable, the whole 
 edition is immediately confiscated. 
 
 The close censorship thus maintained results 
 in a loss of freedom of thought and expression 
 on the part of the authors. Many topics can- 
 not be dealt with effectively for fear of being 
 misunderstood by the censor. 
 
 A tract, How to Drive Away Devils, was 
 confiscated because the police thought it had 
 political significance. Our weekly paper, The 
 Christian Messenger, has been confiscated sev- 
 eral times on the plea that innocent articles 
 might be construed by disloyal readers into 
 veiled attacks on the government. 
 
 2. That we be not restricted in our church news- 
 papers, magazines, and other publications to pub- 
 lishing merely church news and religious literature. 
 
 Another check on the production of Chris- 
 tian literature caused by the Press Law of 
 1911 is that it prohibits the publication of any 
 newspaper or magazine of general character 
 without a government permit. An application 
 
204 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 made by the Tract Society for such a permit 
 was refused without any reason being offered. 
 The only Korean newspapers in the country 
 are under government control, and no Korean 
 magazines of a general character are published 
 in Korea. The result of this regulation is that 
 our Christian periodicals have to confine them- 
 selves to religious topics only. News items 
 relating to the war, to the political situation 
 at home or abroad, or to ordinary passing 
 events are alike prohibited. 
 
 This restriction is most unfortunate in 
 Korea, where most of our Christians must 
 depend largely upon Christian publications for 
 their knowledge of current events and for 
 general information along any line whatsoever. 
 
 3. That colporteurs and others engaged in sell- 
 ing the Bible tracts and other Christian literature 
 be not hindered by the local officials from freely 
 carrying on their work. 
 
 Colporteurs have been subjected to rough 
 treatment at the hands of the police and 
 gendarmes. These officials are a decided 
 hindrance to our work because of their arrogant 
 methods in dealing with colporteurs and the 
 irritating way they have of following up pur- 
 chasers to ask why they bought the books and 
 other questions which have the effect of in- 
 timidating them. The people are afraid of 
 
APPENDICES 205 
 
 the police and gendarmes, and in many cases 
 would rather not buy books than run the 
 risk of being subjected to such questioning. 
 
 Colporteurs are frequently followed by de- 
 tectives in plain clothes, and when their pres- 
 ence is known, as it usually soon is, the 
 colporteurs are hampered in their work, for 
 they do not know when a statement of theirs 
 may be misinterpreted by men who are ig- 
 norant of Christianity and religious terminology. 
 Our men have been imprisoned and fined 
 through this method. An examination by the 
 police, even without imprisonment, is not a 
 light matter, and the men dread it. 
 
 The attitude of the police and gendarme, 
 with rare exceptions, is that of those who are 
 opposed to Christianity. It is not going too 
 far to say that the police and gendarmes, in so 
 far as their sphere of influence extends, nullify 
 to the people the benefits of religious liberty 
 which is accorded to them by the constitution. 
 
 In Regard to Educational Work We Re- 
 spectfully Request: 
 
 1. That we be allowed to include the teaching 
 of the Bible and chapel exercises in the curricula 
 of our church schools. 
 
 This is almost universally the prerogative 
 of all private schools in other countries. The 
 
206 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 purpose of mission schools is to give a liberal 
 Christian education. We desire to teach the 
 Bible and religion for the intrinsic value of 
 these subjects, and as the best means of train- 
 ing up law-abiding, patriotic citizens. It is 
 only fair to the authorities to state that when- 
 ever the church, missions and the Mission 
 Boards submit to. that part of the revised 
 educational ordinance which excludes the Bible 
 from the curricula of our church schools, it 
 is only under protest. In the future our schools 
 may continue to operate under the restric- 
 tions imposed, but it always will be with the 
 feeling that we are unreasonably denied this 
 right. 
 
 In this connection also we wish to respectfully 
 protest against the government's order that 
 religious exercises shall not be allowed as a 
 part of the program of the graduating exercises 
 of our Christian schools. The effect of such 
 restriction is to belittle the Christian religion 
 in the eyes of the people. 
 
 2. That teaching and the taking of examina- 
 tion in the Korean language be allowed. 
 
 It is right and proper that students should 
 spend a reasonable part of their time in study- 
 ing the Japanese language, but we believe it 
 is not good policy to forbid the use of the 
 Korean language in the schools. It is not 
 
 
APPENDICES 207 
 
 reasonable that missionaries, who have come to 
 teach the Korean people should be required to 
 learn a second foreign language, which, when 
 learned, is foreign to the people whom they 
 are to teach. 
 
 3. That we be accorded more liberty in the 
 management of our schools and freedom from 
 unnecessary official interference. 
 
 We recognize the government's right to pass 
 upon the record and qualifications of the 
 founder and principal of our schools and to 
 require proper standards of efficiency for the 
 school, but it is not necessary, as is done at 
 present, for the government to seek to regulate 
 the amount of salary paid to teachers and 
 other minor details; and to require reports on 
 and approval of every change in the subjects 
 he is to teach; nor should the school be unable 
 to dismiss a teacher without consulting the 
 government and be required to secure the 
 government's approval of the school rules which 
 cover the ordinary routine of administration; 
 or even to ask permission before the rate of 
 tuition can be changed. Such methods are 
 stifling to progress and destroy initiative, 
 which is one of the great advantages of a 
 private school. 
 
 As to interference from officials we may 
 mention that they often urge an increase in 
 
208 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 teachers' salaries and order a report as to the 
 amount of the increase. They also urge the 
 appointment of Japanese principals and re- 
 quest that a certain percentage of the teachers 
 be Japanese. We believe that private schools 
 should be free to have Korean principals and 
 teachers and to do their work in various ways, 
 so long as the main purpose of a school is con- 
 served and efficiency maintained. 
 
 As a further request regarding interference 
 from officials we wish to ask that no under 
 official be allowed to use pressure upon Chris- 
 tian parents to send their children to govern- 
 ment rather than to the church schools, and 
 that non-Christian parents who wish to send 
 their children to church and mission schools 
 be not opposed. 
 
 4. That teachers and pupils be allowed liberty 
 of conscience. 
 
 Pupils of our Christian schools are not in- 
 frequently ordered to participate in processions 
 or other public demonstrations, and are called 
 out to welcome visiting officials on Sunday. 
 Teachers' examinations are often held on that 
 day. For conscientious reasons Christians ob- 
 ject to complying with such requirements. 
 
 Furthermore, we wish to protest against any 
 order from the government which requires the 
 pupils of our Christian schools to participate 
 
APPENDICES 209 
 
 in any ceremony in which bowing to the 
 Emperor's picture or worshiping the Emperor 
 is a part of the program. To refuse to do so 
 is not an act of disloyalty. Christians are 
 taught by the Word of God and by their 
 teachers to revere and obey their earthly 
 rulers; prayer for the Emperor and for those 
 in authority is often a part of our worship 
 on Sunday. But it is not possible for Chris- 
 tians to worship the Emperor as God, as the 
 equal of God, or as divine, and we respectfully 
 urge that such a request be not made. To 
 say that bowing to the Emperor's picture may 
 be regarded by Christians as merely an act of 
 reverence will not satisfy the conscience of 
 many Christians when the ceremony itself is 
 regarded as an act of worship by the general 
 public and by the large majority of non-Chris- 
 tians participating in the service. 
 
 5. That Koreans be allowed the same oppor- 
 tunities for an education both as to length of 
 course and subjects taught as the Japanese are 
 allowed. 
 
 The present system seems to take it for 
 granted that Koreans should not expect the 
 same educational advantages as Japanese; that 
 they are not capable of receiving the same 
 training, and should be content with a rudi- 
 mentary or, at least, a more elementary knowl- 
 
no THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 edge for the present. The primary schools' 
 course for Japanese is six years, while for 
 Koreans it is four. English is required five 
 hours a week in the Seoul government middle 
 school for Japanese boys, while in the higher 
 common school for Korean boys it is an extra 
 for two hours a week. The government posi- 
 tion seems to be that higher education for 
 Koreans is largely a matter for the future. 
 This is unjust. Any implication that Koreans 
 are less capable of receiving or less desirous of 
 obtaining an education is contrary to the 
 facts, and any system that educates the 
 Korean for a lower grade of government posi- 
 tions and a lower grade of commercial and 
 professional occupation is decidedly unfair. 
 
 6. That there be a less rigid censorship of 
 textbooks. 
 
 Certain textbooks are forbidden for trivial 
 reasons. History is taught in a distorted way. 
 A difficult textbook is ruled out because Korean 
 teachers and pupils supposedly are lacking in 
 the mental caliber to use it. Some textbooks 
 that are permitted in Japan are forbidden in 
 Korea. We ask that more freedom be allowed 
 in the use of textbooks, that Korean students 
 be allowed to study fully the history and 
 geography of Korea and of other countries as 
 well as of Japan proper. 
 
APPENDICES 211 
 
 7. That 'private schools be allowed to solicit 
 gifts at large without a special permit, and that 
 the government do not impose upon private 
 schools excessive financial requirements. 
 
 Koreans should be allowed to give freely to 
 the support of recognized schools. It is im- 
 possible and unwise to expect to operate con- 
 tinually our mission schools with foreign funds. 
 Tuition money is never sufficient to pay ex- 
 penses. The church is constantly appealed to. 
 But often non-Christians are willing to help 
 support Christian schools, and there is no 
 reason why they should be discouraged from 
 contributing, since the school is an institution 
 for the good of the community. 
 
 As to the second part of the request, we are 
 in sympathy with the desire of the govern- 
 ment to have the best schools possible. But 
 the value of a school does not depend primarily 
 upon the size of building, grounds, and material 
 equipment, but upon the character and ability 
 of the teachers. If the government is satisfied 
 on these points, the school should be allowed 
 to continue, even though the financial resources 
 and the material equipment are not all that 
 is desired, so long as there is a constant 
 effort on the part of the management of the 
 school to provide adequate financial sup- 
 port. 
 
212 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 In Regard to the Holding op Property 
 
 We Request: 
 
 Facilities for the incorporation of the church 
 and of the missions so that property can be held 
 and registered in their names. 
 
 For ten years we have made repeated efforts 
 to secure such recognition for the church and 
 missions as judicial persons so that property 
 might be held securely for the church, but so 
 far our efforts have been in vain. Tens and 
 hundreds of thousands of yen worth of property 
 is now registered in the names of individuals, 
 and much of it is held in the names of mis- 
 sionaries, entailing complications and annoy- 
 ance and unnecessary expense. The Korean 
 church is deprived of a recognition of its 
 rights in this respect to such an extent as to 
 constitute a grave injustice. 
 
 Under present conditions local authorities, 
 unfriendly or antagonistic to the church, may 
 easily throw church property into litigation, 
 and whenever disputes over church property 
 arise the rights of the church as such have no 
 recognition in the law, so that contentions or 
 disgruntled individuals in whose name property 
 may be held, or the unbelieving heirs of those 
 in whose names it is held, in collusion with 
 mercenary and dishonest officials, may de- 
 prive the church of its property, and so far 
 
APPENDICES 213 
 
 as the law is concerned the church has no 
 redress. 
 
 Again, the missions have been refused incor- 
 poration, and all property bought since annexa- 
 tion has been registered in the names of indi- 
 vidual missionaries, entailing complications, 
 difficulties, and expense whenever such a mis- 
 sionary dies, resigns, or goes home on furlough. 
 
 Concluding Statement 
 
 In conclusion we wish to state that in pre- 
 paring these requests we have no idea of 
 injecting ourselves into the present political 
 situation. On that question we have en- 
 deavored to maintain a strict neutrality. 
 Whether Korea is granted independence or 
 home rule, whether the present military govern- 
 ment continues or is changed to a civil adminis- 
 tration is not a matter upon which we can 
 make any representation. We are missionaries 
 commissioned to preach the gospel in Korea, 
 and feel justified in making representation to 
 any existing government upon things affecting 
 our work. It is because we have not been 
 satisfied with the government regulations and 
 attitude during the last ten years, because in 
 connection with the present political dis- 
 turbances proposed changes are talked of both 
 in the secular press and in official circles, and 
 
214 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 because we as missionaries have already been 
 asked by a few officials as to what changes 
 affecting our work we would wish, that we 
 feel called upon to draw up a formal state- 
 ment of this character. 
 
B 
 
 A STATEMENT OF MISSIONARY 
 
 POSITION ON KOREAN 
 
 AGITATION 
 
 The political aspect of the agitation — that is, 
 as to whether Korea shall be entirely inde- 
 pendent of Japan or shall be a part of the 
 empire of Japan — is not a question with which 
 we foreigners have any concern. We regard 
 that as a matter to be settled between the 
 two peoples themselves. If Japan can make 
 it to the interest of the Korean people to be 
 politically under its guidance to the extent that 
 the Koreans desire to be so linked up, why 
 should we object? On the other hand, if the 
 Japanese cannot satisfy the Korean heart, and 
 the Koreans can establish themselves as an 
 independent nation, why should we stand 
 against such an outcome? It is enough for 
 us that we secure a fair opportunity to do the 
 work which we are here especially for, viz., 
 to bring the Koreans to a knowledge of God 
 through Christ. It has been laid down by 
 some as a settled proposition that we must 
 recognize that Japan will never give up Korea, 
 and so Korea must always be a part of Japan; 
 
 215 
 
216 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 and we are told that we must plan everything 
 on that basis, and so, while we may urge the 
 government to grant administrative reforms, 
 we must make it plain to the Koreans that 
 they must not expect independence. 
 
 Again we must repeat that it is not for us 
 to make this matter plain to the Koreans, 
 neither can we or anyone else know what is 
 to be the future status of these two countries 
 any more than we could have known that 
 Poland would again become an independent 
 nation, or can know what will be the future 
 of Canada, or of India, of Egypt or of the 
 Philippine Islands. 
 
 We have recognized, since the annexation, 
 the authority of the present government, have 
 been loyal to it, are so now, and shall con- 
 tinue to be so long as it exists in fact. If it 
 passes away and the Korean government takes 
 its place, it will be then our duty to be loyal 
 to it. We are not government-makers or 
 government-breakers, but are loyal to the 
 de facto government under which we live. 
 Many of us have lived here since long before 
 the present government came into existence. 
 Our lives have been devoted to the well-being 
 of the Korean people, and it is but natural 
 that our sympathies are bound up in their 
 happiness so that we want to see them enjoy 
 
APPENDICES 217 
 
 the natural liberties of mankind, whether they 
 find them in connection with Japan or as in- 
 dependent people. Each of us may have 
 his individual opinion as to what political 
 status might be best, but we leave it to 
 the Korean people to determine this for them- 
 selves. 
 
 For the reason set forth above we have not 
 been able to accede to the request of the gov- 
 ernment officials and leading Japanese citi- 
 zens to use our influence with the Koreans to 
 stop the agitation and return to their former 
 acquiescence in things as they were. The 
 Koreans did not ask our advice when they 
 began their demand for independence, they 
 have not asked our help in the carrying of it 
 on, and it has been made plain to us that 
 they do not want us to interfere by proposing 
 any compromise settlement. 
 
 Even should we feel inclined to try to influence 
 the Christians over whom we might be supposed 
 to have some influence, and even should we 
 succeed in persuading them to desist from their 
 connection with the agitation, it is to be re- 
 membered that the proportion of Christians 
 engaged in the demonstrations is small as 
 compared with the number of non-Christians. 
 Our participation, therefore, in the struggle, 
 whether on the Korean or Japanese side, would 
 
218 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 be ineffective, injudicious, and contrary to our 
 position as foreigners. 
 
 But then it may be asked, "Why do you 
 concern yourselves with what the police, gen- 
 darmes, and soldiers are doing in their efforts 
 to control the agitations?" Our answer is that, 
 quite apart from the political question, there 
 are some things that do concern all true men 
 who must, in such matters, act as citizens of 
 the world rather than aliens in a given country. 
 Injustice, oppression, and cruelty, wherever per- 
 petrated, call for protest from everyone cog- 
 nizant of them. When it became manifest 
 that the police, gendarmes, and soldiers were 
 deliberately shooting, sabering, bayoneting, and 
 clubbing unarmed people, we reported to the 
 government officials in Chosen, but our re- 
 ports were received as idle tales or denied as 
 incorrect. When deaths had multiplied and 
 the number of prisoners had amounted up to 
 thousands, and it was known that prisoners 
 were being cruelly tortured, and thousands of 
 them had been flogged until many died as a 
 result; when whole villages were burned to the 
 ground (317 houses in one neighborhood), and 
 men were gathered in a church, shot and 
 bayoneted, and then burned in the church, we 
 could no longer restrain our outraged feelings, 
 and we felt it impossible to live in the midst 
 
APPENDICES 219 
 
 of such methods without acquainting the 
 world with the facts, especially when we re- 
 called that the world had just been pouring 
 out its wealth and the blood of its best citi- 
 zens to bring the era of such things to an 
 end. Neither do we consider that we are 
 taking sides in the issue when we state that 
 the Koreans are not allowed to enjoy such 
 ordinary human rights as freedom of speech, 
 freedom of press, freedom to meet and discuss 
 with one another their wants, right of petition 
 for redress, right to read and study the his- 
 tory of their own country, right to use then- 
 own language in studying, opportunity to par- 
 ticipate in the election of those who make 
 their laws or execute them, or right to develop 
 their own national spirit. Their present demon- 
 stration is the outburst of this repression of 
 their growing appreciation of freedom. It was 
 made without violence, and in our judgment 
 should have been met with the sympathy 
 that might be reasonably expected from a 
 nation just emerging successfully from a great 
 war fought for the freedom of mankind. 
 
THE KOREAN SITUATION 
 
 A Statement by the Board of Bishops 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 
 With deep interest and grave concern we 
 have heard of the conditions prevailing in 
 Korea, which so closely affect the prosperous 
 and growing work of our church in that land. 
 Charges are made, and appear to be sustained 
 by ample evidence, that freedom of worship, 
 which is secured in Japan proper by the con- 
 stitution of the empire, is sadly limited in 
 Korea by the military administration. When to 
 that is added impairment of the elemental 
 rights of free speech, free publication, free 
 assembly and organization; when it is remem- 
 bered that no beginnings of self-government, 
 nor any promise of such development have 
 been made to give hope to the Korean people; 
 and when unquestionable testimony proves the 
 drastic and cruel treatment with which the 
 people have in numerous instances been met 
 in the recent unarmed demonstrations, we can- 
 not refrain from an expression of our sympathy, 
 especially with our Christian brethren, some of 
 whom seem to have suffered the more because 
 of their religious faith. 
 
 220 
 
APPENDICES 221 
 
 These events cast a deep shadow over the 
 notable achievements in material and educa- 
 tional affairs which the Japanese government 
 has accomplished during its sovereignty in the 
 Korean peninsula. 
 
 Such events are not to be charged against 
 the whole Japanese people, many of whom 
 repudiate most heartily the abuses which have 
 logically resulted from a military government. 
 This feeling, we are assured, is also shared by 
 responsible statesmen in Japan. 
 
 In a day like this, whose watchwords are 
 humanity and justice for all men, including 
 the weaker nations and the backward races, 
 surely the friends of liberty everywhere may 
 confidently appeal to the higher sentiments of 
 the Japanese nation for a new consideration 
 of its relation to the Korean people. 
 
 With political questions we have no author- 
 ity or wish to interfere. Such is our uniform 
 practice in foreign countries where our mis- 
 sionaries are at work. But on questions of 
 human right all men should be free to express 
 themselves. Our Board of Foreign Missions 
 and our Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, 
 in their profound interest, look to the Bishops 
 as the general executives of the church, to 
 speak for the entire body. 
 
 We, therefore, frankly urge that our Jap- 
 
222 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 anese ally in the great war for freedom and 
 righteousness — with whom friendly relations 
 have so long existed, and we pray God may 
 continue to exist, now and always — accord to 
 the people of Korea all those religious and 
 social privileges to which all men in these 
 days of progress naturally and properly aspire; 
 and we express our ardent hope that every- 
 where, in the East and in the West, may 
 speedily obtain that condition which is sought 
 alike by the church and by the state — a world 
 of peace, of justice, of freedom and of brother- 
 hood. 
 
 Adopted by the Board of Bishops of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, June 28, 1919. 
 L. B. Wilson, Secretary, 
 
D 1 
 
 TREATY OF AMITY AND COMMERCE 
 
 BETWEEN KOREA AND THE 
 
 UNITED STATES, 
 
 MAY 22, 1882 
 
 The United States of America and the King- 
 dom of Chosen, being sincerely desirous of 
 establishing permanent relations of amity and 
 friendship between their respective peoples, 
 have to this end appointed, that is to say: 
 the President of the United States, R. W. 
 Shufeldt, Commodore, U. S. Navy, as his 
 Commissioner Plenipotentiary; and His Maj- 
 esty the King of Chosen, Shin Chen, President 
 of the Royal Cabinet, Chin Hong-chi, Member 
 of the Royal Cabinet, as his Commissioners 
 Plenipotentiary; who, having reciprocally exam- 
 ined their respective full powers, which have 
 been found to be in due form, have agreed 
 upon the several following Articles: 
 
 Article I 
 There shall be perpetual peace and friend- 
 ship between the President of the United 
 
 1 Appendices D to M are taken from Korean Treaties com- 
 piled by Henry Chung, and are used here with the permission 
 of the compiler. 
 
 223 
 
224 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 States and the King of Chosen and the citi- 
 zens and subjects of their respective Govern- 
 ments. 
 
 If other Powers deal unjustly or oppressively 
 with either Government, the other will exert 
 their good offices, on being informed of the 
 case, to bring about an amicable arrangement, 
 thus showing their friendly feelings. 
 
 Article II 
 
 After the conclusion of this treaty of amity 
 and commerce, the high contracting Powers may 
 each appoint diplomatic representatives to re- 
 side at the Court of the other, and may each 
 appoint consular representatives at the ports 
 of the other which are open to. foreign com- 
 merce, at their own convenience. 
 
 These officials shall have relations with the 
 corresponding local authorities of equal rank 
 upon a basis of mutual equality. 
 
 The Diplomatic and Consular representatives 
 of the two Governments shall receive mutually 
 all the privileges, rights, and immunities, with- 
 out discrimination, which are accorded to the 
 same classes of representatives from the most 
 favoured nation. 
 
 Consuls shall exercise their functions only on 
 receipt of an exequatur from the Government 
 to which they are accredited. Consular au- 
 
APPENDICES 225 
 
 thorities shall be bond fide officials. No mer- 
 chants shall be permitted to exercise the duties 
 of the office, nor shall consular officers be 
 allowed to engage in trade. At ports to which 
 no consular representatives have been ap- 
 pointed, the consuls of other Powers may be 
 invited to act, provided that no merchant shall 
 be allowed to assume consular functions, or 
 the provision of this treaty may, in such case, 
 be enforced by the local authorities. 
 
 If consular representatives of the United 
 States in Chosen conduct their business in an 
 improper manner, their exequaturs may be re- 
 voked, subject to the approval, previously ob- 
 tained, of the diplomatic representative of the 
 
 United States. 
 
 Article III 
 
 Whenever United States vessels, either be- 
 cause of stress of weather or by want of fuel 
 or provisions, cannot reach the nearest open 
 port in Chosen, they may enter any port or 
 harbour either to take refuge therein or to get 
 supplies of wood, coal, and other necessaries, 
 or to make repairs; the expenses incurred 
 thereby being defrayed by the ship's master. 
 In such event, the officers and people of the 
 locality shall display their sympathy by ren- 
 dering full assistance, and their liberality by 
 furnishing the necessities required. 
 
226 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 If a United States vessel carries on a clan- 
 destine trade at a port not open to foreign 
 commerce, such vessel, with her cargo, shall 
 be seized and confiscated. 
 
 If a United States vessel be wrecked on the 
 coast of Chosen, the local authorities, on being 
 informed of the occurrence, shall immediately 
 render assistance to the crew, provide for their 
 present necessities, and take the measures 
 necessary for the salvage of the ship and the 
 preservation of her cargo. They shall also 
 bring the matter to the knowledge of the near- 
 est consular representative of the United 
 States, in order that steps may be taken to 
 send the crew home and to save the ship and 
 cargo. The necessary expenses shall be de- 
 frayed either by the ship's master or by the 
 United States. 
 
 Article IV 
 
 All citizens of the United States of America 
 in Chosen, peaceably attending to their own 
 affairs, shall receive and enjoy for themselves 
 and everything appertaining to them the pro- 
 tection of the local authorities of the Govern- 
 ment of Chosen, who shall defend them from 
 all insult and injury of any sort. If their 
 dwellings or property be threatened or attacked 
 by mobs, incendiaries, or other violent or 
 lawless persons, the local officers, on requisition 
 
APPENDICES 227 
 
 of the Consul, shall immediately dispatch a 
 military force to disperse the rioters, appre- 
 hend the guilty individuals, and punish them 
 with the utmost rigour of the law. 
 
 Subjects of Chosen, guilty of any criminal 
 act towards citizens of the United States, shall 
 be punished by the authorities of Chosen 
 according to the laws of Chosen; and citizens 
 of the United States, either on shore or in any 
 merchant vessel, who may insult, trouble, or 
 wound the persons, or injure the property of 
 the people of Chosen, shall be arrested and 
 punished only by the Consul or other public 
 functionary of the United States thereto au- 
 thorized, according to the laws of the United 
 States. 
 
 When controversies arise in the kingdom of 
 Chosen, between citizens of the United States 
 and subjects of His Majesty, which need to be 
 examined and decided by the public officers of 
 the two nations, it is agreed between the two 
 governments of the United States and Chosen 
 that such cases shall be tried by the proper 
 official of the nationality of the defendant, 
 according to the laws of that nation. 
 
 The properly authorized official of the plain- 
 tiff's nationality shall be freely permitted to 
 attend the trial, and shall be treated with 
 the courtesy due to his position. He shall be 
 
228 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 granted all proper facilities for watching the 
 proceedings in the interests of justice. If he 
 so desires, he shall have the right to present, 
 to examine, and to cross-examine witnesses. 
 If he is dissatisfied with the proceedings, he 
 shall be permitted to protest against them in 
 detail. 
 
 It is, however, mutually agreed and under- 
 stood between the high contracting Powers, 
 that whenever the King of Chosen shall have 
 so far modified and reformed the statutes and 
 judicial procedure of his kingdom that, in the 
 judgment of the United States, they conform 
 to the laws and course of justice in the United 
 States, the right of ex-territorial jurisdiction 
 over United States citizens in Chosen shall be 
 abandoned, and thereafter United States citi- 
 zens, when within the limits of the kingdom 
 of Chosen, shall be subject to the jurisdiction 
 of the native authorities. 
 
 Article V 
 
 Merchants and merchant vessels of Chosen 
 visiting the United States for purposes of 
 traffic shall pay duties and tonnage dues and 
 all fees according to the customs regulations 
 of the United States, but no higher or other 
 rates of duties and tonnage dues shall be 
 exacted of them than are levied upon citizens 
 
APPENDICES 229 
 
 of the United States or upon citizens or sub- 
 jects of the most favoured nations. 
 
 Merchants and merchant vessels of the 
 United States visiting Chosen for purposes of 
 traffic shall pay duties upon all merchandise 
 imported and exported. The authority to levy 
 duties is of right vested in the Government 
 of Chosen. The tariff of duties upon exports 
 and imports, together with the customs regula- 
 tions for the prevention of smuggling and other 
 irregularities, will be fixed by the authorities 
 of Chosen and communicated to the proper 
 officials of the United States, to be by the 
 latter notified to their citizens and duly ob- 
 served. 
 
 It is, however, agreed in the first instance, 
 as a general measure, that the tariff upon such 
 imports as are articles of daily use shall not 
 exceed an ad valorem duty of ten per centum', 
 that the tariff upon such imports as are lux- 
 uries, as, for instance, foreign wines, foreign 
 tobacco, clocks and watches, shall not exceed 
 an ad valorem duty of thirty per centum; and 
 that native produce exported shall pay a duty 
 not to exceed five per centum ad valorem. And 
 it is further agreed that the duty upon foreign 
 imports shall be paid once for all at the port 
 of entry, and that no other dues, duties, fees, 
 taxes, or charges of any sort shall be levied 
 
230 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 upon such imports either in the interior of 
 Chosen or at the ports. 
 
 United States merchant vessels entering the 
 ports of Chosen shall pay tonnage dues at the 
 rate of five mace per ton, payable once in 
 three months on each vessel, according to the 
 Chinese calendar. 
 
 Article VI 
 
 Subjects of Chosen who may visit the United 
 States shall be permitted to reside and to rent 
 premises, purchase land, or to construct resi- 
 dences or warehouses, in all parts of the country. 
 They shall be freely permitted to pursue their 
 various callings and avocations, and to traffic 
 in all merchandise, raw and manufactured, that 
 is not declared contraband by law. 
 
 Citizens of the United States who may re- 
 sort to the ports of Chosen which are open to 
 foreign commerce shall be permitted to reside 
 at such open ports within the limits of the 
 concessions, and to lease buildings or land or 
 to construct residences or warehouses therein. 
 They shall be freely permitted to pursue their 
 various callings and avocations within the 
 limits of the ports, and to traffic in all mer- 
 chandise, raw and manufactured, that is not 
 declared contraband by law. 
 
 No coercion or intimidation in the acquisition 
 
APPENDICES 231 
 
 of land or buildings shall be permitted, and the 
 land rent as fixed by the authorities of Chosen 
 shall be paid. And it is expressly agreed that 
 land so acquired in the open ports of Chosen 
 still remains an integral part of the kingdom, 
 and that all rights of jurisdiction over persons 
 and property within such areas remain vested 
 in the authorities of Chosen, except in so far 
 as such rights have been expressly relinquished 
 by this treaty. 
 
 American citizens are not permitted either to 
 transport foreign imports to the interior for 
 sale or to proceed thither to purchase native 
 produce. Nor are they permitted to transport 
 native produce from one open port to another 
 open port. 
 
 Violations of this rule will subject such 
 merchandise to confiscation, and the merchant 
 offending will be handed over to the consular 
 authorities to be dealt with. 
 
 Article VII 
 
 The Governments of the United States and 
 of Chosen mutually agree and undertake that 
 subjects of Chosen shall not be permitted to 
 import opium into any of the ports of the 
 United States, and citizens of the United 
 States shall not be permitted to import opium 
 into any of the open ports of Chosen, to trans- 
 
232 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 port it from one open port to another open 
 port, or to traffic in it in Chosen. This absolute 
 prohibition, which extends to vessels owned by 
 the citizens or subjects of either Power, to 
 foreign vessels employed by them, and to 
 vessels owned by the citizens or subjects of 
 either Power and employed by other persons 
 for the transportation of opium, shall be en- 
 forced by appropriate legislation on the part 
 of the United States and of Chosen, and 
 offenders against it shall be severely punished. 
 
 Abticle VIII 
 
 Whenever the Government of Chosen shall 
 have reason to apprehend a scarcity of food 
 within the limits of the kingdom, His Majesty 
 may, by decree, temporarily prohibit the ex- 
 port of all breadstuffs, and such decree shall 
 be binding on all citizens of the United States 
 in Chosen, upon due notice having been given 
 them by the authorities of Chosen through the 
 proper officers of the United States; but it is 
 to be understood that the exportation of rice 
 and breadstuffs of every description is pro- 
 hibited from the open port of Yin-chuen. 
 
 Chosen having of old prohibited the exporta- 
 tion of red ginseng, if citizens of the United 
 States clandestinely purchase it for export, it 
 shall be confiscated, and the offenders punished. 
 
APPENDICES 233 
 
 Article IX 
 The purchase of cannon, small arms, swords, 
 gunpowder, shot, and all munitions of war is 
 permitted only to officials of the Government 
 of Chosen, and they may be imported by 
 citizens of the United States only under a 
 written permit from the authorities of Chosen. 
 If these articles are clandestinely imported, they 
 shall be confiscated, and the offending party 
 shall be punished. 
 
 Article X 
 
 The officers and people of either nation 
 residing in the other shall have the right to 
 employ natives for all kinds of lawful work. 
 
 Should, however, subjects of Chosen, guilty 
 of violation of the laws of the kingdom, or 
 against whom any action has been brought, 
 conceal themselves in the residences or ware- 
 houses of United States citizens or on board 
 United States merchant vessels, the Consular 
 authorities of the United States, on being 
 notified of the fact by the local authorities, 
 will either permit the latter to despatch con- 
 stables to make the arrests or the persons will 
 be arrested by the Consular authorities and 
 handed over to the local constables. 
 
 Officials or citizens of the United States shall 
 not harbour such persons. 
 
234 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Article XI 
 
 Students of either nationality who may pro- 
 ceed to the country of the other, in order to 
 study the language, literature, laws, or arts, 
 shall be given all possible protection and 
 assistance, in evidence of cordial goodwill. 
 
 Article XII 
 
 This being the first treaty negotiated by 
 Chosen, and hence being general and incom- 
 plete in its provisions, shall, in the first in- 
 stance, be put into operation in all things 
 stipulated herein. As to stipulations not con- 
 tained herein, after an interval of five years, 
 when the officers and people of the two Powers 
 shall have become more familiar with each 
 other's language, a further negotiation of com- 
 mercial provisions and regulations in detail, in 
 conformity with international law and without 
 unequal discriminations on either part, shall 
 be had. 
 
 Article XIII 
 
 This treaty and future official correspondence 
 between the two contracting governments shall 
 be made, on the part of Chosen, in the Chinese 
 language. 
 
 The United States shall either use the 
 Chinese language, or if English be used, it 
 
APPENDICES 235 
 
 shall be accompanied with a Chinese version, 
 in order to avoid misunderstanding. 
 
 Article XIV 
 
 The high contracting Powers hereby agree 
 that should at any time the King of Chosen 
 grant to any nation, or to the merchants or 
 citizens of any nation, any right, privilege, or 
 favour, connected either with navigation, com- 
 merce, political or other intercourse, which is 
 not conferred by this treaty, such right, priv- 
 ilege, and favour shall freely inure to the 
 benefit of the United States, its public officers, 
 merchants, and citizens; provided always, that 
 whenever such right, privilege, or favour is 
 accompanied by any condition or equivalent 
 concession granted by the other nation in- 
 terested, the United States, its officers and 
 people, shall only be entitled to the benefit of 
 such right, privilege, or favour upon complying 
 with the conditions or concessions connected 
 therewith. 
 
 In faith whereof, the respective Commission- 
 ers Plenipotentiary have signed and sealed the 
 foregoing at Yin-chuen, in English and Chinese, 
 being three originals of each text, of even 
 tenor and date, the ratifications of which shall 
 be exchanged at Yin-chuen within one year 
 from the date of its execution, and imme- 
 
236 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 diately thereafter this treaty shall be in all its 
 provisions publicly proclaimed and made known 
 by both governments in their respective coun- 
 tries, in order that it may be obeyed by their 
 citizens and subjects respectively. 
 
 Chosen, May the 22nd, A. D. 1882. 
 [l. s.] (Signed) R. W. Shufeldt, 
 
 Commodore, U. S. N. 9 Envoy of the U. S. 
 to Chosen. 
 [l. s.] (Signed) Shin Chen. ) (In Chi- 
 
 [l. s.] (Signed) Chin Hong-Chi. 1 nese.) 
 
E 
 
 THE JAPANESE-KOREAN TREATY, 
 FEBRUARY 26, 1876 
 
 The Governments of Japan and Chosen, be- 
 ing desirous to resume the amicable relations 
 that of yore existed between them, and to 
 promote the friendly feelings of both nations 
 to a still firmer basis, have for this purpose 
 appointed their Plenipotentiaries, that is to 
 say: The Government of Japan, Kuroda 
 Kiyotaka, High Commissioner Extraordinary 
 to Chosen, Lieutenant-General and Member of 
 the Privy Council, Minister of the Colonisation 
 Department, and Inouye Kaoru, Associate 
 High Commissioner Extraordinary to Chosen, 
 Member of the Genro In; and the Government 
 of Chosen, Shin Ken, Han-Choo-Su-Fu, and 
 In-Jish6, Fu-So-Fu, Fuku-s6-Kwan, who, ac- 
 cording to the powers received from their 
 respective Governments, have agreed upon and 
 concluded the following Articles: 
 
 Article I 
 
 Chosen being an independent state enjoys 
 the same sovereign rights as does Japan. 
 
 In order to prove the sincerity of the friend- 
 ship existing between the two nations, their 
 
 237 
 
238 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 intercourse shall henceforward be carried on in 
 terms of equality and courtesy, each avoiding 
 the giving of offence by arrogance or mani- 
 festations of suspicion. 
 
 In the first instance, all rules and precedents 
 that are apt to obstruct friendly intercourse 
 shall be totally abrogated, and, in their stead, 
 rules, liberal and in general usage fit to secure 
 a firm and perpetual peace, shall be established. 
 
 Article II 
 
 The Government of Japan at any time 
 within fifteen months from the date of signa- 
 ture of this Treaty, shall have the right to 
 send an Envoy to the Capital of Chosen, where 
 he shall be admitted to confer with the Rei- 
 sohan-sho on matters of a diplomatic nature. 
 He may either reside at the capital or return 
 to his country on the completion of his mission. 
 
 The Government of Chosen in like manner 
 shall have the right to send an Envoy to Tokyo, 
 Japan, where he shall be admitted to confer 
 with the Minister for Foreign Affairs on matters 
 of a diplomatic nature. He may either reside 
 at Tokyo or return home on the completion 
 of his mission. 
 
 Article III 
 
 All official communications addressed by the 
 Government of Japan to that of Chosen shall 
 
APPENDICES 239 
 
 be written in the Japanese language, and for 
 a period of ten years from the present date 
 they shall be accompanied by a Chinese trans- 
 lation. The Government of Chosen will use 
 the Chinese language. 
 
 Article IV 
 
 Sorio in Fusan, Chosen, where an official 
 establishment of Japan is situated, is a place 
 originally opened for commercial intercourse 
 with Japan, and trade shall henceforward be 
 carried on at that place in accordance with 
 the provisions of this Treaty, whereby are 
 abolished all former usages, such as the practice 
 of Sai-ken-sen (junk annually sent to Chosen 
 by the late Prinee of Tsushima to exchange a 
 certain quantity ©Particles between each other). 
 
 In addition to the above place, the Govern- 
 ment of Chosen agrees to open two ports, as 
 mentioned in Article V. of this Treaty, for 
 commercial intercourse with Japanese subjects. 
 
 In the foregoing places Japanese subjects 
 shall be free to lease land and to erect build- 
 ings thereon, and to rent buildings the prop- 
 erty of subjects of Chosen. 
 
 Article V 
 
 On the coast of five provinces, viz.: Keikin, 
 Chiusei, Jenra* Kensho, and Kankio, two ports, 
 
240 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 suitable for commercial purposes, shall be se- 
 lected, and the time for opening these two 
 ports shall be in the twentieth month from the 
 second month of the ninth year of Meiji, 
 corresponding with the date of Chosen, the 
 first moon of the year Hei-shi. 
 
 Article VI 
 
 Whenever Japanese vessels, either by stress 
 of weather or by want of fuel and provisions, 
 cannot reach one or the other of the open ports 
 in Chosen, they may enter any ports or har- 
 bour either to take refuge therein, or to get 
 supplies of wood, coal, and other necessaries, 
 or to make repairs; the expenses incurred 
 thereby are to be defrayed by the ship's master. 
 In such events both the officers and the people 
 of the locality shall display their sympathy by 
 rendering full assistance, and their liberality in 
 supplying the necessaries required. 
 
 If any vessel of either country be at any 
 time wrecked or stranded on the coasts of 
 Japan or of Chosen, the people of the vicinity 
 shall immediately use every exertion to rescue 
 her crew, and shall inform the local author- 
 ities of the disaster, who will either send the 
 wrecked persons to their native country or 
 hand them over to the officer of their country 
 residing at the nearest port. 
 
APPENDICES 241 
 
 Article VII 
 The coasts of Chosen, having hitherto been 
 left unsurveyed, are very dangerous for vessels 
 approaching them, and in order to prepare 
 charts showing the positions of islands, rocks, 
 and reefs, as well as the depth of water whereby 
 all navigators may be enabled to pass between 
 the two countries, any Japanese mariners may 
 freely survey said coasts. 
 
 Article VIII 
 There shall be appointed by the Govern- 
 ment of Japan an officer to reside at the open 
 ports in Chosen for the protection of Japanese 
 merchants resorting there, providing such ar- 
 rangement be deemed necessary. Should any 
 question interesting both nations arise, the said 
 officer shall confer with the local authorities 
 of Chosen and settle it. 
 
 Article IX 
 
 Friendly relations having been established 
 between the two contracting parties, their 
 respective subjects may freely carry on their 
 business without any interference from the 
 officers of either Government, and neither 
 limitation nor prohibition shall be made on 
 trade. 
 
 In case any fraud be committed, or pay- 
 
242 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 ment of debt be refused by any merchant of 
 either country, the officers of either one or of 
 the other Government shall do their utmost 
 to bring the delinquent to justice and to en- 
 force recovery of the debt. 
 
 Neither the Japanese nor the Chosen Govern- 
 ment shall be held responsible for the payment 
 of such debt. 
 
 Article X 
 
 Should a Japanese subject residing at either 
 of the open ports of Chosen commit any offence 
 against a subject of Chosen, he shall be tried 
 by the Japanese authorities. Should a sub- 
 ject of Chosen commit any offence against a 
 Japanese subject, he shall be tried by the 
 authorities of Chosen. The offenders shall be 
 punished according to the laws of their respec- 
 tive countries. Justice shall be equitably and 
 impartially administered on both sides. 
 
 Article XI 
 
 Friendly relations having been established 
 between the two contracting parties, it is 
 necessary to prescribe trade relations for the 
 benefit of the merchants of the respective 
 countries. 
 
 Such trade regulations, together with de- 
 tailed provisions to be added to the Articles of 
 the present Treaty, to develop its meaning and 
 
APPENDICES 243 
 
 facilitate its observance, shall be agreed upon 
 at the capital of Chosen or at Kokwa Fu in 
 the country, within six months from the 
 present date, by Special Commissioners ap- 
 pointed by the two countries. 
 
 Article XII 
 
 The foregoing eleven Articles are binding 
 from the date of the signing thereof, and shall 
 be observed by the two contracting parties, 
 faithfully and invariably, whereby perpetual 
 friendship shall be secured to the two countries. 
 
 The present Treaty is executed in duplicate, 
 and copies will be exchanged between the two 
 contracting parties. 
 
 In faith whereof we, the respective Plenipo- 
 tentiaries of Japan and Chosen, have affixed 
 our seals hereunto, this twenty-sixth day of 
 the second month of the ninth year of Meiji, 
 and the two thousand five hundred and thirty- 
 sixth since the accession of Jimmu Tenno; and, 
 in the era of Chosen, the second day of the 
 second moon of the year Heishi, and of the 
 founding of Chosen the four hundred and 
 eighty-fifth. 
 
 (Signed) Kuroda Kiyotaka. 
 Inouye Kaortj. 
 Shin Ken. 
 In Ji-sh6. 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY TREATY BETWEEN 
 JAPAN AND KOREA 
 
 Whereas, on the twenty-sixth day of the 
 second month of the ninth year Meiji, corre- 
 sponding with the Korean date of the second 
 day of the second month of the year Heishi, 
 a Treaty of Amity and Friendship was signed 
 and concluded between Kuroda Kiyotaka, 
 High Commissioner Extraordinary, Lieutenant- 
 General of H.I.J.M. Army, Member of the 
 Privy Council, and Minister of the Colonisation 
 Department, and Inouye Kaoru, Associate 
 High Commissionar Extraordinary and Mem- 
 ber of the Genro-In, both of whom had been 
 directed to proceed to the city of Kokwa in 
 Korea by the Government of Japan; and Shin 
 Ken, Dai Kwan, Han-Choo-Su-Fu, and In- 
 jisho, Fu-So-Fu Fuku-so-Kwan, both of whom 
 had been duly commissioned for that purpose 
 by the Government of Korea: — 
 
 Now therefore, in pursuance of Article XI. 
 of the above Treaty, Miyamoto Okadzu, Com- 
 missioner despatched to the capital of Korea, 
 Daijo of the Foreign Department, and duly 
 empowered thereto by the Government of 
 
 244 
 
APPENDICES 245 
 
 Japan, and Chio Inki, Koshoo Kwan, 
 Gisheifu-dosho, duly empowered thereto by 
 the Government of Korea, have negotiated 
 and concluded the following Articles: — 
 
 Article I 
 
 Agents of the Japanese Government sta- 
 tioned at any of the open ports shall hereafter, 
 whenever a Japanese vessel has been stranded 
 on the Korean coast, and has need of their 
 presence at the spot, have the right to proceed 
 there on their informing the local authorities 
 of the facts. 
 
 Article II 
 
 Envoys or Agents of the Japanese Govern- 
 ment shall hereafter be at full liberty to 
 despatch letters or other communications to 
 any place or places in Korea, either by post 
 at their own expense, or by hiring inhabitants 
 of the locality wherein they reside as special 
 couriers. 
 
 Article III 
 
 Japanese subjects may, at the ports of 
 Korea open to them, lease land for the pur- 
 pose of erecting residences thereon, the rent 
 to be fixed by mutual agreement between the 
 lessee and the owner. 
 
 Any lands belonging to the Korean Govern- 
 ment may be rented by a Japanese on his 
 
246 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 paying the same rent thereon as a Korean 
 subject would pay to his Government. 
 
 It is agreed that the Shumon (watch-gate) 
 and the Shotsumon (barrier) erected by the 
 Korean Government near the Kokwa (Japanese 
 official establishment) in Sorioko, Fusan, shall 
 be entirely removed, and that a new boundary 
 line shall be established according to the 
 limits hereinafter provided. In the other two 
 open ports the same steps shall be taken. 
 
 Article IV 
 
 The limits within which Japanese subjects 
 may travel from the port of Fusan shall be 
 comprised within a radius of ten ri, Korean 
 measurement, the landing-place in that port 
 being taken as a centre. 
 
 Japanese subjects shall be free to go where 
 they please within the above limits, and shall 
 be therein at full liberty either to buy articles 
 of local production or to sell articles of Jap- 
 anese production. 
 
 The town of Torai lies outside of the above 
 limits, but Japanese subjects shall have the 
 same privileges as in those places within them. 
 
 Article V 
 Japanese subjects shall at each of the open 
 ports of Korea be at liberty to employ Korean 
 subjects. 
 
APPENDICES 24*7 
 
 Korean subjects, on obtaining permission 
 from their Government, may visit the Japanese 
 Empire. 
 
 Article VI 
 
 In the case of the death of any Japanese 
 subject residing at the open ports of Korea, 
 a suitable spot of ground shall be selected 
 wherein to inter his remains. 
 
 As to the localities to be selected for cem- 
 eteries in the two open ports other than the 
 port of Fusan, in determining them regard 
 shall be had as to the distance there is to the 
 cemetery already established at Fusan. 
 
 Article VII 
 
 Japanese subjects shall be at liberty to 
 traffic in any article owned by Korean subjects, 
 paying therefor in Japanese coin. Korean 
 subjects, for purposes of trade, may freely 
 circulate among themselves at the open ports 
 of Korea such Japanese coin as they may have 
 possession of in business transactions. 
 
 Japanese subjects shall be at liberty to use 
 in trade or to carry away with them the copper 
 coin of Korea. 
 
 In case any subject of either of the two 
 countries counterfeit the coin of either of them, 
 he shall be punished according to the laws of 
 his own country. 
 
248 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Article VIII 
 Korean subjects shall have the full fruition 
 of all and every article which they have become 
 possessed of either by purchase or gift from 
 Japanese subjects. 
 
 Article IX 
 
 In case a boat despatched by a Japanese 
 surveying vessel to take soundings along the 
 Korean coasts, as provided for in Article VII 
 of the Treaty of Amity and Friendship, should 
 be prevented from returning to the vessel, on 
 account either of bad weather or the ebb tide, 
 the headman of the locality shall accommodate 
 the boat party in a suitable house in the neigh- 
 bourhood. Articles required by them for their 
 comfort shall be furnished to them by the 
 local authorities, and the outlay thus incurred 
 shall afterwards be refunded to the latter. 
 
 Article X 
 
 Although no relations as yet exist between 
 Korea and foreign countries, yet Japan has 
 for many years back maintained friendly re- 
 lations with them; it is therefore natural that 
 in case a vessel of any of the countries of 
 which Japan thus cultivates the friendship 
 should be stranded by stress of weather or 
 otherwise on the coasts of Korea, those on 
 
APPENDICES 249 
 
 board shall be treated with kindness by Korean 
 subjects, and should such persons ask to be 
 sent back to their homes they shall be deliv- 
 ered over by the Korean Government to an 
 Agent of the Japanese Government residing at 
 one of the open ports of Korea, requesting him 
 to send them back to their native countries, 
 which request the Agent shall never fail to 
 comply with. 
 
 Article XI 
 
 The foregoing ten Articles, together with the 
 Regulations for Trade annexed hereto, shall be 
 of equal effect with the Treaty of Amity and 
 Friendship, and therefore shall be faithfully 
 observed by the Governments of the two 
 countries. Should it, however, be found that 
 any of the above Articles actually cause em- 
 barrassment to the commercial intercourse of 
 the two nations, and that it is necessary to 
 modify them, then either Government, sub- 
 mitting its proposition to the other, shall 
 negotiate the modification of such Articles on 
 giving one year's previous notice of their in- 
 tention. 
 
 Signed and sealed this twenty-fourth day of 
 the eighth month of the ninth year Meiji, and 
 two thousand five hundred and thirty-sixth 
 since the accession of H.M.Jimmu Tenno; and 
 of the Korean era, the sixth day of the seventh 
 
250 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 month of the year Heishi, and the founding 
 of Korea the four hundred and eighty-fifth. 
 (Signed) Miyamoto Okadzu, 
 
 Commissioner and Dajio of the 
 
 Foreign Department. 
 
 Cho Inki, 
 
 Kbsho Kwan, Gisheifudosho. 
 
G 
 
 PROTOCOL CONCLUDED BETWEEN 
 JAPAN AND KOREA ON FEBRU- 
 ARY 23, 1904, REGARDING 
 THE SITUATION OF 
 KOREA 
 
 Hayashi Gonsuke, Envoy Extraordinary 
 and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty 
 the Emperor of Japan, and Major-General 
 Ye-tchi-yong, Minister of State for Foreign 
 Affairs ad interim of His Majesty the Emperor 
 of Korea, being respectively duly empowered 
 for the purpose, have agreed upon the follow- 
 ing Articles: — 
 
 Article I 
 
 For the purpose of maintaining a permanent 
 and solid friendship between Japan and Korea 
 and firmly establishing peace in the Far East, 
 the Imperial Government of Korea shall place 
 full confidence in the Imperial Government of 
 Japan and adopt the advice of the latter in 
 regard to improvements in administration. 
 
 Article II 
 The Imperial Government of Japan shall in 
 a spirit of firm friendship ensure the safety 
 and repose of the Imperial House of Korea. 
 
 251 
 
252 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Article III 
 
 The Imperial Government of Japan definitely 
 guarantee the independence and territorial 
 integrity of the Korean Empire. 
 
 Article IV 
 
 In case the welfare of the Imperial House 
 of Korea or the territorial integrity of Korea 
 is endangered by aggression of a third Power 
 or by internal disturbances, the Imperial 
 Government of Japan shall immediately take 
 such necessary measures as the circumstances 
 require, and in such cases the Imperial Govern- 
 ment of Korea shall give full facilities to pro- 
 mote the action of the Imperial Japanese 
 Government. 
 
 The Imperial Government of Japan may, for 
 the attainment of the above-mentioned objects, 
 occupy, when the circumstances require it, 
 such places as may be necessary from stra- 
 tegical points of view. 
 
 Article V 
 
 The Governments of the two countries shall 
 not in future, without mutual consent, con- 
 clude with a third Power such an arrange- 
 ment as may be contrary to the principles of 
 the present Protocol. 
 
APPENDICES 25S 
 
 Article VI 
 
 Details in connection with the present Proto- 
 col shall be arranged, as the circumstances may 
 require, between the Representative of Japan 
 and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs 
 of Korea. 
 
 Hayashi Gonsuke, (Seal.) 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
 Plenipotentiary . 
 The 23rd day of the 2nd month of the 37th 
 year of Meiji. 
 
 Major-General Ye Tchi-yong, (Seal). 
 Minister of State for Foreign Affairs 
 ad interim. 
 The 23rd day of the 2nd month of the 8th 
 year of Kwang-mu. 
 
H 
 
 AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAPAN AND 
 
 KOREA, SIGNED AUGUST 22, 1904 
 
 RELATING TO FINANCIAL AND 
 
 DIPLOMATIC ADVISERS 
 
 Article I 
 The Korean Government shall engage as 
 financial adviser to the Korean Government a 
 Japanese subject recommended by the Jap- 
 anese Government, and all matters concerning 
 finance shall be dealt with after his counsel 
 has been taken. 
 
 Article II 
 
 The Korean Government shall engage as 
 diplomatic adviser to the Department of For- 
 eign Affairs a foreigner recommended by the 
 Japanese Government, and all important mat- 
 ters concerning foreign relations shall be dealt 
 with after his counsel has been taken. 
 
 Article III 
 
 The Korean Government shall previously 
 consult the Japanese Government in conclud- 
 ing treaties and conventions with foreign 
 powers, and in dealing with other important 
 
 254 
 
APPENDICES 355 
 
 diplomatic affairs, such as the grant of con- 
 cessions to or contracts with foreigners. 
 
 Hayashi Gonsuke, (Seal). 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
 Plenipotentiary . 
 The 22nd day of the 8th month of the 37th 
 year of Meiji. 
 
 Yun Chi-ho, (Seal). 
 Acting Minister of State for 
 Foreign Affairs. 
 The 22nd day of the 8th month of the 8th 
 year of Kwang-mu. 
 
AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAPAN AND 
 KOREA, SIGNED APRIL 1, 1905, 
 REGARDING COMMUNICA- 
 TIONS SERVICES 
 
 The Imperial Governments of Japan and 
 Korea, finding it expedient from the stand- 
 point of the administration and finances of 
 Korea, to rearrange the system of communica- 
 tions in that country, and, by amalgamating 
 it with that of Japan, to unite the two systems 
 into one common to the two countries, and, 
 having seen the necessity, with that object 
 in view, of transferring the post, telegraph and 
 telephone services of Korea to the control of 
 the Japanese Government, Hayashi Gonsuke, 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipoten- 
 tiary of Japan, and I Ha-yeng, Minister of 
 State for Foreign Affairs of Korea, each in- 
 vested with proper authority, have agreed upon 
 and concluded the following Articles: — 
 
 Article I 
 
 The Imperial Government of Korea shall 
 transfer and assign the control and adminis- 
 tration of the post, telegraph and telephone 
 
 256 
 
APPENDICES 257 
 
 services in Korea (except the telephone service 
 exclusively pertaining to the Department of the 
 Imperial Household) to the Imperial Japanese 
 Government. 
 
 Article II 
 
 The land, buildings, furnitures, instruments, 
 machines and all other appliances connected 
 with the system of communications already 
 established by the Imperial Government of 
 Korea, shall, by virtue of the present Agree- 
 ment, be transferred to the control of the 
 Imperial Japanese Government. 
 
 The Authorities of the two countries acting 
 together shall make an inventory of the land, 
 buildings and all other requisites mentioned 
 in the preceding paragraph, which inventory 
 shall serve as evidence in the future. 
 
 Article III 
 
 When it is deemed necessary by the Japanese 
 Government to extend the communications sys- 
 tem in Korea, they may appropriate land 
 and buildings belonging to the State or to 
 private persons; the former without compensa- 
 tion and the latter with proper indemnification. 
 
 Article IV 
 
 In respect of the control of the communi- 
 cations service and the custody of the prop- 
 
258 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 erties in connection therewith, the Japanese 
 Government assume, on their own account, 
 the responsibility of good administration. 
 
 The expenses required for the extension of 
 the communications services shall also be 
 borne by the Imperial Government of Japan. 
 
 The Imperial Government of Japan shall 
 officially notify the Imperial Government of 
 Korea of the financial condition of the sys- 
 tem of communications under their control. 
 
 Article V 
 
 All appliances and materials which are 
 deemed necessary by the Imperial Govern- 
 ment of Japan for the control or extension of 
 the system of communications shall be ex- 
 empt from all duties and imposts. 
 
 Article VI 
 
 The Imperial Government of Korea shall 
 be at liberty to maintain the present Board 
 of Communications so far as such retention 
 does not interfere with the control and ex- 
 tension of the services by the Japanese Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The Japanese Government, in controlling 
 and extending the services, shall engage as 
 many Korean officials and employees as pos- 
 sible. 
 
APPENDICES 259 
 
 Article VII 
 
 In respect of the arrangements formerly 
 entered into by the Korean Government with 
 the Governments of foreign Powers concerning 
 the post, telegraph and telephone services, the 
 Japanese Government shall in behalf of Korea 
 exercise the rights and perform the obligations 
 pertaining thereto. 
 
 Should there arise in the future any necessity 
 for concluding any new convention between 
 the Government of Korea and the Govern- 
 ments of Foreign Powers concerning the com- 
 munications services, the Japanese Government 
 shall assume the responsibility of concluding 
 such convention in behalf of the Korean 
 Government. 
 
 Article VIII 
 
 The various conventions and agreements re- 
 specting the communications services hitherto 
 existing between the Governments of Japan 
 and Korea are mutually abolished or modified 
 by the present Agreement. 
 
 Article IX 
 
 When in the future as a result of the general 
 development of the communications system in 
 Korea, there is some adequate profit over 
 and above expenditures defrayed by the Jap- 
 anese Government for the control and main- 
 
260 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 tenance of the old services and for their exten- 
 sions and improvements, the Japanese Govern- 
 ment shall deliver to the Korean Government 
 a suitable percentage of such profit. 
 
 Article X 
 
 When in the future an ample surplus exists 
 in the finances of the Korean Government, 
 the control of their communications services 
 may be returned to the Government of Korea, 
 in the sequel of consultation between the two 
 Governments. 
 
 HayasHi Gonsuke, (Seal). 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
 Plenipotentiary. 
 The 1st day of the 4th month of the 38th 
 year of Meiji. 
 
 I Ha-yeng, (Seal). 
 Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. 
 The 1st day of the 4th month of the 9th year 
 of Kwang-mu. 
 
AGREEMENT RESPECTING THE 
 COAST TRADE OF KOREA 
 
 The Imperial Governments of Japan and 
 Korea, deeming it necessary, for the purpose 
 of improving the trade, and promoting the 
 development of the resources, of Korea, to 
 allow navigation by Japanese vessels along the 
 coasts and in the inland waters of Korea, 
 Hayashi Gonsuke, Envoy Extraordinary and 
 Minister Plenipotentiary of Japan, and I Ha- 
 yeng, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of 
 Korea, duly authorized by their respective 
 Governments for the purpose, have agreed upon 
 the following Articles: 
 
 Article I 
 Japanese vessels shall be at liberty to nav- 
 igate along the coasts and in the inland waters 
 of Korea for the purpose of trade in accord- 
 ance with the stipulations of the present Agree- 
 ment, which, however, shall not be applicable 
 to navigation between the open ports. 
 
 Article II 
 Licenses shall be obtained for all Japanese 
 vessels to be employed in navigation of the 
 
 261 
 
262 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 coasts and inland waters, upon reporting 
 through the Japanese Consular Officers to the 
 Korean Customs the names and residences of 
 the owners, the names, types and carrying 
 capacity of the vessels, as well as the limits 
 within which such vessels are to navigate. 
 
 Licenses shall be available for one year from 
 the date of their issue. 
 
 Article III 
 Upon receipt of a license, fees shall be paid 
 to the Korean Customs according to the fol- 
 lowing rates: 
 
 For a vessel of foreign type below 
 
 100 tons, 15.00 
 
 For a vessel of Japanese type, 15.00 
 
 For a vessel of foreign type above 
 
 100 and below 500 tons, 50.00 
 
 For a vessel of foreign type above 
 
 500 and below 1,000 tons, 100.00 
 
 For a vessel of foreign type above 
 
 1,000 tons, 150.00 
 
 Article IV 
 Japanese vessels may freely navigate within 
 the limits specified, but shall not proceed to 
 any place not in Korean territory, except in 
 case of stress of weather or other emergency, 
 or in case special permission has been obtained 
 from the Korean Customs. 
 
APPENDICES 263 
 
 Article V 
 
 The licenses shall be carried on board the 
 vessels during their voyages, and shall be 
 shown whenever requested by the Korean Cus- 
 toms, or by local officials of Korea, or by 
 Chiefs of villages duly authorized by such 
 local officials. 
 
 Article VI 
 
 Japanese shipowners shall have liberty to 
 lease land for the purpose of building ware- 
 houses at the places where their vessels call. 
 
 Such owners may also construct piers or 
 wharves on the banks and coasts with the 
 permission of the Korean Customs. 
 
 Article VII 
 
 In case of infraction of the present Agree- 
 ment by a Japanese vessel, the Korean Cus- 
 toms may cause the license of such vessel to 
 be confiscated, or may refuse to issue a new 
 one, if the offence be found, upon examination, 
 to be of a grave nature. 
 
 Article VIII 
 
 When a Japanese vessel, or the crew thereof, 
 infringes the stipulations of the present Agree- 
 ment or of other treaties, or when a member 
 of the crew commits any crime, the Japanese 
 
264 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Consular Officers shall deal with the case in 
 accordance with the provisions of the treaties 
 and the laws of Japan. 
 
 Article IX 
 
 The present Agreement shall remain in force 
 for a period of fifteen years from the date of 
 its signature, and, after the expiration of such 
 period, further arrangements may be made by 
 mutual agreement. 
 
 The two Governments may, however, con- 
 clude such an agreement by mutual consent 
 even before the expiration of the aforesaid 
 term, when in future the navigation of Korea 
 shall be further developed. 
 
 Hayashi Gonsuke, (Seal). 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
 Plenipotentiary . 
 The 13th day of the 8th month of the 38th 
 year of Meiji. 
 
 I Ha-yeng, (Seal). 
 Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. 
 The 13th day of the 8th month of the 9th 
 year of Kwang-mu. 
 
AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAPAN AND 
 
 KOREA, SIGNED NOVEMBER 17, 
 
 1905, BY WHICH JAPAN ASSUMED 
 
 CHARGE OF THE FOREIGN 
 
 RELATIONS OF KOREA 
 
 The Governments of Japan and Korea, de- 
 siring to strengthen the principle of solidarity 
 which unites the two Empires, have with that 
 object in view agreed upon and concluded the 
 following stipulations to serve until the mo- 
 ment arrives when it is recognized that Korea 
 has attained national strength: — 
 
 Article I 
 
 The Government of Japan, through the 
 Department of Foreign Affairs at Tokyo, will 
 hereafter have control and direction of the 
 external relations and affairs of Korea, and 
 the diplomatic and consular representatives of 
 Japan will have charge of the subjects and 
 interests of Korea in foreign countries. 
 
 Article II 
 
 The Government of Japan undertake to see 
 to the execution of the treaties actually exist- 
 
$66 THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 ing between Korea and other Powers, and the 
 Government of Korea engage not to conclude 
 hereafter any act or engagement having an 
 international character except through the 
 medium of the Government of Japan. 
 
 Article III 
 
 The Government of Japan shall be repre- 
 sented at the Court of His Majesty the Em- 
 peror of Korea by a Resident-General, who 
 shall reside at Seoul, primarily for the purpose 
 of taking charge of and directing matters re- 
 lating to diplomatic affairs. He shall have the 
 right of private and personal audience of His 
 Majesty the Emperor of Korea. The Japanese 
 Government shall also have the right to sta- 
 tion Residents at the several open ports and 
 such other places in Korea as they may deem 
 necessary. Such Residents shall, under the 
 direction of the Resident-General, exercise the 
 powers and functions hitherto appertaining to 
 Japanese Consuls in Korea, and shall perform 
 such duties as may be necessary in order to 
 carry into full effect the provisions of this 
 Agreement. 
 
 Article IV 
 
 The stipulations of all Treaties and Agree- 
 ments existing between Japan and Korea, not 
 
APPENDICES 267 
 
 inconsistent with the Provisions of this Agree- 
 ment, shall continue in force. 
 
 Article V 
 
 The Government of Japan undertake to 
 maintain the welfare and dignity of the Im- 
 perial House of Korea. 
 
 In faith whereof, the Undersigned duly 
 authorized by their Governments have signed 
 this Agreement and affixed their seals. 
 
 Hayashi Gonsuke, (Seal). 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
 Plenipotentiary. 
 The 17th day of the 11th month of the 38th 
 year of Meiji. 
 
 Pak Che-soon, (Seal). 
 Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. 
 The 17th day of the 11th month of the 9th 
 year of Kwang-mu. 
 
AGREEMENT BETWEEN JAPAN AND 
 
 KOREA, SIGNED ON JULY 24, 1907, 
 
 RELATING TO THE INTERNAL 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF 
 
 KOREA 
 
 The Government of Japan and the Govern- 
 ment of Korea, desiring to attain the speedy 
 development of the strength and resources of 
 Korea and to promote the welfare of her peo- 
 ple, have with that object in view agreed upon 
 the following stipulations: — 
 
 Article I 
 
 The government of Korea shall act under 
 the guidance of the Resident-General in respect 
 to reforms in administration. 
 
 Article II 
 
 The Government of Korea engage not to 
 enact any laws, ordinances or regulations, or 
 to take any important measures of adminis- 
 tration without the previous assent of the 
 Resident-General. 
 
 268 
 
APPENDICES 269 
 
 Akticle III 
 
 The judicial affairs in Korea shall be set 
 apart from the affairs of ordinary adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 Article IV 
 
 The appointment and dismissal of all high 
 officials in Korea shall be made upon the con- 
 currence of the Resident-General. 
 
 Article V 
 
 The Government of Korea shall appoint as 
 Korean officials the Japanese subjects recom- 
 mended by the Resident-General. 
 
 Article VI 
 
 The Government of Korea shall not engage 
 any foreigner without the concurrence of the 
 Resident-General. 
 
 Article VII 
 
 Article I. of the Protocol between Japan and 
 Korea signed on the 22nd of August, 1905, 
 shall hereafter cease to be binding. 
 
 In witness whereof the Undersigned, duly 
 authorized by their respective Governments, 
 
no THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 have signed this Agreement, and have affixed 
 thereto their seals. 
 
 Marquis Herobumi Ito, (Seal). 
 H. I. J. M.'s Resident-General. 
 The 24th day of the 7th month of the 40th 
 year of Meiji. 
 
 Yi Wan-yong, (Seal). 
 
 Minister President of State. 
 The 24th day of the 7th month of the 11th 
 year of Kwang-mu. 
 
M 
 
 THE TREATY OF ANNEXATION, 
 SIGNED AUGUST 29TH, 1910, BE- 
 TWEEN RESIDENT-GENERAL 
 VISCOUNT TERAUCHI AND 
 MR. YI WAN-YONG, MIN- 
 ISTER PRESIDENT OF 
 STATE OF KOREA 
 
 Article I 
 The Emperor of Korea to make complete 
 and permanent cession to the Emperor of Japan 
 of all rights of sovereignty over the whole of 
 Korea. 
 
 Article II 
 
 The Emperor of Japan to accept the above- 
 mentioned cession, and to consent to the com- 
 plete annexation of Korea to the Empire of 
 Japan. 
 
 Article III 
 
 The Emperor of Japan to accord to the 
 Emperor of Korea, ex-Emperor and Crown 
 Prince of Korea and their Consorts such titles, 
 dignities and honours as are appropriate to 
 their respective ranks, and sufficient annual 
 grants to be made for the maintenance of such 
 titles, dignities and honours. 
 
 271 
 
m% THE REBIRTH OF KOREA 
 
 Article IV 
 
 The relatives of the Emperor of Korea also 
 to receive due dignities, titles, honours and 
 solatia. 
 
 Article V 
 
 The Emperor of Japan to confer peerages 
 and monetary grants upon Koreans who, on 
 account of meritorious services, are regarded 
 as deserving such special recognition. 
 
 Article VI 
 
 In consequence of the aforesaid Annexation, 
 the Government of Japan will assume the en- 
 tire government and administration of Chosen 
 and undertake to afford full protection for the 
 life and property of Koreans obeying the laws 
 in force, and to promote the welfare of all 
 
 such. 
 
 Article VII 
 
 The Government of Japan, so far as circum- 
 stances permit, will employ in the public serv- 
 ice of Japan Koreans who accept the new 
 regime loyally and in good faith and who are 
 duly qualified for such service. 
 
 # 
 
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