Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun and unfinished Oriental Peace Theory
By Doh See-hwan
Feb. 14 was the 113th anniversary of Ahn Jung-geun's death sentence handed down by imperial Japan because of patriotic deeds committed in Harbin, China. As is well known, Ahn shouted “Corea Ura” (long live Korea) three times after shooting Hirobumi Ito, who was inspecting the honor guard at Harbin Station in China on Oct. 26, 1909. Ahn's patriotic deed played a crucial role in reviving the stagnant anti-Japanese movement as well as informing the world about the Japanese invasion of Korea.
Ahn, who was later arrested, wrote “The History of Ahn Eung-chil” from Dec. 13, 1909, to March 15, 1910, and then began writing the theory of peace in the East. However, following the death sentence by imperial Japan on Feb. 14, 1910, and being executed at the age of 30 on March 26, 1910, the Oriental Peace Theory was left unfinished.
Regarding Ahn's patriotic deed in Harbin, the media and leaders of China ― a country also victimized by Japanese invasion ― expressed homage. In an editorial on Nov. 7, 1909, the Shanghai Minyu daily pointed out that “Korea is not ruined because there is such a person in Korea. If there was such a person in China, there would not have been China like today.”
Sun Wen, China's national father, commemorated it as “a feat that will shine in the millennium,” and Zhou En-lai, the first prime minister, commemorated it as “the anti-Japanese struggle of the people of both countries after the Sino-Japanese War originated from the great deed of Ahn.” Chen Duxiu, the first leader of the Communist Party of China, said, “The great and resolute Korean independence movement opened a new era in the history of world revolution by establishing an accurate idea as the will of the people, not military force.”
In addition, Ahn's Oriental Peace Theory, which Japanese imperialists left incomplete, is that the three countries ― Korea, China, and Japan ― can maintain independence and achieve Eastern peace by defending themselves from the invasion of Western imperialism through mutual aid. It clarifies the essence of Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity rationalizing the Invasive Attributes and further suggests the ideal of the Northeast Asian Peace Community.
Ahn's plan is regarded as a basic idea of the European Union, which is referred to as a new legal order in international law today, such as the establishment of a permanent East Asian Peace Conference between Korea, China and Japan related to politics, economy and military in Northeast Asia, the establishment of a joint bank, and the creation of a joint peace army.
Ahn's Oriental Peace Theory is revered in the Japanese thought world today in comparison with the German philosopher Kant's theory of Perpetual Peace. Eiji Makino, a professor at Hosei University in Japan who is a former chairman of the Kant Association of Japan, suggests the following things in common: first, outstanding insight into human society and, a cold and strict sense of reality; second, stern criticism of colonialism and colonial rule; third, fostering moral human beings for peace realization; fourth, the impossibility of realizing peace through force; and fifth, the providence of God as the foundation of peace theory.
Toshichi Chiba, a Japanese military police guard, was impressed by Ahn's propaganda for Korean independence and Oriental peace.
However, as Japan's invasion of national sovereignty continued through the 1905 Korea-Japan Treaty of 1905 and the 1907 Korea-Japan Treaty, Ahn's independence movement shifted from educational enlightenment and national debt redemption movement to an anti-Japanese armed struggle. Ahn organized the anti-Japanese soldiers titled Donguihoe in 1908, defeated the Japanese army and released Japanese prisoners based on international law and Catholic philanthropy, but was defeated by Japanese attack.
In October 1909, Ahn, while reorganizing the righteous army with the members of the Danji Alliance, punished Ito, the main culprit of the invasion of Korea and the destroyer of Oriental peace, who entered his righteous army area for the invasion of Manchuria. Regarding this, the Japanese claim that Ito resigned from the resident-general of Korea, and Ahn did not have the qualification of belligerency.
However, it is revealed that Ito was visiting for the purpose of advancing to the continent as the chairman of the Privy Council and that Ahn was a lieutenant general of the righteous army under the Hague Land Warfare Regulations in 1907 after the dissolution of the Korean army by Japanese imperialists.
On Oct. 8, 1895, Miura Goro, who murdered Empress Myeongseong, the mother of Korea, was acquitted and released, while Japan sentenced Ahn to murder by applying the Japanese Criminal Law on the basis of “Japan's Equal Protection of Korean subjects,” Article 1 of the Korea-Japan Treaty of 1905, which is absolutely invalid due to coercion with the national representative under international law.
If so, it remains to be questioned what would have happened if Ahn had not been executed in a normal trial. However, it is possible to reasonably infer from the fact that the poet of “the Wide Plain,” whose name was Lee Yuk-sa (264), the prisoner number obtained through independence activities, died in prison at the age of 40 after 17 imprisonments and torture by Japanese imperialists.
Moreover, it should not be forgotten that behind the calling to protect Korean independence and Oriental peace through the sacrifice of Ahn himself, a pacifist, was the prayer and love of the mother, Jo Maria. This is because the image of the mother, Jo Maria, who sent the last shroud to Ahn, alludes to the image of the Virgin Mary in front of a dying Jesus Christ, who was completely obedient to the salvation of mankind.
In conclusion, keeping the last will of Ahn Jung-geun will be the task of our calling today. “When I go to heaven, I will strive for the independence of my country.”
Dr. Doh See-hwan is a senior research fellow at the Northeast Asian History Foundation.