INTERVIEW Daughter recalls patriot dad's lonely fight for independence

Margaret Chun, daughter of the late independence fighter Chun Myung-woon, poses in front of a photograph of her father, left, and Chang In-hwan, Feb. 23, who attempted to assassinate pro-Japan lobbyist and former diplomat Durham Stevens, at the Korea National Association Memorial Foundation in Los Angeles, Calif. / Korea Times photo by Park Jin-hai

This is the fourth in a series of articles highlighting overseas independence fighters on the occasion of centennial of March 1 Independence Movement -- E.D.

By Park Jin-hai

Los Angeles, Calif. ― Gunshots rang the morning of March 23, 1908 at the Port of San Francisco.

Two Korean men ― Chun Myung-woon (a.k.a Jeon Myeong-woon) and Chang In-hwan ― were behind the gunfire. The two didn't know each other. Chun, 23, was the first to pull the trigger but his pistol didn't fire. A fistfight broke out with his target, Durham Stevens, a former U.S. diplomat and pro-Japan lobbyist.

At the very same site, Chang, 32, shot Stevens twice in the back. One bullet also accidentally hit Chun.

The deadly attack took place two days after the publication of a San Francisco Chronicle article featuring an interview with Stevens. Stevens was quoted as saying that Japan's possible occupation of Korea would be what all Koreans were longing for because of the Korean king's incompetence and that Koreans were not qualified to be independent. The media report came two years before Korea was annexed by Japan ― which was followed by a brutal 35 years for Koreans. Stevens appeared to have tried to create favorable international opinion regarding Japan's ambition to occupy Korea.

Based on Stevens' remarks, the reporter wrote, “Corean people have been greatly benefited by Japanese protection and they are beginning to look more favorably on it.”

Appearing at a court hearing later, Chun rebuffed the media report, claiming what Stevens had said was not based on fact.

“Japan forced our government to make treaties. And after that, great trouble started in our country. My brothers and relatives have been killed by the Japanese, but I have no power to do anything here, and so I have always had to stand around helpless… After I saw what Mr. Stevens did I decided to kill him and to kill myself too,” Chun said at the hearing, explaining he had to resort to violence and that his actions were a patriotic act for his country.

Margaret Chun, 95, his only surviving child, said it was only after his death that she realized her father's heroic deed. “I was surprised, because we didn't know he was famous. It was a big surprise and wonder how come he got so famous. None of us knew,” she said during a recent interview with The Korea Times at the Korean National Association Memorial Foundation in Los Angeles., California.

“My father didn't talk about his work for the independence movement. But on March 1, he would take us to church where he would sometimes give speeches to Korean compatriots.”

It was only in the early 1970s that she and her older sister Rosemary began to hear things about their father, when a newspaper reporter visited them for an interview.

At the start of the twentieth century, Korea's Emperor Gojong attempted to send representatives to the Hague Peace Convention of 1907 and nullify the coerced Eulsa Protectorate Treaty (Japan-Korea Treaty of 1905), but due to Japan's interference his emissaries were unable to gain entry to the convention hall. After this incident, Gojong was forced to abdicate, and the Korean army was disbanded.

Internationally, Korea was not in a favorable situation either, as the U.S. and Japan were moving toward forging a network of treaties and agreements including the Root―Takahira Agreement, signed in November, 1908. The agreement consisted of an official recognition of the territorial status quo as of November 1908, including Japanese recognition of the American annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Philippines, and American recognition of Japan's position in northeast China. Implicit in the agreement was American acknowledgment of Japan's right to annex Korea. With desperate patriotism, Chun and Chang, infuriated by Stevens' remarks about Japanese rule in Korea, both tried to assassinate him.

Chun, based on lack of evidence of collusion with Chang, was eventually acquitted in June 28, 1908. Meanwhile, Chang was sentenced to 25 years in prison but was released in 1919, having served only 10 years.

Throughout the trial, Korean immigrants to the US held campaigns and raised donations worth over 300 million won in today's money to cover trial costs. It stimulated the will and unity of Koreans and had an impact on the independence movement.

On the heels of the incident, the Korea National Association (KNA) was launched in February 1909, after merging regional Korean groups across the U.S.

Family tragedy

Margaret says living in the United States as the family of a Korean independence fighter was hard. Her father, “a man of action” she recalls, had to live under the constant threat of Japan which attempted to kill him. Her father left San Francisco for Russia in December 1908. He returned to San Francisco in July, 1909 and later changed his name to Mack Fields.

After his return, he continued working as a KNA member and donated money he had earned from performing many menial jobs to the independence movement. He had three children but as his wife died from illness in 1927, he had hard time supporting the family and making ends meet.

Margaret and her siblings were sent to an orphanage, the Marryknoll Home for Children.

“That was the beginning of our living separately. We were in Los Angeles and my father returned to farming in Willows, California. But when my father moved to Los Angeles he visited every weekend and we became closer,” Margaret said. “I remember eagerly looking forward to the weekends when we knew we would see our papa. We enjoyed our visits together and we felt strongly his love and concern for us. He would take us to a certain restaurant and I remember how happy and proud we were to be with papa at a big restaurant.”

The family's tragedy didn't end there. He lost his youngest son Alfred who drowned at the age of 6.

Looking back at her father's life, Margaret said she came to realize what a hard life he had. “He worked zealously for independence, fought the Japanese, and like many other Korean immigrants labored in farming. Later he moved to the city and worked in maintenance for a living,” she said. “At one point he ran a laundry for a few years. I was in high school and I remember my sister and me helping with the ironing. My father never shared his hardships and our visits were always pleasant and happy times.”

Due to poverty, Chun Myung-woon couldn't return to Korea after the liberation of his country in 1945, and when he died in the U.S. in November 1947, he was all alone. “He was cooking his dinner when he collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage. It was the running water from his faucet which flooded the hallway that alerted others to his death,” Margaret said.

He was buried at Calvary Cemetery near the burial site of his son, Alfred. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1962.

In 1994, his remains were sent to Korea and buried at the Korean National Cemetery in Seoul.