100 years of Czech-Korean friendship

By Jaroslav Olsa, Jr.

The Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea have been strategic partners since 2015 and next year will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Nevertheless, political contacts between Czechs and Koreans began 100 years ago in 1919.

Those were tumultuous times; the newly-established Czechoslovak Republic had been independent for a mere four months, while its main armed force, the 60,000-strong Czechoslovak Legion, was fighting the Bolshevik forces in the Far East.

The creation of new independent countries in Europe, including Czechoslovakia, would not have happened without U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's proclamation on self-determination.

Wilson's unofficial emissary Charles Crane, a close friend of the first President of Czechoslovakia Tomas G. Masaryk, traveled to Shanghai in late 1918. There he met Yo Un-hyung and most probably advised him to approach the Czechoslovak Legion.

Only a few weeks later, Yo traveled to Vladivostok to talk with the Czechoslovaks. He found a sympathetic partner there in General Radola Gajda, the Legion's commander. When, after the talks, Yo wanted to get back to Shanghai, General Gajda put at his disposal soldier Josef Hane to accompany him in an armored military train.

"Gajda's concrete arrangements to assure the security of an independence fighter can be evaluated as particularly generous," wrote Czech Koreanist Zdenka Kloslova, who studied Korean sources.

In January 1920, the Shanghai newspaper the Tongnip Sinmun ran articles about Gajda's support of the Korean case, and the general even gave it an interview later that year. Gajda's words were optimistic, as he mentioned that "the day when you achieve independence is not far" and he also spoke highly about the March 1 Independence Movement. Not surprisingly, Gajda was given a silver, engraved vase from the Korean Provisional Government.

Both Gajda and Hanc (who later on became Czechoslovak diplomat in the U.S. and Britain), became a part of Korean history. It was Pak Eun-sik, the second president of the Korean Provisional Government, who commemorated them both in his book "The Bloody History of the Korean Independence Movement."

The friendly approach toward Korea's fight for independence did not disappear after Gajda's departure for Europe. The Czechoslovak soldiers were well informed about the situation on the Korean Peninsula as we can see on the pages of Ceskoslovenskydennik, a Czech-language periodical published by the journalists-soldiers of the Legion. It regularly ran articles about Korea and it also informed its readers about the events in Seoul on March 1, 1919, and reported Japanese repressions against the Koreans.

In the early 1920s, a practical cooperation started with deliveries of Czechoslovak Legion's arms and ammunition to Korean forces. Both Korean and Czech sources mention numerous successful deals, when guns used by Czechoslovak Legion were given free of charge or sold for a very cheap price to Koreans. It is certain that these arms were instrumental in the success of the independence fighters at the battle of Cheongsan-ri in October 1920.

But, those arms deliveries had a more lasting impact. Eight years ago, I had a chance to meet Yoon Kyung-bin, associate of Kim Gu and former president of the Korea Liberation Association, who confirmed to me that some of the arms which originated from the Czechoslovak Legion were still in use when he was fighting the Japanese in Manchuria in the 1940s.

This aroused my curiosity and I spent some time in the archives of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out if there were any more details regarding this.

One more confirmation of a widespread use of the Legion's arms in between the wars appeared in my research. It was a report of a meeting of a high-ranking delegation from then communist Czechoslovakia with Kim Il-sung during which the North Korean leader surprised his interlocutors by a statement that he was also using guns which originated from the Czechoslovak Legion while fighting in Manchuria in the 1930s.

Unfortunately, with the departure of the Czechoslovak Legion from the Far East, the contacts between Korean and Czechoslovak officials ceased. Both of our nations had to fight hard and faced many obstacles in the 20th century, including long periods of occupation or non-democratic regimes.

The Korean Peninsula remains divided. This is why we have wholeheartedly welcomed President Moon Jae-in's success in renewing a peace dialogue with North Korea. We are hoping that this process will lead to long-lasting peace and prosperity that the people in both the South and the North have been waiting for these 100 years.

Jaroslav Olsa, Jr. served as Czech ambassador to Korea from 2008 to 2014. He also published books such as "1901 Photographs of Seoul by Enrique StankoVraz and Other Early Czech Travelers' Views of Korea," "The Korean Peninsula After the Armistice as Seen by Czechoslovak Delegates to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, 1953-1956" and Czech-language "Han Hung-su: Father of Czechoslovak Korean Studies." In 2012 he was awarded Seoul honorary citizenship.