Chapter 9: Joseon Dynasty

Japanese Prince Hirobumi Ito (1841-1909), the first general resident in Korea, was assassinated in 1910 by Ahn Jung Gun (1879-1910), on the railway platform in Harbin (Manchuria). Ahn Jung Gun was captured and executed in Lui Shun prison on March 26, 1910. He is regarded as a hero in South Korea while North Korea thinks his act led the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910.

Another attempted revolt was the disastrous Sam il Anti-Japanese March on March 1, 1919. Led by young students and Christians, nearly two million students, patriots, and Christians demonstrated their support of Korean identity with the "Korean Declaration of Independence." A Declaration of Independence, patterned after the American version, was read by teachers and civic leaders in tens of thousands of villages throughout Korea.

The native Koreans were not aware that the American President Wilson was not the quite the good person he claimed to be. America had years earlier agreed to Japan's annexation of Korea. The 33 organizers of the movement were mostly Christian idealists and had no experience in mass movement, so the March failed disastrously. The Japanese suppressed the movement with brutal force, firing into groups of Korean Christians singing hymns. Christian leaders were nailed to wooden crosses and were left to die a slow death "so that they can go to heaven." Mounted police beheaded young schoolchildren and police burned down churches. The official Japanese count of casualties include 553 killed, 1,409 injured, and 12,522 arrested, but the Korean estimates are much higher, over 7,500 killed, about 15,000 injured, and 45,000 arrested. As a part of the occupation, the Japanese government banned the practice of martial arts in Korea, but pursuit of martial arts by Koreans was not completely eliminated, thought it was restricted to the Japanese military.