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313 Appendix D Petition of Syngman Rhee and Henry chung to President woodrow wilson, February 25, 1919 the President of the United States. Sir: the undersigned have been authorized by the Executive Council of the Korean National association, which represent 1,500,000 Koreans residing in america, Hawaii, mexico, China, and russia, to present to you the following memorial: We, the Koreans of america, Hawaii, Hawaii, mexico, China, and russia, voicing the sentiment of 15,000,000 of our countrymen in Korea, lay before you the following facts: Japan established her protectorate over Korea, after the russoJapanese war, in direct violation of her treaty obligations to Korea. It is a matter of diplomatic record that Korea formed an alliance with Japan at the beginning of the russo-Japanese war to aid the latter power to win the struggle. this was done in consideration of a definite guarantee by Japan of the political independence and territorial integrity of Korea. taking Korea as a prize of war was a breach of covenant and of faith on the part of Japan. Neither the people, nor the Emperor, nor the responsible Prime minister ever sanctioned the protectorate and subsequent annexation of their country . It was perpetrated at the point of the sword, as sheer might over right. Since the Japanese occupation of Korea, the country has been misruled , from the standpoint of the Korean people. Natural resources are being developed, but they are exploited for the benefit of Japanese, not of Koreans. all the rights to develop the resources of the country are given to the Japanese, and Korea enterprise, even of the humblest sort, is insidiously hampered. the Korean merchant cannot compete with his Japanese competitor because of the preferential treatment accorded to the latter by the Japanese government. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese, unable to make a living in Japan proper, are brought over to Korea and are provided for at the expense of the Koreans. thus, the Korean people are reduced to industrial serfdom, and are forced to submit to the Japanese through economic pressure. 314 Appendix D From the standpoint of culture and enlightenment, the Japanese occupation of Korea has brought a still greater calamity to our people. that government made a systematic collection of all works of Korean history and literature in public archives and private homes and burned them. all Korean periodical literature—from local newspapers to scientific journals —has been completely stamped out. the Japanese language has been made the official tongue not only in official documents but in schools as well. Educational regulations forbid the teaching of Christianity, but not Shintoism (the national religion of Japan), and of history, geography and the Korean language in all the schools in Korea. Furthermore, the regulations provide that all Korean schools shall be under the supervision of Japanese educators, and that Korean children shall be taught to salute the Japanese flag and worship the Japanese Emperor’s tablet. the government does not allow Korean students to go to Europe or america to finish their education. No public gathering of any kind is allowed among the Koreans, and even religious services are vigilantly watched by Japanese gendarmes. the Christian church in Korea is insidiously discriminated against by the Japanese authorities, as was shown by the well known “Conspiracy Case” of 1912, when more than one thousand leaders among Korean Christians were imprisoned and their beneficent activities ended. the above is a brief summary of only a few of the many flagrant injustices to which the Korean people have been and still are forced to submit. We, the common people of Korea, with a passion for self-government and political independence, come to you, knowing that you are an arbiter of justice and a champion of equal rights for all peoples strong or weak, with the hope that you may exert your good offices in helping us secure justice at this great time, when the destiny of subject nationalities is about to be taken up for consideration at the Peace Conference. In the name of fifteen millions of liberty-loving Koreans, we earnestly petition you to present the accompanying memorial to the Peace Conference , and to espouse our cause of freedom at the Peace table, so that the allied Powers assembled at the Peace Conference will take such action as will free Korea from the present domination of Japan and place Korea under the mandatory of the league of Nations with the definite guarantee of complete independence in the future. the...

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