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47. Japanese Intentions Are Different from Before
- University of Hawai'i Press
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47. Japanese Intentions Are Different from Before We are currently in the midst of a war. The newspapers continuously report stories about the warships of the two nations being destroyed at various locations on the sea with so many casualties. [The press reports also said that] at Lushun, the Japanese ground troops launched several assaults and the gains and losses were such and such, and the fall of the [Russian] batteries is expected on a certain date. As for Russia, it will send in before long some three hundred thousand troops who will move as far [south] as Seoul, Korea, some say, within the next few days. It is rumored that Seoul will be filled with Japanese soldiers, while Russian soldiers by tens and hundreds have penetrated the northwest region [of Korea], committing looting and rapes. Some of these Russians have come as far as Anju and P’yŏngyang several times, only to be repelled or captured by Japanese troops. The Korean government dispatched troops to the border region to protect the territorial boundary; in the Kanggye area, Korean soldiers numbering in the tens fought and repelled Russian soldiers numbering in the hundreds; in adjacent counties also, Russian troops invaded several times but they were defeated and forced to retreat by Korean troops.82 In the areas beyond, a large number of Japanese and Russian soldiers were killed. In the two northwestern provinces [of Korea], the people were forced to flee without any safe sanctuary, and the innocent refugees are said to have nowhere to go. But they fail to understand that they are suffering from a calamity that has been brought upon them by their failure to protect their country. Because we are in Seoul, we have not gone through this kind of misfortune, but we are caught up in the same war. 227 In addition to being in a war, [I] have no freedom of bodily movement , being incarcerated in the deep recess [of a prison] without an opportunity to be active or to be heard. This is indeed very frustrating. Fortunately, [I] have received foreign newspapers and have acquired a general knowledge of the situation. I am writing these lines day and night in order to state briefly what the people of our country need to know urgently . It is not my intention to dwell in detail on the war or the rumors. Moreover, I have no idea how this book will be published. It is therefore difficult for me to record in detail, and only the major points are being written down. If our readers should seriously reflect on [my] purpose in focusing on the urgent issue of our nation’s independence, my book will hopefully help, even to a very minute degree, in shoring up the house that is falling down. The fortunes of a war change by the hour. Since the current war is still in its early stages, it is impossible to predict how it will end. Nevertheless, the verdict was clear even before the war. My opinion at this moment is that Japan has the supreme power in the Orient, and this will be the way the war will end. Our Korea will be somewhat subject to the assistance that Japan will commend. This is due, as we have discussed above, to our failure in the past to discharge our duties and to the absence of individuals at present who can shoulder responsibilities and carry them out. Even if we should gain the right to be on our own [without Japanese assistance ], it is difficult to guarantee a performance that will be better than ten or twenty years ago. Until such time as we will have nurtured leaders of ability and world opinion will have been turned around, it may be better, therefore, to carry out what has been agreed upon in the Korean-Japanese treaty and endeavor to gradually reduce the scope [of the treaty]. This is not entirely the responsibility of the government; it depends on what the people themselves will do. For this reason, this book has focused on what the people should endeavor to do while saying little about what [we] want the government to do. The task of establishing the foundation for independence rests on us, the people of Korea. In order for our people to establish this foundation, the bridle of the Japanese must be taken off. In order to understand the situation of today, one needs first to understand the...