Chapter VIII: Part 8

The white people of Seoul were horrified by the Japanese treatment of badly wounded men who flocked to the Severance Hospital for aid. Some of these, almost fatally wounded, were put to bed. The Japanese police came and demanded that they should be delivered up to them. The doctors pointed out that it probably would be fatal to move them. The police persisted, and finally carried off three men. It was reported that one man they took off in this fashion was flogged to death.

Reports were beginning to come in from other parts. There had been demonstrations throughout the north, right up to Wiju, on the Manchurian border. At Song-chon, it was reported, thirty had been killed, a number wounded, and three hundred arrested Pyeng-yang had been the centre of a particularly impressive movement, which had been sternly repressed. From the east coast, away at Hameung, there came similar tidings. The Japanese stated that things were quiet in the south until Wednesday, when there was an outbreak at Kun-san, led by the pupils of a Christian school. The Japanese at once seized on the participation of the Christians, the press declaring that the American missionaries were at the bottom of it. A deliberate attempt was made to stir up the Japanese population against the Americans. Numbers of houses of American missionaries and leaders of philanthropic work were searched. Several of them were called to the police offices and examined; some were stopped in the streets and searched. Unable to find any evidence against the missionaries, the Japanese turned on the Korean Christians. Soon nearly every Korean Christian pastor in Seoul was in jail; and news came from many parts of the burning of churches, the arrest of leading Christians, and the flogging of their congregations. The Japanese authorities, on pressure from the American consular officials, issued statements that the missionaries had nothing to do with the uprising, but in practice they acted as though the rising were essentially a Christian movement.

In the country people were stopped by soldiers when walking along the roads, and asked, "Are you Christians?" If they answered, "Yes," they were beaten; if "No," they were allowed to go. The local gendarmes told the people in many villages that Christianity was to be wiped out and all Christians shot. "Christians are being arrested wholesale and beaten simply because they are Christians," came the reports from many parts.

Soon dreadful stories came from the prisons, not only in Seoul, but in many other parts. Men who had been released after investigation, as innocent, told of the tortures inflicted on them in the police offices, and showed their jellied and blackened flesh in proof. Some were even inconsiderate enough to die a few days after release, and on examination their bodies and heads were found horribly damaged. The treatment may be summed up in a paragraph from a statement by the Rev. A.E. Armstrong, of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, who was on a visit to Korea at the time:

"The tortures which the Koreans suffer at the hands of the police
and gendarmes are identical with those employed in the famous
conspiracy trials. I read affidavits, now on their way to the
United States and British Governments, which made one's blood
boil, so frightful were the means used in trying to extort
confessions from prisoners. And many of these had no part in the
demonstrations, but were simply onlookers."

Within a fortnight, the arrests numbered thousands in Seoul alone. Every man, particularly every student, suspected of participation was jailed. But it was evident that the authorities had not secured the leaders, or else that the leaders had arranged a system by which there were men always ready to step into the place of those who were taken. The official organ, the _Seoul Press_, would come out with an announcement that the agitation had now died down; two or three days later there would be another great demonstration in the streets. The hundred thousand visitors who had come to Seoul for the funeral returned home to start agitations in their own districts. The authorities were particularly annoyed at their inability to discover the editors and publishers of the secret paper of the protest, the _Independence News_, which appeared in mimeographed form. To prevent its publication the authorities took control of mimeograph paper, and seized every mimeograph machine they could find. Time after time it was stated that the editors of the paper had been secured; the announcement was barely published before fresh editions would mysteriously appear in Seoul and in the provinces.

Despite every effort to minimize it, news of the happenings gradually crept out and were published abroad. Mr. I. Yamagata, the Director-General of Administration, was called to Tokyo for a conference with the Government. Much was hoped by many friends of Japan in America from this. It was believed that the Liberal Premier of Japan, the Hon. T. Hara, would promptly declare himself against the cruelties that had been employed. Unfortunately these hopes were disappointed. While speaking reassuringly to foreign enquirers, Mr. Hara and his Government officially determined on still harsher measures.

Mr. Yamagata's own statement, issued on his return, announced that after conference with the Premier, an audience with the Emperor and conferences with the Cabinet "decision was reached in favour of taking drastic measures by despatching more troops to the peninsula."

"In the first stage of the trouble, the Government-General was in
favour of mild measures (!), and it was hoped to quell the
agitation by peaceful methods," Mr. Yamagata continued. "It is to
be regretted, however, that the agitation has gradually spread to
all parts of the peninsula, while the nature of the disturbance
has become malignant, and it was to cope with this situation that
the Government was obliged to resort to force. In spite of this,
the trouble has not only continued, but has become so
uncontrollable and wide-spread that the police and military force
hitherto in use has been found insufficient, necessitating the
despatch of more troops and gendarmes from the mother country....
Should they (the agitators) continue the present trouble, it
would be necessary to show them the full power of the military
force. It is earnestly to be hoped that the trouble will be
settled peacefully, before the troops are obliged to use their
bayonets."

Count Hasegawa, the Governor-General, had already issued various proclamations, telling the people of the Imperial benevolence of Japan, warning them that the watchword "self-determination of races" was utterly irrevelant to Japan, and warning them of the relentless punishment that would fall on those who committed offences against the peace. Here is one of the proclamations. It may be taken as typical of all:

"When the State funeral of the late Prince Yi was on the point of
being held, I issued an instruction that the people should help
one another to mourn his loss in a quiet and respectful manner
and avoid any rash act or disorder. Alas! I was deeply chagrined
to see that, instigated by certain refractory men, people started
a riot in Seoul and other places. Rumour was recently circulated
that at the recent Peace Conference in Paris and other places,
the independence of Chosen was recognized by foreign Powers, but
the rumour is absolutely groundless. It need hardly be stated
that the sovereignty of the Japanese Empire is irrevocably
established in the past, and will never be broken in the future.
During the ten years since annexation, the Imperial benevolence
has gradually reached all parts of the country, and it is now
recognized throughout the world that the country has made a
marked advancement in the securing of safety to life, and
property, and the development of education and industry. Those
who are trying to mislead the people by disseminating such a
rumour as cited know their own purpose, but it is certain that
the day of repentance will come to all who, discarding their
studies or vocations, take part in the mad movement. Immediate
awakening is urgently required.

"The mother country and Chosen, now merging in one body, makes a
State. Its population and strength were found adequate enough to
enter upon a League with the Powers and conduct to the promotion
of world peace and enlightenment, while at the same time the
Empire is going faithfully to discharge its duty as an Ally by
saving its neighbour from difficulty. This is the moment of time
when the bonds of unity between the Japanese and Koreans are to
be more firmly tightened and nothing will be left undone to
fulfill the mission of the Empire and to establish its prestige
on the globe. It is evident that the two peoples, which have ever
been in inseparably close relations from of old, have lately been
even more closely connected. The recent episodes are by no means
due to any antipathy between the two peoples. It will be most
unwise credulously to swallow the utterances of those refractory
people who, resident always abroad, are not well informed upon
the real conditions in the peninsula, but, nevertheless, are
attempting to mislead their brethren by spreading wild fictions
and thus disturbing the peace of the Empire, only to bring on
themselves the derision of the Powers for their indulgence in
unbridled imagination in seizing upon the watchword
'self-determination of races' which is utterly irrelevant to
Chosen, and in committing themselves to thoughtless act and
language. The Government are now doing their utmost to put an end
to such unruly behaviour and will relentlessly punish anybody
daring to commit offences against the peace. The present
excitement will soon cease to exist, but it is to be hoped that
the people on their part will do their share in restoring quiet
by rightly guarding their wards and neighbours so as to save them
from any offence committing a severe penalty."[1]

[Footnote 1: Quoted from the _Seoul Press_.]

The new era of relentless severity began by the enactment of various fresh laws. The regulations for Koreans going from or coming into their country were made more rigid. The Regulations Concerning Visitors and Residents had already been revised in mid-March. Under these, any person who, even as a non-commercial act, allowed a foreigner to stay in his or her house for a night or more must hereafter at once report the fact to the police or gendarmes. A fresh ordinance against agitators was published in the _Official Gazette_. It provided that anybody interfering or attempting to interfere in the preservation of peace and order with a view to bringing about political change would be punished by penal servitude or imprisonment for a period not exceeding ten years. The ordinance would apply to offences committed by subjects of the Empire committed outside its domains, and it was specially emphasized in the explanations of the new law given out that it would apply to foreigners as well as Japanese or Koreans.

The Government-General introduced a new principle, generally regarded by jurists of all lands as unjust and indefensible. They made the law retroactive. People who were found guilty of this offence, their acts being committed before the new law came into force, were to be sentenced under it, and not under the much milder old law. This was done.

The Koreans were quickly to learn what the new military regime meant. One of the first examples was at Cheamni, a village some miles from Suigen, on the Seoul-Fusan Railway. Various rumours reached Seoul that this place had been destroyed, and a party of Americans, including Mr. Curtice of the Consulate, Mr. Underwood, son of the famous missionary pioneer, and himself a missionary and a correspondent of the Japan _Advertiser_, went to investigate. After considerable enquiry they reached a place which had been a village of forty houses. They found only four or five standing. All the rest were smoking ruins.

"We passed along the path," wrote the correspondent of the Japan _Advertiser_, "which ran along the front of the village lengthwise, and in about the middle we came on a compound surrounded by burnt poplars, which was filled with glowing ashes. It was here that we found a body frightfully burned and twisted, either of a young man or a woman. This place we found later was the Christian church, and on coming down from another direction on our return I found a second body, evidently that of a man, also badly burned, lying just outside the church compound. The odour of burned flesh in the vicinity of the church was sickening.

"We proceeded to the end of the village and climbed the hill, where we found several groups of people huddled under little straw shelters, with a few of their pitiful belongings about them. They were mostly women, some old, others young mothers with babes at breast, but all sunk in the dull apathy of abject misery and despair.

"Talking to them in their own language and with sympathy, Mr. Underwood soon won the confidence of several and got the story of what happened from different groups, and in every case these stories tallied in the essential facts. The day before we arrived, soldiers came to the village, some time in the early afternoon, and ordered all the male Christians to gather in the church. When they had so gathered, to a number estimated to be thirty by our informers, the soldiers opened fire on them with rifles and then proceeded into the church and finished them off with sword and bayonets. After this they set fire to the church, but as the direction of the wind and the central position of the church prevented the upper houses catching, soldiers fired these houses individually, and after a time left.

"As we passed down the ruined village, returning to our rikishas, we came on the last house of the village, which was standing intact, and entered in conversation with the owner, a very old man. He attributed the safety of his house to its being slightly removed, and to a vagary of the wind. He was alive because he was not a Christian and had not been called into the church. The details of his story of the occurrence tallied exactly with the others, as to what had happened."

One example will serve to show what was going on now all over the country. The following letter was written by a cultured American holding a responsible position in Korea:

"Had the authorities handled this matter in a different way, this
letter would never have been written. We are not out here to mix
in politics, and so long as it remained a purely political
problem, we had no desire to say anything on one side or the
other. But the appeal of the Koreans has been met in such a way
that it has been taken out of the realm of mere politics and has
become a question of humanity. When it comes to weakness and
helplessness being pitted against inhumanity, there can be no
such thing as neutrality.

"I have seen personal friends of mine among the Koreans, educated
men, middle-aged men, who up to that time had no part in the
demonstrations, parts of whose bodies had been beaten to a pulp
under police orders.

"A few hundred yards from where I am writing, the beating goes
on, day after day. The victims are tied down on a frame and
beaten on the naked body with rods till they become unconscious.
Then cold water is poured on them until they revive, when the
process is repeated. It is sometimes repeated many times.
Reliable information comes to me that in some cases arms and legs
have been broken.

"Men, women and children are shot down or bayonetted. The
Christian church is specially chosen as an object of fury, and to
the Christians is meted out special severity....

"A few miles from here, a band of soldiers entered a village and
ordered the men to leave, the women to remain behind. But the men
were afraid to leave their women, and sent the women away first.
For this the men were beaten.

"A short distance from this village, this band is reported to
have met a Korean woman riding in a rickshaw. She was violated by
four of the soldiers and left unconscious. A Korean reported the
doings of this band of soldiers to the military commander of the
district in which it occurred and the commander ordered him to be
beaten for reporting it.

"Word comes to me to-day from another province of a woman who was
stripped and strung up by the thumbs for six hours in an effort
to get her to tell the whereabouts of her husband. She probably
did not know.

"The woes of Belgium under German domination have filled our ears
for the past four years, and rightly so. The Belgian Government
has recently announced that during the more than four years that
the Germans held the country, six thousand civilians were put to
death by the Germans. Here in this land it is probably safe to
say that two thousand men, women and children, empty handed and
helpless, have been put to death in seven weeks. You may draw
your own conclusions!

"As for the Koreans, they are a marvel to us all. Even those of
us who have known them for many years, and have believed them to
be capable of great things, were surprised. Their self-restraint,
their fortitude, their endurance and their heroism have seldom
been surpassed. As an American I have been accustomed to hear, as
a boy, of the 'spirit of 76,' but I have seen it out here, and it
was under a yellow skin. More than one foreigner is saying, these
days, 'I am proud of the Koreans.'"

There were exciting scenes in Sun-chon. This city is one of the great centres of Christianity in Korea, and its people, hardy and independent northerners, have for long been suspected by the Japanese. Large numbers of leaders of the church and students at the missionary academy had been arrested, confined for a very long period and ill-treated at the time of the Conspiracy trial. They were all found to be innocent later, on the retrial at the Appeal Court. This had not tended to promote harmonious relations between the two peoples.

Various notices and appeals were circulated among the people. Many of them, issued by the leaders, strongly urged the people to avoid insulting behaviour, insulting language or violence towards the Japanese.

"Pray morning, noon and night, and fast on Sundays" was the notice to the Christians. Other appeals ran:

"Think, dear Korean brothers!

"What place have we or our children? Where can we speak? What has
become of our land?

"Fellow countrymen, we are of one blood. Can we be indifferent?
At this time, how can you Japanese show such ill feeling and such
treachery? How can you injure us with guns and swords? How can
your violence be so deep?

"Koreans, if in the past for small things we have suffered
injuries, how much more shall we suffer to-day? Even though your
flesh be torn from you, little by little, you can stand it! Think
of the past. Think of the future! We stand together for those who
are dying for Korea.

"We have been held in bondage. If we do not become free at this
time, we shall never be able to gain freedom. Brethren, it can be
done! It is possible! Do not be discouraged! Give up your
business for the moment and shout for Korea. Injury to life and
property are of consequence, but right and liberty are far more
important. Until the news of the Peace Conference is received, do
not cease. We are not wood and stones, but flesh and blood. Can
we not speak out? Why go back and become discouraged? Do not fear
death! Even though I die, my children and grandchildren shall
enjoy the blessings of liberty. Mansei! Mansei! Mansei!"

Mr. D.V. Hudson, of the Southern Presbyterian University at Shanghai, brought the records of many outrages back with him on his return to America. From them I take the following:

"At Maingsang, South Pyeng-yang Province, the following incident
took place on March 3rd. When the uprising first broke out there
were no Japanese gendarmes in the village, but Koreans only. The
people there were mostly Chun-do Kyo followers, so no Christians
were involved in the trouble. These Chun-do Kyo people gathered
on the appointed day for the Korean Independence celebration, and
held the usual speeches and shouting of 'Mansei.' The Korean
gendarmes did not want to or dared not interfere, so that day was
spent by the people as they pleased.

"A few days later Japanese soldiers arrived to investigate and to
put down the uprising. They found the people meeting again,
ostensibly to honour one of their teachers. The soldiers
immediately interfered, seized the leader of the meeting and led
him away to the gendarme station. He was badly treated in the
affray and the people were badly incensed. So they followed the
soldiers to the station, hoping to effect the release of their
leader. The soldiers tried to drive them away. Some left but
others remained.

"The police station was surrounded by a stone wall, with but one
gate to the enclosure. The soldiers permitted those who insisted
on following to enter, and, when they had entered, closed the
door; then the soldiers deliberately set to work, shooting them
down in cold blood. Only three of the fifty-six escaped death."

Let me give one other statement by a newspaper man. I might go on with tale after tale of brutality and fill another volume. Mr. William R. Giles is a Far Eastern correspondent well known for the sanity of his views and his careful statements of facts. He represents the Chicago _Daily News_ at Peking. He visited Korea shortly after the uprising, specially to learn the truth. He remained there many weeks. Here is his deliberate verdict:

"Pekin, June 14th.--After nearly three months of travelling in
Korea, in which time I journeyed from the north to the extreme
south, I find that the charges of misgovernment, torture and
useless slaughter by the Japanese to be substantially correct.

"In the country districts I heard stories of useless murder and
crimes against women. A number of the latter cases were brought
to my notice. One of the victims was a patient in a missionary
hospital.

"In a valley about fifty miles from Fusan, the Japanese soldiery
closed up a horseshoe-shaped valley surrounded by high hills, and
then shot down the villagers who attempted to escape by climbing
the steep slopes. I was informed that more than 100 persons were
killed in this affray.

"In Taku, a large city midway between Seoul and Fusan, hundreds
of cases of torture occurred, and many of the victims of
ill-treatment were in the hospitals. In Seoul, the capital,
strings of prisoners were seen daily being taken to jails which
were already crowded.

"While I was in this city I spent some time in the Severance
Hospital as a patient, and saw wounded men taken out by the
police, one of them having been beaten to death. Two days later
the hospital repeatedly was entered and the patients catechized,
those in charge being unable to prevent it. Detectives even
attempted in the night time secretly to enter my room while I was
critically ill.

"In Seoul, Koreans were not allowed to be on the streets after
dark and were not allowed to gather in groups larger than three.
All the prisoners were brutally and disgustingly treated.
Innocent persons were being continually arrested, kept in
overcrowded prisons a month or more, and then, after being
flogged, released without trial.

"Northern Korea suffered the most from the Japanese brutalities.
In the Pyeng-yang and Sensan districts whole villages were
destroyed and churches burned, many of which I saw and
photographed.

"In Pyeng-yang I interviewed the Governor and easily saw that he
was powerless, everything being in the hands of the chief of the
gendarmerie. At first I was not allowed to visit the prison, but
the Governor-General of Korea telegraphed his permission. I found
it clean and the prisoners were well fed, but the overcrowded
condition of the cells caused untold suffering.

"In one room, ten feet by six, were more than thirty prisoners.
The prison governor admitted that the total normal capacity of
the building was 800, but the occupants then numbered 2,100. He
said he had requested the Government to enlarge the prison
immediately, as otherwise epidemics would break out as soon as
hot weather came.

"I visited an interior village to learn the truth in a report
that the Christians had been driven from their homes. The local
head official, not a Christian, admitted to me that the
non-Christian villagers had driven the Christians into the
mountains because the local military officials had warned him
that their presence would result in the village being shot up. He
said he had the most friendly feeling for the Christians but
drove them out in self-protection.

"In other villages which I visited the building had been entirely
destroyed and the places were destroyed. In some of the places I
found only terrorized and tearful women who did not dare to speak
to a foreigner because the local gendarmes would beat and torture
them if they did so.

"The majority of the schools throughout the country are closed.
In most places the missionaries are not allowed to hold services.
Though innocent of any wrong-doing, they are under continual
suspicion. It was impossible for them or others to use the
telegraph and post-offices, the strictest censorship prevailing.
Undoubtedly an attempt is being made to undermine Christianity
and make the position of missionaries so difficult that it will
be impossible for them to carry on their work.

"In the course of my investigation I was deeply impressed with
the pitiful condition of the Korean people. They are allowed only
a limited education and attempts are being made to cause them to
forget their national history and their language.

"There is no freedom of the press or of public meeting. The
people are subject to the harshest regulations and punishments
without any court of appeal. They are like sheep driven to a
slaughter house. Only an independent investigation can make the
world understand Korea's true position. At present the groanings
and sufferings of 20,000,000 people are apparently falling on
deaf ear."

As these tales, and many more like them, were spread abroad, the Japanese outside of Korea tried to find some excuse for their nationals. One of the most extraordinary of these excuses was a series of instructions, said to have been issued by General Utsonomiya, commander of the military forces in Korea, to the officers and men under him. Copies of these were privately circulated by certain pro-Japanese in America among their friends, as proof of the falsity of the charges of ill-treatment. Some extracts from them were published by Bishop Herbert Welsh, of the Methodist Church, in the _Christian Advocate_.

"Warm sympathy should be shown to the erring Koreans, who, in
spite of their offence, should be treated as unfortunate fellow
countrymen, needing love and guidance.

"Use of weapons should be abstained from till the last moment of
absolute necessity. Where, for instance, the demonstration is
confined merely to processions and the shouting of _banzai_ and
no violence is done, efforts should be confined to the dispersal
of crowds by peaceful persuasion.

"Even in case force is employed as the last resource, endeavour
should be made to limit its use to the minimum extent.

"The moment the necessity therefor ceases the use of force should
at once be stopped....

"Special care should be taken not to harm anybody not
participating in disturbances, especially aged people, children
and women. With regard to the missionaries and other foreigners,
except in case of the plainest evidence, as, for instance, where
they are caught in the act, all forbearance and circumspection
should be used.

"You are expected to see to it that the officers and men under
you (especially those detailed in small parties) will lead a
clean and decent life and be modest and polite, without abating
their loyalty and courage, thus exemplifying in their conduct the
noble traditions of our historic Bushido."...

If a final touch were wanted to the disgrace of the Japanese administration, here it was. Brutality, especially brutality against the unarmed and against women and children, is bad enough; but when to brutality we add nauseating hypocrisy, God help us!

One of the Japanese majors who returned from Korea to Tokyo to lecture was more straightforward. "We must beat and kill the Koreans," he said. And they did.

After a time the Japanese papers began to report the punishments inflicted on the arrested Koreans. Many were released after examination and beatings. It was mentioned that up to April 13th, 2,400 of those arrested in Seoul alone had been released, "after severe admonition." The usual sentences were between six months' and four years' imprisonment.

Soon there came reports that prisoners were attempting to commit suicide in jail. Then came word that two of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence were dead in prison. Koreans everywhere mourned. For they could imagine how they had died.

During the summer the authorities published figures relating to the number of prisoners brought under the examination of Public Procurators between March 1st and June 18th, on account of the agitation. These figures do not include the large numbers released by the police after arrest, and after possibly summary punishment. Sixteen thousand one hundred and eighty-three men were brought up for examination. Of these, 8,351 were prosecuted and 5,858 set free after the Procurators' examination. One thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight were transferred from one law court to another for the purpose of thorough examination, while 178 had not yet been tried.

XVI

THE REIGN OF TERROR IN PYENG-YANG

Pyeng-Yang, the famous missionary centre in Northern Korea, has been described in previous chapters. The people here, Christians and non-Christians alike, took a prominent part in the movement. It was announced that three memorial services would be held on March 1st, in memory of the late Emperor, one in the compound of the Christian Boys' School, one in the compound of the Methodist church and the third at the headquarters of the Chun-do Kyo.

The meeting at the boys' school was typical of all. Several of the native pastors and elders of the Presbyterian churches of the city, including the Moderator of the General Assembly, were present, and the compound was crowded with fully three thousand people. After the memorial service was finished, a prominent Korean minister asked the people to keep their seats, as there was more to follow.

Then, with an air of great solemnity, the Moderator of the General Assembly read two passages from the Bible, 1 Peter 3:13-17 and Romans 9:3.

"And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that
which is good.

"But, if ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, and be
not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled.

"For I could wish that I were accurst from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

It was the great appeal to all that was most heroic in their souls. Some of them whispered the words after the Moderator.

"Sarami doorupkei hanangusul dooru wo malmyu sodong chi malgo."

"Be not afraid of their terror."

These white-robed men knew what was before them. Terror and torture and suffering were no new things to them. Within a quarter of a century conquering and defeated armies had passed through their city time after time. They knew war, and they knew worse than war. Japan had during the past few years planted her terror among them, persecuting the Church, arresting its most prominent members on false charges, breaking them in prison by scientific torture. Many of the men knew, in that assembly, of the meaning of police flogging, the feel of police burning, the unspeakable agony of being strung up by the thumbs under the police inquisition.

"Be not afraid of their terror!" Easy to say this to Western peoples, to whom terror is known only in the form of the high explosives and dropping bombs of honourable war. But for these men it had another meaning, an inquisition awaiting them compared with which the tortures of Torquemada paled.

"Be not afraid!"

There was no tremor of fear in the voice of the college graduate who rose to his feet and came to the front. "This is the proudest and happiest day of my life," he said. "Though I die to-morrow, I cannot help but read." He had a paper in his hand. As the vast audience saw it, they gave a great cheer. Then he read the Declaration of Independence of the Korean people.

When he had finished, another man took the platform. "Nothing of an unlawful nature is to be permitted," he said. "You are all to obey orders, and make no resistance to the authorities, nor to attack the Japanese officials or people." A speech on Korean independence followed. Then some men came out of the building bearing armfuls of Korean flags, which they distributed among the people. A large Korean flag was raised on the wall behind, and the crowd rose to its feet cheering, waving flags, calling "Mansei."

There was to be a parade through the streets. But spies had already hurried off to the police station, and before the people could leave, a company of policemen arrived. "Remain quiet," the word went round. The police gathered up the flags.

In the evening a large crowd gathered in front of the police station shouting "Mansei." The police ordered the hose to be turned on them. The Korean policemen refused to obey their Japanese superiors, threw off their uniforms and joined the mob. The hose at last got to work. The mob responded by throwing stones, breaking the windows of the police station. This was the only violence. On the following day, Sunday, the churches were closed. At midnight, the police had summoned Dr. Moffett to their office and told him that no services could be allowed. Early in the morning, the leaders of the Saturday meetings were arrested, and were now in jail. "Be not afraid!"

At nine o'clock on Monday morning a company of Japanese soldiers was drilling on the campus. A number of students from the college and academy were on the top of a bank, looking on at the drill. Suddenly the soldiers, in obedience to a word of command, rushed at the students. The latter took to their heels and fled, save two or three who stood their ground. The students who had escaped cheered; and one of the men who stood his ground called "Mansei." The soldiers struck him with the butts and barrels of their rifles. Then one poked him with his rifle in his face. He was bleeding badly. Two soldiers led him off, a prisoner. The rest were dispersed with kicks and blows.

Now the Japanese started their innings. One man in plain clothes confronted a Korean who was walking quietly, slapped his face and knocked him down. A soldier joined in the sport, and after many blows with the rifle and kicks, they rolled him down an embankment into a ditch. They then ran down, pulled him out of the ditch, kicked him some more, and hauled him off to prison.

The streets were full of people now, and parties of troops were going about everywhere dispersing them. The crowds formed, shouting "Mansei"; the soldiers chased them, beating up all they could catch. There were rumours that most of the Korean policemen had deserted; they had joined the crowds; the Japanese were searching for them and arresting them; and, men whispered, they would be executed. By midday, every one had enough trouble, and the city quieted down for the rest of the day. It was not safe to go abroad now. The soldiers were beating up every one they could find, particularly women.

By Tuesday the city was full of tales of the doings of the soldiers; having tasted blood, the troops were warming to their work, "The soldiers have been chasing people to-day like they were hunters after wild beasts," wrote one foreign spectator. "Outrages have been very numerous." Still, despite the troops, the people held two or three patriotic meetings.

Let me tell the tale of Tuesday and Wednesday from two statements made by Dr. Moffett. These statements were made at the time to the officials in Pyeng-yang and in Seoul:

"On Tuesday, March 4th, I, in company with Mr. Yamada, Inspector of Schools, went into the midst of the crowds of Koreans on the college grounds, and thence went through the streets to the city.

"We saw thousands of Koreans on the streets, the shops all closed, and Japanese soldiers here and there....

"As we came back and near a police station, soldiers made a dash at some fifteen or more people in the middle of the street, and three of the soldiers dashed at some five or six men standing quietly at the side, under the eaves of the shops, hitting them with their guns. One tall young man in a very clean white coat dodged the thrust of the gun coming about five feet under the eaves when an officer thrust his sword into his back, just under the shoulder blades. The man was not more than ten feet from us in front....

"Mr. Yamada was most indignant and said, 'I shall tell Governor Kudo just what I have seen and tell him in detail.'

"I asked him if he had noticed that the man was quietly standing at the side of the road, and had given no occasion for attack. He said, 'Yes.'

"Just after that we saw thirty-four young girls and women marched along by some six or eight policemen and soldiers, the girls ahead not being more than twelve or thirteen years of age.

"Just outside the West Gate Mr. Yamada and I separated and I went towards home. As I arrived near my own compound, I saw a number of soldiers rush into the gate of the Theological Seminary professor's cottage, and saw them grab out a man, beat and kick him and lead him off. Others began clubbing a youth behind the gate and then led him out, tied him tightly and beat and kicked him.

"Then there came out three others, two youths and one man, dragged by soldiers, and then tied with rope, their hands tied behind them.

"Thinking one was my secretary, who lived in the gate house, where the men had been beaten, I moved to the junction of the road to make sure, but I recognized none of the four. When they came to the junction of the road and some of the soldiers were within ten or twelve feet of me, they all stopped, tied the ropes tighter, and then with four men tied and helpless, these twenty or more soldiers, in charge of an officer, struck the men with their fists in the face and back, hit them on the head and face with a piece of board, kicked them on the legs and back, doing these things repeatedly. The officer in a rage raised his sword over his head as he stood before a boy, and both I and the boy thought that he was to be cleft in two. The cry of terror and anguish he raised was most piercing. Then, kicking and beating these men, they led them off.

"The above I saw myself and testify to the truthfulness of my statements. In all my contact with the Koreans these five days, and in all my observation of the crowds inside and outside the city, I have witnessed no act of violence on the part of any Korean."

The Theological Seminary was due to open on March 5th. Five students from South Korea arrived and went into their dormitory on the afternoon of the 4th. They had taken no part in the demonstrations. Later in the afternoon the soldiers, searching after some people who had run away from them, burst into the seminary. They broke open the door of the dormitory, pulled the five theologues out and hauled them off to the police station. There, despite their protests, they were tied by their arms and legs to large wooden crosses, face downwards, and beaten on the naked buttocks, twenty-nine tremendous blows from a hard cane, each. Then they were dismissed.

That same night firemen were let loose on the village where many of the students lived and boarded. They dragged out the young men and beat them. The opening of the seminary had to be postponed.

The Japanese were eager to find grounds for convicting the missionaries of participation in the movement. One question was pressed on every prisoner, usually by beating and burning, "Who instigated you? Was it the foreigners?"

Dr. Moffett was a special object of Japanese hatred. The Osaka _Asahi_ printed a bitter attack on him on March 17th. This is the more notable because the _Asahi_ is a noted organ of Japanese Liberalism.

THE EVIL VILLAGE OUTSIDE THE WEST GATE IN PYENG-YANG

_A Clever Crowd_

"Outside the West Gate in Pyeng-yang there are some brick houses
and some built after the Korean style, some high and some low.
These are the homes of the foreigners. There are about a hundred
of them in all, and they are Christian missionaries. In the balmy
spring, strains of music can be heard from there. Outwardly they
manifest love and mercy, but if their minds are fully
investigated, they will be found to be filled with intrigue and
greed. They pretend to be here for preaching, but they are
secretly stirring up political disturbances, and foolishly keep
passing on the vain talk of the Koreans, and thereby help to
foster trouble. These are really the homes of devils.

"The head of the crowd is Moffett. The Christians of the place
obey him as they would Jesus Himself. In the 29th year of Meiji
freedom was given to any one to believe in any religion he
wished, and at that time Moffett came to teach the Christian
religion. He has been in Pyeng-yang for thirty years, and has
brought up a great deal of land. He is really the founder of the
foreign community. In this community, because of his efforts
there have been established schools from the primary grade to a
college and a hospital. While they are educating the Korean
children and healing their diseases on the one hand, on the other
there is concealed a clever shadow, and even the Koreans
themselves talk of this.

"This is the centre of the present uprising. It is not in Seoul
but in Pyeng-yang.

"It is impossible to know whether these statements are true or
false, but we feel certain that it is in Pyeng-yang, in the
Church schools,--in a certain college and a certain girls'
school--in the compound of these foreigners. Really this foreign
community is very vile."[1]

[Footnote 1: Osaka _Asahi_, quoted in the Peking and Tientsin
_Times_, March 38,1919.]

A veritable reign of terror was instituted. There were wholesale arrests and the treatment of many of the people in prison was in keeping with the methods employed by the Japanese on the Conspiracy Trial victims. The case of a little shoe boy aroused special indignation. The Japanese thought that he knew something about the organization of the demonstration--why they thought so, only those who can fathom the Japanese mind would venture to say--so they beat and burned him almost to death to make him confess. A lady missionary examined his body afterwards. There were four scars, five inches long, where the flesh had been seared with a red-hot iron. His hands had swollen to twice their normal size from beating, and the dead skin lay on the welts. He had been kicked and beaten until he fainted. Then they threw water over him and gave him water to drink until he recovered when he was again piled with questions and beaten with a bamboo rod until he collapsed.

Some of those released from prison after they had satisfied the Japanese of their innocence had dreadful tales to tell. Sixty people were confined in a room fourteen by eight feet, where they had to stand up all the time, not being allowed to sit or lie down. Eating and sleeping they stood leaning against one another. The wants of nature had to be attended to by them as they stood. The secretary of one of the mission schools was kept for seven days in this room, as part of sixteen days' confinement, before he was released.

A student, arrested at his house, was kept at the police station for twenty days. Then they let him go, having found nothing against him. His bruised body when he came out showed what he had suffered. He had been bound and a cord around his shoulders and arms pulled tight until the breastbone was forced forward and breathing almost stopped. Then he was beaten with a bamboo stick on the shoulders and arms until he lost consciousness. The bamboo stick was wrapped in paper so as to prevent the skin breaking and bleeding. He saw another man beaten ten times into unconsciousness, and ten times brought round; and a boy thrown down hard on the floor and stamped on repeatedly until he lost consciousness. Those who came out were few; what happened to those who remained within the prison must be left to the imagination.

Despite everything, the demonstrations of the people still continued. On March 7th the people of the villages of Po Paik and Kan, twenty miles north of Pyeng-yang, came out practically en masse to shout for independence. Next day four soldiers and one Korean policeman arrived, asking for the pastor of the church. They could not find him, so they seized the school-teacher, slashed his head and body with their swords and thrust a sword twice into his legs. An elder of the church stepped up to protest against such treatment, whereupon a Japanese soldier ran a sword through his side. As the soldiers left some young men threw stones at them. The soldiers replied with rifle fire, wounding four men.

Soldiers and police came again and again to find the pastor and church officers who had gone into hiding. On April 4th they seized the women and demanded where their husbands were, beating them with clubs and guns, the wife of one elder being beaten till great red bruises showed all over her body.

The police evidently made up their minds that the Christians were responsible for the demonstration, and they determined to rid the place of them. The services of some liquor sellers were enlisted to induce people to tear down the belfry of the church. On April 18th a Japanese came and addressed the crowd through an interpreter.

He told them that the Christians had been deceived by the "foreign devils," who were an ignorant, low-down lot of people, and that they should be driven out and go and live with the Americans who had corrupted them. There was nothing in the Bible about independence and "Mansei." Three thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry were coming to destroy all the Christians, and if they did not drive them out but continued to live with them, they would be shot and killed.

A number of half drunken men got together to drive out the Christians. This was done. A report was taken to the gendarmes that the Christians had been driven away, whereupon the villagers were praised. In other parts, near by, the same chief of gendarmes was ordering the families of Christians out of their homes, arresting the men and leaving the women and children to seek refuge where they might.

Word came to some other villages in the Pyeng-yang area that the police would visit them on April 27th, to inspect the house-cleaning. The Christians received warning that they must look out for a hard time. Everything was very carefully cleaned, ready for the inspection. The leader of the church sent word to all the people to gather for early worship, so as to be through before the police should come. But the police were there before them, a Japanese in charge, two Korean policemen, two secretaries and two dog killers.

The two leaders of the church were called up by the Japanese, who stepped down and ran his fingers along the floor. "Look at this dust," he said. Ordering the two men to sit down on the floor, he beat them with a flail, over the shoulders.

"Do you beat an old man, seventy years old, this way?" called the older man.

"What is seventy years, you rascal of a Christian?" came the reply.

The police took the names of the Christians from the church roll, and went round the village, picking them out and beating them all, men, women and children. They killed their dogs. The non-Christians were let alone.

On the afternoon of April 4th a cordon of police and gendarmes was suddenly picketed all around the missionary quarter in Pyeng-yang, and officials, police and detectives made an elaborate search of the houses. Some copies of an Independence newspaper, a bit of paper with a statement of the numbers killed at Anju, and a copy of the program of the memorial service were found among the papers of Dr. Moffett's secretary, and two copies of a mimeographed notice in Korean, thin paper rolled up into a thin ball and thrown away, were found in an outhouse. The secretary was arrested, bound, beaten and hauled off. Other Koreans found on the premises were treated in similar fashion. One man was knocked down, beaten and kicked on the head several times.

Dr. Moffett and the Rev. E.M. Mowry, another American Presbyterian missionary from Mansfield, Ohio, were ordered to the police office that evening, and cross-examined. Dr. Moffett convinced the authorities that he knew nothing of the independence movement and had taken no part in it (he felt bound, as a missionary, not to take part in political affairs), but Mr. Mowry was detained on the charge of sheltering Korean agitators.

Mr. Mowry had allowed five Korean students wanted by the police to remain in his house for two days early in March. Some of them were his students and one was his former secretary; Mr. Mowry was a teacher at the Union Christian College, and principal of both the boys' and girls' grammar schools at Pyeng-yang. Mr. Mowry declared that Koreans often slept at his house, and he had no knowledge that the police were trying to arrest these lads.

The missionary was kept in jail for ten days. His friends were told that he would probably be sent to Seoul for trial Then he was suddenly brought before the Pyeng-yang court, no time being given for him to obtain counsel, and was sentenced to six months' penal servitude. He was led away wearing the prisoners' cap, a wicker basket, placed over the head and face.

An appeal was at once entered, and eventually the conviction was quashed, and a new trial ordered.

XVII

GIRL MARTYRS FOR LIBERTY

The most extraordinary feature of the uprising of the Korean people is the part taken in it by the girls and women. Less than twenty years ago, a man might live in Korea for years and never come in contact with a Korean woman of the better classes, never meet her on the street, never see her in the homes of his Korean friends. I have lived for a week or two at a time, in the old days, in the house of a Korean man of high class, and have never once seen his wife or daughters. In Japan in those days--and with many families the same holds true to-day--when one was invited as a guest, the wife would receive you, bow to the guest and her lord, and then would humbly retire, not sitting to table with the men.

Christian teaching and modern ways broke down the barrier in Korea. The young Korean women took keenly to the new mode of life. The girls in the schools, particularly in the Government schools, led the way in the demand for the restoration of their national life. There were many quaint and touching incidents. In the missionary schools, the chief fear of the girls was lest they should bring trouble on their American teachers. The head mistress of one of these schools noticed for some days that her girls were unusually excited. She heard them asking one another, "Have you enrolled?" and imagined that some new girlish league was being formed. This was before the great day. One morning the head mistress came down to discover the place empty. On her desk was a paper signed by all the girls, resigning their places in the school. They thought that by this device they would show that their beloved head mistress was not responsible.

Soon there came a call from the Chief of Police. The mistress was wanted at the police office at once. All the girls from her school were demonstrating and had stirred up the whole town. Would the mistress come and disperse them?