Kim Il Sung Memoirs: 1.3 Long Live Korean Independence
Young Kim
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It was freezing cold on the day when Father left home. I waited and waited
for his safe return home all during the Spring months. Our family did not
have enough food to eat, not enough clothing to wear and not enough heat to
keep warm. Winter was a cruel enemy to my shivering family.
Grandma worried that, with the spring thaw, my birthday would come upon her.
On my birthday in the spring, flowers broke out everywhere and Father would
be less cold in the north somewhere, but celebrating my birthday without
Father and at a time when our food stock would be at the rock bottom. Even
though my family's food supply ran out late in the Spring, Grandma managed
to come out with bowls of white rice and a cooked chicken egg on my
birthday - until that year. Even a single egg was a major food item in our
household, as our daily menu was mainly bowls of thin gruel at best.
Celebrating my birthday was the farthest thing on my mind in that Spring. I
was still in shock from my father's arrest and I was worried sick about my
father's being away for so long.
Not long after my father's departure, the March First Movement erupted on
March 1, 1919. All the pent up angers and sorrows of living under the
Japanese imperialists for ten long years exploded on that day. In ten years
after the annexation, Korea had become a gigantic dungeon, no better than
those of the Middle Ages. The Japanese colonists used naked military power
to suppress the Korean people's aspiration to become free again. The
Japanese took way our freedom of press, freedom to hold meetings, freedom to
form organizations, and freedom to march. They took away our human rights
and properties. The Korean people formed secret organizations, independence
fights, mass enlightenment activities, and had built up considerable
potential energy against the decade of plunder and exploitation by the
Japanese.
Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists and other religious leaders, patriotic
teachers and students had planned and executed the March First Movement.
The Kapsin Reform, Kaboh Peasants War, Patriotic Mass Enlightenment and
Righteous Army ensued one after another, and our nationalistic feelings were
sublimated and ripe for kinetic explosion, like a volcano letting out the
pressure built up over the years. Thus, at noon, March 1st in Pyongyang,
church bells rang out in unison to signal the start of the march. Several
thousands students and citizens gathered at the front yard of Sung-duk Girls
School located at Jang-dae-jae. Declaration of Independence was read aloud
and it was solemnly proclaimed that Korea was a free nation. The crowd began
the march shouting "Long Live Korean Independence", "Out with the Japanese
and their army". They were joined by tens of thousands of citizens.
The villagers of Mangyong-dae lined up in a file and marched into Pyongyang
and joined the crowd of marchers already there. We got up early on that day
and ate our breakfast; all of us joined the march. When we left the village,
there were only a few hundred of us, but by the time we reached Pyongyang,
our rank swelled to several thousands. We beat on drums and gongs and
marched toward Botong Gate, shouting "Long Live Korean Independence!" at the
top of our lungs.
I was only eight years old at the time, but I joined in the march wearing my
worn-out shoes full of holes. I shouted and shouted with the marchers and
reached Botong Gate. The marchers rushed inside the castle past the Gate; I
could not keep up with them in my tattered shoes and so I took them off and
ran after the marchers as fast as my little legs could move. The enemy
mobilized mounted police and army troops to stop our march, They slashed and
shot the marchers indiscriminately. Many of the marchers fell spilling
blood. But the marchers marched on and fought the enemy with bare hands.
For the first time in my life, I witnessed people killing people, Korean
blood staining our own land. My young mind and body was enraged. After the
sunset, the villagers from Mangyon-dae went to Mangyong Peak and held a
rally at the summit. Torches were lit and bugles blared. We beat drums and
metal pans, making enough noise to wake up the dead. We shouted hurrah for
our independence. This continued on for several days. Mother and her sister
took me along when they joined the crowd at the summit. Mother was busy
carrying drinking water and burning oil for the torches to the protesters at
the summit.
The marchers in Seoul were joined by the people who were in Seoul to attend
King Kojong's funeral. Several hundreds of thousands of people joined the
march. Hasegawa, Governor General of Korea, ordered the 20th Infantry
Division garrisoned at Yongsan to squash the movement. The Japanese
soldiers attacked unarmed marchers with swords and rifles, turning Seoul
into a sea of Korean blood. But the marchers stayed their course; when the
vanguards fell, the next in line took the lead. The marchers pushed on
stepping over their fallen comrades. People marched in all major towns and
cities in Korea on that day.
Photo: Young school girls marching for independence.
Young school girls marched holding up Taeguk-gi. When their hand holding up
the flag was cut off by the Japanese, they picked up the flag with the other
hand. When both hands were cut off, they marched on until they dropped,
shouting "Long Live Korea!" Even the most hardened Japanese savages were
afraid of such determined opponents. The mass uprising in Seoul and
Pyongyang soon spread to all of the thirteen provinces of Korea by the
middle of March. It had spilled over to Manchuria, Shanghai, Siberia, Hawaii
and other foreign places. The uprising was a true pan-national movement, of
all Koreans, all overseas Koreans, irrespective of their gender, age,
religion and vocation. Every one was welcome to join. Even the lowly women
servants and entertainment maidens (kisaeng), the bottom echelon in the
feudal society, formed their own formation and joined the march.
For over a month or two, the Korean peninsula resonated with shouts for
independence. Spring passed and Summer came, and the ardor of the uprising
gradually subsided. Many Koreans mistakenly assumed that the Japanese would
get out, if they marched for several months shouting slogans. They were
sadly mistaken; the Japanese were not about to leave Korea on account of
mere marches. Japan fought three major wars over Korea.
About 400 years ago in 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent Gonishi Yukinaga to
conquer Korea with several hundreds thousand troops. The Japanese conducted
scorched-earth campaigns and torched Korea from Pusan to Pyongyang to
Hamhung. In the 19th century, after the Meiji Reform, the Japanese
formulated a plan to take Korea by force. It was asserted that Korea was
essential for the Empire to expand. Some Japanese were opposed to this plan
of naked aggression and a quiet civil war broke out in Japan that lasted for
half a year. The war faction was led by Saiko Takamori, whose stature still
stands in today's Japan. Japan fought war with Russia and China over Korea.
America and Great Britain supported Japan in these two wars.
Nationalist leaders being crucified.
The bestiality of the Japanese troops was fully exposed in the
Russo-Japanese War. Maresuke Nogi commanded Japanese Third Army in the Port
Arthur battle. He had dead corps filed high and used them as stepping stones
to attack the "203 Meter Hill" (Lee Wha Rang note: the Hill fell on December
5, 1904. The Russian general Anatoly Mikhailovich Stėsel surrendered on
January 2, 1905.). Some 25,000 were killed for Nogi's human ladders. The
Japanese suffered heavy losses and won the war, but they failed to take
Manchuria or Siberia. Angry war widows and orphans of the soldiers who died
for Nogi gathered to confront him. But the crowd fell silent when they saw
that Nogi wore three crosses, one for each of his own sons killed in the
war. I do not know how accurate this story is, but the point is that the
Japanese had paid for Krea dearly and they were not ready to cough up Korea.
The elite of Korea who organized and led the March First Movement failed to
see this lesson from history. The March leaders erroneously opted for
non-violent marches, totally ignoring the people's burning desires for
action. All they accomplished was to publish a declaration of independence,
that gained precious little for the Korean people. They did not want the
people to go beyond peaceful demonstrations.
Some of the leaders believed that Korea could be freed by sending petitions
to other nations. They took and swallowed US President Woodrow Wilson's
"Doctrine of Self Determination" and expected the United States and other
Western Powers to pressure Japan into freeing Korea. They wrote petition
after petition, becoming laughing stocks of the imperialists. Kim Gyu Sik
and associates begged and pleaded with representatives of the imperialist
nations, who were more keen on grabbing more colonies for themselves than
freeing any colony.
It was a mistake for those Korean leaders to take Wilson's
self-determination doctrine at its face value. The so-called doctrine was
nothing but an American ruse to counter the October Revolution in Russia and
to dominate the world. The American imperialists used the doctrine to stir
up divisive forces in the Soviet Union and prevent it from assisting
colonies fighting for independence. The doctrine was also a scheme to take
over colonies of the nations defeated in World War I.
Early in the 20th Century, the United Stated signed Kazra-Taft Treaty
whereby Japan was given a free hand in Korea. To expect America to pressure
Japan to give up Korea was ludicrous. There is no record of any strong
nation helping a week nation, presenting its people with freedom and
independence. A nation's nationhood can be maintained or regained only by
the people. This is a truth proven throughout the history. During the
Russo-Japanese War and the Portsmouth Kangwha Conference, King Kojong
dispatched emissaries to the United States and pleaded US help in keeping
Korea independent. The fact of the matter is that the United States sided
with Japan during the Russo-Japanese War and did everything it could to
ensure Japanese victory. After the war, the United States in effect
negotiated on behalf of Japan and injected issues favorable to Japan. US
President Theodore Roosevelt refused to accept King Kojong's letters
claiming that they were not 'official' documents.
King Kojong dispatched secret envoys to Hague Peace Conference. Kojong
declared that the Korea-Japan Ulsa Agreement of 1905 was illegal, void and
null. He appealed to the world conscience and humanitarianism, believing
that Korea would be helped doing so. The Japanese countered Kojong's moves
with false propaganda and other world powers ignored the King's pleas. The
emissaries suffered tearful rejection after rejection by the delegates.
Because of the secret emissaries, Japan forced King Kojong to abdicate and
his son Sunjong ascended the throne.
The Hague emissary fiasco was a loud warning bell that shook the very
foundation of Korea's feudal ruling class, rooted deep in toadyism (Lee Wha
Rang note: sah-dae ju-i - worship of the powerful; also, flunkeyism). Lee
Jun, Kojong's secret emissary, cut his stomach open at the Hague Peace
Conference and stained the conference hall red with his Korean blood; it is
a tragic lesson that Korea should not count on other nations for
independence, because they did not care. In spite of this sad lesson, some
of our nationalist leaders clung to the naive notion that the United States,
with its 'doctrine of self determination' would free Korea; it shows how
toadish they were; how deep-rooted their pro-Americanism was.
The failure of the March First Movement showed that the Korean bourgeoisie
nationalist leaders could not lead our anti-Japanese independence movement.
The social class mix of the march leaders was such that they were not
totally opposed to the Japanese rule of Korea. Their objective was to
extract concessions from the Japanese authorities so as to protect and
enhance their class standing in the Korean society. The fact that many of
the leaders became after the march pro-Japanese collaborators and social
reformists under the Japanese rule supports the above assertion..
At the time, Korea had no progressive elements that were stoing enough to
counter reformism. There was no major industrial proletarian class
consciousness that could fight against bourgeois reformism at the time. Our
toiling mass was still untouched by Marxism-Leninism and lacked organized
leadership. It would be years before the Korea's working class had at last
a vanguard that fought for and protected its class interest; it had to make
a long hazardous journey. In the aftermath of the failed March First
Movement, the Korean people came to realize that a strong leadership was
needed to gain independence. Although, millions of Korean people joined the
movement, there was no people's organization or class-root leadership and
the movement was hampered by divisiveness and ineffectual spontaneity.
The failed March First Movement taught us that in order to win our fight for
independence and freedom, we must have effective revolutionary leadership
and organizational structures; we must use the right tactics and strategies;
and we must debunk toadyism and build up our strength on our own.
The March First Movement, even though failed, showed to the world that the
Korean people did not wish to be slaves of other nations, that they were
strongly self-reliant and self-deterministic, that they were willing to die
for their country. The March First Movement shocked the Japanese
imperialists into imposing harsh martial laws and brain-washing
indoctrination policies.
The March First Movement put an end to Korea's nascent bourgeois nationalist
movement and the Korean people's struggle for independence entered a new
stage. The loud hurrahs for independence that shook our land of misfortune
and reverberated throughout the world kept on ringing in my ears all through
that summer; the ringing forced me to grow up faster. The Potong Gate
boulevard, shrouded in smoke and sparks of intense fighting between the
marchers and the Japanese police, opened a new venue in my world-view.
Shouting "Long Live Korea" squeezed between grownups and on my tiptoes to
see between their legs ended my age of innocence; my childhood ended
abruptly on that day.
The March First Movement placed me in the rank of the people and left an
image on my eyes of the true nature of the Korean people. Whenever I hear
the echo of the March First hurrahs in my mind's ears, I feel so proud of
the Korean people's unbending determination and heroism.
A letter from Father arrived in that Summer. Along with the letter, there
was a "Goldfish" calligraphy set of a brush and ink, made in China. Father
wanted me to become proficient in writing. I immediately put the set in use,
I ground out some ink in water, dipped the brush in it and wrote out three
large letters - "Ah Buh Ji" (father). That night, the family gathered
around a dim kerosene lamp and read Father's letter over and over again.
Uncle Hyong Rok read it three times. He was normally restless and vibrant,
but he was slow and deliberate like an old man while reading the letter.
Mother quickly glanced over the letter and handed it me, asking me to read
it aloud for Grandpa and Grandma. Even though I had not started my formal
schooling, Father had taught me how to read.
Gen. Hong Bom Do and aids in Siberia.
Sooner I had started to read the letter loud and clear than Grandma stopped
her spinning and asked - "Does it say when he would be back?" and before I
could answer, she muttered to herself - "Is he in Siberia or is he in
Manchuria? He has been gone unusually long". Seeing that Mother did not get
to read the letter in detail, I recited the letter from memory for her after
we went to bed. Mother would never read Father's letter in front of Grandma
and Grandpa, instead she would tuck the letter under her sleeve and read it
alone during rest breaks from her daily farm chores. Mother said - "Ok,
that's good enough. Now you better go to sleep" - and rubbed my forehead.
It was not until the Fall of that year when Father returned home to take us
with him. He had been gone for a year. During his absence from home, Father
was busy rebuilding the Korean People's Association; he traveled to Yiju,
Chang-sung, Byukdong, Chosan, Junggang and other towns in North Pyongahn
Province and Manchuria. Father convened Chungsu-dong Conference in November
1918. Representatives of the Association in the province and liaison agents
from various sites met there to discuss future actions to rebuild the
Association and organize the poor working mass.
Father talked about events in Manchuria and Russia. He was quite enthused
about about Lenin and the October Revolution. He said that in Russia,
workers, peasants and other toiling people were in charge; he was envious of
that. He was angry at the White reactionaries and the 14 nations that had
sent intervention troops to Russia to topple the new government of Russia.
Since what he said was true and factual, I believe Father had been to
Siberia. Like Manchuria, Siberia was a base for national movements and an
important gathering place. Several hundred thousands of Koreans were
resident in Siberia at the time of the March First Movement.
Many patriots and nationalist leaders fled there. Lee Jun's secret mission
stopped in Siberia on their way to Hague. Yu In Sik and Lee Sang Sul
established the "13-Province Righteous Army" headquarters in Vladivostok It
was in Vladivostok that Korean progressives under Yi Dong Whi founded the
first Korean socialist organization and began to propagate Marxism-Leninism.
The Korean People's Assembly in Russia established the Korean Provisional
Government in Far East Russia. Hong Bom Do and Ahn Jung Gun had military
units in active operation in that region.
The Korean exiles in Siberia formed numerous independent groups for Korean
independence. Korean nationalists in Russia crossed the Russo-Korean border
and attacked Gyongwon, Gyonghum and other Korean towns under Japanese rule.
They fought Japanese police and military and inflicted heavy casualties.
Korean nationalist troops from Manchuria and Russia worked hand in hand with
the Soviet Army and fought the enemies of the Soviet Union. The imperialists
attempted to topple the new Soviet government and poured in billions of
dollars and tens of thousands of their troops in Russia. They armed Russian
reactionaries. Several thousands Korean nationalists rushed to the aid of
the struggling Soviets. Many fought as partisans and many joined the Red
Army. Monuments in Siberia honor those Koreans who died for socialism.
Hong Bom Do, Yi Dong Whi , Yuh Woon Hyong and other nationalist leaders
conducted intense military campaigns for Korean independence from military
bases in Russia. They met Lenin and discussed Korean independence. Their
fight for Korea had ended in a sour note at Free City; factionalism, foreign
intervention and egoism culminated in the shameful fratricidal
self-destruction in the Free City Incident (also known as the Amur River
Incident). Nevertheless, their contributions to Korean independence should
not be ignored.
Gen. Yi Dong Whi
My presumption that Father had been to Siberia looking for new members for
the Korean People's Association is not unfounded. Father told us about the
demonstrations by the people in northern border regions and we told Father
about the heroic activities of the villagers during the March First
uprising. I still remember my father saying: "An armed robber in your house
will not spare your life, just because you plead for your life. Other armed
robbers standing outside will not rush inside to help you no matter how loud
you scream. If you want to live, you must fight off the armed robber
yourself. Armed robbers must be fought with arms."
I could see that Father's mind was set on a new course for Korean
independence activities. I learned later that during the March First
uprising, Father observed the events unfolding in Korea from various
locations in the northern border regions and southern Manchuria. His
thoughts were on changes in the class structure in Korea. The March First
Movement taught us that you cannot free your country by merely shouting and
marching around. The March turned Korea into a gigantic Japanese prison,
buried under forests of Japanese guns and bayonets and it would take
superhuman efforts to fight the Japanese. We must learn from the Russian
revolution and mobilize and arm the people of Korea, in order to free our
nation and build a new Korea of equality, freedom and justice for all. This
is the gist of Father's new way of thinking - proletarian revolution.
Father saw that the Korean independence movement was not going anywhere; all
it had done was to leave bloody tracks of meaningless sacrifices; he
realized that a new strategy was called for. Father saw hope in communism in
light of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. The March First fiasco
convinced him that we must change our nationalist movement into communist
revolution. Father argued for toilers' revolution at the Chung-su Conference
in July 1919. He convened a conference of the Korean People's Association
cadres, liaison officers and leaders of other nationalist organization in
August at Hongtong-gu, China. At the conference, Father expounded his belief
in transforming our nationalist movement into communist movement. He
emphasized that the movement must defeat the Japanese imperialists by our
own power, adapting to the prevailing world situations and work to build a
society that protect the proletariat.
Formulating concrete steps to go from nationalist movement to communist
movement was one of my father's achievements in our struggle for
independence. Father explained his idea of proletarian revolution is to
build a new society wherein those without food are given rice and those with
nothing to wear are given clothes. He awakened workers, peasants and other
toilers by setting examples; he united various organizations and groups into
a united front and nurtured it into a powerful organ of revolution.. Father
advocated that petitions and diplomacy would not bring us freedom and we
must rely on military forces to gain freedom. He began to organize new
military organizations. Father wanted to train nationalistic youth from
farming families on military tactics and leadership and to indoctrinate the
existing military leaders and junior officers. They would form the core of a
new army of workers and peasants. Father dispatched members of the Korean
People's Association to various military organization to spread his new
military doctrine; he directed arms procurements and education of military
officers.
Father endeavored to unite military groups. At the time, there were many
groups competing to expand and this was the most agonizing defect of our
independence movement to my father. In Kan-do and Siberia, there were a
host of armed Korean camps. Almost every day, a new "Korean Society",
"Korean Freedom Corps", "Korea Corp" and so on popped up. There were at
least 20 of such armed groups in southern Manchuria alone. They might have
achieved something significant, if they got together and coordinated their
actions. But the fact of the matter is that they betrayed each other and
vied for dominance.
Father feared that this sad situation, if continued, would alienate the
Korean people and help Japanese wipe out the camps. Father learned that
Korean Independence Youth Corp and Kwangje Youth Corp were at each other's
throat; he rushed to Kwangje and called on the leaders to bury the hatchet
and work together for common cause. Thanks to Father, Hong-up Corps,
Gung-bi Corps and other armed groups in the Yenan-Yalu region merged into a
united national army.
Transforming extant armed groups into a people's army of workers and
peasants and embarking on the road of communist revolution was one of
Father's agenda. This new direction would help unite the armed groups and
minimize contentious rifts amongst them. Father worked tirelessly to
redirect our military activities until the day he died. He was struck down
with an incurable disease. After Father's announcement of the new direction
at the Kwanjun Conference, ideological splits among the nationalists
intensified. Even among those who had supported Father's plan when he was
alive deserted after his death. Some of them were captured by the Japanese,
some became turncoats, and others scattered away. Few took up the banner of
revolution when Father fell. The conservatives in the nationalist camp
built walls around them and kept to their old ways; but many progressive
leaders chose the new way and later joined in our communist revolution.
Father's belief in communist movement provided much needed nourishments for
my growth.