Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea

Korean Patriotic Organization (), also known as Korean Patriotic Corps or Korean Patriotic Legion, was a

secret organization A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

that aimed to

assassinate Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

prominent Japanese figures of the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

. It was one of the independence movements propelled by the

Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea The Korean Provisional Government (KPG), formally the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, was a partially recognized Korean government-in-exile based in Shanghai, China, and later in Chongqing, during the period of Japanese c ...

. The Korean Patriotic Organization was founded by

Kim Gu Kim Gu (, ; August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1949), also known by his pen name Baekbeom (백범; ), was a Korean statesman. He was the sixth, ninth, and president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea; a leader of the Korean indepen ...

, president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Its executives were Kim Suk, Ahn Gong-geun,

Lee Su-bong Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

, and Lee Yu-pil. Notable members included Yoo Sang-geun,

Yoo Jin-man Yoo may refer to: * Yoo (Korean surname), also spelled Ryu or Yu, a Korean family name * YOO, the IATA code for Oshawa Airport See also * You, a pronoun {{Disambig ...

Yun Bong-gil Yun Bong-gil (21 June 1908 – 19 December 1932) was a Korean independence activist who set off a bomb that killed several Japanese dignitaries in Shanghai's Hongkew Park (now Lu Xun Park) in 1932. He was posthumously awarded the Republic of Kor ...

Lee Bong-chang Lee Bong-chang (August 10, 1900 – October 10, 1932) was a Korean independence activist during the Japanese occupation of Korea. In 1932, he attempted unsuccessfully to assassinate Japanese emperor Hirohito with a hand grenade, which became known ...

, Lee Duk-ju, and Choi Heung-sik.

Background

Office of Kim Gu in Provisional Government of ROK, Shanghai

On September 18, 1931, the Empire of Japan staged the Liutiaohu incident (bombing of the Manchu railroad) and

Mukden Incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, L ...

. The Chinese people's anti-Japanese fervor proliferated because of these incidents. To promote Korea–China relations and to revitalize the depressed independence movement, the

founded a secret organization which would carry out covert missions to assassinate key Japanese figures. That task was entrusted to

. Kim Gu organized the Korean Patriotic Organization with about 80 members, mostly patriotic Korean youngsters. The organization was based in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, China. Leaders included Kim Suk, Ahn Gong-geun,

, and Lee Yu-pil; other notable members were Yoo Sang-geun,

Yoo Jin-man Yoo may refer to: * Yoo (Korean surname), also spelled Ryu or Yu, a Korean family name * YOO, the IATA code for Oshawa Airport See also * You, a pronoun {{Disambig ...

, Lee Duk-ju, and Choi Heung-sik. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea hope to shock and halt Japan's aggression with assassinations.

Sakuradamon Incident

In late 1931, Kim Gu sent Lee Bong-chang to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to assassinate the

Japanese Emperor The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the wi ...

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

(昭和天皇). Bong-chang arrived in Tokyo in early January 1932. On January 8, Hirohito was exiting the Imperial Palace grounds, for a military review in a Tokyo suburb with

Puyi Aisin-Gioro Puyi (; 7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), courtesy name Yaozhi (曜之), was the last emperor of China as the eleventh and final Qing dynasty monarch. He became emperor at the age of two in 1908, but was forced to abdicate on 1 ...

, Emperor of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

. In front of the

Sakuradamon Gate is a gate at Tokyo Imperial Palace, in Tokyo, Japan. It was the location of the Sakuradamon Incident in 1860. Opposite the gate of Sakurada Gate is the headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, which shares "Sakurada Gate" as a ...

, Bong-chang threw a

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

that detonated away from Hirohito, killing some carriage horses. Bong-chang pulled out the

Taegukgi The national flag of South Korea, also known as the Taegukgi (also spelled as ''Taegeukgi'', ) and colloquially known as the flag of Korea, has three parts: a white rectangular background, a red and blue Taegeuk in its center, accompanied by fo ...

(the national

flag of South Korea The national flag of South Korea, also known as the Taegukgi (also spelled as ''Taegeukgi'', ) and colloquially known as the flag of Korea, has three parts: a white rectangular background, a red and blue Taegeuk in its center, accompanied by fo ...

) and shouted, "''Daehan Dokrip Manse''" (, ''Long Live Korean Independence'') three times. He was immediately arrested by police. Lee Bong-chang did not respond to any question by the police and was sentenced to death in a closed trial on September 30. He was executed in Ichigaya Prison on October 10. This incident fueled the anti-Japanese independence movement.

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

of China spotlighted this incident in its official organ, ''Kukmin Ilbo'' (Korean, 국민일보). At the same time, this and similar incidents led to Japan taking action in the form of the Shanghai War of 1932.

Hongkou Park Incident

(, 1932), by

)

On April 29, 1932, Yun Bong-gil carried out an attack using a bomb disguised as a water bottle (widely misconceived as a narrow lunch box). Yun Bong-gil carried two bombs to Shanghai, one being the water bottle and the other being the lunch box. The water bottle was used to kill the target while the lunch box was intended to be used to kill himself after the assassination, but failed to detonate. He intended to use the bombs at a Japanese Army celebration of Hirohito's birthday in Hongkou Park, Shanghai. The bombing killed

Yoshinori Shirakawa was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. Biography Early life and education Shirakawa was born as the third son of an ex-''samurai'' of Matsuyama Domain in Iyo, Ehime, Shikoku. He attended Matsuyama Middle School, but was forced to leave w ...

(白川義則), a general of the Imperial Japanese Army, and Kawabata Sadaji (河端貞次), a Government Chancellor of Japanese residents in Shanghai. It also seriously injured

Kenkichi Ueda was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He played an active role in the Soviet-Japanese Border Wars of the late 1930s. Biography Born in Osaka prefecture, Ueda attended the predecessor of Hitotsubashi U ...

(植田謙吉), Division 9 commander of the Imperial Army, Kuramatsu Murai (村井倉松), Japanese Consul-General in Shanghai, and

Mamoru Shigemitsu was a Japanese diplomat and politician in the Empire of Japan, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs three times during and after World War II as well as the Deputy Prime Minister of Japan. As civilian plenipotentiary representing the J ...

(重光葵), Japanese envoy in Shanghai, and Kichisaburo Nomura (野村吉三郎), admiral in the Imperial Navy who would later serve as the ambassador to the United States at the time of the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. Upon learning of the incident,

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

, Chinese political and military leader who served as the leader of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

, highly praised it: "A million Chinese armies didn't make it, but one Korean did it". Yun Bong-gil was arrested at the scene and convicted by the Japanese military court in Shanghai on May 25. He was transferred to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

prison on November 18, and executed by firing squad in

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...

on December 18. He was buried in the Nodayama graveyard.

Later history

Other activities of the Korean Patriotic Organization included : * An assassination attempt against the

Governor-General of Korea Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

, by Lee Duk-ju and

Yoo Jin-man Yoo may refer to: * Yoo (Korean surname), also spelled Ryu or Yu, a Korean family name * YOO, the IATA code for Oshawa Airport See also * You, a pronoun {{Disambig ...

* Assassination attempts against high officials of Japan, by Yoo Sang-geun and Choi Heung-sik The Korean Patriotic Organization has been identified as being responsible for the assassination attempts. Following this, Japanese police authorities rushed to arrest key figures of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea by threatening the

Shanghai French Concession The Shanghai French Concession; ; Shanghainese pronunciation: ''Zånhae Fah Tsuka'', group=lower-alpha was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943, which progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Th ...

. Many Korean activists sought refuge in

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

and

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...

, through not all made it; among those arrested was

Ahn Changho Ahn Changho, sometimes An Chang-ho (; , November 9, 1878 – March 10, 1938) was a Korean independence activist and one of the early leaders of the Korean-American immigrant community in the United States. He is also referred to by his pen n ...

. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea eventually relocated to Hangzhou. Later it moved to

Zhenjiang Zhenjiang, alternately romanized as Chinkiang, is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province, China. It lies on the southern bank of the Yangtze River near its intersection with the Grand Canal. It is opposite Yangzhou (to its north) and b ...

in 1935, and

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

in 1936. During that time, the activities of the Korean Patriotic Organization diminished.

List of members

Members of the Korean Patriotic Organization included : President *

Executives * Kim Suk * Ahn Gong-geun *

* Lee Yu-pil Members * Yoo Sang-geun *

Yoo Jin-man Yoo may refer to: * Yoo (Korean surname), also spelled Ryu or Yu, a Korean family name * YOO, the IATA code for Oshawa Airport See also * You, a pronoun {{Disambig ...

* Lee Duk-ju * Choi Heung-sik

Influence

Influenced by the activities of the Korean Patriotic Organization, both Korea's anti-Japanese independence movement and China's anti-Japanese actions intensified. During the time that the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was active within Chinese territory,

of China increased its support for this government after the Sakuradamon Incident and the Hongkou Park Incident. Eventually, the

Korean Liberation Army The Korean Liberation Army, also known as the Korean Restoration Army established on September 17, 1940, in Chongqing, Chungking, China, was the armed force of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Its commandant was General Ji Cheo ...

was established.

References

{{Authority control Korean independence movement History of Shanghai Organizations based in Shanghai Organizations established in 1931 Paramilitary organizations based in Korea Terrorism in Japan