When the Samil uprising began on March 1, 1919, confrontations in the streets of Korean cities and towns took place which are well documented. What may not be so well known is the propaganda battle between the Japanese authorities and Korean activists which took place in the press in western countries, especially the U.S. During the first half of 1919 the Paris Peace Conference, which decided the structure of the post-war world, took place. Japan, wanting to control Germany's possessions in China and the Pacific, needed to put its best face forward, something that would prove difficult to do it news of the brutality of their suppression of the independence movement in Korea got out. Korean activists, and their foreign supporters (mostly missionaries) were trying their best to make certain Japan's actions, and Korea's desire for independence, became known to the world. What follows is a summary of the articles that appeared in the New York Times between March and September of 1919.
On March 1, an article appeared containing an appeal to the U.S. to intervene on Korea's behalf at the Paris Peace conference. The appeal was given to the American Minister in Peking before the uprising began, however.
An AP dispatch dated March 4, but not published in the NYT until March 18, reveals some of the early rumors, as well as Japanese attempts to blame foreign missionaries for the uprising.
On March 13, an article titled Koreans Declare for Independence quoted a cable from Peking describing the realization that "demonstrations were more general than has been officially admitted," as well as describing Japanese punishments like forcing Christians to carry crosses tied to their backs. It goes on to say that
At present the Japanese seem to have the Korean independence movement under control, but underneath the surface the whole country is seething. The Korean nation will accept only one solution. It is hoped that Japan, at the Paris conference, will offer Korea independence subject to Japan’s advisory control until such time as the League of Nations deems the Koreans fit for absolute self-government.Also worth noting is that the declaration of independence quoted in that article may be the one read in Tokyo on February 8, as it has a reference to fighting "to the last drop of blood" not contained in the one read on March 1.
A second cable is found in the article, sent by AP from Seoul, which contains sections of the Declaration of Independence. On March 15, an article titled "Koreans Still Fighting Japanese"(which revealed that things weren't so "under control" after all) had this politely worded piece of comedy:
Isaburo Yamagata, Deputy Resident General of Korea, is quoted as saying that the chief cause of the turmoil has been an erroneous conception of self determination. [He] added that as a result of the disturbances the Government had discovered a flaw in the administration of Korea which would be rectified.Another story, not at all funny, was also relayed:
In one instance, a girl who participated in a Korean independence demonstration was holding a manifesto in one hand when Japanese soldiers cut off the hand with a sword. She raised the other hand, the Koreans said, and it was also cut off.Whether this actually happened is hard to know, but considering some of the rather gruesome tales I've read, I wouldn't rule it out. An article on March 19 titled "Missionary charges cruelty in Korea" reveals more about the missionary role (or lack thereof) in the uprising:
An American missionary who has just returned from Korea describes the independence movement there as the most wonderful passive resistance movement in history. The missionaries were taken by surprise when the movement began. After realizing that their churches had been closed by order of the police, and that most of their pastors were in jail, they concluded, it was said, to break silence regarding the brutalities witnessed in the last decade.In the same article, an AP dispatch from Tokyo stated that
They had seen children beaten, old men ejected from their houses, and women struck with swords, it was stated, and they could not keep quiet, for humanities sake, whatever the cost to their missionary work and themselves.
The American Consul himself, the missionary said, had been arrested by Japanese soldiers at Seoul, but an interesting development was spoiled by his companion, also an American, who asked the Japanese if they knew this man, and informed them that he was the American Consul. The Consul was immediately released.
According to dispatches printed in the newspapers here,[…]it is indicated the national independence movement is remarkably extensive and well organized […] It is reported that the railway station at Pingyang has been stoned by a mob of 10,000 persons, the Korean national flag being commonly displayed.On March 20, while the state department wondered whether the U.S. consul in Seoul had been arrested, missionary E.D. Soper wrote a letter supporting Japan's takeover of Korea, calling the uprising a "wildfire agitation by a people as yet unfit for self government". "He said the Koreans were yet "children", while the Japanese were "adolescents". Another article about uprisings in Egypt and Korea has this interesting passage:
Egypt and Korea may both raise the question of a people’s right to self-government, but they raise the even more important question of a people’s capacity for self-government. Whether a people has the divine and inalienable right to misgovern itself is a matter on which opinions will be held according to political theory; but in the present situation of a closely interrelated world a people which wants to rule itself may justifiably be asked to give some proof that it knows how to do it.The next day a letter appeared written by Henry Chung. Raised in privilege in Suncheon, Chung had moved to the U.S. in 1904 to study, becoming the second Korean to receive a Ph.D in the U.S.. Both Chung and Syngman Rhee were to represent Korea at the Paris Peace Conference, but were denied visas. In his letter, Chung appealed for a chance for Korea to "show fitness for self government." After comparing Japan's actions in Korea to those of George III in the American colonies, or of the recently defeated Central Powers in Europe, he laid out what Koreans wanted from the Paris Peace Conference.
Korea’s appeal to the Peace Conference and to enlightened public opinion of the West is to have Korea internationalized under the mandate of the League of Nations with the guarantee of complete independence in the future. The accomplishment of this will convert the Korean peninsula into a zone of neutral commerce to the benefit of all nations. It will also create a buffer state in the Far East which will help prevent aggrandizements by any single power and maintain peace in the Orient. […]On that note, an article on April 23 has this quote:
The Korean people of all classes are united in this appeal to the Peace Conference and to the Western public. All they ask is for simple justice – a fair chance to prove their capacity for self-determination. To deny them this chance on the presumption that they are incapable of self government is like telling a young woman that she ought to learn to swim but she must not go near the water.
Foreigners marvel at the ability and thoroughness with which the Koreans organized and are carrying on the campaign. Even the oldest British and American citizens had no idea that the Koreans were capable of planning and conducting such a widespread rebellion.Also on March 21, letters from "A Son of Korea" and law professor Judson A. Crane criticized Japanese rule in Korea. An article on March 26 mentioned the situation in the provinces:
The Korean movement for independence is continuing determinedly, keeping for the most part to the method of passive resistance, but there have been numerous riotous disturbances in the interior, especially in the north, along the Manchurian and Chinese borders.
One feature that gives the authorities considerable concern is the appearance almost daily of a secretly printed newspaper [...] This journal keeps Koreans informed of the developments of the situation. The impression prevails from a recent search of the Severance Hospital and other Christian institutions by the authorities that they had hope of finding in one of these institutions the mimeograph outfit from which the bulletin is issued.
A description of a search by the Japanese of Severance Hospital can be found in the memoirs* of Mary Taylor, who had given birth there at the time. Her husband, A.W. Taylor, was to cover the funeral of former Emperor Gojong on March 3.
Doors were opened and shut. There was whispering and shouting, tramping and tiptoeing... I saw the nurse holding not the baby but a bundle of papers. These she actually slipped under my coverlet.[...] The Koreans, she[a nurse] said, "have hidden a printing press in the hospital linen cupboard. The Japanese police have raided the hospital and searched the building. They found the press, have arrested some of the Korean staff, but have not found the printed papers."Needless to say, when her husband came to see the baby and found a stack of copies of the Korean Declaration of Independence, he had his brother smuggle a copy to Tokyo and became the first foreigner to report on the uprising. More information can be found in this fascinating article.
An article on March 30, "Koreans Appeal for American Aid", has a translation of two letters delivered to the American minister in Peking. The next day, this tale of violent protest appeared:
Serious disorders have occurred at Samga, a village in Southeastern Korea, according to dispatches received here. It is said that Koreans numbering 100, 000 gathered there, cut telegraph wires, and set fire to the Town Hall. Armed with scythes, the mob is reported to have attacked the Post Office and police stations. There was severe fighting, and many casualties were inflicted in the clash between the mob and the police and a small detachment of troops.I don't know if this story is true (I do find it hard to believe that out of 20,000,000 people, none used violence against the Japanese), though it is worth pointing out that it's usually only dispatches from Tokyo which contain descriptions of violence; tales of such violence are absent in missionary accounts, but of course the missionaries were not neutral observers either. One Japanese officer offered a reason for the differences between Japanese and missionary accounts when he told the press that because missionaries only talked to Koreans, and not Japanese (as they didn’t know the language) they were hearing a “one-sided story”:
It is a notorious fact that the average Korean is a great liar. It is possible the Koreans are telling their foreign friends distorted stories, painting the Japanese in the blackest colors.Apparently the answer to this was to arrest the missionaries. An article on April 11 described the arrest of American missionary Rev. Eli Miller Mowry in Pyongyang for aiding and abetting the Korean independence propagandists.
On April 13, a Japanese government statement which did its best to paint the uprising in "the blackest colours" appeared in an article titled "Fighting Spreads All Over Korea":
The uprisings in Korea are spreading and threaten to engulf the whole peninsula, says an official statement from the Japanese government today. There have been serious riots in the last three days in hundreds of places. A number of policemen have been killed and several police stations and post offices destroyed. Telegraph wires, the statement adds, have been cut in various places, and bridges and homes of Japanese burned.Replace "Japanese" with "Korean government" and "Koreans" with "rioters in Kwangju," and tell me if you don't see some striking similarities to the disinformation published by the Korean government during the Kwangju Uprising (a more in-depth comparison will have to wait for another day). The reference to Bolshevism in Siberia leaves out the rather important fact that many Japanese troops (wikipedia says 70,000) were in Siberia at the time (along with contingents of American, British and Canadian troops) in an effort to stamp out Bolshevism and aid the white army in the civil war there.
The statement continues: "The fact that the situation has grown worse may be attributed chiefly to the activities of Koreans abroad, especially in Vladivostok, who seek to propagate Bolshevism in Korea and thence in Japan."[...]
“The mobs, taking advantage of the lenient attitude of the government, have increased their activities until they amount to lawless outrages and have increased the area of their operations over the greater part of the peninsula. The accounts of the last three days show that more than two hundred localities are now affected and large numbers of innocent persons residing therein are suffering greatly. Some have been forced to join the bandits and others are receiving immense damage to property and business.
Under these circumstances no one expects that the military forces will remain supine. If the government allows these riots to take their course the outrages will not only increase, but the movement will eventually ally itself with Bolshevism, which now controls the greater part of Sibera to which Korea is adjacent.
Impelled by this situation, the Japanese Government has now decided to send to Korea a military contingent consisting of six companies and 400 gendarmes, hoping thereby to restore order and bring back prosperity to the people as soon as possible.”
More photos and information about American participation in the Siberian campaign can be found here.
Also in the aforementioned article was the text of a cablegram that was sent from Seoul by a Korean pastor to Shanghai, and from there to the Korean National Association in San Francisco, which read:
Japan began massacring in Korea. Over thousand unarmed people killed in Seoul during three hours’ demonstration on 28th. Japanese troops, fire brigades, and civilians are ordered shooting and beating people mercilessly throughout Korea. Killed several thousand since 27th.I have a suspicion that one thousand killed in three hours is a tad high. The Japanese weren't the only ones exaggerating in an attempt to turn public support to their side.
“Churches, schools, homes of leaders destroyed, women made naked and beaten before crowds, especially leaders family, the imprisoned being severely tortured. Doctors are forbidden caring for the wounded. Foreign Red Cross urgently needed.
An article on April 14 said that in addition to Mowry's arrest, Reverend Samuel A. Moffett and Reverend Ansel W. Gillis had been detained and questioned in Pyongyang. Below this was an article about a Korean congress meeting in Philadelphia, attended by "Dr. Syngman Rhee, Secretary of State of the Korean Provisional Government in Manchuria [which had been formed on April 9 in Shanghai], and Henry Chung, one of the three Korean delegates to the Peace Conference at Paris".
The next day, an article titled "Japanese rushing troops to Korea" mentions that
some Koreans have resorted to violence, but only after the soldiers had fired on the crowds who had shouted "Mansei!" [...] Despite the number of killings and assaults the Koreans persist in voicing their desires for independence.On April 19, an article titled "Sending Troops to Korea" revealed that two divisions were being sent to Korea, and that 6000 troops had arrived in Busan. The Japanese also denied that any missionaries had been arrested. The next day, an article stated that Mowry was on trial and that missionaries had had their houses searched. Two days later, on April 22, it was reported that Reverend Mowry had been sentenced to 6 months in prison for allowing the premises to be used by independence activists, but he had appealed and was released on bail.
On April 23, an article titled "Uncensored Account of Korea's Revolt," written by Canadian missionary Rev. A.E. Armstrong, described the response of foreign missionaries to events in Korea. Armstrong had spent three months in Korea in late 1918, and visited Korea again (from Japan) on March 16 and 17, at the request missionaries there.
“[T]he missionaries desired that as a missionary Secretary about to leave for North America, I should know the facts about the movement. Press dispatches are both meager and inaccurate, a fact which should be kept in mind when reading what may come over the cables to our papers. It is unwise for any one in Korea to send any facts through the mails because of censorship. Only by travelers can the truth reach the outside world, even Japan itself.[...]He also talked to a Japanese member of parliament in Tokyo who “told me that the more the world knows about Japanese misrule in Korea, the better it will be for Japan, for thus the sooner will the nation get rid of the militarism which now dominates the empire.” The article ends with this comment:
Thirty missionaries gathered in Seoul, March 16, that I might hear the situation discussed. They agreed in designating the Japanese military and police and gendarme system in the Korean peninsula, the German Machine! Foreigners –Consuls, business men, missionaries-are unanimous in their condemnation of the system which has ruled Korea since 1910. This system was learned from the Germans. While it may have been crushed in Belgium and Europe, it still exists in Korea and Asia.
Publicity, in the opinion of the missionaries, is absolutely necessary that the world may know and demand justice for Korea. It is common knowledge that Japan is extremely sensitive to international opinion. She covets the world’s good will. She is proud of and very much wants to retain her ‘place in the sun’. She will probably act very quickly when she knows the world’s mind about Korea.On April 24 another article looked at the events in Korea, to where we should look for another battle in print. Beyond the New York Times and publications in the U.S. and Europe, another propaganda battleground was for the hearts and minds of foreigners living in Korea. This generally took place in the Seoul Press, a Japanese-run English-language newspaper.
Francis Schofield was a Canadian missionary doctor working at Severance Medical College who was very active and vocal during the Samil movement. He was the only foreigner to be told of the demonstrations in advance, he visited a number of villages burned by Japanese troops, and saw the conditions in Seodaemun Prison first hand. The story of his experiences in Korea during 1919 and 1920 can be read here. On April 13, 1919, Schofield had this letter published in the Seoul Press:
Since its occupation of Korea, Japan has been saying that materially it has done much for Korea, but I want to raise a question, Has it been solely for Koreans? The duty of the government is to make the majority of its people happy. Only then, the government can be said to be doing the right thing. The duty of a government is not just to provide the people with material comforts, education, and strength, but to make them happy and secure as well.
The Japanese government must realise that the reason as to why Korean people have risen against it with what must seem like foolish courage. The Japanese government must do deep soul searching and recognize that what the Korean people want is not material things but real freedom.
On May 11, 1919, the Seoul Press carried an article about Seodaemun Prison which painted it in the rosiest colours. Schofield underlined what he considered to be the most blatant lies.
“The prison director Mr. Gakihara is a man of cheerful personality and generous heart. He is very kind.”The next day, his response was printed in the Seoul Press under the title “Foreigners are Unjustly Suspicious of us.” Needless to say, the history of foreigners writing mocking or sarcastic letters to English language newspapers here goes back farther than one might imagine.
“The inmates are allowed every day to exercise outdoors and have a bath every five days.”
“The inmates can receive books, and Christians are permitted to receive the Bible.”
“The inmates are taught various skills. When they leave, they are skilled technicians. In other words, the prison can be called a vocational school rather than a prison.”
Dear Editor of the Seoul Press: I am very grateful to you for your article on the Sudaemoon Sanatorium (or the Sudaemoon Vocational School). A truly ignorant, mean person must have called it a prison.The Seoul Press replied, “The letter from a foreigner confirmed that foreigners are unduly suspicious of us. We cannot accomplish what we plan to do unless we have the cooperation of our foreign friends."
In any case, we foreigners were very glad to read such a cheerful and beautiful picture of the prison, because we have always thought that there were many prisoners jammed into a small room, bitten by parasites, starved and in rags.
Contrary to our misconceptions, our Korean friends are said to have technical lessons, a cheerful atmosphere, and frequent baths.What a wonderful piece of news! But, may I make a small suggestion? Why don’t you translate the article into Korean and print it? Then, the families and friends of the prisoners will be so relieved of their worries.
Forgive me for taking so much of your space. But I must tell you about a Korean man I have met. He had been beaten so severely that he will not be able to sit for a long time. His skin was torn off in many places and raw flesh could be seen. A asked him whether it was true that he was given good food and frequent chances to exercise in fresh air at the Sudaemoon Sanatorium. The man said he had been released only a short time ago. He said the had been given nothing of the things the article mentioned. If your paper would go there personally and confirm the facts, it would be a great service for humanitarian causes.
As opposed to the people the euphemism "foreign friends" referred to above, Japan did have some true foreign friends overseas, and one of them was George Trumbull Ladd, who wrote the 1908 book "In Korea with Marquis Ito". On May 11, he penned a two page article titled "Causes of the Korean Uprising: Propagandism of Secret Societies, One Partly Religious, and Attitudes of Missionaries Held Partly to Blame - Situation as it is Seen by an American Admirer of Japan."
One cause of the present, and of all previous demonstrations, is the propagandism of a certain secret society ("patriots" in their own eyes, but "dangerous conspirators" in the eyes of the Japanese Government,) who procured the assassination of Prince Ito, of our countryman Durham Stevens, and of some of their most influential countrymen, supposed to be too friendly to the Japanese.Ladd managed to quickly and deftly link the present protests to the assassinations of two of his friends. This could hardly pass without response, of course, and on May 18, a letter written by Syngman Rhee was published. Three days later, a letter written by Henry Chung, titled "Korean Independence: Not the work of Agitators, but a Popular Movement," was published. On May 25, Ladd responded to these letters, describing at one point one of the groups not mentioned by Rhee or Chung:
“The Korean Students League of America”, based at a headquarters in Ohio, “from which emanate misspelled and ungrammatical but insulting and threatening letters. I have myself received one apropos of my very mild article in the Sunday Times.”Who knew that VANK had such a distant ancestor? On June 1, the Times printed two responses to Ladd's second article, again by Syngman Rhee and Henry Chung.
On June 7 the details of the Republic of Korea's constitution were published after a copy arrived in San Francisco, while an article on June 15 looked at the causes of the uprising.
Before the battle of letters, on May 13, an article titled "Korea Asks Big Four For Full Sovereignty" had appeared:
A petition from the Korean people had been submitted to the Paris Peace Conference, asking “for recognition of Korea as an independent state and for the nullification of the treaty of August, 1910.” It also mentioned a letter Syngman Rhee wrote to the leaders of the ‘Big Four’ powers, which ended with this:I would imagine the use of "good offices", the wording used in the 1882 American-Korean Treaty of Commerce and Amity, was no accident. What's interesting is that on July 1, an article noted that a resolution was introduced in the senate asking whether 1882 agreement with Korea should be invoked due to the "conditions between Korea and Japan" at that time. On July 19, another article noted that the senate had passed a resolution requesting information from the president about the charges against missionaries in Korea.
“It is the hope of the provisional Government that your honorable body will use its good offices to persuade this offending member to desist from practicing such inhuman tactics for the purpose of retaining her ill-got territory. It is a reflection on your League of Nations, and it is certainly a blot on modern civilization.”
A lengthy article titled "Horrors in Korea Charged to Japan" on July 13 described in detail a "report of alleged Japanese atrocities in Korea made public yesterday at the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church in America. It is a result of investigations by representatives in Korea of the Presbyterian Church in the United States", including H.H. Underwood. It looks at the treatment of prisoners, torture, the treatment of missionaries, and the burning of villages. Another lengthy article on July 16 did the same.
On July 26, it was announced that the Governor General position in Korea would be open to civilians for the first time. On August 15, it was reported that Admiral Makoto Saito would become Korea's new Governor General.
A short article on August 15 mentioned a talk given by Homer Hulbert criticizing the Japanese in Korea. A longer article appeared two days later, which detailed the contents of a statement Hulbert filed with the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the 16th.
“The time has come,” says professor Hulbert in his statement to the foreign relations Committee, “when it seems necessary to lay before the American people some facts bearing upon the request of the Korean people that they be freed from the tyranny of Japan. This request made by millions of that nation in a perfectly peaceful way on March 1, 1919, and was met be a perfect orgy of abuse and persecution on the part of the military authorities there. Thousands of people were beaten, tortured, and even killed, and women were treated with obscene brutality.”An article on August 18 looked at the acceptance in Japan of reforms in Korea:
“Quite as important is the evidence that Japanese papers are beginning to discuss the disaster in Korea with freedom. The judgement is virtually unanimous that the real cause of the tragedy is the military method by which Korea has been governed since its annexation. These are condemned. Japanese in Korea, as well as the Koreans, are calling for the abolition of the military system.On August 21, it was announced that Japan was "To Rule Koreans like Japanese."
“Among the reasons advanced for reform is the adverse judgement which will be formed in the West of Japan’s capacity for just treatment of alien peoples. Korea is the test of Japan’s fitness for responsibility in China.
“Korea, and Japan proper, forming equally integral parts of the same empire, no distinction should, in principle, be made between them, and it is the ultimate purpose of the Japanese Government, in due course, to treat Korea as in all respects on the same footing with Japan proper.Ah, "in due course". The same phrase was used referring to the timing of Korea's independence in the Cairo Declaration in 1943. Let it not be said that the Japanese authorities didn't have a sense of humour:
It is stated that the disturbances which broke out last March retarded the introduction of the reforms.Another article that day covered a statement by Syngman Rhee, ‘President of the “Republic of Korea”'
[This] certainly does not mean the withdrawal of the military government and the establishment of a civil one, which Japan promised. The appointment of a civil governor is merely one of those face saving diplomatic schemes of Japan. To those unsuspecting, well meaning people of the West, it may sound like a fulfillment of Japan’s promise for a civil government in military rule.Rhee continued in an article on August 25, where he criticized the idea of home rule:
Our people do not want the United States to fight for Korea’s independence, for they will do all the fighting themselves. But we do ask the people of America to give us a sympathetic and fair hearing of our case. We do ask the same moral support which America gave to Japan when the latter was struggling against Russia. We do ask that the Government of the world’s greatest republic, the United States of America, extend official recognition to the Government of the Republic of Korea.On August 23, "Kiusic Kimm" (Kim Kyu-sik) chairman of the Korean delegation to the Paris Peace conference gave an interview to the Times.
On August 31, Syngman Rhee declared Korea's independence, proclaiming the birth of the Republic of Korea.
On September 5, an article titled, "Saito Promises Reforms in Korea" appeared, in which the AP correspondent never let his skepticism waver for a moment:
On the eve of his departure for Seoul Admiral Baron Minoru Saito, recently appointed Governor General of Korea, announced in an exclusive statement to The Associated Press some of the things he hoped to accomplish during his term of office. The old method of punishment in Korea, he said, would be abolished, the right of free speech would be granted, and a Korean autonomous government in the villages and districts would be instituted with the eventual goal of Korean representation in the Japanese Diet.More information about the bomb attack is here, while this article from September 13 describes the aftermath of the bombing:
Admiral Saito is a typical naval officer – affable, frank, and kindly. He gives the impression of liberality and broad mindedness. He speaks English readily and well.
He said he wished the American people to feel that his administration, backed by the home Government and unequivocally recognizing any mistakes in the past, would in the future be based on the principle of governing Korea in the interest of the Koreans and keeping progress with the age.
Baron Saito said he considered that he had been appointed as a civilian, and not in any way as a representative of the military. There would be no ruling by the sword or intimidation by the military. He recognized the weighty problems before him and would always entertain suggestions. He concluded: “I wanted to talk to you frankly because I like American friends to feel that I will do my best.”
Upon his arrival in Seoul on Sept. 2, a bomb was thrown under the carriage of Baron Saito. He escaped without injury, although several persons were wounded.
Since the attempt to assassinate Baron Saito at Seoul on Sept. 2, every part of that city has been occupied by Japanese troops and the place is virtually in a state of Siege. The bomb thrower is still at large, although a number of persons suspected of being implicated in the plot are under arrest.This seems like the appropriate place to stop - at the beginning of a new era of increasing openness, but one which always had the threat of violence present.
In the immediate aftermath of the uprising, several books appeared looking at Korea, Japan, the uprising, and Japan's response to it:
Korea's Fight For Freedom. F.A. Mckenzie, 1920
The Case of Korea. Henry Chung, June, 1921
The new administration in Chosen. Comp. by the government-general of Chosen. July, 1921
*reprinted in Korea Witness: 135 Years of War, Crisis, and News in the Land of the Morning Calm