hankyoreh

Nov. 8.

The “Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures” with entries that include the pro-Japanese activities of 20 individuals that have been long-recognized for their contributions to the independence movement, including Dong-A Ilbo founder and former Vice President Kim Seong-su, first Interior Minister Yun Chi-yeong and former Chief Editor of the Hwang Seong Newspaper Jang Ji-yeon was published Sunday. The encyclopedia, which records the pro-Japanese activities of some 4,389 individuals during the colonial era, finally bore fruit after work began eight years ago in Dec. 2001.

Yim Hun-yeong, director of the Institute for Research in Collaboration Activities (IRCA), announced the publication at a press conference held at the grave site of former independence activist Kim Gu, 60 years after the conclusion of the Special Investigative Committee on Anti-national Activities. Yim said the goal of the project was to accurately record shameful acts of collaboration and through bravely facing them, create a path to the future.

The encyclopedia, which is composed of three volumes and 2,800 pages, is a “people’s” history and the first publication in the joint-research series on pro-Japanese collaboration by the IRCA and the Compilation Committee for the Encyclopedia of Pro-Japanese Figures. The encyclopedia lists those who caused harm through actively collaborating with Japan’s move to strip Korea of its national sovereignty, Japan’s colonial rule and its aggressive wars during the time period marked by the Protectorate Treaty of 1905 to liberation from Japanese colonial rule on Aug. 15, 1945.

The encyclopedia shows that Jang Ji-yeon, who had written an editorial in the Hwang Seong Newspaper in 1905 lamenting the Protectorate Treaty, later wrote in the Maeil Sinbo Newspaper that Koreans became colonized because they lacked a sense of unity and that their lives had greatly improved in the five years since Japan annexed Korea. Kim Seong-su, meanwhile, wrote in the Maeil Sinbo that fighting in the Pacific War was a duty and that students should volunteer to fight, even if they might become a casualty of the war.

The IRCA said it expects little controversy since it presented primary source material objectively, and that the Ministry of Patriots and Veteran Affairs have lacked documents when they designated some controversy person as patriot.

A number of figures whose inclusion has been a source of controversy are also included in the encyclopedia, including late President Park Chung-hee, former Prime Minister Chang Myon, Korea University’s first President Hyun Sang-yoon and musician Ahn Eak-tai. Three figures whose pro-Japanese activities could not be confirmed, however, including former Prime Minister Shin Hyun-hwak, were excluded.

Director Yim said the encyclopedia was made possible by citizen contributions that totaled over 700 million Won and was a rare example of accomplishing a historical task due to the strength of the people. He added the publication should sound an alarm against a regressive historical understanding and become an opportunity in how to coolly deal with the issue of pro-Japanese collaboration in the academic field.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]