State honors stripped from collaborationists

Posted on : 2011-04-06 14:14 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
The group of 19 formerly identified as Independence Patriots

By Kim Jong-cheol, Senior Staff Writer 

  

“Oh, the bitterness! Oh, the anger! Our twenty million countrymen, enslaved countrymen! Did you survive, or have you died? Will the citizen’s spirit of the four thousand years since Dangun and Gija die suddenly overnight? The bitterness, the bitterness. Countrymen, countrymen!”

This is an excerpt from the editorial “Bewail This Day at Full Voice,” printed in the Hwangseong Sinmun edition of November 20, 1905, by the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Chang Chi-yon (1864-1921), known by the pen name of “Wiam.” He wrote it in indignation after h

 earing news of the Eulsa Treaty, which Emperor Gojong and his ministers were forced into signing through intimidation by Hirobumi Ito, and which would effectively turn Joseon into a Japanese colony, stripping away the diplomatic rights of the Korean Empire.

This editorial, which deeply moved the Joseon public at the time, was subsequently printed in textbooks, and Chang was revered as a leading anti-Japanese journalist, posthumously receiving a National Medal, Order of Merit for National Foundation, in 1962.

Chang’s honor was revoked by the government Tuesday at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik.

This was a follow-up measure taken after a late 2010 request by the Ministry of Patriots’ and Veterans’ Affairs for the rescinding of decorations for nineteen people, including Chang, who had turned up collaborationist activities. In addition to Chang and Yoon Chi-young, the first Interior Minister after the founding of the Republic of Korea government, the individuals who lost their decorations Tuesday were Kim Eung-sun, Gang Yeong-seok, Kim U-hyeon, Kim Hong-ryang, Nam Cheon-u, Park Seong-haeng, Park Yeong-hui, Yu Jae-gi, Yun Ik-seon, Lee Dong-rak, Lee Jong-uk, Lee Hang-bal, Im Yong-gil, Cha Sang-myeong, Choe Jun-mo, Choe Ji-hwa, and Heo Yeong-ho.

Chang’s collaborationist activities came to light in the mid-1980s through research by Pusan National University Professor Kang Myung-kwan and historian Lee Yi-hwa, among others. Beginning around 1916, Chang wrote a number of pieces for the Maeil Sinbo, the organ of the Governor-General of Korea. For its edition of Dec. 10, 1916, he printed a Chinese poem entitled “Welcome, Governor-General Hasegawa” for Yoshimichi Hasegawa, who was taking office as Governer-General of Korea.

Chang has frequently been the subject of controversy since his belated fingering as a collaborator, and the government dragged out its decision on whether to revoke his honors for four months.

At the Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Prime Minister Kim said, “Given that his services for the independence movement are acknowledged separately from his collaboration with Japan, it is necessary to consider that aspect apart, but in the general view it is right that his honors be rescinded.”

In a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on Tuesday, Lee Yi-hwa said, “Some claim that Chang Chi-yon fell on hard times in his later years and had no choice but to collaborate, but figures like Chung In-bo refused to bow to the Japanese empire’s suasions to the bitter end, even though it meant moving to the country.”

Lee also said that the decision to revoke Chang’s decoration “should be regarded as a historical lesson that sets right an intellectual’s actions.”

    

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

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