Joong-Gun
Joong-Gun is named after the patriot Ahn Joong-Gun who assassinated Hiro-Bumi Ito, the first Japanese governor-general of Korea, known as the man who played the leading part in the Korea- Japan merger. There are 32 movements in this pattern to represent Mr. Ahn’s age when he was executed at Lui-Shung prison (1910).
The Life of Joong-Gun
Ahn Joong-Gun was born on 1879 in the town of Hae-Ju in Hwang-Hae Province. He became a teacher and founded a school called Sam-Heung (three success). But with the Japanese occupation of Korea this means, just like all schools, it would be under scrutiny.
Korea got involved with the conflict as a result of trouble from China in 1900. The colonial powers moved into the Orient, England formed an alliance with Japan after Russia moves into Manchuria. After which a Russo-French Alliance moves into northern Korea. Japan demands the removal of Russian troops from Korea but when Russia rejected this Japan launches a naval attack and subsequently invades Korea.
Hiro-Bumi Ito was named the first Japanese Governor General of Korea in 1905 and pressured the Korean government to sign the Protectorate Treaty on November 19, 1905 which gave Japan legal rights to occupy Korea. The new Japanese puppet government passed laws that allowed Korean land to be sold to Japanese even as land was just taken.
This enraged the people of Korea and a number of guerrilla groups were formed to attack the Japanese forces but were crushed by the larger Japanese army. Many local Korean officials committed suicide and Korean signatories to the Protectorate Treaty were assassinated.
Because of this, Ahn Joong-gun went into exile and formed a small guerrilla movement of 300 men to carry out raids across the border. In June 1907 Emperor Ko_Jong sent an emissary to the Hague Peace Conference to expose the Japanese aggression but Hiro-Bumi Ito found out and forced Ko-Jong to abdicate the throne.
This led to rioting involving Korean army units. The Japanese army disbanded the Korean army and police force and defeated any of their retaliation.
Ahn Joong-Gun led his guerrillas on a successful raid in June 1909, but the Japanese arrived at an agreement with the Chinese giving them access to the Southern Manchurian Railway. This allowed the exploitation of mineral resources in Manchuria. In exchange the Japanese give China territorial rights to Kando. This led to the assassination plan of Hiro-Bumi Ito.
Ito had planned to meet a Russian official in Manchuria and when his train arrived at Harbin train station, Ahn Joong-Gun was waiting. Even though he knew that he would be tortured if he was captured by the Japanese, Ahn shot Ito as he stepped off the train.
Ahn Joong-Gun was indeed captured and imprisoned in Port Arthur and suffered 5 months of barbaric torture. At 10am on March 26, 1910, Joong-Gun was executed at Lui-Shung prison at the age of 32.
His sacrifice of life for his country symbolized the loyalty and dedication that Korean people felt towards their independence. In the calligraphy he wrote in his cell in prison prior to his execution it said “The best rivers and mountains” which can be interpreted to mean that he felt his country was the most beautiful on earth. He was an educator, a guerrilla leader and most of all one of Korea’s great patriots.