Ahn Jung-geun

Who is Ahn Jung-geun?

Ahn Jung-geun was a Korean independence activist and nationalist who became a symbol of resistance against Japanese imperial expansion. Born in Hwanghae Province, he was a Catholic convert and educator who established schools before turning to armed resistance as Japan tightened its grip on Korea. On 26 October 1909, at the railway station in Harbin, Manchuria, he assassinated Ito Hirobumi, the former Japanese Resident-General of Korea and a leading architect of Japanese colonial policy. Arrested immediately, Ahn used his trial to articulate his reasons, presenting a list of Ito's crimes against Korea and East Asian peace. While imprisoned at Lushun (Port Arthur), he began writing an unfinished treatise on East Asian peace, the Dongyang Pyeonghwaron, arguing for cooperation among Korea, China, and Japan as equals. He was executed on 26 March 1910. He is honored across Korea as a patriot and martyr.

Sources: Ahn Jung-geun, Dongyang Pyeonghwaron (동양평화론, A Treatise on Peace in East Asia), 1910 (unfinished) · Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Museum, Seoul · Records of the Lushun trial proceedings, 1910