Korean ▶ [global news CheonJi] ‘세계평화 선각자’ 안중근, 미완성 동양평화론 통해 경각심 일깨워
1909 July 6, about 4 months had passed since Japan decided to annex Joseon dynasty in the cabinet meeting. Octover 26, in front of the Harbin station in China, Ito Hirobumi fell on the spot hit by a bullet from the gun of An Joong-geun, the Korean civil army's chief of staff. This was a significant event that shook the entire East Asia. An Joong-Geun, who we know as a hero that killed Ito Hirobumi, the enemy of the Korean nation. However, An Joong-Geun shooting Ito was a part of the practice based on Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron which came from his self-consciousness. At the time, Harbin station was the center of the mideast railways, and the shooting incident of Ito drew a big attention from the world society.
After An Joong-Geun's Harbin attack against Japanese imperialism, Japanese military government swiftly followed suit with its unilateral trial of An Joong-Geun while proclaiming they abide by the international law. October 30, a few days after the incident, An Joong-Geun enumerated 15 clauses of reason why he shot Ito during the first prosecutor's interrogation. In his note he revealed in the 12th clause that “Ito disturbed the Oriental peace. Ever since the Russo-Japanese wars, he proclaimed that he would protect Korea's independence but he drove out the emperor of Korea. Those were the opposite result from the initial declaration, so the 20 million people of Korea were infuriated.”
Japan moved An Joong-Geun to the Lushun Prison in China on November 3 but continued with the interrogation. On February 7, 1910, they started the public trial and after four revisions, An was given a death sentence on the 14th. Shicano Dakumiru, a Japanese scholar pointed out in 1994 through his “Theory of An Joong-Geun's Innocence,” that “such judgement is completely unfair and unlawful, and he should have been acquitted.”
Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron is an unfinished book regarding the fulfillment of Oriental peace that An Joong-Geun wrote in jail in March of 1910 waiting for the death penalty. It is told that a Japanese prison guard lowered his head when An Joong-Guen wrote Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron (The Theory of Oriental Peace) in a composed and dignified manner. Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron was an admonition towards Japanese Imperialism, which changed the world into an aggressive war zone, along with the Nazism in Germany and Fascism in Italy.
At the time of 1910 (the year of Kyeongsul), when Japan was firing up the ambition of aggression by gaining Joseon as a foothold, he criticized the invasion policy explicitly shown by Japan, insisted on amending and tried to alert Japanese administrators of the ambition. These contents are included in An Eung-chil Yeoksa, "The History of An Eung-chil," and Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron which were written in An's prison cell.
Although the autobiography An Eung-chil Yuksa was completed, for Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron, which is a collection of articles, only the 'Preface' and 'Jeon-gam 1 “ were written. The rest of the book is unfinished with only chapter headings given; "Hyeon-sang 2,” “Bok-seon 3,” “Mun-dap.” At the time, An Joong-Geon asked for the postponement of the execution for about a month to complete the book, and the permission was granted. However, the promise was not kept. The sole purpose of An Joong-Geun was to protect the independence of Korea and the peace of the East. He was looking ahead to world peace, which would start from the peace in the East.
What was it that An Joong-Geun wanted to leave to Aisa and moreover the world through Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron? In ambiguous the Declaration of Independence and the First Constitution of Korea which was established on March 1st, on 1919 (Kiminyun) based on his book should be seen as closely related.
The Preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea resolutes as follows: “We, the people of Korea, proud of a resplendent history and traditions dating from time immemorial, upholding the cause of the Provisional Republic of Korea Government born of the March First Independence Movement of 1919 and the democratic ideals of the April Nineteenth Uprising of 1960 against injustice, having assumed the mission of democratic reform and peaceful unification of our homeland and having determined to consolidate national unity with justice, humanitarianism and brotherly love, and to destroy all social voices and injustice, and to afford equal opportunities to every person and provide for the fullest development of individual capabilities in all fields, including political, economic, social and cultural life by further strengthening the basic free and democratic order conducive to private initiative and public harmony [...] To elevate the quality of life for all citizens and contribute to lasting world peace and the common prosperity of mankind, and thereby to ensure security, liberty and happiness for ourselves and our posterity forever.”
Lee Tae-Jin, an emeritus professor at Seoul National University (former Chair of the National History Compilation Committee) in the “2010 International Conference Commemorating Centenary of the Patriotic Deed of Martyr An Joong-Geun” stated that “The idea of An Joong-Geun expressed in Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron has achieved the future-oriented result domestically. The coexisting relationship that assures independent survival as the base of the world peace which he mentions in the book is also expressed in the 1919 Declaration of Independence as “Gonjon-Dongsang Gwon (the right of coexisence and living together)” which ensures the Oriental peace, world peace and the happiness of humanity. An Joong-Geun's Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron written in jail was a pioneering achievement that proposed the world which other scholars were feeling keenly of its necessity after the forced annexation.”
The Korean peninsula is still left as the only divided country in the world. The Middle East and landlocked states are also suffering from civil wars. The world today is urgently crying out for peace. The Dongyang-Pyeonghwaron which the pioneer An Joong-Geun had left incomplete emphasizes the cooperation between the Asian and world community. It sees that what leads the Oriental peace advancing world peace is the realization of the alliance body of states that assures the independence of nations and an equal relationship between parties.
By Park Sun-Hye
muse@newscj.com