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<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Arial>Dear Jim Thomas,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Arial>Your summary is succint and to the point. The
only correction I might add again concerns the "Shanghai Provincial
Government". It should be "Shanghai <STRONG>Provisional</STRONG>
Government".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Arial>Thank you so much for taking the time to clarify
the posting initially put on by K.O. Yoo.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3 face=Arial>Kay Richards</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jimpthomas@hotmail.com href="mailto:jimpthomas@hotmail.com">Jim
Thomas</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws
href="mailto:koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">Korean Studies Discussion List</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, September 06, 2010 9:25
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [KS] Official end of WWII in
Asia</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Dear Listserve members,<BR> <BR>If I may, and so that we
do not digress further, the point of Mr. Kwang-On Yoon's original posting, was
that <BR>A) "the narrator of the film footage of the
<SPAN>Japanese</SPAN> <SPAN>surrender mentions that
the <SPAN>Japanese</SPAN> Foreign Minister, Sigemitsu Mamoru (<FONT
size=3><FONT face="MS Gothic"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><FONT size=3>ñìÎÃÐ)
</FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT>was wounded by a Korean patriot and walks on an
artificial leg," </SPAN><BR><SPAN>B) I"n 1932, upon learning that the
<SPAN>Japanese</SPAN> were going to have a ceremony in a Shanghai park to
commemorate their recent victory over China in a Shanghai skirmish and to
celebrate their Emperor's birthday, Mr. Kim Ku (±è ±¸), the then President of
the Korean Provincial Government (the government in exile) and Yoon Bong-Gil
(À± ºÀ±æ) concocted a plan to eliminate <SPAN>Japanese</SPAN> leadership in
China," </SPAN><BR><SPAN>C) "with money sent by Koreans in the U.S., Mr. Kim
Ku ordered two bombs made by the Nationalist Chinese Ordinance Depot
in Shanghai," </SPAN><BR><SPAN>D) "On April 29th, 1932, during the ceremony in
the Shanghai park, Yoon detonated one bomb on the troop review
stage, killing General Sirokawa Yosinori (<FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt" lang=EN-US>ÛÜô¹ëùöÎ), who was </SPAN>the overall
commander of <SPAN>Japanese</SPAN> forces in China. The bomb also wounded
several other military commanders as well as Sigemitsu Mamoru, who
was the then <SPAN>Japanese</SPAN> Ambassador to China at the
time," </FONT></SPAN>and <BR>E) "the City of Shanghai sets aside one day to
remember him [Yoon].<BR> <BR>All of these pieces are important, but the
last is what interests me most. This is because, over the
years, numerous Chinese colleagues have remarked positively on the
bravery of Korean risistance fighters and their willingness to die for the
cause (of independence, liberation, freedom, etc.), which make them and other
Chinese envious of the Korean resistance movement and the nationalist cause.
So even if Korea did not "win its independence" on its own, it did mount a
resistance and does have a pantheon of heroes who did resist and have now been
canonised in the ROK and the DPRK--in a way that perhaps early resistance
(ie 1931-1945) Chinese figures have not been canonized. It seems that
this sets Korea and China apart--at least among Koreans and Chinese. Likewise,
the U.S. has its Revolutionary War heroes who "waged war for
independence" (often in clandestined missions), while Canada does not.
Martyred heroes are central to modern nationalism (just consider the Tillman
Story). <BR> <BR>But however we might judge the moral justifications
of those who resisted (be they suicide bombers or non-violent
peaceniks), it seems that we can acknowledge certain
historical facts and make certain assessments about them,
independently from our (i.e. current) judgements about the "violent"
tactics used or the scruples of the principals involved.<BR>jim<BR><BR>
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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><BR></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>General Chiang Kai-sheck, the then Nationalist Chinese Premier
stated, "A young Korean patriot has accomplished something tens of
thousand of Chinese soldiers could not do." Ever since, finally, he
and his government extended their full support to the Korean Provincial
Government.<BR><BR> Mr. Yoon was later executed in Japan at the
age of 24, <FONT
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