[KS] Violent acts against Japanese colonial rule

[BakerDon]

Allow me to suggest that there is often confusion in evaluating the actions of particular anti-Japanese activists. First of all, there is often confusion between the intention and the means used to achieve what is intended. The implicit logic goes like that:  It is good for Koreans to resist Japanese colonial rule. Therefore it is acceptable to use violence in such resistance.  Conversely, to suggest that perhaps the means used to resist Japanese colonial rule in a particular situation might not have been the most appropriate means is often taken as a rejection of anti-Japanese activism in general.  To say that perhaps Yoon Pong-Gil should have found a different way to express his desire for freedom from Japanese rule  is misinterpreted as saying that Koreans should not have resisted Japanese rule at all.
Secondly, there is often confusion between intention and consequences.  For example, it is often claimed that An Chung-gun's assassination of Ito Hirobumi undermined Japanese rule over Korea and hastened Japan's departure from the peninsula.  We are also sometimes told that Yoon Pong-gil's act was a major blow to the Japanese colonial project.  That was the intention of both An and Yoon but there is no historical evidence to support an argument  that either man caused the Japanese to rethink their plans to incorporate Korea into their empire.  
To say the "desperate times  require desperate heroism" is a mistake of the first type, and to say that Japan was in any way seriously weakened by Yoon's act is a mistake of the second type. 

Don Baker ProfessorDepartment of Asian Studies University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Z2 don.baker at ubc.ca



Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2010 11:30:45 -0500
From: lovehankook at gmail.com
To: ruediger.frank at univie.ac.at; koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
Subject: Re: [KS] Official end of WWII in Asia

Dear Mr. Frank,

I understand your distaste but desperate time bears desperate heroism.

Kwang-On Yoo

On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 7:32 AM, Ruediger Frank <ruediger.frank at univie.ac.at> wrote:





Dear all,

am I the only one who has second thoughts regarding this thread? 

Let me put it this way: In today's world, would Mr. Yoon's deeds be regarded as an act of heroism? Or as an example of another -ism? Not that such a discussion would lead us very far on this list, but I find it interesting to observe how blowing up a person (or ripping off one of his legs) with a bomb can be interpreted in very different ways depending on... on what? On context? On culture? On vantage point? 


Best wishes,

Rudiger Frank




 		 	   		  
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