Korea's Fight for Freedom Part 19

XVI

THE REIGN OF TERROR IN PYENG-YANG

Pyeng-Yang, the famous missionary centre in Northern Korea, has been described in previous chapters. The people here, Christians and non-Christians alike, took a prominent part in the movement. It was announced that three memorial services would be held on March 1st, in memory of the late Emperor, one in the compound of the Christian Boys'

School, one in the compound of the Methodist church and the third at the headquarters of the Chun-do Kyo.

The meeting at the boys' school was typical of all. Several of the native pastors and elders of the Presbyterian churches of the city, including the Moderator of the General a.s.sembly, were present, and the compound was crowded with fully three thousand people. After the memorial service was finished, a prominent Korean minister asked the people to keep their seats, as there was more to follow.

Then, with an air of great solemnity, the Moderator of the General a.s.sembly read two pa.s.sages from the Bible, 1 Peter 3:13-17 and Romans 9:3.

"And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good.

"But, if ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled.

"For I could wish that I were accurst from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

It was the great appeal to all that was most heroic in their souls. Some of them whispered the words after the Moderator.

"Sarami doorupkei hanangusul dooru wo malmyu sodong chi malgo."

"Be not afraid of their terror."

These white-robed men knew what was before them. Terror and torture and suffering were no new things to them. Within a quarter of a century conquering and defeated armies had pa.s.sed through their city time after time. They knew war, and they knew worse than war. j.a.pan had during the past few years planted her terror among them, persecuting the Church, arresting its most prominent members on false charges, breaking them in prison by scientific torture. Many of the men knew, in that a.s.sembly, of the meaning of police flogging, the feel of police burning, the unspeakable agony of being strung up by the thumbs under the police inquisition.

"Be not afraid of their terror!" Easy to say this to Western peoples, to whom terror is known only in the form of the high explosives and dropping bombs of honourable war. But for these men it had another meaning, an inquisition awaiting them compared with which the tortures of Torquemada paled.

"Be not afraid!"

There was no tremor of fear in the voice of the college graduate who rose to his feet and came to the front. "This is the proudest and happiest day of my life," he said. "Though I die to-morrow, I cannot help but read." He had a paper in his hand. As the vast audience saw it, they gave a great cheer. Then he read the Declaration of Independence of the Korean people.

When he had finished, another man took the platform. "Nothing of an unlawful nature is to be permitted," he said. "You are all to obey orders, and make no resistance to the authorities, nor to attack the j.a.panese officials or people." A speech on Korean independence followed. Then some men came out of the building bearing armfuls of Korean flags, which they distributed among the people. A large Korean flag was raised on the wall behind, and the crowd rose to its feet cheering, waving flags, calling "Mansei."

There was to be a parade through the streets. But spies had already hurried off to the police station, and before the people could leave, a company of policemen arrived. "Remain quiet," the word went round. The police gathered up the flags.

In the evening a large crowd gathered in front of the police station shouting "Mansei." The police ordered the hose to be turned on them. The Korean policemen refused to obey their j.a.panese superiors, threw off their uniforms and joined the mob. The hose at last got to work. The mob responded by throwing stones, breaking the windows of the police station.

This was the only violence. On the following day, Sunday, the churches were closed. At midnight, the police had summoned Dr. Moffett to their office and told him that no services could be allowed. Early in the morning, the leaders of the Sat.u.r.day meetings were arrested, and were now in jail. "Be not afraid!"

At nine o'clock on Monday morning a company of j.a.panese soldiers was drilling on the campus. A number of students from the college and academy were on the top of a bank, looking on at the drill. Suddenly the soldiers, in obedience to a word of command, rushed at the students. The latter took to their heels and fled, save two or three who stood their ground. The students who had escaped cheered; and one of the men who stood his ground called "Mansei." The soldiers struck him with the b.u.t.ts and barrels of their rifles. Then one poked him with his rifle in his face. He was bleeding badly. Two soldiers led him off, a prisoner. The rest were dispersed with kicks and blows.

Now the j.a.panese started their innings. One man in plain clothes confronted a Korean who was walking quietly, slapped his face and knocked him down. A soldier joined in the sport, and after many blows with the rifle and kicks, they rolled him down an embankment into a ditch. They then ran down, pulled him out of the ditch, kicked him some more, and hauled him off to prison.

The streets were full of people now, and parties of troops were going about everywhere dispersing them. The crowds formed, shouting "Mansei"; the soldiers chased them, beating up all they could catch. There were rumours that most of the Korean policemen had deserted; they had joined the crowds; the j.a.panese were searching for them and arresting them; and, men whispered, they would be executed. By midday, every one had enough trouble, and the city quieted down for the rest of the day. It was not safe to go abroad now. The soldiers were beating up every one they could find, particularly women.

By Tuesday the city was full of tales of the doings of the soldiers; having tasted blood, the troops were warming to their work, "The soldiers have been chasing people to-day like they were hunters after wild beasts," wrote one foreign spectator. "Outrages have been very numerous." Still, despite the troops, the people held two or three patriotic meetings.

Let me tell the tale of Tuesday and Wednesday from two statements made by Dr. Moffett. These statements were made at the time to the officials in Pyeng-yang and in Seoul:

"On Tuesday, March 4th, I, in company with Mr. Yamada, Inspector of Schools, went into the midst of the crowds of Koreans on the college grounds, and thence went through the streets to the city.

"We saw thousands of Koreans on the streets, the shops all closed, and j.a.panese soldiers here and there....

"As we came back and near a police station, soldiers made a dash at some fifteen or more people in the middle of the street, and three of the soldiers dashed at some five or six men standing quietly at the side, under the eaves of the shops, hitting them with their guns. One tall young man in a very clean white coat dodged the thrust of the gun coming about five feet under the eaves when an officer thrust his sword into his back, just under the shoulder blades. The man was not more than ten feet from us in front....

"Mr. Yamada was most indignant and said, 'I shall tell Governor Kudo just what I have seen and tell him in detail.'

"I asked him if he had noticed that the man was quietly standing at the side of the road, and had given no occasion for attack. He said, 'Yes.'

"Just after that we saw thirty-four young girls and women marched along by some six or eight policemen and soldiers, the girls ahead not being more than twelve or thirteen years of age.

"Just outside the West Gate Mr. Yamada and I separated and I went towards home. As I arrived near my own compound, I saw a number of soldiers rush into the gate of the Theological Seminary professor's cottage, and saw them grab out a man, beat and kick him and lead him off. Others began clubbing a youth behind the gate and then led him out, tied him tightly and beat and kicked him.

"Then there came out three others, two youths and one man, dragged by soldiers, and then tied with rope, their hands tied behind them.

"Thinking one was my secretary, who lived in the gate house, where the men had been beaten, I moved to the junction of the road to make sure, but I recognized none of the four. When they came to the junction of the road and some of the soldiers were within ten or twelve feet of me, they all stopped, tied the ropes tighter, and then with four men tied and helpless, these twenty or more soldiers, in charge of an officer, struck the men with their fists in the face and back, hit them on the head and face with a piece of board, kicked them on the legs and back, doing these things repeatedly. The officer in a rage raised his sword over his head as he stood before a boy, and both I and the boy thought that he was to be cleft in two. The cry of terror and anguish he raised was most piercing. Then, kicking and beating these men, they led them off.

"The above I saw myself and testify to the truthfulness of my statements.

In all my contact with the Koreans these five days, and in all my observation of the crowds inside and outside the city, I have witnessed no act of violence on the part of any Korean."

The Theological Seminary was due to open on March 5th. Five students from South Korea arrived and went into their dormitory on the afternoon of the 4th. They had taken no part in the demonstrations. Later in the afternoon the soldiers, searching after some people who had run away from them, burst into the seminary. They broke open the door of the dormitory, pulled the five theologues out and hauled them off to the police station. There, despite their protests, they were tied by their arms and legs to large wooden crosses, face downwards, and beaten on the naked b.u.t.tocks, twenty-nine tremendous blows from a hard cane, each. Then they were dismissed.

That same night firemen were let loose on the village where many of the students lived and boarded. They dragged out the young men and beat them.

The opening of the seminary had to be postponed.

The j.a.panese were eager to find grounds for convicting the missionaries of partic.i.p.ation in the movement. One question was pressed on every prisoner, usually by beating and burning, "Who instigated you? Was it the foreigners?"

Dr. Moffett was a special object of j.a.panese hatred. The Osaka _Asahi_ printed a bitter attack on him on March 17th. This is the more notable because the _Asahi_ is a noted organ of j.a.panese Liberalism.

THE EVIL VILLAGE OUTSIDE THE WEST GATE IN PYENG-YANG

_A Clever Crowd_

"Outside the West Gate in Pyeng-yang there are some brick houses and some built after the Korean style, some high and some low.

These are the homes of the foreigners. There are about a hundred of them in all, and they are Christian missionaries. In the balmy spring, strains of music can be heard from there. Outwardly they manifest love and mercy, but if their minds are fully investigated, they will be found to be filled with intrigue and greed. They pretend to be here for preaching, but they are secretly stirring up political disturbances, and foolishly keep pa.s.sing on the vain talk of the Koreans, and thereby help to foster trouble. These are really the homes of devils.

"The head of the crowd is Moffett. The Christians of the place obey him as they would Jesus Himself. In the 29th year of Meiji freedom was given to any one to believe in any religion he wished, and at that time Moffett came to teach the Christian religion. He has been in Pyeng-yang for thirty years, and has brought up a great deal of land. He is really the founder of the foreign community. In this community, because of his efforts there have been established schools from the primary grade to a college and a hospital. While they are educating the Korean children and healing their diseases on the one hand, on the other there is concealed a clever shadow, and even the Koreans themselves talk of this.

"This is the centre of the present uprising. It is not in Seoul but in Pyeng-yang.

"It is impossible to know whether these statements are true or false, but we feel certain that it is in Pyeng-yang, in the Church schools,--in a certain college and a certain girls'

school--in the compound of these foreigners. Really this foreign community is very vile."[1]

[Footnote 1: Osaka _Asahi_, quoted in the Peking and Tientsin _Times_, March 38,1919.]

A veritable reign of terror was inst.i.tuted. There were wholesale arrests and the treatment of many of the people in prison was in keeping with the methods employed by the j.a.panese on the Conspiracy Trial victims. The case of a little shoe boy aroused special indignation. The j.a.panese thought that he knew something about the organization of the demonstration--why they thought so, only those who can fathom the j.a.panese mind would venture to say--so they beat and burned him almost to death to make him confess. A lady missionary examined his body afterwards. There were four scars, five inches long, where the flesh had been seared with a red-hot iron. His hands had swollen to twice their normal size from beating, and the dead skin lay on the welts. He had been kicked and beaten until he fainted. Then they threw water over him and gave him water to drink until he recovered when he was again piled with questions and beaten with a bamboo rod until he collapsed.

Some of those released from prison after they had satisfied the j.a.panese of their innocence had dreadful tales to tell. Sixty people were confined in a room fourteen by eight feet, where they had to stand up all the time, not being allowed to sit or lie down. Eating and sleeping they stood leaning against one another. The wants of nature had to be attended to by them as they stood. The secretary of one of the mission schools was kept for seven days in this room, as part of sixteen days' confinement, before he was released.