뉴스레터

There are many historic incidents worth remembering and commemorating from various perspectives in the year 2020. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the April 19 Revolution, the 49th anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju pro-democracy movement, the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, and the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean Liberation Army. The year 2020 is especially meaningful for the centennial of the Battles of Fengwudong and Qianshanli that took place in June and October of 1920, respectively. In connection with this, we would like to piece together the implications suggested today with an overview of the history of the Korean people's armed struggle against Japan during the colonial period and by delving into the truth of the Fengwudong and Qingshanli Battles and its meaning.

Main flows of the Korean people's armed struggle against Japan in the first half of the 20th century

Japan's invasion of Joseon began in earnest around 1894-95. In particular, Japan's coercion of the Korea-Japan Treaty in November 1905 and deprivation of the Korean Empire's diplomatic rights was the first step toward colonization. Civilians rose voluntarily in revolt across the nation to form the righteous army, and it is widely known that the righteous army fought fiercely until August of 1910.

After the fall of the Korean Empire, patriots expressed diverse opinions and claims over the methodology of the independence movement. Among the most salient arguments were the theory of an independence war, the theory of diplomatic independence, and the theory of nurturing competence. There was no doubt that the most effective independence movement policy was that of an “independence war”. The Provisional Government, which was established in Shanghai, China, in 1919 amid the emergence of the “theory of the US-Japan war” following the end of the First World War, tried to expand its influence by embracing armed independence groups active in China's northeastern region while advocating the theory of an “independence war” strongly from early the following year. At this time, such independence groups as the Headquarters of the Western Route Army, the Headquarters of the Northern Route Army, and the Korean Independence Army came forward for the “independence war”, volunteering to act as the main force of the Provisional Government.

The independence movement refers to a modern collective national resistance campaign striving and struggling to establish a sovereign state and realize a self-sustaining economy and to overturn the imperialistic and suzerain rule and invasion by the weaker people who fell under the colonial situation. The independence army can be defined as the “Korean people's armed independence movement units that conducted strong anti-Japan independence warfare with the aim of achieving the independence and liberation of the Korean people until the late 1930s after formation in the 1910s in such areas as China's northeastern region (Manchuria) and Russia's Primorsky Kray where numbers of Korean immigrants had reached nearly one million since the 1860s”.

Koreans who migrated to China's northeastern region from the late 19th century lived persistent lives against difficult conditions, but engaged fiercely in the independence movement while enduring sacrifice and pain for their homeland and compatriots. The Shinheung Military Academy and the cadet training academy of the Headquarters of the Northern Route Army are widely known for nurturing talented people; also highly famous are such groups as the Headquarters of the Western Route Army and Korean Tonguibu, National Gando Council, and Korean Independence Army, the Departments of Justice, Staff and New Democracy, the National Department and Korean Revolutionary Party, and the Korean Revolutionary Army in the first half of the 1930s, and the Korean People Autonomous Association and Korean Independence Party and Korean Independence Army that oversaw national autonomy and independence movement. The Battles of Fengwudong and Qingshanli in 1920 are known as the independence army's first triumphs over Japan's regular army. The independence army, complete with a new organization of party, government, and military into the 1930s, began to fight in various forms.

In the early 20th century, more than two thirds of the countries around the world were under colonial rule or in a semi-colonial state, having been invaded by imperialist states, but no countries resisted more fiercely in various ways around the world than the Korean people. Koreans contributed directly and indirectly to “capturing” independence through the fierce independence movement, but much to our regret, this fact and its meaning have not been properly assessed.

Commander Kim Jwa-jin, another protagonist of the Battle of Qingshanli,

and news stories about him (Dong-A Ilbo, January 1930)

Summary and meaning of the Fengwudong and Qingshanli Battles

The Battles of Fengwudong and Qingshanli are assessed to be the proudest “independence warfare” in the independence movement's history. The Battle of Qingshanli, in particular, is the largest and fiercest battle ever in the independence movement history of the Korean people. The Battle of Fengwudong was a battle in which the allied forces of the “Korean Northern Route Army”, led by Generals Hong Beom-do and Choi Jin-dong, forced a battalion of the Japanese army's 19th Division into the valley in Fengwudong, Helong of China's Jilin Province on June 7, 1920, and defeated them. It was the first major triumph over Japan's regular army in the independence movement history of the Korean people; ethnic Koreans in Yanbian at the time regarded it highly as the “first round of the independence movement”. The victory in the Battle of Fengwudong helped to boost the morale of the entire independence movement circles, and raised the hopes and expectations for independence that had begun to wane since the March First Independence Movement.

After their defeat in the Battle of Fengwudong, the Japanese military renewed its evaluation of the independence army's capability and power, and pushed for massive suppression measures. Japanese authorities mobilized Chinese bandits and provoked the “Hunchun Incident” by letting them invade and set fire to Japan's consulate in Hunchun on October 2, 1920, and declared the dispatch of troops to Gando on October 14. To suppress the independence army, they specially formed an anti-independence army unit comprised of 2,500 soldiers from the five divisions, including part of the 19th and 20th stationed in Korea and part of the 11th, 13th, and 14th stationed in Russia's northeastern region of Primorsky Kray.

Having obtained tips that the Japanese military had begun to invade China's Yanbian region (North Gando), the independence army rearranged the allied forces led by Hong Beom-do and agreed to conduct combined operations. That summer, the independence army, which had moved first to Qingshanli northeast of Baekdusan Mountain, numbered 1,400 members in seven units; the 600-strong unit of the Headquarters of the Northern Route Army (officially titled the Korean Military Headquarters) led by General Kim Jwa-jin moved to Qingshanli in September to brace for the decisive battle. The “independence war” in and around Qingshanli involved the series of battles in which Kim Jwa-jin's Headquarters of the Northern Route Army and 2,000 combined forces led by Hong Beom-do, An Mu, and Heo Geun achieved 10 or so large and small victories over the Japanese Azuma detachment in Qingshanli, Helong of the Yanbian region for six days from October 21, 1920. It was the greatest feat ever in the history of the independence war.

Over the course of the Battle of Qingshanli, the Wanguru and Godongha battles were conducted by the combined forces unit led by Hong Beom-do, and the Baekunpyeong, Cheonsupyeong, Maenggaegol, and Mangigu battles were conducted by Kim Jwa-jin's Headquarters of the Northern Route Army alone. The Eorangchon and Cheonbosan battles were waged by both independence units.

Fengwu Reservoir at the scene of the Battle of Fengwudong – Park Do, 2004

Until the mid-1980s, the Battle of Qingshanli was known to have been conducted by the Kim Jwa-jin unit, but it was verified that the combined forces unit led by Hong Beom-do played a major part after examination of the war situation of the time along with data from the Japanese side. Kim Jwa-jin's Headquarters of the Northern Route Army, headed largely by forces of Daejonggyo, were closely related to the Provisional Government in Shanghai, China, whereas the Hong Beom-do unit was remote from the Provisional Government because it was supported by the Christian forces in Yanbian and the Korean National Congress in Russian Primorsky Kray. However, while the two units competed against each other, they were nonetheless complementary during combat.

There are several theories concerning wartime gains, but analysis of data from the Provisional Government, China, and Russia shows that Japanese casualties numbered around 600 and the independence army lost around 150. The Japanese military's dispatch of troops to Gando failed completely, and their big talk of mopping up the independence army turned out to be nonsense.

The reason that the independence army was able to win the Battle of Qingshanli lies in the fact that 10 or so combined units of the independence army under different leadership conducted integrated operations superbly. Specifically, there was full commitment to the mission and resolute attitudes risking death, as well as a desperate will and a spirit of harmony seeking the unity and survival of the entire independence army while braving personal sacrifice rather than individual glory. The smooth communication between independence army units thanks to local residents' devotion and provision of information was another factor in the triumph. The fact that the army units relied on agile guerrilla tactics to make up for shortcomings in military power should be noted as well. After the Battle of Qingshanli, the Japanese military concluded through self-evaluation that it had failed because the independence army relied on ambush and surprise attacks using terrain features and conducted a hit-and-run war of movement, and also had stronger firepower than anticipated.

The truth about the “Gyeongsin Massacre” – the Japanese military's unknown atrocities

Immediately following the Battle of Fengwudong, the Japanese military that had fought the independence army highly praised Hong Beom-do for “being revered like a god by ordinary Koreans, especially those under his command”. One can confirm Hong Beom-do's character, love of country, and devotion through the following letter sent by Gando National Congress leader Gu Chun-seon to Yanji Daoyin Tao Bin, the administration head of the Republic of China, on August 27, 1920.

“General Hong Beom-do, our ‘head of the righteous army’ since early times, defeated Japanese enemies several times, and no one could stand against him; Japanese people thus called him the ‘flying general Hong Beom-do' and dared not approach or resist him. The ‘Fengwudong triumph’, the first round of our independence war, is also the feat of General Hong Beom-do. All of this is thanks to General Hong's sincere heart, and he has only his country in mind over his own body and family. He is dedicated to the independence movement so much with his soul and body that he would stop only after death, such that none among our compatriots would not revere and trust him.” (Volume 43, “Korean Independence Movement History” data, the National History Compilation Committee) What was in the letter was never an exaggeration. In fact, Hong Beom-do was famous for his will to fight desperately in return for the compatriots’ support and strong mental training for his subordinate soldiers; one can find that these facts were understood in detail in Japan’s information data and reported several times.

The news of the independence army's desperate fight and triumph became widely known both at home and abroad, causing a sensation. For example, seven people including Lee Jeong-mun, a young patriot in Masan, who heard the news of the victory in February 1921, printed hundreds of copies of a manifesto carrying the news at the office of Gusan-myeon, Changwon-gun in Gyeongsangnam-do Province and handed them out in major places downtown. They were apprehended by Japanese police later and suffered hardships of incarceration in the prisons in Masan and Gaeseong after each being sentenced with one year in jail.

So far, the truth and wartime gains of the Qingshanli Battle have been uncovered in detail relatively thanks to the progress of research. Back then, Japan's military and police broke into Yanbian (North Gando) and West Gando in southern Manchuria—all Chinese territories—and committed various massacres and atrocities beyond the imagination. Historians call this the “Gando Massacre” or “Gyeongsin Massacre”. But the systematic scrutiny into this important historic incident is still far from satisfactory.

It is now necessary to review and aggregate what the Gyeongsin Massacre left behind by putting together various data to shed light on the forgotten unknown victims, righteous persons, and heroes in depth. It is equally important to conduct research into objective comparison of disparities in various data. It is also an urgent task to dig deeper into the incident and to later demand an apology and reparations from Japan.

Seal of the Korean Military Government, the precedent of the Korean Military Headquarters

(Headquarters of the Northern Route Army)

At the same time, such issues as the limits of the Fengwudong and Qingshanli Battles, the solidarity among independence army units, and the exaggeration of the truth behind the combats have been raised recently; there is a strong need to take note of the assertion that the then international situation, capabilities of our ethnic movement, the Provisional Government and China, and further relationships with Russia's revolutionary forces should be reviewed macroscopically and calmly (theses on “History Critique” (2018 and 2019) by Shin Hyo-seung of the Northeast Asian History Foundation and Shin Ju-baek, director of the Independence Hall). A Japanese scholar's renewed assessment of weapons purchases by Daejonggyo forces and the role of the Headquarters of the Northern Route Army at the time of the Qingshanli Battle shows that the Fengwudong and Qingshanli Battles have become matters of concern to foreign scholars, too (refer to 242nd issue of “Joseon Bulletin” 2017 by Sassa Mitsuaki).

The independence movement conducted in Manchuria by Korean people means a great deal in that it liquidated the despotic monarchy that remained intact until 1910 and aimed for a democratic republican system as the identity of a modern nation state to be built after the liberation. The independence movement was performed by various independence movement groups based on ethnic Koreans, laying the foundation for a modern nation state.

It is from the heroes and unknown warriors of the Fengwudong and Qingshanli Battles that can we find the “desperate” spirit of independence struggle braving all difficulties. At this time of grim reality at home and abroad, we will have to take notice of devotion to the homeland, people, and community, the passion to found a nation state where the people become the master, the experiences and history of the armed struggle against Japan through which the ideals of freedom and justice were realized in person, and its meaning and lessons.