뉴스레터

At 7 a.m. on December 11, 2019, 16 teachers who had completed the teacher training program on East Asian history left for four days of on-the-job training in Taiwan. The main schedule of the field training was to track down traces of the martyr Cho Myung-ha. Cho Myung-ha is a figure who rose up and attempted to assassinate Kuninomiya Kunihiko, the father-in-law of the Japanese emperor, in Taichung, Taiwan in 1928. The weather in Taiwan was sunny enough to be ideal for our journey, like autumn in Korea, as if to help us to find his traces more easily.

Our training began by looking into everything about him and observing a moment of silence in front of the bronze statue of Cho Myung-ha at a Korean school in Taipei. We then visited the Taipei High Court building where he had been sentenced to death after his heroic deed, the site of the Taipei Prison where he died, and the site of Goryeomulsan Co. that had been the contact point in Taiwan for independence activists. The Taipei High Court still used the old building that had been used during the colonial period. However, it was not easy to find traces because only part of the walls remained at the site of the prison and the site of Goryeomulsan Co. was still used as a warehouse factory. Our schedule on the first day came to an end at the 228 Peace Memorial Park. The National Taiwan Museum stood there detailing Taiwan's natural and geographical environment, but what drew our interest more was the 228 Memorial. We arrived at the memorial after the closing time, but could watch for a moment thanks to considerations in response to our plea as history teachers that had come from Korea. The “Jeju 4.3 Special Exhibition” happened to be under way at the memorial. As Taiwan's February 28 incident and the Jeju April 3 incident share sufferings as “genocide committed by a state power”, we took time to ponder how we could teach this sad history.

On the second day, we visited the AMA House, a memorial founded for the grandmas who had once fallen prey to Japan's sexual slavery. Korea and Taiwan have a common history of suffering from Japan's sexual slavery; as the comfort women began to confess regarding their pains, confessions also ensued in Taiwan. Seeing the victims from Taiwan and Korea interact here, I felt once again that the best way to solve East Asian historical conflicts was to discuss the issue by means of the countries directly involved. Leaving the AMA House, we visited the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is dedicated to Chiang Kai-shek, the Republic of China's generalissimo, and the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is devoted to Sun Wen, revered as the father of the country both in the continent and in Taiwan. They gave a full account of how the Republic of Korea was founded and developed, and had various exhibits showing the relationships with Korea.

We headed for Keelung after examining the connections with our independence movement through the history of the Republic of Korea. Keelung, a port city in northern Taiwan, has served as Taiwan's window to the outside from the colonial period. It was through Keelung that Cho Myung-ha entered Taiwan from Osaka; Mr. Shin Chae-ho was imprisoned in the Keelung Floating Police Station after being arrested by Japanese police. Arriving in Keelung, I wondered what Cho Myung-ha had in mind when he set foot in Keelung.

Keelung Floating Police Station – place of arrest and imprisonment of Shin Chae-ho

The following day, we moved to Taichung where Cho Myung-had performed his righteous deed. First, we headed for the site of Buguiwon where Cho Myung-ha had worked. Buguiwon, then located at 10-beonji, 2-jeongmok, Yeongjeong, is now home to a multipurpose building housing an “OK Mart” at 10 Gyegwang-ga and a beauty parlor at #10-1. We left Buguiwon and moved to Taichung Library where Cho Myung-ha performed his heroic deed through Taichung Police Station, where he had been interrogated after being apprehended following his action.

We could easily locate the intersection in front of the library where Cho Myung-ha performed his first action, but it was not easy to find the venue that was home to the second. We looked for the site by comparing our data with how it looks at present. We were able to ascertain more accurately in Taichung based on existing data, so our schedule in Taichung, devoted to searching for Cho Myung-ha's traces, was all the more meaningful.

We returned to Taipei and headed for the Presidential Office Building that had been used as the Government General of Taiwan. The facade of the building was very similar to that of the Government General of Korea that had faded into history. Although we had demolished the Government General of Korea, we had time to think about how best to utilize the legacies of the colonial system through Taiwan's continued use of it as the Presidential Office Building. After visiting the Zhongshan Hall, we returned to the hotel and listened to the lecture of Professor Kim Sang-ho who had been studying martyr Cho Myung-ha for over 10 years. Professor Kim said that Cho Myung-ha performed his heroic deed with a great purpose, which caused Kuninomiya, the emperor's father-in-law, to die of aftereffects. Unlike other researchers who evaluated the incident as accidental, focusing on Japan's data, he did his best to get closer to the essence of the incident through the criticism of historical records, which was very meaningful. At the same time, I felt frustrated and sad about the fact that research into Cho Myung-ha was not conducted properly due to the shortage of historical records and researchers.

We visited the National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine and the National Palace Museum on the last day. The shrine, which is similar to our National Cemetery, is dedicated to those of the Republic of China who died in war. The only difference from the National Cemetery is that the remains are preserved in the National Cemetery, while only ancestral tablets are kept in the shrine. It was the National Palace Museum that drew closer attention than the shrine. The museum is home to precious artifacts and artworks relocated to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War. The number of relics there was so many that artifacts and artworks are on display by three-month rotation. A direct look showed that the reputation of the museum, where all rare and precious relics in Chinese history are gathered, was well worth it. I could guess their historical awareness from how they had preserved the relics intact and let the public appreciate them despite the protracted war.

Our four-day schedule ended with our visit to the National Palace Museum. The field training was a valuable occasion through which we could not only adjust our view of martyr Cho Myung-ha but also look at China's history and cross-strait relations in depth. I thought how Cho Myung-ha's heroic deed, seen from Taiwan, was no less meaningful in its historical symbolism than the righteous deeds of Lee Bong-chang and Yun Bong-gil, considering that Kuninomiya was the emperor's father-in-law and that the incident occurred in Taiwan, a relatively stable colony compared to Joseon. Martyr Cho Myung-ha, seen from Taiwan, prompted us to feel a sense of crisis that he would be forgotten unless we remember him. I renewed my appreciation for those who dedicated themselves to the national independence, including Cho Myung-ha, and felt that it was a valuable journey encouraging me to ponder and study how I should teach history at school.

Site of martyr Cho Myung-ha's righteous deed – in front of Taichung Library