Nationalist leaders being crucified...

. Even the lowly women servants and entertainment maidens (kisaeng), the bottom echelon in the

feudal society, formed their own formation and joined the march.

For over a month or two, the Korean peninsula resonated with shouts for independence. Spring passed

and Summer came, and the ardor of the uprising gradually subsided. Many Koreans mistakenly assumed

that the Japanese would get out, if they marched for several months shouting slogans. They were sadly

mistaken; the Japanese were not about to leave Korea on account of mere marches. Japan fought three

major wars over Korea.

About 400 years ago in 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent Gonishi Yukinaga to conquer Korea with several

hundreds thousand troops. The Japanese conducted scorched-earth campaigns and torched Korea from

Pusan to Pyongyang to Hamhung. In the 19th century, after the Meiji Reform, the Japanese formulated a

plan to take Korea by force. It was asserted that Korea was essential for the Empire to expand. Some

Japanese were opposed to this plan of naked aggression and a quiet civil war broke out in Japan that

lasted for half a year. The war faction was led by Saiko Takamori, whose stature still stands in today's

Japan. Japan fought war with Russia and China over Korea. America and Great Britain supported Japan

in these two wars.

Nationalist leaders being crucified.

The bestiality of the Japanese troops was fully exposed in the Russo-Japanese War. Maresuke Nogi

commanded Japanese Third Army in the Port Arthur battle. He had dead corps filed high and used them

as stepping stones to attack the "203 Meter Hill" (

Lee Wha Rang note: the Hill fell on December 5, 1904.

The Russian general Anatoly Mikhailovich Stësel surrendered on January 2, 1905.)

. Some 25,000 were

killed for Nogi's human ladders. The Japanese suffered heavy losses and won the war, but they failed to

take Manchuria or Siberia. Angry war widows and orphans of the soldiers who died for Nogi gathered to

confront him. But the crowd fell silent when they saw that Nogi wore three crosses, one for each of his

own sons killed in the war. I do not know how accurate this story is, but the point is that the Japanese

had paid for Krea dearly and they were not ready to cough up Korea.(PAGE 29