HIDE IN DARK ROOM

We were led into a damp. dark room, filled with

suffocating stench and stagnant air. There I saw

Father smiling in the room. He was glad to see

me and thanked Mom for bringing me along. I

had some difficulty recognizing Father in prison

garb and noticed that every part of his body

visible - face, neck, hands and feet - was swollen

and bruised. But Father was more concerned

about his family than his broken body. Father

said: "Yes, you have grown quite a bit since I saw

you last. Pay attention to your elders and study

hard, you hear?" Father talked calmly as if the

prison guard watching us did not exist. Hearing

his voice made me to break into loud sobs and I

cried loudly - "Father, please come back home

with us". Father was happy to hear my voice and nodded his head smiling. Father told Mother to take

good care of brush and comb salesmen who might drop in. He was referring to the Association members

and nationalists who may need help.

(Photo: Pyongyang Prison)

.

Father's unyielding spirit even in prison etched indelible marks in me. Another unforgettable thing about

that visit was running into Lee Kwang Rin, who was a member of the Association. She attended

Pyongyang Girls Vocational School of Mechanical Engineering. Fortunately, the Japanese police had

nothing on her. Lee and another Association member came to see Father on that day. In those days of

strong feudal habits, young unmarried women visiting a prison was a taboo. If a young woman of marital

age got caught frequenting a prison, she might as well kiss away any idea of finding a suitable husband.

No man from a decent family would marry such a woman. Nevertheless, Lee, a modern progressive

woman, extremely rare in those days, came to see Father in prison and the guards gawked at her and

followed her every move. Lee's shining face cheerfully consoled Father and Mother.

Visiting Father in prison was one of the most significant events in my life. I understood why Mother

chose to take me to the prison. Scars and wounds on Father's body pained me physically and I swore to

get even with the Japanese devils, that were not human beings at all, but Satan. Father's wounds taught

me about the Japanese imperialists far more than any number of political scientists or historians could

have possibly taught me. Until that time, I had not witnessed police brutality, except those instances of

the police on headcount and health investigation; once, a Japanese policeman got angry at us for some

reason and cut up a door and smashed it onto a cooking pot, breaking its lid. This was nothing compared

to torturing and maiming innocent people. I have never forgotten Father's broken body in prison. That

image was always with me even during moments of heated combats.

Father completed his term in 1918 and came home. Grandpa and Uncle went to the prison to bring Father

home in an ox-cart. Our neighbors gathered in Songsan-ri to welcome him back. Father could barely

walk because of the tortures he had received in prison. He managed to walk out the prison limping

PAGE 25 THE BOOK WITH THE CENTURY

burnt them

. She climbed to the roof, recovered the documents and burnt them in her cooking

fire.

In the morning after my father's arrest, the Christians of Bongwha-ri met at Myongsin School and prayed

for the immediate release of my father. People from Pyongyang and Kangdong rushed to the Pyongyang

police station and petitioned for my father's release. Grandpa heard of Father's impending court trial and

sent Uncle to the police station to find out what could be done to help Father. Grandpa was ready to sell

everything he owned to hire an attorney to defend Father in court. Father would not let Grandpa do such

a thing. Father told Uncle - "Attorneys use their mouth for living and so do I. Why would you waste

money, that you don't have, to hire an attorney?"

My father was tried three times in Pyongyang. At each court session, Father defended himself by saying -

"I am a Korean and I have the right to love Korea and work for Korea. I have committed no crime and

you have no authority to try me." After attempting three court trials, Father was convicted and sentenced

to a prison term.

Soon after my father's arrest, Uncle Hyong Rok wanted us to move back to Mangying-dae and came with

his brother-in-law, Kang Young Suk, to fetch us. Mother refused to move and told them that she wanted

to remain at Bonghwa through the winter. Mother wanted to maintain contact with the Association

members and other nationalists who might show up for messages. In the following spring, Mother

moved us back to Mangyong-dae. By that time, she had managed to cover the base for Father. Grandpa

and Mother's father came to get us with an ox-cart.

I was much depressed that Spring and Summer. Every time I asked Mother when Father would be back,

she would tell me that he would be back in a few days. But days went by with Father still gone. One day,

Mother took me to a play ground located at Mangyong Peak and got on a swing holding me on her lap.

She told me: "Sung Ju - Your dad is not coming back, even after the ice in Taedong River over there is

all melted gone. Your dad fought for Korea and he has committed no crime. You will have to grow up

fast and get even with your dad's enemies. You must become a hero and recover our lost nationhood." I

swore to her that I would follow her wish.

Mother had visited Father in prison secretly several times. She did not say a thing about her prison

visits. One day, Mother took me to her parents' house in Palgol on the premise of picking up some

cotton, but her real intent was to visit Father in prison with me. Mom's mother insisted that Mom should

not take me to the prison, because I was too young. Seeing Father caged up in a dark prison cell would

do much harm to my mindset, Grandma argued. I was seven at the time. But Mother persisted and

prevailed.

Upon crossing the wooden bridge over Botong River, I noticed prison right away. No one had told me

what a prison looked like, but I could tell it was the prison from its dark color and its stark, austere

surroundings. The prison was indeed awe and fear inspiring, just being there would send chills running

through any body. Its heavy iron gates, walls, watch towers, barbed wires and armed gourds in dark

uniforms and eyes indicated that it was a place of death and deadly venom.  (PAGE 25)

Association decided to establish an operational base for anti-Japan activities

. As is clear from this statement of its purpose, the

Association believed that Korean independence could not be achieved by external forces and so, it should

be accomplished by the Koreans themselves.

The Association decided to establish an operational base for anti-Japan activities at Gan-do and

dispatched an advance team to lay the groundwork. The Association was organized meticulously. It

chose and accepted members after lengthy investigation; only people with well established track records

were invited into the Association. Members were organized in independent cells and secret codes were

used for communications among the members. Secret documents were encrypted. The members got

together once a year on the occasion of Sungsil school anniversary. It ran several front organizations

such as Education Society, Stone Monument Society and Home Society. These legal open entities were

used to cover the secret activities of the Society. Liaison offices were set up in Beijing and Dandong for

external contacts.

The Association was established with full support of the people; its membership included workers,

farmers, teachers, students, military (independence armies), merchants, religionists, businessmen and

people from other socio-economic strata. The association's membership was not limited to people living

in Korea and reached Beijing, Shanghai, Jirin, Musong, Rimgang, Jangbaik, Yuha, Kwangjun, Dandong,

Hwajun and Hong Kong. My father recruited Jang Chul Ho, Kang Jeh Ha, Kang Jin Gun, Kim Si Woo

and many other key members into the Association and they played important roles in the organization

and expansion of the Association. Recruiting a member took a great deal of time and effort. Father would

travel even one thousand ri in order to recruit one single member.

One day. Oh Dong Jin dropped in unexpected to see my father. Oh was on his way to Hwanghae

Province. He was unusually quiet and had an air of tension. Oh said proudly that he found a good man

for my father -"Gong Young from Byokdong is still a green young buck, but he is highly intelligent, tall

and good-looking. He is trust-worthy and an martial art expert, too. In the olden days, he would have

made a good marshal." My father was pleased and thanked Oh for a fine job well done. From the ancient

times, it had been accepted that finding a talent was more important than the talent itself.

Upon Oh's departure, Father asked my eldest uncle to make him several pairs of straw sandals, and in the

next morning, Father left home with the sandals. Father was gone for about one month. He had

apparently walked long distances, for he wore out all of the sandals that Uncle made for him, but he

came home with smiles on his face. Father met Gong Young on his trip and he was very satisfied with

Gong. Father's way of caring for and nurturing his comrades was one of the most important lessons I

learned from him in my youth.

For several years, the Korean People's Association spread its gospel in Korea and abroad. Its membership

increased and its word got around. However, the Japanese got wind of it in the Fall of 1917 and started

to dismantle it ruthlessly. On a windy day, three Japanese policemen burst into my father's classroom at

Myonsin School and dragged him away right in front of his students. Mr. Huh followed my father to the

river ferry, where Father managed to whisper a message to Huh. Huh ran all the way to my house and

relayed Father's message and the news of his arrest. Father instructed Mother to burn documents hidde

in the roof of our house. She climbed to the roof, recovered the documents and burnt them in her cooking

fire.  

Father said

Father said that one of the main reasons why Kim Ok Gyun's reform failed was his reformists did not

trust the people's power, relying instead upon palace cliques. He said I should learn from Kim's error. I

assume that my father went to Shanghai from Kan-do to see for himself our much rumored independence

movements in China. He most likely wanted to coordinate his activities in Korea with those working

abroad. Anti-colonial wars of liberation had not reached any degree of maturity at the time and there was

no accumulated expertise on the subject.

When my father went to China, the Chinese revolution was fighting for its very survival. The Chinese

revolutionaries had to fight military factions and warlords as well as foreign intervention forces from

America, Great Britain and Japan. In spite of this state, many of our independence fighters were living

under the illusion that some foreign imperial power would come to their assistance. My father returned

home convinced that the Korean people must liberate themselves on their own, by themselves. After his

trip to China, Father began to work more feverishly, often skipping meals and sleeps, to educate more

youth and recruite more patriots. Our house was at Bongwha-ri at the time; my father taught school

children during the day and taught adults during the evening and went to bed at late hours.

Once I read an anti-Japan article written by my father at a school event. Father wrote many revolutionary

and anti-Japanese poems and essays for his students. Many independence fighters came to see my father

at Bongwha-ri and he went to see them at various location of Pyongahn and Hwanghae provinces. He

firmed up core cadres and laid foundation for mass movements. On March 23, 1917, my father together

with Jang Il Whan, Bai Min Su, Baik Seh Bin and other comrades formally established the Korean

People's Association at the home of Lee Bo Sik, located at Hak-dang-gol, Pyongyang. The charter

members wrote letters of their allegiance in their own blood - "Korean independence and fight to the

end."

The main theme of the Association was that the Korean people must unite and achieve independence on

their own, and develop Korea into a strong advanced nation. It was a secret organization, about the

largest of anti-Japan organizations in Korea around the time of the March First Movement. There were

hardly any secret organization in 1917 in Korea. Organizations such as the Righteous Army, the Korean

Independence Army and the Korea Restoration Society, which sprang up after the annexation, were gone

by this time. They could not withstand the savage attacks by the Japanese security forces, which were

quite effective in detecting and arresting anti-Japan activists. Consequently, few Koreans dared to even

ponder doing anti-Japanese work. Even those who had the courage to oppose Japan could do little in

Korea and some went abroad and formed secret organizations. Some people set up organizations,

sanctioned by the Governor General of Korea and did what they could legally under the Japanese rule.

The Korean People's Association came into being in this kind of vacuum in Korea. It was an anti-

imperialism organization. Its platform asserted that the US and Western powers would soon get into

conflict with Japan, already entrenched in Asia, over hegemony in Asia. This would be an opportune

moment for the Korean people to rise up and drive out the Japanese, and so, the Association members

 must work in unison and prepare for the moment. As is clear from this statement of its purpose, the

Association believed that Korean independence could not be achieved by external forces and so, it should

be accomplished by the Koreans themselves. (PAGE 21-22)