'Danjidongmaeng' Gives False Answers to Protect Colleagues
"Shows Action-Oriented Side Rather Than Cold-Hearted Intellectual"
The handwritten record of the Japanese diplomat who first interrogated An Jung-geun has been discovered.
On the 15th, according to the Chosun Ilbo and others, Choi Young-ho, CEO of 82 Gallery, stated, "In March, I purchased a batch of materials including the handwritten manuscript and seven photos by Ono Morie, which appeared in a Japanese auction."
After assassinating Ito Hirobumi at Harbin Station in China at 9:30 a.m. on October 26, 1909, An was immediately taken to the Russian consulate and interrogated by Prosecutor Miller. Around 10 p.m. that day, Russia handed over An's custody and the original interrogation records to the Japanese Consulate-General in Harbin. Since Kawakami Toshihako, the Consul General in Harbin, was hospitalized due to being shot by An, Ono Morie was dispatched from the Yingkou consulate to Harbin.
Autographed memoir by Ono Morie. The first page out of 14 manuscript sheets. [Photo by Choi Youngho, 82 Gallery Director]
Ono arrived at the Harbin Consulate-General on the afternoon of October 27 and interrogated An. He compiled records of the interrogation and the circumstances from October 27 to 29, 1909, and wrote a report in March 1910. The document, titled "A Great Star Sets," spans 14 pages on 200-character manuscript paper.
Upon arriving at the Harbin Consulate-General on the afternoon of October 27, Ono stated, "Suspecting that accomplices of the main culprit An Jung-geun might be hiding around Harbin city, I took full responsibility and received An Jung-geun from the Russian authorities, detaining him in the consulate's underground prison."
When Ono asked An about his motive for assassinating Ito, An replied, "Because he was a traitor who ruined Korea." When asked about the reason for cutting off his pinky finger (actually the ring finger), An answered, "I was originally a hunter in North Korea, and I accidentally cut my finger while preparing rabbit at that time."
This was a false answer to protect his comrades in the 'Danjidongmaeng' alliance. Earlier, on February 7, An, along with 11 comrades including Kim Gi-ryong, Hwang Byeong-gil, and Baek Gyu-sam, pledged dedication to the independence movement in Krasikino, Russia, and cut off the fourth finger (ring finger) of his left hand.
Ono also wrote, "Considering that a considerable amount of time had passed and the wound was still vivid, it was clear that the answer was false."
The record also mentions that An, who had been silent, finally spoke after being given a cigarette. Ono, seeking a way to get him to talk, asked through an interpreter, "Do you smoke?" An replied, "I like it very much," and finally opened his mouth.
Ono recorded the subsequent situation in detail: "When I said I would give him one if he liked it, he said, 'If you intend to give it, don't waste time with useless talk and give it quickly.' I got momentarily angry and threw a cigarette, but he failed to catch it and it fell on the floor. An immediately bent down, picked up the cigarette while handcuffed, bit off the end of the cigarette, lit it without asking for a lighter, and casually began chewing it, then muttered 'Thank you'."
When Ono asked, "Do you speak English?" and An said no, Ono said, "Wasn't the word you just said English?" An replied, "No, it's Japanese." When asked why he thought that word was Japanese, An said, "When I worked as a ship's loader in Vladivostok, many of my colleagues were Japanese, and they used to say 'Thank you' to each other, so I believed that word was Japanese."
Professor Do Jin-soon of Changwon National University, a researcher on An Jung-geun, said, "The first interrogation by Prosecutor Mizo-buchi on October 30 has existing records, but Ono's interrogation before that is content we've never seen before," adding, "It is significant as it fills the gap from October 27 to 29, right after the incident." He further analyzed, "Since An did not know Japanese, he communicated with Japanese guards in Lushun Prison through written notes. This shows not a cold intellectual style but rather the traits of an action-oriented person who reacts decisively."
Ono Morie's records also included detailed descriptions of the interior structure of the Harbin Consulate-General, which is now converted into an elementary school, making it an important resource to understand the specific internal environment of the consulate at that time.
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