`Japanese Drinking Party Followed Ahn`s Execution`

Japanese officials held a party with bar girls at the residence of the Lushun High Court’s chief judge in China after executing Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun in March 1910 and paid officials involved in his trial.

This was confirmed Monday through newly discovered news reports published three days after Ahn`s execution in Lushun (present-day Dalian).

According to news reports found by the Korean Patriots and Veterans’ Affairs Ministry, the Manchuria Daily and Manchuria News wrote in articles dated March 29, 1910, that a congratulatory party was held in the name of a “consolation dinner” at the residence of Yoshito Hiraishi, the chief judge of the Lushun High Court. Hiraishi was the presiding judge in Ahn’s case.

The party began at 5 p.m. on March 26 that year soon after official reporting of the completion of Ahn’s burial.

According to the reports, attending the party were officials from the court including Hiraishi, prosecutors, translators, clerks and the police chief.

The Japanese government is also known to have sentenced Ahn to hang even before his trial started, and paid compensation of 10 to 250 won to each judge, including the presiding judge.

The ministry said, “The reports suggest how seriously Japanese imperialists manipulated the trials to get rid of patriot Ahn,” adding, “Since news reports gave details of his execution and the situation that evening, records showing the truth behind the events that occurred just prior to Ahn’s burial surely remain at a certain place.”

In April this year, the ministry formed a task force on recovering Ahn’s remains. The task force searched for where he was buried and collected materials on him in the U.S., Japan, China and Russia but found no reliable clues.

polaris@donga.com