# Korean Language Society incident

The Korean Language Society Incident (朝鮮語學會事件, Chōsengo gakkai jiken, Korean: 조선어학회 사건) refers to the arrest, torture, and imprisonment of members of the Korean Language Society, which occurred in 1942 under the Japanese colonial rule of Korea.

## Description

In mid-1942, an investigation by the provincial police of Kankyōnan-dō led to the discovery of a female Korean high school student's diary. Therein she stated that she was punished at school for speaking Japanese, which led to the arrest of teachers at her school. Consequently in October, police arrested members of the Korean Language Society in Keijō on charges of violating the Peace Preservation Law. Following torture, a confession was obtained that the Joseon Language Society was an organization having as its purpose the independence of Korea from Japan. However, at that time, the society was engaged in researching the Joseon language, establishing spelling rules, and compiling a dictionary of the Korean language. Members did not engage in group activities that would violate the Peace Preservation Law.
In the late 1950s, Lee Hee-seung (李熙昇) left a memoir closest to the truth. In the early 1970s, a new 'memory' was created in celebration of the 25th anniversary of liberation and the 50th anniversary of the Korean Language Society. In particular, the happening at Jeonjin Station, which was the beginning of the incident, was reconstructed to fit the status of the Joseon Language Society.
The writing in the diary, which is a private area, has been changed to an open space, a conversation in the train. The use of Korean, not Japanese, became a problem. From the beginning, it was 'Korean language common use' that could be interpreted in various ways. The Japanese police interpreted it in Japanese, and Korea in the 1970s interpreted it in Korean. In the 1980s, there were rebuttal recollections by the parties to the incident, but the historical narrative did not change. It was because the Joseon Language Society was already a symbol of suffering and resistance through the medium of the national language.

## Laws leading to the event

* In 1936, the Japanese government in Korea passed the Chosun Ideological Crime Prevention Ordinance (조선사상범보호관찰령).
* In 1941, the Chosun Ideological Crime Prevention Ordinance was amended.
* In 1943, the 4th Joseon Education Ordinance policy abolished Korean language education, banned the use of Korean, and forced the use of Japanese.
And from April 1939, the Japanese government in Korea abolished Korean language subjects in schools and proceeded to close Korean language newspapers and magazines.

## Timeline

* In July 1942, Park Byeong-yeop (wearing Korean traditional costume) was waiting for a friend at Jeonjin Station in Hongwon-eup, South Hamgyeong-do. He was questioned and taken into custody at the Hongwon Police Station. The Hongwon police searched his house, and the diary of Park Young-ok (his niece) was confiscated. This contained a phrase apparently showing that one of her teachers at Yeongsaeng High School 4 in Hamheung rejected the Japanese law to teach using only the Japanese language. Young-Ok Park and her friends Soon-Nam Choi, Soon-Ja Lee, Jeong Seong-Hee, In-Ja were arrested and interrogated. After enduring torture for several days, they finally incriminated two teachers, Kim Hak-joon and Jung Tae-jin, who had encouraged students to use Hangul, and had tried to inspire a sense of independence by telling stories such as the fall of Japanese imperialism, the revival of the Joseon people, and the story of the sacrifice of Gyewolhyang during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. Both Kim Hak-joon and Jeong Tae-jin [ko] were members of the Korean Language Society.
* In September 1942, a student at Yeongsaeng Girls’ High School was arrested for talking in Korean by the Japanese police and interrogated.
* On October 1, 1942, the police, having concluded that the Korean Language Society was an independence movement group. began to arrest members, including: Lee Yun-jae [ko], Choi Hyun-bae, Lee Hee-seung, Jeong In-seung, Kim Yoon-kyung, Kwon Seung-wook, Jang Ji-young. Eleven people, including Han Jing, Lee Jung-hwa, Lee Seok-rin, and Lee Geuk-ro [ko], were arrested in Seoul and sent to Hongwon, Hamgyeongnam-do.
* On October 18, 1942, Lee Woo-sik [ko] and Kim Beop-rin [ko] were arrested.
* On October 20, 1942, Jeong Yeol-mo was arrested.
* On October 21, 1942, Lee Byeong-gi, Lee Man-gyu, Lee Kang-rae, and Kim Seon-ki were arrested
* On December 23, 1942, Seo Seung-hyo, Ahn Chai-hong, Lee In, Kim Yang-soo, Jang Hyeon-sik, Jeong In-seop, Yun Byeong-ho, Lee Eun-sang were arrested separately
* Kim Do-yeon (金度演) on March 5, 1943, and Seo Min-ho (徐珉濠) on next day, respectively, and all were detained at the Hongwon Police Station.
* From the end of March to April 1, Hyeon-mo Shin and Jong-cheol Kim were interrogated without detention.
* Kwon Deok-gyu and Ahn Ho-sang escaped arrest due to illnesses,
* By the end of March 1943, 29 people had been arrested and sentenced to all sorts of barbaric punishments. They were severely tortured, and 48 people had been interrogated.
* Lee Yoon-jae, Han Jing died in prison, before completion of their trials.

## Arrests in the incident

| Name | Sentence | Order of Merit for National Foundation | Year of award | Notes |
| Jeong Tae-jin [ko] | 2 years imprisonment | Independence medal | 1962 | |
| Lee Geuk-ro [ko] | 6 years imprisonment | - | - | North Korea |
| Lee Yun-jae [ko] | - | Independence medal | 1962 | died in prison while on trial |
| Choi Hyeon-bae [ko] | 4 years imprisonment | Independence medal | 1962 | |
| Lee Hee-seung | 2 years and 6 months imprisonment | Independence medal | 1962 | |
| Jeong In-seung [ko] | 2 years imprisonment | independence medal | 1962 | |
| Kim Yun Kyong | postponement of prosecution | patriotic medal | 1990 | 1 year imprisonment |
| Kwon Seung-wook | postponement of prosecution | - | - | |
| Jang Ji-yeong [ko] | | patriotic medal | 1990 | 1 year in prison |
| Han Jing [ko] | - | independence medal | 1962 | died in prison while on trial |
| Lee Jung-hwa (이중화) | 2 years imprisonment, 4 years probation | national medal | 2013 | 2 years imprisonment |
| Lee Seok-rin | postponement of prosecution | national medal | 1990 | 1 year in prison |
| Lee Kang-rae | postponement of prosecution | national medal | 1990 | 1 year imprisonment |
| Kim Seon-gi [ko] | postponement of prosecution | national medal | 1990 | 1 year imprisonment |
| Lee Byeong-gi | postponement of prosecution | patriotic medal | 1990 | 1 year imprisonment, released 1943 |
| Lee Man-gyu | postponement of prosecution | - | - | Imprisoned for 1 year, lived in North Korea |
| Jeong Yeolmo | extinction of prosecution | - | - | Imprisoned for 1 year, lived in North Korea |
| Kim Beop-rin [ko] | 2 years imprisonment, 4 years probation | independence medal | 1995 | 2 years imprisonment |
| Lee Woo-sik [ko] | 2 years imprisonment, 4 years probation | independence medal | 1977 | 2 years imprisonment |
| Yoon Byeong-ho (尹炳浩,윤병호) | postponement of prosecution | national medal | 1990 | 1 year imprisonment |
| Seo Seung-hyo | postponement of prosecution | - | - | |
| Kim Yang-su [ko] | 2 years imprisonment, 4 years probation | patriotic medal | 1990 | 2 years imprisonment |
| Hyunsik Jang (장현식) | innocence | patriotic medal | 1990 | Imprisonment for 4 years, abduction |
| Lee In | 2 years imprisonment 4 years probation | independence medal | 1963 | 2 years imprisonment |
| Lee Eun-sang | postponement of prosecution | patriotic medal | 1990 | 1 year imprisonment |
| Jeong In-seop [ko] | 1 year imprisonment | national medal | 1990 | |
| Ahn Chai-hong | non-prosecution | presidential medal | 1989 | 2 years imprisonment |
| Kim Do-yeon | 2 years imprisonment, 4 years probation | patriotic medal | 1991 | 2 years imprisonment |
| Seo Min-ho [ko] | - | national medal | 2001 | 1 year imprisonment |
| Shin Hyun-mo [ko] | postponement of prosecution | national medal | 1990 | |
| Kim Jong-cheol | postponement of prosecution | - | - | abroad |
| Kwon Deok-gyu [ko] | suspension of prosecution | patriotic medal | 2019 | ill |
| Ahn Ho-sang [ko] | suspension of prosecution | - | - | ill |

## In popular culture

The 2019 South Korean movie, Mal-Mo-E: The Secret Mission, fictionalises the story of the creation of the first Hangul dictionary and the story of this incident of torture and imprisonment of key members of the Korean Language society, while apparently remaining close to the facts.