The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1894-05-16
INTO A DEATH TRAP.
FATE OF A KOREAN WHO poDeED
AssAssINs FOR TEN YEARS.

FATE OF A KOREAN WHO DoDGED
AssASslNs FOR TEN YEARS.
A Conspirator Lnred From His Place of
Comparative Security by the Promise of
Money and Political Power-A True Story
as Startling as One of Gaboriau's.
Gaboriau never wrote u detective nov
ell that had in it more startling story
of criminal revenge than has the follow.
ing true story from China. The assas-
sination at Shanghai of Kim Ok Kim,
the Korean conspirator, was the climax
of 10 years of sleepless pursuit of this
refugee by emissaries of the Korean gov
eminent.
1t seems that Kim, who was the lead
en- in the Seoul palace plot of 1884 and
fed to Japan to avoid death, recently
received letters from an old Korean exile
in Shanghai Offering to pay him a large
sum that had been due many years if
he would go to Shanghai. About the
same time Kim received an invitation
to go to Shanghai from Lord Ii, former.
" Chinese minister to Japan, specially
instructed by Vioeroy Lii Hung Chang
This step was taken by the viceroy, it
is assumed, owing to the increasing in-
fluence of Russia in Korean affairs, and
he felt the necessity of an alliance with
Japan as setoff against the encroach.
ments of Russia. For this reason the
attitude of China toward Japan in con-
nection with Korean matters has become
much milder of late, as may he in
stanced i'll the appointment of n much
more easy going minister in the place
of Yuan, the late representative of
China in Japan. With this change of
policy the support given by China to
the Ming family has sensibly declined,
and their influence has in consequence
waned. Lord Ii intended to have held
q conference with Kim, with the idea
of drawing up programme of progress
i've party politics which it was proposed
to introduce again into Korea.
Kim saw tho means of gaining a
small fortune and of increasing his pres
tige with China and Japan. He saw
that the latter might lead to his return
to power So he ignored the danger and
started for Shanghai. Whether the as
| sassin accompanied him is not known,
but the day after he reached Shanghai
Kim was killed in foreign hotel.
The assassin, Kwo Sho, was caught
and held for trial. He belongs to fam
lily said to have held an official position
for generations i'll the peninsular king
dom. He came to Japan in 1888, al
most resourceless, and earned difficult
livelihood by various devices. Never
theless in 1890 he managed to procure
money for trip to Europe, where he
spent three years, often encountering
great hardship, but always finding
means to live without recourse to char
ity Returning to Japan, he showed a
keen interest in politics. Those who
know him best declare he is an adven-
turer who would undertake any crime
for sufficient reward.
On the same day that Kim was killed
plan was devised for numbering Boku
Eli Ko, another Korean who had solicit
ed funds for school in Tokyo for train
ing Korean youth. One of the students,
| Tai Gen, told his fellows that he had
been ordered by Lii Itsu Shol1u, Ko'
rean, who claimed to have instructions
from the king at Seoul, to murder Bo.
lu. The lad hesitated because the vic
tim had been good to him. Ii and the
students were arrested.
After Kim fled from Korea repeated
efforts were made by the Korean govern
ment to procure his extradition, but the
japanese foreign office refused to enter
tain any such demand, obviously OPP
posed, as it was, to the practice of civil
lized nations For time the refugee
was prudent enough to avoid any act
that might shake the Japanese govern
ment's decision or endanger his own
privilege Of asylum. But as time went
by he acquired assurance and began, or
was supposed to have begun, fresh de-
signs against the public peace Of the
country. The Japanese authorities had
then to choose between running the risk
Of troublesome complications with
Korea, or ordering Kim to leave Japan,
or removing him to some place where
his Vaccinations would be practically
powerless. The first of these courses
would have been plainly unstatesman-
like, the second would have involved
Kim's death, and tho third was open to
several objections. Nevertheless the
last course was chosen. Kim was sent
to tho Bonin islands. Here he lived o
comfortable and uneventful life for some
years.
Finally it was decided that the eli
mate of the Bonins did not agree with
Kim, and he went to Tokyo. An inn
preston constantly prevailed among the
Japanese that Kim could never rest
without making some final attempt to
carry out the programme which failed
so signally in 1884 1t is said that in
his early days he three times dissipated
the whole of his resources in gambling,
and that his speculative tendency did
not disappear, but only took different
direction in later years.
In his own country and i'll China he
was always regarded as factor Of po-
tential magnitude in the oriental ques-
ton. The anxiety of his government
about him was shown by repeated at
tempts to get possession Of his person,
and even, it is rumored, by more than
one commission to assassinate him.
A man of considerable attainments
and wide orudition, he possessed also
the gift of winning not only confidence,
but sympathy. During his residence in
Japan-where he went by the name OF
Iwata Shukaku, wore the Japanese cos
tune and spoke tho Japanese language
fiuently-he made the acquaintance of
many foreigners. New York Telegram
Sudden Reformation.