Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-07-12
INTO A DEATH TRAP.
FATE OF A KOREAN WHO DooGEp
AssASSlNS FOR TEN YEARS.

"
Money and Political Power-A True story
as Startling as One of Gaboriaus.
Gaboriau never wrote detective nov
el 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
ernment.
1t seems that Kim, who was the lead
er 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.
ly Chinese minister to Japan, specially
instructed by Viceroy 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 a setoff against the encroach-
ments of Russia For this reason the
attitude of China toward Japan In oon-
nection with Korean matters has become
much milder of late, as may be in
stanced in the appointment of 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
a 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 the 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 a 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 in the peninsuler 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
Ell 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 Shoku, Ko-
rean, who claimed to have instructions
from the king at Seoul, to murder Bo-
ku. The lad hesitated because the VIC
tim had been good to him. Lii and tho
students were arrested.
After Kim fed 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 op-
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 haze been plainly unstatesman-
like, the second would have involved
Kim's death, and the third was open TO
several objections Nevertheless the
last course was chosen. Kim was sent
TO the. Bonin islands. Here he lived a
comfortable and uneyentful 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 i'm
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 1854. 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 q different
direction IN later years.
In his own country and in China he
was always regarded as factor Of po-
tential magnitude in the oriental ques-
tion. 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