Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-30
Korean SodIera.

Korean Soldiers.
What will Japan do as to the soldiers
of Korea? VIII It train the boys here
so that they may form a part of Japan's
army of the future? The Koreans num-
Der about 100000, and II they will fight
they will make quite an addition to your
already large army" The general laughed
as he replied:
II should not encourage such a plan,
and II is not In accordance with our
scheme for bringing about the independ-
ence of Korea under Japanese protection.
The Korean soldiers might do we'll
enough In the rear, and we could use
them for the heavy work OF our military
operations, as transports and laborers.
We would not dare put them at the front"
How about the charges that your SOL
diers are depressing the people and killing
them without cause?"
"Ihere is no truth In such statements"
said General Hesegawa. 1--WE have n ha
severe In our treatment of the rebels in
order to maintain peace and keep the un-
ruly element in check. Wal is a serious
matter, and such conditions have 10 he
handled In a serious way. Otherwise wa
could do nothing with the country. We
wipe out the insurgents when they arc
round and 1t may be that when we are
hlslnformed as to who are insurgents
som innocent men may be killed. AT
present we are using many Koreans in our
ponce FORCE and the pro-Japanese Koreans
are aiding us to put down the rebellion"
is 1t true that a band OF your soldiers
recently killed twenty such Koreans. sun
posing them insurgents?"
Il know of the case to which you refer"
said General Hasegawa. 1--WE are not yet
sure whether those people were insurgents
or not The killing occurred in a part OF
the country where there were bands OF
rebels, one of which contained about thirty
five. Our troops were on the track Of that
band and had been informed that It was
In a certain inn. The officer in command
caught one man coming out and he had
papers on him showing that he was an
insurgent. He then ordered those within
the building to come out or he would
shoot. They did not reply and he COM
manded his soldiers TO fire. Upon going
In later twenty were found dead. We stil
believe that they were largely insurgents.
They certainly should have answered when
the soldiers ordered them out"
rs not Korea a difficult land TO mo-
Iice?" "
Yes, exceedingly so. The country "a
covered with mountains. There ara no
ROADS whatsoever over which troops can
De marched. The only routes from one
place to another are bride paths, which
become streams and rivers whenever IL
rains. There are practically no bridges and
the country is so poor that 1t is difficult to
provision the troops except by CARRYING
food everywhere with us. Another annov-
ance to which the men are subjected IA
the universal presence of vermin, owing to
the personal uncleanliness OF the people.
There are lice and bugs of all kinds, and
1t is almost impossible for the troops 20
keep themselves free from them"
Where a Solder should Die.
1 here asked the general as TO the
health of his troops. lie replied that IL
was excellent and that the troops had not
had the fevers, dysentary and smallpox.
80 common among the Koreans. He said
the men were well cared for, and 1 COM
plimented him on the healthful arrange
ments Of his new barracks, saying that
Japan was leading the world in matters OF
military sanitation. and that the low death
rate from disease among the japanese
troops in Manchuria had been less than
that Of any great war IN the past. The
general acknowledged that this was true
and significantly added:
I'VE japanese do not believe that a SOL
der should die I'm his bed"
/ then preached the subject OF Russia,
asking the general whether he thought
there would be another war later on and
whether he would build Qualifications along
the northern borders of Korea. He replied
that he would not and that such fortifica-
tions on the frontier would be contrary to
the treaties between the two countries. Al
10 another struggle with Russia, he would
not answer, saying that he hoped there
would be peace between the two nations
from now on. He said Japan did not want
trouble with any one, but that II war
came she would have to do what she could.
I'VE must fight just whenever our honor
Is at stake. There are occasions when to
live without fighting would be 10 suffer
more than 10 die"
l then asked, What about the charge
that you are preparing TO fight America %
To this the general semi-facetlously re-
piled:
You people must consider us very war
like TO think we want TO fight you. In,
deed, we would like 10 live a while yet. o
With that we both laughed and the IN
teryiew closed.
FRANK q. CARPENTER