The New York herald., 1921-10-13

These eleven years have been en-
livened with assassinations, pomD
throwing, declarations Of independence
and an uninterrupted form Of guerrilla
warfare about which the world at large
is not permitted to know. The leaders
Of the Corean Democratic movement"
predict that some day Japan Is going
to be driven from Corea- They openly
assert that the value OF their country
to Japan is Of military rather than
economic character. In proof OF this
declaration they claim that although
the Japanese in solemnly guarantee
ing the political independence and ter
ritorial integrity of Corea inaugurated
a policy Of peaceful penetration at
the conclusion Of the Russian Japanese
war in 1905 the Japanese themselves
have not expanded to any considerable
extent in the direction OF Corea-
The latest available figures provided
by the Japanese Government show
that there are approximately S60,000
Japanese In Corea as against 20,o0O,O00
Coreans in round numbers. The Corean
peninsula embraces probably 10000
square miles. The Corean leaders as
sert that there is yet available several
hundred thousand acres OF productive
land in which the Japanese might set
tie IL there were any real necessity Tor
their doing so.
The fact that they do not move over
from the Japanese Empire, a short ten
hours steaming distance away, Is de-
clared by the advocates OF Corean In
dependence to furnish absolute PROOF
Of their further contention that Japan
ia determined to maintain Corea as a
military back door" for defensive pur-
poses in an emergency. it Is this
phase Of the question regarding the
sincerity Of Japanese pretensions that
does more than anything else to en-
courage the Coreans to resist complete
subjugation by every means IN their
power.
The realization Of this state Of mind
among the Coreans Is undoubtedly re-
sponsible for the Japanese theory that
Corea must be subdued by military
authority. Hence, it is that Chosen,
which is the Japanese name for Corea,
ia governed with an iron hand under
the guise of a benevolent despotism.
The complete control OF every
agency of information, the most
searching and relentless system OF
espionage existing in any country In
the world, the denial to the Corean
people of the right to use their own
flag. their own language, free press
and to possess means Of self-defence
renders II extremely difficult to dis
close actual conditions prevailing In
tt,ep al
On the surface orderly tranquility
preyails, at least in the cities and
larger towns, but there is enough that
goes on back of the scenes to keep the
military government OF Corea keyed
up to a high tension Of apprehension.
because the Coreans are not quite so
dociIe and inactive as they seem.
7 had an illustration of this fact the
other day at Seoul. and because Of the
great secrecy exercised by the military
government am not quite certain
that the official explanation of the
incident was correct. During the
afternoon tremendous explosion oc-
Cured in a remote quarter Of the
town. Alert Japanese soldiers were
despatched to the place. and the
Coreans. ever expectant of the sum-
mons" TO action against their Japan
ese opprcssors. displayed the greatest
excitement.
The Japanese authorities admitted
the probability OF another outbreak:
the Coreans expressed the hope that
another Japanese arsenal had been
blown up or that some valued retainer
of the Mikados Government had been
sent to join his honored ancestors by
the bombing route. I made diligent
inquiry to determine the cause and re-
suit OF the explosion. The clearest
explanation that was able TO secure
was that manufacturing plant had