The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-02-28

one reVOluC1Or
which is not to be
Edison Matched behi n {
guarded doors in
some forgotten attic up back al
ley. The Korean revolution Wants
publicity and it has a press agent
(unpaid) who labors for the cause
just because he loves Koreans and
hates Japs.
! The Korean patriots in America
even want to broadcast by short
wave a message to their % million
conquered countrymen at home, tell
ing them to blow up bridges, to
mine highways, to destroy Jap am
munition plants. The Japs, say the
Koreans, have scattered a lot Of
radio receiving sets around Chosen
the Jap name for Korea, in order to
spread Japanese propaganda, and
the Korean patriots think these
/ same sets would receive and speak
Korean" propaganda just as well.
NOW WE
CAN HELP
To the 5000 Koreans in the Uni
ted States and Hawaii, the date of
this Forthcoming Liberty Conference
is significant, for it was March /.
1919, that the Koreans staged their
last open revolt against their jap
anese masters. The United States
couldn't support the Korean indie
pendence movement at that time
because Japan and the United States
were allies in World War I. Also. it
was without American protest that
the Korean emperor abdicated and
the Japanese took over. That was
after the Russo-Japanese war.
The call for this Korean Liberty
Conference comes from 67-year old
Dr. Syngman Rhee, who was snug
gled into Shanghai in a coffin to
lead the furtive revolution % years
ago. DR.. Rhee was the first president
of the Korean Republic. He was a
student of Woodrow Wilson'S at
Princeton and he was and still is a
believer in Wilson's doctrine of self
determination for small peoples.
despite what happened in the inter-
vening years. Rhee was imprisoned
as an agitator for seven years and
was tortured as only an Oriental
can torture his fellow-man, one of
the favorite devices being to beat the
backs of the outstretched fingers
with bamboo switches. When excited
Rhee still blows on the backs of his
hands In an unconscious gesture of
nervousness.
Out of prison, Rhee came to the
United States and he has worked
indefatigably for Korean independ-
ence ever since. Most of the time,
nobody would listen. Korean indie
pendence was sold down the river at
eVrsailles. Today, Rhee sees another
chance.
STILL FIGHT ON
There is a Korean national army
OF $4,000 exiles fighting with the
Chiense, says Rhee and there are
$4,000 guerillas in the Manchukuoan
hills. There is a provisional Korean
government in Chungking, headed
by another Korean patriot named
Kim Koo. Generalissimo Chang
Kai-shek and his wife have given
private funds to help this movement
but the Chinese republic has never
given formal recognition to the Ko-
rean revolutionary government and
this is one of the reasons why the
United States government hesitates
to extend recognition.
Since Pearl Harbor, the United
States has taken two definite steps
to aid Koreans. Their nationals who
have previously registered as Ko-
reans are excluded from classical
ton as enemy aliens, and the funds
OF these Korean nationals were freed
from freezing orders. Austrian ma
tionals in the United States have
been given the same consideration
and by these steps a start has been
made toward Free Austria and Free
Korea movements.
But do the % million Koreans
want independence now? After all,
it is pointed out, the Koreans have
been Japanese subjects for nearly 40
years. To this the Korean patriots
reply that their civilization goes
back AZ centuries and 40 years can't
destroy what 1900 years built up.
Then it is asked if, granting that
the Koreans do want independence,
do they want the government of
Kim Koo and Syngman Rhee? May
be the Koreans want a government
more to the left or more to the
right or a government made up of
only those Koreans who have lived
at home all through the occupation.
Then there is Kilsoo HAN, an
other Korean patriot who admits he
was an agent of the Japanese secret
service at one time, and bored from
within to set up a Korean revolu-
tionary moVemnet of his own. The
Teh whole potential Korean fifth
column and independence movement
is therefore confused. If the Chin
ese government would recognize Koo
-. If Rhee and Ham and the other
independent patriots could get to-
gether--. Rhee hopes his conference
will do the trick.