In the early years of the last century, imperialist Japan railroaded the government of the feudal Joson dynasty into concluding many treaties with it to occupy Korea.

One of them is the Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty aimed at its seizing of the right of the internal administration of the dynasty. The official name of the treaty is the Korea-Japan Agreement. It is called the Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty as it was concluded in the year of Jongmi (1907) with seven articles.

Having occupied Korea by invoking the aggressive Ulsa Five-Point Treaty in November 1905, Japan established its Residency-General in Korea and deprived the feudal government of Korea of its diplomatic rights. At that time, it hatched a plot to forcibly depose Emperor Kojong who was against its seizure of his country’s sovereignty.

And when there took place the Emissary Incident at The Hague at the Second International Peace Conference, which revealed the illegality of the Ulsa Five-Point Treaty and the invalidity of the Japanese imperialists’ military occupation of Korea, Japan worked out a scheme to oust Emperor Kojong to replace him with Sunjong in an attempt to conclude the Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty with ease.

However, on July 19, 1907, Kojong only said that he would let his crown prince to replace him, not leaving the throne. When Prime Minister Ri Wan Yong and others, at the instigation of the Japanese imperialists, forced him to sign the draft treaty on July 24, he flatly denied royal sanctions, signature and stamping of the imperial seal.

In the face of these developments, the crafty Japanese only got the seal of traitor Ri Wan Yong, and made public the treaty with the name of the Korea-Japan Agreement as if the treaty had been concluded.

While drafting the document, Japan appended all sorts of regulations to it to implement it. The Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty was an illegal and fraud document devoid of royal sanctions, signature and stamping of the seal of Emperor Kojong, the supreme ruler of Korea, a party to the treaty.

As the right of internal administration of Korea was in the hands of Japan with the promulgation of the treaty, the government of the feudal Joson dynasty, which was staffed by pro-Japanese elements, had to deal with all its internal affairs such as enactment of laws and other important administrative affairs under the “approval” of Japan’s Resident-General.

It could neither appoint nor dismiss high-ranking Korean officials nor employ foreigners without the “approval” of the Resident-General. It had to employ the Japanese recommended by the Resident-General.

In this way, Japan further intensified the rule by its Resident-General and its colonial rule over Korea through the treaty.

The Japanese reactionaries are still today claiming about the “legality” of their criminal acts and scheming to cover their past crime of illegal seizure of the rights of the internal administration of Korea.

However, Japan’s history of aggression on Korea can neither be erased nor reduced.

Mindful of the fact that the denial of its shameless crimes leads to piling up its crimes, it should reflect on all the atrocities it committed against the Korean people in the last century and make an apology for them.