There was a massive demonstration against the Japanese imperialists in Korea on June 10 1926.

The demonstration, called the June 10 Independence Movement, was an eruption of the Koreans’ pent-up rage at the Japanese imperialist aggressors and a manifestation of their patriotic will to win back their national sovereignty.

In the wake of the March 1 Popular Uprising in 1919, the Korean people’s aspiration for national independence surged further and anti-Japanese struggles were waged vigorously all across Korea. Considering that they would be unable to suppress the Koreans’ ever-growing anti-Japanese spirit only by force of arms, the Japanese invaders changed their military rule into “civil government” in a bid to maintain and strengthen their colonial rule in a more vicious and crafty way. Meanwhile, they set up a notorious secret-service police system to drastically increase the police force and cooked up all kinds of fascist laws including the “law on maintenance of public order” to massively crack down on patriotic Koreans.

But all their tricks and suppression could not break the Koreans’ anti-Japanese will.

The sorrow of the ruined nation turned into anti-Japanese sentiment with the death of Sunjong, the last emperor of the feudal Joson dynasty, as a momentum. Much upset by the tendency, the Japanese police force and troops ran wild to clamp down on the Koreans, which triggered the nationwide anti-Japanese demonstration on June 10 1926.

People from all walks of life turned out in streets in all parts of Korea including Kyongsong, Inchon and Taegu to fight against the Japanese troops and police, chanting such slogans as “Long live Korea’s independence!” and “Korean fighters for independence, unite!”

Then the Japanese mobilized a large, fully armed force for indiscriminate fascist repression against bare-handed peaceful demonstrators. They outrageously killed many of them by wielding swords and guns and arrested and imprisoned many others.

The daring protest demos staged on a nationwide scale displayed the will of independence and patriotic fervour of the Korean nation, the willpower which could not be broken by any kind of crackdown, laid bare the deceitfulness and craftiness of Japan’s “civil government” and shook its colonial ruling system to the very foundation.

Afterwards, Japan covered the whole of Korea with the network of army and military and other police to brutally clamp down on the Koreans not tolerating the slightest sign of anti-Japanese independence movement.

Its military rule over Korea was beyond imagination in terms of brutality and viciousness.

Japan, however, obstinately denies the crimes it committed against the Korean nation in the past and shamelessly persists in the distortion of history, far from admitting and apologizing for the wrongs.

In addition, it is hell-bent on arms buildup under the patronage and at the instigation of the US.

He who likes playing with fire perishes in it.

The Korean people will surely settle accounts with Japan for its past crimes.