In the history of the Japanese invasion of Korea there is the Jongmi Seven-point Treaty hatched in July 1907 by the Japanese imperialists to seize Korea’s rights to internal administration.

In November 1905 the Japanese imperialists cooked up the aggressive Ulsa Five-point Treaty which resulted in depriving Korea of its diplomatic rights and the establishment of their Residency-General in Korea. At this juncture emissaries of Emperor Kojong attended the Second International Peace Conference held at The Hague to disclose the illegality of the Ulsa treaty and appeal to the big powers for helping Korea restore its independence. This incited the Japanese to force Emperor Kojong to step down. Kojong, however, said that he would let his crown prince to replace him, not leaving the throne.

On July 24 Prime Minister Ri Wan Yong and others, at the instigation of the Japanese imperialists, forced the Emperor to sign the draft treaty but he flatly denied royal sanctions, signature and stamping of the imperial seal. Given the situation, the Japanese imperialists forced Ri Wan Yong to sign the draft in place of the Emperor and made it public as if the treaty was concluded.

In this way, Japan further intensified its rule through the Resident-General and its colonial rule over Korea after it divested Korea of all its rights to internal administration including the right to appointment and dismissal of government officials and the legislative power.

Belying the truth that the treaty was an invalid document as it was not ratified by the supreme ruler or supreme ruling organ of Korea, the Japanese set about realizing its aggressive ambition to completely occupy Korea.

History has long advanced with the change of centuries since then, but the Korean people clearly remember the crimes perpetrated by the Japanese imperialists who inflicted untold damage, human, material, cultural and moral, on their nation during their barbaric colonial fascist rule over Korea for more than 40 years.

The Japanese imperialists abducted and forcibly drafted some 8.4 million young and middle-aged Koreans to battlefields for its war of aggression and slave labour, killed more than one million, and forced 200 000 women into sexual slavery for their army. All these undeniable crimes perpetrated by Japan have never seen in history.

Once a Japanese media outlet said that the documents revealing the criminal acts committed by the Japanese imperialists in Korea and other Asian countries would be as high as 20 000 metres if they were piled up.

Notwithstanding, the Japanese reactionaries have not yet made an apology and reflection. Instead, they go to great lengths to justify and even distort their country’s past crimes.

Far from making a candid acknowledgment of or sincere apology for the past crimes, they claim that they should not make their coming generation bound by the fate of having to continue to apologize and that there would be no more apology for their aggressive history.

These shameless remarks spark off surging indignation of the Korean people against them.

The Korean people harden their determination to settle accounts with the sworn enemy. The statute of limitations is not applicable to their unprecedented crimes.

Han Kyong Ho