At 9 a.m. on October 26, 1909, after the 68-year-old Hirobumi Ito met with the Russian Finance Minister in Harbin, a dead Korean soldier named An Jung-geun suddenly rushed out of the crowd. He dressed up as a Japanese and shouted at Hirobumi Ito. After firing several shots, the h

At 9 o'clock in the morning on October 26, 1909, after the 68-year-old Hirobumi Ito met with the Russian Finance Minister in Harbin, suddenly a dead Korean soldier named An Jung-geun rushed out of the crowd. He dressed as a Japanese and attacked Ito Hirobumi fired several shots in succession. The highly lethal bullets caused Ito Hirobumi's internal bleeding to be unable to be stopped, and he died on the spot.

As one of the nine elders of Emperor Meiji , Ito Hirobumi has served as prime minister four times. How could he have thought that he would die at the hands of a North Korean? But if you know the hatred between Ito Hirobumi and the Koreans, as well as An Junggen's firm belief in assassination, you will understand that Ito Hirobumi was assassinated by An Junggen sooner or later.

1. The rise of Ito Hirobumi

On October 16, 1841, Ito Hirobumi was born in a poor family in the Choshu Domain of Japan. When he was a child, Ito Hirobumi often studied writing while working as a handyman. As an adult, Ito Hirobumi served in the military together with Japanese youths of the same age. After retirement, he joined the Yoshida Shoin clan, the leader of the reformist lower-level samurai, and was highly regarded.

Deeply influenced by reformist ideas, Ito Hirobumi soon became a passionate young man and formed a gang. While drinking and complaining about his dissatisfaction with the Japanese society at that time, he was intoxicated in the craze of "respecting the king and rejecting the foreigners". In 1863, Ito Hirobumi went to England to study. He was surprised by Western civilization and realized that Japan must open its doors and overthrow the decadent shogunate rule in order to become strong.

In 1864, after Ito Hirobumi returned to China, at the time when the combined fleets of Britain, France and other four countries were shelling Shimonoseki , Takasugi Shinsaku and other reformist lower-level samurai rose up to seize the domain. In January 1866, the lower-level samurai of Satsuma and Choshu formed a alliance to overthrow the shogunate. Ito Hirobumi also joined the army to overthrow the shogunate. The shogunate army lost consecutive battles.

On October 14, 1867, the Japanese Emperor issued a secret edict to the overthrow faction . Realizing that the situation was over, the shogun Tokugawa Yoshiki proposed to return power to the emperor. Ito Hirobumi, who had contributed to the overthrow of the curtain, was replaced by Emperor Meiji's new boss. Government-appointed foreign affairs negotiators.

Hirobumi Ito actively advocated introducing all aspects of Europe and the United States into Japan and vigorously promoted reform. He made the most significant achievements in building railways and reforming the currency system . With the help of the British, Japan built multiple railways and accelerated the development of Japan's transportation. modernization.

In 1877, the feudal samurai represented by Saigo Takamori launched a large-scale armed rebellion. Ito Hirobumi sent people to lead troops with muskets and defeated the samurai with katana . Later, Meiji Sansei Go Takamori, Kido Takayoshi , Okubo Toshimichi died one after another. Ito Hirobumi solved his opponent Okuma Shigenobu through a coup, and became the number one figure in Japanese politics. At that time, although Japan was developing after reform, various unequal treaties imposed on Japan by Western powers still existed.

In 1882, Ito Hirobumi went to Germany to study the constitution, and after returning home, he formulated the Japanese Constitution . However, the Meiji Constitution formulated under the leadership of Ito Hirobumi was strongly feudal in nature, retaining the emperor's rule and stipulating the emperor's supreme status and absolute unlimited power.

2. Launched the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and helped the reformists escape

In 1894, Ito Hirobumi used the uprising of the Donghak Party in Korea, a vassal state of the Qing government, as an excuse to launch the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese fleet fought undeclared in western Korea. Toyoshima on the sea surface attacked the Chinese fleet, and Ito Hirobumi personally participated in commanding the war.

Soon, due to the incompetence of the Qing government, Japan spread the war to the Liaodong Peninsula, capturing Lushunkou, Haicheng, Niuzhuang, Yingkou and other places. The Qing government, which claimed to be a great power in China, was violently beaten by the island nation of Japan and was forced to sign the Sino-Japanese "Treaty of Shimonoseki" which was humiliating and humiliating the country. Japan not only extorted 30 million taels of silver and occupied Taiwan, but also obtained a series of rights in China, including extraterritorial rights , concession rights, Yangtze River shipping rights, etc.

In 1898, Ito Hirobumi came to China and met with Emperor Guangxu and Kang Youwei, the leader of the reformists. The reformers even expressed the hope that Ito Hirobumi would help China carry out reforms. However, there was a sinful old woman Cixi in China at that time, and Emperor Guangxu was famous but not powerful. After the Wuxu Coup failed, Ito Hirobumi helped Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao escape to Japan.

3. Hirobumi Ito became the "Emperor" of North Korea

In 1896, Emperor Gaozong of North Korea "upgraded" to the Korean Empire with the support of Russia. In 1905, the contradiction between Japan and Russia continued to intensify, and the two sides fought on the Korean Peninsula and A naval battle took place in the Tsushima Strait between Honshu, Japan. The Japanese Combined Fleet commanded by Togo Heihachiro fought against the Russian Second Pacific Fleet commanded by Rozed Stefansky. In the end, Japan won a great victory and Russia's Second Pacific Fleet was almost completely annihilated.

After the war, Ito Hirobumi came to North Korea as a special envoy to take charge of North Korea's diplomacy and became North Korea's "Overlord". The king of North Korea sent someone to The International Court of Justice in The Hague to accuse Japan of aggression. After Hirobumi Ito learned about this, he forced Emperor Gaozong of North Korea to abdicate, deprived the North Korean government of its power, and disbanded the North Korean army.

Ito Hirobumi took great pains to ensure that Korea would always be a colony of Japan and for Japan to firmly control Korea. While he invited the Japanese Crown Prince Yoshihito to inspect North Korea, he also personally served as the teacher of the North Korean Crown Prince, accompanying the North Korean Crown Prince to study in Japan, and gave him careful guidance, hoping to cultivate a puppet emperor who would obey Japan's orders.

In 1910, Japan forced the Korean Empire to sign the "Japan-Korea Merger Treaty", officially annexed the Korean Peninsula, established the Governor-General of Korea, carried out colonial rule, forced King Gojong to abdicate, and established the previous crown prince as Sunjong. A large number of Koreans who did not want to become Japanese subjects crossed the Yalu River into China and became the main part of the Korean ethnic group in China today.

4. An Jung-geun witnessed the demise of North Korea

On September 2, 1879, An Jung-geun was born in the Shunheung An family, a prominent family in North Korea. His father An Tae-hun was a Jinshi, and An Jung-gen was the eldest son in the family. Father An Tae-hun lived in the capital Seoul (today's Seoul, South Korea) in his early years. He supported the reform plans of the enlightened party members and was even selected to study in Japan.

On December 4, 1884, the reformist Enlightenment Party in North Korea planned with the Japanese minister and relied on the Japanese army to launch the Jiashen Coup, killing a group of conservative officials and announcing that it would sever relations with the Qing government. The Enlightenment Party hoped that Promoting North Korean reform through a coup.

As the conservatives in Korea requested the Qing government to send troops to quell the rebellion, the Qing army led by Yuan Shikai entered the Korean palace, defeated the Japanese army, killed the leaders of the Kaihua Party, and carried out a mass killing of the Kaihua Party members. Some of the leaders of the Kaihua Party fled to Japan. , the old guard returned to power. Ahn Tae-hun, who was once associated with the Enlightenment Party, had to live in seclusion to avoid persecution.

During his seclusion, 6-year-old An Zhonggen was arranged by his father to receive Sinology education. The young An Zhonggen does not like reading, but he likes to wield swords and guns. An Zhonggen, who is eighteen or nineteen years old, is a hot-blooded, bold and chivalrous man.

Ahn Jung-geun experienced the survival and death of North Korea when he was growing up. From 1894, when Japan defeated Korea's original suzerainty, the Qing Dynasty, and drove the Chinese forces out of the Korean Peninsula, and then Japan and Russia competed on the Korean Peninsula, Korea became a foreign battlefield twice and fell step by step into the abyss of national subjugation. Since then, North Korea has completely become a Japanese colony, and An Jung-gen is extremely sad.

5. Ahn Jung-geun severed his oath of alliance and assassinated Ito Hirobumi

On March 2, 1909, during a meeting with 11 Korean martyrs, An Jung-geun took the lead in personally cutting off a joint of his left ring finger and using blood on the four joints of the Korean Taegeuk flag The four Chinese characters "大韩INDEPENDENCE" were written on the hexagram. Afterwards, everyone cut off their fingers and wrote them in blood. An Zhonggen was promoted as the leader of the alliance. An Zhonggen and others decided to use assassination methods to combat the arrogance of the Japanese invaders.The primary target is Ito Hirobumi. If the assassination fails within 3 years, he will commit mass suicide to apologize to the people.

In the same year, An Jung-gen learned that Ito Hirobumi was going to Harbin, China, to hold talks with the Russian Minister of Finance. An Zhonggen thought that the opportunity had come, and actively planned with his companions, and came to Harbin in advance.

In the early morning of October 26, 1909, An Zhonggen checked the pistol, loaded 8 rounds of ammunition, put on his old suit jacket, put on his peaked cap, and put the pistol in his right pocket. Although the security was tight at the time, An Zhonggen still pretended to be Japanese and sneaked in, keeping his eye on the target Hirobumi Ito.

When Ito Hirobumi inspected the Russian military band, the honor guard, the consular corps of various countries, the Chinese honor guard, and the Japanese welcoming team in sequence, and was about 5 meters away from An Zhonggen, An Zhonggen quickly took out his pistol, fired several shots, and was then calmly arrested. Ito Hirobumi Died due to massive hemorrhage.

After interrogating An Jung-gen 11 times, the Japanese sentenced An Jung-gen to death. On March 26, 1910, An Chonggen put on the white Korean clothes his mother made for him, walked to the gallows, and died calmly. An Chonggen's remains were buried in Lushun Public Cemetery.

Ahn Jung-geun is undoubtedly the national hero of the Korean people and a rare martyr throughout the ages!