Harbin Station: The Day Itō Hirobumi Was Shot by a Korean Independence Activist

On October 26, 1909 (Meiji 42), at around 9:30 in the morning, on the platform of Harbin station in Manchuria, the first Resident-General of Korea, Itō Hirobumi, was shot by the Korean independence activist An Jung-geun with a pistol. He was sixty-eight. He was immediately carried into the train, but died about thirty minutes later. The fall in the line of duty of one of the greatest leaders of Meiji Japan struck the Japanese society and the international community of the time with great impact. The moment at which the deepest historical point of contention of the Japan-Korea relation began.

The Purpose of the Harbin Visit

Itō Hirobumi's purpose in visiting Harbin was a meeting with the Russian finance minister Kokovtsov. The Japan-Russia consultations over Manchuria and Korea at the time were rising in tension, and Itō, as former Resident-General of Korea and current President of the Privy Council, bore the role of coordinator of the relations between the two countries. The subject of the meeting was, it is held, the adjustment of Japan-Russia interests in Manchuria and informal consultation on the disposition of the Korean peninsula. It was an informal visit accompanied by several of Itō's close aides, including Murota Yoshibumi.

An Jung-geun's Motive

An Jung-geun (1879-1910) was an activist of the Korean independence movement, then thirty years old. He viewed the protectorate-ization of Korea by the Second Japan-Korea Treaty of 1905, the disbandment of the Korean army by the Third Japan-Korea Treaty of 1907, and Itō's rule as Resident-General as 'violations of Korean sovereignty,' and planned Itō's assassination as 'a righteous act for Korean independence.' An Jung-geun, in consultation with several comrades, obtained information of Itō's visit to Harbin and lay in wait, carrying out the act on the platform. After the act, An took out the Korean national flag, shouted 'Long live Korea,' and was arrested on the spot.

Course of the Incident

At 9 in the morning on October 26, 1909, the train carrying Itō Hirobumi's party arrived at Harbin station. Itō, after a brief meeting with the finance minister Kokovtsov, went out onto the platform and reviewed the Russian military honor guard. As he was returning to the train after the review, An Jung-geun fired six shots from the crowd, hitting Itō with three in the chest and abdomen. Carried into the train at once, and despite emergency treatment by the accompanying physician Koyama Zen, Itō died about thirty minutes later. An Jung-geun was arrested at the same time, was later handed over to Japan from Russia, was tried at the Lüshun prison, and was executed on March 26, 1910.

Historical Aftermath

Itō Hirobumi's assassination produced the result of strengthening the 'Korea annexation argument' in Japan. The living Itō had in fact been reserved about Korean annexation, advancing the protectorate-ization of Korea but holding that complete annexation was premature. After Itō's death, the annexationist faction — Prime Minister Katsura Tarō, Foreign Minister Komura Jutarō, Resident-General Terauchi Masatake — took the lead, leading to the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of August 1910. As a historical irony, there is the aspect that Itō's assassination accelerated annexation. The evaluation of Itō and An Jung-geun in the two countries is in stark contrast, and in the contemporary Japan-Korea relation as well, it continues to be one of the deepest points of contention in the historical consciousness of the two countries.

"For the realization of peace in East Asia, I shot Itō Hirobumi."