1. An Jung-geun is remembered as a martyr in both South and North Korea for his 1909 assassination of the Japanese politician Ito Hirobumi, who had previously served as the first prime minister of Japan and Japanese Resident-General of Korea.
16 Facts About An Jung-geun
1. 2.
An Jung-geun was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation in 1962 by the South Korean government, the most prestigious civil decoration in the Republic of Korea, for his efforts for Korean independence.
3.
Kim Ku, a future leader of the Korean independence movement who had taken refuge in An Tae-hun's house at the time, wrote that young An Jung-geun was an excellent marksman, liked to read books, and had strong charisma.
4.
An Jung-geun maintained his belief in Catholicism until his death, going to the point of even asking his son to become a priest in his last letter to his wife.
5.
An Jung-geun was appointed a lieutenant general of an armed Korean resistance group and led several attacks against Japanese forces before his eventual defeat.
6.
An Jung-geun shot Kawagami Toshihiko, the Japanese Consul General, Morita Jiro, a Secretary of the Imperial Household Agency, and Tanaka Seitaro, an executive of the South Manchuria Railway, who were seriously injured.
7.
An Jung-geun insisted he did nothing wrong, reciting a list of 15 execution-worthy offenses he believed Ito had committed.
8.
An Jung-geun had hoped to be viewed as a prisoner of war instead of an assassin.
9.
An Jung-geun received Korean white clothes from his mother to die in during his execution.
10.
An Jung-geun followed the progress of Japan during the Russo-Japanese War and claimed that he and his compatriots were delighted at hearing of the defeat of one of the agents of western imperialism, but were disappointed that the war ended before Russia was totally subjugated.
11.
An Jung-geun hoped that this friendship, along with China, would become a model for the world to follow.
12.
An Jung-geun failed and was imprisoned for 15 years; he died in 1926.
13.
An Jung-geun died in 1952 from tuberculosis, with his children immigrating to the United States of America after the war.
14.
An Jung-geun left many calligraphy works which were written in the jail of Lushun although he hadn't studied calligraphy formally.
15.
In 1959, South Korean film King Gojong and martyr An Jung-Geun was the first movie about An Jung-geun, and is a dramatized story about the event.
16.
The 2004 South Korean film Thomas An Jung-geun is another dramatized story of the event.