Geonguk Alliance (建國同盟) was a Korean independence movement organization formed on August 10, 1944, at the end of the Japanese colonial period in Korea. It served as the parent body of the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence, organized on August 16, 1945, was transformed into a political party in October 1945, and in November of that year was expanded and developed into the Korean People's Party by merging small and minor groups. The six figures who organized and led the Geonguk Alliance were Yo Unhyong, Cho Dong-ho, Hwang Un, Yi Sok-gu, Hyeon U-hyeon, and Kim Jin-u.
Background of Organization
Yo Unhyong's conviction that Japan would collapse was prompted by the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941. In Gyeongseong Prefecture and Tokyo, he made contact with high-ranking Japanese political and military officials, including Ogawa Shūmei, Tanaka, and Konoe Fumimaro, to obtain high-level political and military intelligence. At the same time, through contacts with Yi Yeong-seon (李永善) and Choe Geun-u, who were in Yan'an, Beijing, and Manchuria in China, he grasped the international situation and the battle conditions of the Second World War. In addition, during the 1940s, people in Korea listened to shortwave broadcasts in various ways, including the "Voice of America," and Yo Unhyong was also exposed to such information. Shortly after the outbreak of the Pacific War, from April to August 1942, he visited Tokyo twice and personally witnessed the first American air raid on Tokyo. Through this, he became convinced that Japan's defeat was imminent, and he planned activities to prepare for Japan's collapse, while also establishing preparatory work for national founding based on the logic that "the defeat of Japan equals the independence of Korea." However, in December 1942, while returning from Tokyo, he was arrested at Shimonoseki in Japan on charges of violating the "Peace Preservation Law," the "Army and Navy Criminal Law," and the "Chosun Temporary Security Ordinance," and was taken into custody by the Gyeongseong Military Police. This was because his account of his Tokyo observations, given to Oh Geon-yeong (吳建永), Yi Jae-hyeong (李載馨), and Hong Jeung-sik (洪增植), had been spread through Oh Gyeon-yeong's son, Oh Seong-ryong (吳成龍). On July 2, 1943, Yo Unhyong was sentenced at the Gyeongseong District Court to one year in prison with a three-year suspended sentence, and was held in prison for about half a year. The concept of the Geonguk Alliance was given concrete form during this period. This concept was pursued as an extension of the activities of acquaintances from his time as president of the Chosun Joongang Ilbo in the mid-1930s, including people related to sports, martial arts, progressive youth, student circles, and his network of connections through wedding officiating.
Later, according to records in the 1947 edition of the Chosun Yearbook (《朝鮮年鑑》) published after liberation, the "Chosun Minjok Haebang Yeonmaeng" (朝鮮民族解放聯盟) was formed around Yo Unhyong on August 10, 1943, and in August of the following year, 1944, it was developed and strengthened into the Geonguk Alliance under a horizontal organizational structure divided into three sectors: organization, information liaison, and countermeasure research.
Early Activities
The "Chosun Minjok Haebang Yeonmaeng" began its activities under three slogans: acquiring comrades, self-perfection, and organizational preparation. First, after securing the core of the organization at the center, various liaison and organizing methods were employed, including the selection of liaison officers at the provincial level, to form local and subordinate organizations. After a year of twists and turns and preparatory work through the Chosun Minjok Haebang Yeonmaeng, the "Geonguk Alliance" was formally established on August 10, 1944, at the home of Hyeon U-hyeon (玄又玄), who ran the Samgwang Korean Medicine Clinic in Gyeongun-jeong, Gyeongseong Prefecture. The founding members were Yo Unhyong, Hyeon U-hyeon, Cho Dong-ho, Kim Jin-u, Hwang Un, and Yi Sok-gu, and the organization was formed by gathering moderate socialists and independence movement forces. (Among them, Kim Jin-u had been a disciple of Yu In-seok, who had been a righteous army leader at the end of the Joseon dynasty.)
To prevent continuous arrests and organizational collapse even if some members were sacrificed, it was decided to prevent vertical links within the organization, and to establish cell organizations in factories, companies, schools, and mass organizations, encompassing patriotic conscientious people excluding pro-Japanese collaborators and national traitors. The purposes of the Geonguk Alliance were twofold: struggle and construction. First, to accelerate Japan's collapse; second, to systematically prepare and organize the leading forces in order to prepare for liberation. In other words, it aimed at forming a national united front for national liberation struggle and preparatory work for national founding.
Around 1943–1944, Yo Unhyong considered names for the organization such as "Chosun Haebang Yeonmaeng" (朝鮮解放聯盟), "Chosun Minjok Haebang Yeonmaeng," "People's Front" (人民戰線), and "People's Committee" (人民委員會), before finally settling on the name Geonguk Alliance. The names "Chosun Minjok Haebang Yeonmaeng" and "Chosun Haebang Yeonmaeng" placed emphasis on the task of national liberation. These names were chosen with an eye toward the organizational names commonly used by communists in the late 1930s to early 1940s, and were also intended to maintain a certain unity with the Korean Independence League of North China (華北朝鮮獨立同盟), organized in Yan'an in 1942. The "People's Front" and "People's Committee" placed emphasis on the fact that the organization took the form of a united front encompassing all segments of society. The concept of the People's Front had a certain connection with the emphasis on the "anti-fascist People's Front" and "anti-imperialist national united front" that emerged from the Comintern's Seventh Congress in 1935. The People's Committee focused on the form of government or the direction of state construction. The name "People's Front" carried a strong meaning of binding anti-fascist and anti-imperialist forces into a struggle front, whereas "People's Committee" could not adequately express an emphasis on anti-Japanese struggle. The name "Geonguk Alliance" placed greater emphasis on the "national founding preparatory work" after liberation rather than on the national liberation struggle.
Principles and Program
In October 1944, the Geonguk Alliance adopted the following three program articles.
- All people and all factions shall unite in common cause and, as one nation, expel the forces of Japanese imperialism and restore the freedom and independence of the Korean people.
- In cooperation with the anti-Axis countries, a united anti-Japanese front shall be formed, and all reactionary forces that obstruct the complete independence of Korea shall be eradicated.
- In all matters of national construction, measures shall be based on democratic principles, with particular emphasis on the liberation of the working peasant masses.
The first article clarified the character and purpose of the Geonguk Alliance as a national united front body that must gather anti-Japanese national strength to accomplish national liberation struggle and the construction of an independent sovereign state. In terms of content, it also signified national unity including alliance with independence movement organizations overseas.
The second article concerns forming an anti-imperialist united front with the Allied countries to overthrow Japan and seize independence, and receiving international support for this. It also excludes not only Japanese imperialists but also pro-Japanese collaborators and national traitors.
The third article addressed the question of state construction. It concerns implementing all policies in fields such as economy, society, and culture in accordance with democratic principles, and building a democratic state on that basis. However, the "people's democratic" state envisioned by the Geonguk Alliance differed in certain respects from the socialist state to be established through a "proletarian revolution."
The Geonguk Alliance adopted three principles of "Three Nots" (三不) as its rules. These were: not to speak about the Geonguk Alliance at all (不言), not to leave any written record (不文), and not to disclose names (不名). These very concise "Three Nots" principles were put forward as principles that members had to observe in a situation that demanded strong organizational discipline to preserve and protect the organization under Japanese repression as an illegal organization.
Organizational Structure
From immediately after its founding, the Geonguk Alliance established a central organization and local organizations, and also carried out, at a rudimentary stage, extensive organizational preparation to encompass all classes and strata. Until just before liberation, the organization expanded rapidly, but its failure to build a strong organizational capacity was a limitation. The main activities of the Geonguk Alliance were organizational work to build the framework of the organization and expand local and sectoral organizations, liaison and solidarity activities with overseas revolutionary organizations, and preparatory activities for national founding.
Following Yo Unhyong, Hyeon U-hyeon, Hwang Un, Yi Sok-gu, Kim Jin-u, and Cho Dong-ho, who participated in August 1944, in October 1944 Yi Gi-seok, Choe Byeong-cheol, Kim Se-yong, Park Seung-hwan, Kim Mun-gap, Yi Sang-baek, Heo Gyu, Yi Man-gyu, Yi Yeo-seong, Yi Su-mok, Jeong Jae-cheol, and others joined at Yo Unhyong's recommendation. The central organization as drawn up around October 1944 consisted of Yo Unhyong as chairman; Cho Dong-ho and Hyeon U-hyeon in the Internal Affairs Department (responsible for gathering comrades domestically and managing the organization); and Yi Geol-so, Yi Sok-gu, and Hwang Un in the Foreign Affairs Department (responsible for liaison with overseas independence movement organizations); and Kim Jin-u and Yi Su-mok in the Finance Department (responsible for raising and managing funds). Participants came from a wide variety of occupations, from painter (Kim Jin-u), soldier (Park Seung-hwan), Korean medicine doctor (Hyeon U-hyeon), and writers (Kim Se-yong, Yi Yeo-seong), to athlete (Yi Sang-baek). Ideologically, a broad range of people was included, from nationalist Kim Jin-u, who had served the late Joseon righteous army leader Yu Insok, to communists who had graduated from the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow. The central body of the Geonguk Alliance was organized around the immediate national task, encompassing a broad range of left and right. Most members had experience in anti-Japanese struggle in the 1920s–1930s and imprisonment.
However, the central body of the Geonguk Alliance was one in which Yo Unhyong's personal influence was decisive, and even the recruitment of organization members depended on his personal relationships. Because the participants were mainly middle-aged and older people with strong patriotic-martyr inclinations, the central body of the Geonguk Alliance came close to the form of a secret society of patriotic men. Moreover, the participants were not people who had undergone organizational training or activities, nor were they ideologically unified. The Geonguk Alliance was unable to deploy a theoretically outstanding political line, organizational line, or refined tactics, and adopted an artisanal method of organization focused on individual liaison activities. Nevertheless, the organization of the Geonguk Alliance's central body was an important achievement of the domestic national liberation movement of the 1940s.
The Geonguk Alliance not only formed a central organization but also worked to build a local organizational network. Since 1943, when the Chosun Minjok Haebang Yeonmaeng was formed, it had placed liaison persons to build subordinate organizations, and after a year of organizational preparation, in October 1944 it appointed responsible representative committee members for each province as follows:
Yi Sok-gu, Hyeon U-hyeon, Hwang Un, Yi Geol-so, Kim Mun-gap, and others from the central body traveled to various regions to handle liaison. To build local organizations around the central organizational framework, two or three local organization heads were appointed for each area as above, but difficulties lay in wait.
Among the local organizations, there were cases where only individuals were designated, and cases where, instead of the Geonguk Alliance name for a formal (有形) organization, names such as "Peasant Alliance" (農民同盟) or "Peasant Association" were used, a case of different name but same body (異名同體). There were also cases where organizations were formed as formless (無形) groups. In other words, in the case of local organizations, the approach centered on formless groups, and even when formal organizations existed, other names were used instead of the Geonguk Alliance, in an effort to avoid exposing vertical links within the organization. The reason was that if they were linked vertically through a unified organizational system, there was a high risk of mass repression by the Japanese government. Most local organization heads had a history of participating in anti-Japanese national liberation struggles during the colonial period, and the representative organizations in which they were active were the Singanhoe and the Chosun Nongno Chongdongmaeng of the 1920s. Individuals who did not work in these organizations were mainly involved in labor and peasant movement organizations of the 1920s. Persons related to the communist movement mostly participated in the First and Second Chosun Communist Party of the 1920s. After liberation, most of them were active in the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence and the People's Committee.
Affiliated Organizations
Under the Geonguk Alliance, various organizations by class and stratum were prepared. Organizations for peasants, students drafted into the military, conscription and labor-mobilization refusers, youth, student organizations, military organizations, workers, women, and office workers were formed or prepared.
Peasant Alliance
First, the Peasant Alliance was organized on October 8, 1944, at Yongmun Mountain in Gyeonggi Province, and its participants were thirteen people, including Yo Unhyong, Kim Yong-gi, Yi Jang-ho, Choi Yong-geun, Mun Ui-ryong, Kwon Jung-hun, Shin Jae-ik, Choi Yong-sun, Shin Hong-jin, Park Seong-bok, and Ju Han-jeom. The Peasant Alliance set as its goal a struggle aimed at national liberation, and to this end it carried out obstruction of labor conscription and military conscription, incitement of public sentiment, concealment and escape of conscripts, and opposition to grain requisition. In fact, the Peasant Alliance sheltered several dozen young men subject to student military draft, labor conscription, and military conscription in the areas around Yongmun Mountain and Yebong Mountain, and with the help of doctors, they exempted people from conscription through false diagnoses, or had them exempted by feigning mental illness. Representative examples after liberation included Jeon Sa-ok, who became a central committee member of the Chosun Youth Federation, Yi Hyeok-gi, Yeom Yun-gu, and Park Seung-hwan (then a captain in Manchukuo), who became deputy commander of the Guknjun Junbidae. Moreover, to oppose grain requisition, they did not farm rice paddies but grew sweet potatoes, potatoes, and other upland crops not subject to requisition as food substitutes, and through students of the Jaegyeong Middle School in the village, they gathered some thirty secondary school staff and professional-school students in the Gyeongseong Prefecture city area, and had them carry out rudimentary propaganda and agitation activities to raise national consciousness and instill anti-Japanese ideas. The Peasant Alliance gradually expanded its scope of activity to Yeoju, Yangpyeong, Icheon, Gwangju, Yangju, Hongcheon, Goyang, Gyeongseong, and other areas. Although peasants were its main members, the Peasant Alliance was organized not as a simple peasant organization but to serve as a base for the Geonguk Alliance as an underground united front body. Its importance lay in its role as an organizational base for the series of organizational, propaganda, and military activities of the Geonguk Alliance, as well as an anti-Japanese struggle organization of peasants.
Organizations of Those Refusing Student Military Service and Conscription
Second, organizations of those refusing student military service, labor conscription, and military conscription were formed. Representative cases that had certain connections with the Geonguk Alliance included the Bogwang Party (普光黨), the Chosun Minjok Haebang Hyeopdongdan, and the Mountain Corps (山岳隊). A representative student-military-service refuser recognized right after liberation was Ha Jun-su (also known as Nam Do-bu, who later engaged in partisan activities). Ha Jun-su hid in Deogyu Mountain to avoid student military service, and around March 1945 he gathered 73 labor-conscription refusers and organized the Bogwang Party. The Bogwang Party, aiming at rear-area disruption against the Japanese and armed struggle, carried out raids on police substations and military training until liberation came.
It is known that Ha Jun-su proudly spoke after liberation of having "had ties with the Geonguk Alliance," and according to related testimony, when he entered the Gangdong Political Academy, he described himself in his autobiography and résumé as a "member of the Geonguk Alliance." Meanwhile, the Chosun Minjok Haebang Hyeopdongdan incident, known as the so-called "Seoul Imperial University (城大) Medical Department Incident," was also a student-military-service and conscription-refuser organization incident related to the Geonguk Alliance. The leader of this incident was Yeom Yun-gu, who after liberation served as head of the special unit of the Guknjun Junbidae. He, together with Yi Gi-hyeong, received certain guidance from Yo Unhyong, established a base in the Pocheon area of Gyeonggi Province, gathered student-military-service and conscription refusers, and carried out military training and preparation for armed struggle. In this process, a considerable number of medical students from the Keijo Imperial University who had not been conscripted were involved, and due to Japanese repression, a considerable number of those involved were arrested. Meanwhile, although its organizational substance has not been confirmed, the Mountain Corps led by Yi Hyeok-gi, who later served as commander-in-chief of the Guknjun Junbidae after liberation, was also an organization of student-military-service refusers centered on Seorak Mountain and Sokcho in Gangwon Province. It is said that Yo Unhyong's direct and indirect influence was also strong there. In addition, although in a non-organized form, a considerable number of student-military-service, conscription, and labor-conscription refusers were directly or indirectly connected with the Geonguk Alliance or Yo Unhyong, and after liberation they became the backbone of youth movements such as the "Student Military-Service Refusers' League," the "Student Military-Service League," the Guknjun Junbidae, and the "Youth General Federation."
Participation of Youth and Student Groups
Third, in late 1944 to early 1945, numerous youth and student groups joined the Geonguk Alliance. The youth groups positioned around the Geonguk Alliance played a leading role in the development stage of the mass youth movement after liberation. Key figures at the center were Yi Ho-je, Jo Hui-yeong, Jo Yong-gu, and Kim Yong-guk, the core vanguard of the early youth movement after liberation. These people were associated with the Geonguk Alliance in the form of formless groups under the conditions of severe Japanese repression at that time. Moreover, among those who evaded student military service, conscription, and labor mobilization by refusing, most of the student-military-service refusers reportedly declared after liberation that they were "members of the Geonguk Alliance." Representative figures included Wang Ik-gwon (王益權, chairman of the Student Military-Service League and vice-chairman of the Youth General Federation) and Yi Chun-yeong (李春榮, vice-chairman of the Student Military-Service League and executive of the Youth General Federation), who were the main members of the Student Military-Service Refusers' League and the Student Military-Service League after liberation. These people formed formless groups and were the core members who, if conditions permitted, could organize mass youth organizations and develop and expand organizational strength. They engaged in activities such as mountain climbing, reading, and comrade organizing as groups, while continuously organizing youth groups in localities through local connections.
Plan for Formation of Peasant-Worker Armies
Fourth, around March 1945, when the Geonguk Alliance judged that the war situation had turned in favor of the Allied powers, it planned rear-area disruption and the formation of a peasant-worker army. Cho Dong-ho, Yi Sok-gu, and Yi Geol-so, together with communists Choe Won-taek, Jeong Jae-dal, and Ri Seung-yeop (Ri Seung-yeop was in the Taehwasuk, an organization controlled by the Governor-General's office during this period, but at the same time was active in the independence movement), organized a military committee. The military committee, whose purpose was rear-area disruption of the Japanese army through domestic armed uprisings and sabotage of railways, began dispatching officials and recruiting people to the Gyeongin area of Gyeonggi Province and to the Samcheok area centered on Gangwon Province in Hwanghae, and made efforts to search for and select officials in the Daegu, Busan, Mokpo, Hungnam, Cheongjin, Pyongyang, and Jinnampo districts. The Geonguk Alliance formulated countermeasures for military issues in three directions:
- A plan to form a peasant-worker army by establishing a military committee together with communists
- A plan to utilize the Manchurian army organized around the Manchukuo Military Academy
- A plan to attempt joint operations with the Chosun Volunteer Army in Yan'an and the Korean Liberation Army in Chongqing
Regarding this point, Professor Jeong Byeong-jun, who served as a professor at the National Institute of Korean History and Ewha Womans University, conjectured that "the peasant-worker army discussed in the Geonguk Alliance was not a military organization with a regular army structure, and it appears to have been conceived as forming a peasant-worker army during anti-Japanese uprisings to launch military attacks on Japanese troops and government offices."
Meanwhile, to specifically acquire weapons, Yo Unhyong attempted contact twice with Lieutenant Colonel Chae Byeong-deok, who was working at the Juan Arsenal in Gyeonggi Province, and the liaison work was handled by Son Gi-jeong. According to Son Gi-jeong's recollection, Chae Byeong-deok ultimately did not meet Yo Unhyong. The Juan Arsenal in Gyeonggi Province was a site where many people attempted operations to acquire weapons at that time, and as early as late 1944, several cases of smuggling weapons out had already occurred.
Other Activities
Fifth, although they did not achieve results, attempts to organize workers, women, and office workers were said to have continued. Activities to recruit young workers (Jeon Sa-ok, Choi Hyeon-guk, Byeon Jae-cheol, Yi In-gyu), preparations for an organizational body for liaison among railway employees nationwide (Jo Yun-hwan, Yeo Yong-gu, Hong Seong-cheol), women's movement preparation (Yi Gak-gyeong, Yi Jeong-gu), and the organization of a special mobile unit of elementary school teachers, the Jido Special Unit (Jo Heung-hwan, Gi Gi-won, Gi Mong-ho), were said to have been prepared.
Major Activities
Contact with Overseas Independence Movement Organizations
Along with organizational activities, what the Geonguk Alliance regarded as important was establishing liaison and solidarity relationships with overseas revolutionary organizations. To this end, after its founding, the Geonguk Alliance appointed and dispatched liaison persons to Northern Manchuria (Choe Geun-u; at that time Choe Geun-u was active in the Manchukuo Concordia Association), Beijing (Yi Yeong-seon, Yi Sang-baek, Park Seung-hwan, Eom Tae-seop), and Yan'an (Yi Yeong-seon, Yi Sang-baek, Park Seung-hwan), among other places. The most important target was liaison with the Chosun Volunteer Army of the "Korean Independence League of North China," and the Korean Independence League of North China, organized in Yan'an in 1942, continued efforts to link with domestic movement forces and on several occasions had dispatched people to Yo Unhyong's side for the reconstruction of the Communist Party of Korea and anti-Japanese activities. Yo Unhyong too had been attempting to connect with the Independence League forces since the early 1940s. Plans for connection with the Independence League included plans for military organization, plans for guerrilla infiltration across the border, liaison with Mujeong (武亭), commander of the Chosun Volunteer Army, plans to command Manchurian troops, and provisions such as hideouts and food supply plans for Manchurian soldiers in case they entered the country. Liaison relations between the Geonguk Alliance and the Independence League became full-scale from late 1944, and just before liberation the outlook was that they would develop into a genuine solidarity on a full-fledged level.
In December 1944, a liaison officer of Mujeong, commander of the Chosun Volunteer Army, arrived in Beijing and met with Yi Yeong-seon and Yi Sang-baek, and in April 1945 there was an attempt to dispatch a representative of the Geonguk Alliance to Yan'an. Through Kim Sun-ja (wife of Park Seung-hwan) and Yi Yeong-seon, materials such as domestic situation reports and statistics were delivered to the "National Humiliation Commemoration Rally" hosted by the Independence League (June 1945), and in August, the Geonguk Alliance dispatched Kim Myeong-si and Yi Yeong-seon as representatives to the All-Chosun National Congress in Yan'an, and such events followed one another. Moreover, the connection with the Independence League extended not only to the level of anti-Japanese struggle but also to the question of state construction, in which the Geonguk Alliance and the Independence League, under the same line, would jointly carry out the democratic revolution after liberation.
The Geonguk Alliance sent Choe Geun-u to Beijing in April 1945 to establish contact with the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Chongqing, but he failed to make contact. Also, although the timing is not clear, Kim Il-sung himself claimed that "during the anti-Japanese armed struggle period, he dispatched a liaison person to contact Yo Unhyong, but they did not meet."
Arrests of Key Leaders and Reselection
In July 1945, the "Korean Revolutionary Youth League" led by Jo Mun-gi carried out the bombing of the Bumin Hall (府民館). Following this, an arrest incident of a secret communist organization occurred in South Hamgyong Province, and as a result, on August 4, its existence was exposed to the police of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, and executives of the Geonguk Alliance, including Yi Geol-so, Hwang Un, Yi Sok-gu, and Cho Dong-ho, were arrested. Accordingly, Yo Unhyong elected Choe Geun-u, Kim Se-yong, Yi Yeo-seong, Yi Sang-baek, Kim Gi-yong, Yi Man-gyu, and others as central committee members (also called reconstruction committee members), but while entrusting affairs only to the executives of the initial establishment, he made efforts to maintain secrecy through individual contacts so tight that members did not even know one another.
Estimates of the organization's membership vary widely from 10,000 to 70,000, but it is impossible to determine the exact number.
Surrender of Japan and Transfer of Public Security Authority
As of early August 1945, the war situation in the Second World War was also heading toward its end. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 7, 1945, and at the same time the 25th Army under the 1st Far Eastern Front advanced toward Korea. In this situation, the Japanese Government-General of Korea already sensed Japan's defeat from around August 10. When Japanese Emperor announced the surrender on August 15, the Soviet Army had already advanced to Wonsan. The General Order No. 1 of the Allied Supreme Command, which divided the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel north for occupation by American and Soviet forces, received Allied approval on August 15, but the Government-General side only became aware of it around August 20, after Kawabe, who had been dispatched to Manila to negotiate the terms of surrender, returned. In this short period, the Government-General of Korea and the Japanese military were greatly concerned about the possibility that Soviet forces would seize the entire Korean Peninsula. Among its countermeasures for the end of the war, the Government-General feared most the creation of riots, plunder, and disorder by Koreans that would arise after the defeat. In other words, protecting the lives and property of Japanese amid chaotic public order was the immediate task.
From the Government-General's standpoint, if it mobilized police, gendarmerie, and the military, it could defend government offices and major facilities, but such a coercive method would undoubtedly provoke resistance from Koreans who had just welcomed liberation, especially young people and students, and would also clearly cause harm to Japanese civilians. Therefore, the scheme devised on the Government-General side was the "using Koreans to control Koreans" method, which meant putting forward Korean leaders who were not hostile to Japan and having them take charge of maintaining public order during the transitional period. The key points here were: 1. The person had to be respected as an anti-Japanese figure and exert strong influence over Koreans, centered on young people and students. 2. The person had to possess a certain organizational capacity. 3. The person had to be acceptable to the advancing Soviet Army while also being a reasonable person from the Japanese side.
On the morning of August 15, the Government-General of Korea pondered these points, and Yŏ Unhyŏng, at the Government-General's request, met with Vice-Governor-General Endo Ryusaku to discuss the transfer of public security and administrative authority. Here Yŏ demanded five conditions.1 Vice-Governor-General Endo, given the circumstances, had no choice but to accept Yŏ's five demands. Then, from the following day, prison gates were opened across the country, political prisoners (independence activists) were released, and liberation was welcomed. Meanwhile, Yŏ, going beyond merely maintaining public order during the transitional period, put into practice the plan he had prepared for building an independent nation, and on August 16 launched the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence rather than a "public order maintenance corps." Although the activities of the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence lasted only a short time, they opened up in the immediate post-liberation space a political sphere enjoyed by the whole nation, including freedom of assembly, association, and political activity. Contrary to Japan's expectations, this went beyond the level of public order maintenance and moved toward taking over administrative authority and exercising governing power. In rural areas, regardless of ideology such as socialism or nationalism, prominent local notables and landowners also actively took part in the Committee. On the other hand, in cases such as Gyeongseong, confusion resembling a dual government arose due to obstruction by the Korean Army Command in Seoul.
Significance
The Korean Military Alliance was almost the only independence movement organization inside Korea at the end of the Japanese colonial period. Seo Jung-seok, professor of history at Sungkyunkwan University, evaluated it as follows: "Independence movements abroad were too far away, and there was the problem that one could not enter the country immediately if Japan collapsed; therefore the situation within Korea, where the majority of Koreans lived, was more important. In this respect, the Korean Military Alliance, which was almost the only independence movement organization in the 1940s, has very great historical significance."2
References
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