Peace-lovin' Assassin

History may be servitude, history may be freedom. See, now they vanish, the faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them, to become renewed, transfigured in another pattern.
-from T.S Eliot's Little Gidding


I have always wondered what T.S. Eliot means by these lines. Whatever it is, they transformed my view of history when I read them back in college. I guess up until that point I had thought of history as a collection of dead people, cryptic documents, and biased fabrications. Ever since, I have learned to live history, to breathe history, and to understand that we are the “renewed, transfigured...pattern” of the past. One-hundred years later, and so we ask, what is Mr. Ahn Jung-geun's place in this complex pattern of which we are today's subjects...

Ahn Jung-geun is the quintessential patriot, martyr, freedom-fighter. He represents revolutionary thinking on subjects such as peace-politics, economics, and education, as well as bravery and courage in resisting the Japanese Colonial powers with his army and assassinating Ito Hirobumi in 1909 at Harbin. I suspect, however, that he is remembered most for his assassination of Ito, and, as a result, his legacy includes a rather volatile, and violent message. In other words, it would take a skillful pen to write a children's book about his life. It also requires some objectivity to write a fair appraisal of his place in East Asian History in light of the contrasting images of him as both a man of peace and a man of violence. Clearly he was deprived of the opportunity to make good on the former image by his death sentence at the hands of the Japanese courts. We must also be objective because otherwise we run the risk of viewing his life and legacy through the lens of rose-colored Korean-sympathy, or perhaps, Japanese-antipathy. We must be careful to view his story with an equal mind, honoring as many perspectives as possible.

So, where does Mr. Ahn belong? One might say he deserves a seat beside Aung San Suu Kyi and Benazir Bhutto, two great leaders who oppose the oppressive powers that be and have great success rallying the people in support of their cause. Others may point to Jose Rizal, the great Filipino hero who was also executed more or less unjustly. How about Bishop Belo of East Timor, or the late Kim Dae-jung? Like these men, Mr. Ahn’s mission was ostensibly peaceful, and, under different circumstances, he too may have become a Nobel Laureate. Again, the assassination and his subsequent execution blur his legacy from an objective point of view, perhaps preventing him from being seated next to the peace-makers past and present.

Does Mr. Ahn belong in the same category as his fellow countryman Park Chung-hee? Both men exhibited great economic vision and excellence in military affairs. Perhaps Mr. Ahn belongs with Ho Chi Minh or Sukarno, two other great men caught in a tug-o’-war between colonial powers and miraculously coming out on top. Or should we place Mr. Ahn beside Kim Okgyun and other brave revolutionaries whose efforts failed and who now dwell in the dusty pages of relative obscurity?

If one of Ahn's goals in assassinating Ito was to establish peace in Asia, it was clearly a risky, if not desperate, method. One tends to wonder if Ahn considered that the best way to foster peace is to leave a strictly peaceful legacy behind; if civil disobedience wasn’t a better option; if such an idea existed in the Korea of his times. Whatever the case may be, it is more than likely that as a result of Ito’s death, conditions became increasingly worse for Koreans.

The irony of Mr. Ahn's famous act is that Ito was actually against the annexation of Korea, and had delayed the cabinet vote in attempt to block it. Sure, Mr. Ahn had other reasons for taking justice into his own hands, but I'm afraid it was too little too late, for both men. The rationale that Mr. Ahn gave for his actions was to avenge the murder of Queen Min and to prevent Ito from doing more harm in the future. Such tenuous and facile justifications didn't appease the judge, but they did have a profound impact on the political landscape of East Asia. Just as the death of Queen Min represented the end of the Monarchy, the assassination of Ito became a symbol of resistance to the Imperialists. And as such, it inspired his contemporaries, people like Kim Gu and Ahn Chang-ho, as well as generations to come.

Four years ago, a pair of anti-Japan protesters imitated Mr. Ahn by cutting off a finger for Korean pride. And today, one can see Ahn Jung-geun in the peaceful protests at Kwanghwamun, or in the militant union strikes at auto factories. Without a doubt, his spirit of rebellion lives on in Korea.

In the final analysis, it would be hard to place Ahn Jung-geun at the pinnacle of East Asian leaders for he is too human and too enigmatic. His is the story of a militant idealist, with a sensitive, Christian side. In short, a man of contradiction. And for this reason he is all the more intriguing and inspiring. To put nation above church and retain faith as he did is remarkable. When Mr. Ahn got word that his murder attempt had succeeded, he crossed himself. When Father Wilhelm came in secret to serve his final right, he refused to admit he'd done wrong. Yet to his captors, in his cell, Mr. Ahn asked to be called his Christian name, Thomas, not his Korean name, Jung-geun.

Jung-geun, or Thomas, peace-maker or assassin, one thing is certain: Mr. Ahn is a complex and heroic figure who should be renewed and transfigured in the pattern of history for generations to come.

Many Thanks to David Kennedy for inspiration and editing