Attempted assassination of Emperor 1932

Discussions on all aspects of the Japanese Empire, from the capture of Taiwan until the end of the Second World War.
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Kim Sung
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#16

Post by Kim Sung » 02 Aug 2006, 16:21

Peter H wrote:Yes planned but never carried out.
Yes, that's why Park Yol and Kaneko Fumiko were commuted to life punishment.

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#17

Post by Kim Sung » 02 Aug 2006, 17:31

Kaneko Fumiko's grave in Munkyong, Korea

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Peter H
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#18

Post by Peter H » 14 Dec 2006, 10:56

Time Magazine,9th May 1932.
Two days after His Majesty the Emperor Hirohito had dedicated a casket in Tokyo's Westminster Abbey, Yasukuni Shrine, to the memory of 531 soldiers killed in Manchuria and China since the beginning of the present troubles, he sat down to celebrate his 32nd birthday with a large and elaborate luncheon. At 2 p. m., just when the sake bowls were succeeding the raw fish salad, the sound of dozens of clattering wooden geta disturbed the palace guards. Newsboys in checked kimonos were rushing bundles of extras to the kiosks with news of a great Japanese tragedy at Shanghai.

That morning in Shanghai 10,000 Japanese troops celebrated the Emperor's birthday with a grand military review in Hongkew Park. U. S. Consul General Edwin S. Cunningham, oldest, most experienced of Shanghai diplomats, warned Japanese authorities that such a celebration would be dangerous, but nobody paid attention. In massed squares battalion after battalion of Japanese infantry goose-stepped across the parade ground, each with its fluttering sunburst guidon. In the front of the reviewing stand were many of the highest officers in the Japanese Army & Navy: Vice Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, Commander of the Shanghai fleet; General Yoshinori Shirakawa, Commander-in-Chief of the Army in Shanghai; Maj.-General Kenkichi Uyeda; Consul General Kuramatsu Murai; Minister to China Mamoru Shigemitsu. Behind them loomed the big foreign military attachés of Britain, France, Italy, the U. S. These white officials left the stand as soon as the review was over. The crowd pressed round to listen to speeches.

A Korean on the edge of the crowd threw a narrow tin box high in the air. In an ear-splitting roar, the grandstand flew apart like a mechanical toy. Minister Shigemitsu was blown into the air like a jack-in-the-box, his feet flung wide. Consul General Mural's face was unrecognizable with blood and torn flesh. Admiral Nomura's eye was blown out, General Shirakawa lost all his teeth. General Uyeda lost three toes. Kim Fung-kee, the Korean bomb-thrower, was beaten unconscious by Japanese soldiers. One W. S. Hibbard, a U. S. citizen, protested the detention of two Chinese photographers, was rushed to a police station as a suspect and questioned for hours.

Bravest that day were a group of little flat-faced Japanese nurses. Before the echo of the explosion died down they fought their way through the terrified crowd to the wreck of the reviewing stand, ripped the uniforms of the injured officers into strips to make bandages, saved Minister Shigemitsu's life with tourniquets on both thighs.


From Corbis.

General Shirakawa,assassinated Shanghai 1932
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Kim Sung
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#19

Post by Kim Sung » 14 Dec 2006, 11:10

Kim Fung-kee, the Korean bomb-thrower, was beaten unconscious by Japanese soldiers. One W. S. Hibbard, a U. S. citizen, protested the detention of two Chinese photographers, was rushed to a police station as a suspect and questioned for hours.

His name was Yoon Bong-Gil (윤봉길), not Kim Fung-kee, maybe mispronunciation.

His nephew (his cousin's son) that was a professor in my university days whom I know personally is also a famous political dissident in Korea now.

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#20

Post by Kim Sung » 15 Dec 2006, 11:05

Patriot Yoon's attack on Japanese officers in Shanghai played a decisive role in changing Chiang Jie-Shi's attitude to Korean independence movement. After Yoon's attack on the Japanese, Chiang met with Kim Ku (김구), the leader of Korean resistance activists and said to him, "Yoon did what China's one million soldiers couldn't do." Since then, Chiang gave the best support to Korean independence activists until Japan's surrender.

Koreans' image to the Chinese changed drastically. Before Yoon's feat, the Chinese considered the Koreans just as spies of Japan. After that, the Chinese bagan to think that Koreans are their allies in their struggle against imperialist Japan. In Cairo Conference of 1945, Chiang insisted to Churchill and Roosevelt that Korea be independent after Japan's surrender. Without Lee and Yoon's brave attacks on the Japanese emperor and officers, Korea's postwar independence might not have been ensured.

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#21

Post by Kim Sung » 19 Dec 2006, 03:41


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#22

Post by Kim Sung » 19 Dec 2006, 03:54

Newly publicized photos on Yoon Bong-Gil

Excavating Yoon's remains near the army cemetery around Mt. Noda on March 4th 1946

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Excavation team with Yoon's remains in front of Kanazawa station on March 9th 1946

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Yoon's remains arrive at Seoul station on June 16th 1946. Koreans including Kim Ku follow Yoon Bong-Gil's brother Yoon Nam-Yi

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#23

Post by Peter H » 19 Dec 2006, 13:47

Nomura Kichisaburo (1877-1964) injured at Shanghai.
Japanese admiral and diplomat. A graduate of the Japanese naval academy, he commanded navy at Shanghai in 1932, was made a full admiral in 1933, and resigned from active service in 1937. He was (1939) foreign minister before being appointed (1940) ambassador to the United States. He and a special envoy, Kurusu, were carrying on negotiations in Washington when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. After World War II, Nomura denied that he knew beforehand of the attack.
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#24

Post by Peter H » 19 Dec 2006, 14:00

Ueda Kenkichi (1875-1962)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenkichi_Ueda
Born in the Osaka prefecture, Ueda enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Army graduating from the Japanese Military Academy in 1898, and Army Staff College in 1908. Serving as a staff officer in the Siberian Expeditionary Army in 1918, Ueda was eventually awarded the rank of colonel by the following year.

Assigned command of a regiment in 1923, Ueda was promoted to major general after a year and was assigned as commanding officer of a cavalry brigade.

Promoted to lieutenant general in 1928, the following year Ueda was appointed commander of the China Garrison Army which he served as commanding officer until 1930. As commander of the Japanese 9th Division, Ueda's command was involved in much of the fighting against Chinese forces in the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1932.

Seriously wounded in the bombing which killed Gen. Yasunori Shirakawa in May...Ueda was named commander of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army and, a year later vice chief of the Army General Staff. In 1934, Ueda became the commanding officer of the Korean Army and, as a general in 1935, returned to China as commander of the Kwangtung Army (Guangdong). It was in this post that he supported the aggressive and reckless actions initiated by staff and field officers against the Russian-Japanese border which would lead to heavy fighting and high casualties against Soviet forces around Nomonhan between May and August of 1939. Despite the disastrous results against the Soviets, Ueda would refuse to discourage his officers from similar actions and was eventually recalled in late-1939. Retiring to public life, Ueda would live until his death in 1962.
The above article states that Ueda lost a leg at Shanghai but I think they mean Shigemitsu.

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http://imperialarmy.hp.infoseek.co.jp/f ... nkichi.jpg

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#25

Post by Peter H » 19 Dec 2006, 14:12

Consul General Murai Kuramatsu being carried away.

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From: http://yunbonggil.or.kr/english.htm#

Japanese kiled,injured:
M. Shigemitsu, Japanese Minister to China: - Serious injures to theighs and legs.

K. Murai, Consul General for Japan: - Wounds to left thigh.

General Y. Shirakawa, Commander of the Japanese Army: - Bad injures left cheek, teeth, and body.[later died]

Lt.Gen K. Uyeda, Commander of the 9th Division, Japanese Army: - Three toes amputated; injures left shoulder.

Vice Admiral, K. Nomura, Commander of the Japanese Navy: - Loss of right eye.(Eye later removed entirely by operation)

Dr. Kawabata, President of Japanese Residents’s associations: - Internal bleeding; chest wound. Injuries of most serious character resulting in his death at four o’clock the following morning.

Mr. Tomono, Secretary-General, Japanese residents’s association: - Slightly injured.

Japanese Sailor: Japanese photographer from Osaka Mainichi: - Slightly injures.

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#26

Post by Kim Sung » 25 Feb 2007, 16:34

Yoon Bong-Gil Memorial at Hongkou Park (now Luxun Park), Shanghai

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Yoon Bong-Gil's bust

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#27

Post by Kim Sung » 25 Feb 2007, 16:41

Yoon's birth and growth

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Exile to China

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#28

Post by Kim Sung » 25 Feb 2007, 16:46

Yoon joins the Korean Government-in-Exile in Shanghai

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His successful attack on the Japanes officers at the Hongkou Park

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#29

Post by Kim Sung » 25 Feb 2007, 16:49

Wounded Japanese officer

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Yoon's execution

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#30

Post by Kim Sung » 25 Feb 2007, 16:53

Visitor's book

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Site of the attack on Japanese officers

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* This memorial was built under the auspices of the Chinese government and many Korean civic organizations on December 4, 2003.

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