Japanese senior official’s letter unveiled in over 100 years

Japanese senior official’s letter unveiled in over 100 years. August. 12, 2016 07:25. by 조종엽기자 jjj@donga.com. A letter written by Japanese Provost Marshal Motojiro Akashi was unveiled on Thursday. He led the oppression of Korean fighters for independence and the forced rule by the Imperial Japanese Empire around 1910.

The Institute of Korean Independence Movement Studies under the Independence Hall of Korea released an 11-meter-long scroll letter written by Akashi when he handed over his position to Shojo Sakakibara on Aug. 3, 1909. In the letter, he claimed that military police should have police authority in Korea to lay the groundwork for a colonial rule after cracking down on independence fighters. What he said was materialized after Resident-General Terauchi Masatake arrived in Korea in June 1910, setting the stage for the forced rule by the Imperial Japanese Army.

According to the institute, it obtained the letter from a researcher in Kyoto, Japan. Akashi had been notorious for cracking down on Korean independence fighters since he came to Korea as the provost marshal in 1907.