Jeamni Massacre | |
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Location | Teigan, Suigen, Keiki-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan (now Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea) |
Coordinates | 37°7′34″N 126°53′37″E / 37.12611°N 126.89361°E |
Date | April 15, 1919 |
Target | Korean residents of Jeamni |
Attack type | Massacre |
Deaths | 29 |
Perpetrator | Imperial Japanese Army |
Jeamni massacre | |
Hangul | 제암리 학살 사건 |
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Hanja | 提巖里虐殺事件 |
Revised Romanization | Jeamni haksal sageon |
McCune–Reischauer | Cheamni haksal sagŏn |
The Jeamni Massacre (Korean: 제암리 학살 사건; lit. Jeamni Massacre Incident) was the killing of Korean civilians by the Imperial Japanese Army inside a church in what is now Hwaseong, South Korea, near Suwon. To cover up the mass-killings, the Japanese soldiers burned the church down.[1] However, Canadian missionary Dr. Frank W. Schofield witnessed the aftermath of the slaughter and published a report on the event.
In 1919, two million Koreans organized peaceful protests against Japanese occupation in the March 1st Movement.[2] In retaliation, Japanese authorities sent troops to violently suppress the demonstrations.
On April 15, in the village of Jeamni, Japanese soldiers herded 29 residents, including children, into a Methodist church before firing at the building.[3][1][4] Afterwards, the soldiers committed arson by lighting the church on fire and killing any surviving victims; they also set fire to nearby civilian homes.[5] Canadian doctor Frank Schofield heard news of the event and immediately visited the scene. Schofield then wrote a report titled "The Massacre of Chai-Amm-Ni" and published it in The Shanghai Gazette on May 27, 1919.[6][7]
The Japanese lieutenant responsible was disciplined, but a group of senior officers decided to attribute the incident to resistance by local people.[4]
In his diary, Japanese commander Taro Utsunomiya wrote that the incident would hurt the reputation of the Japanese Empire and acknowledged that the Japanese soldiers committed murder and arson.[3] Utsunomiya's diary revealed that Japanese colonial authorities met and decided to cover up the incident.[8]
In 2019, a group of 17 Japanese Christians visited the site of the massacre and apologized for the incident on behalf of Japan.[9]