The Korean Language Society Incident (朝鮮語學會事件, Korean: 조선어학회 사건) refers to the arrest, torture, and imprisonment of members of the Korean Language Society, which occurred in 1942 under the Japanese colonial rule of Korea.^[1]

Description

In October 1942, the South Hamgyong Provincial Police arrested members of the Korean Language Society on charges of violating the Public Security Act.^[2][3] Following torture, a confession was obtained that the Joseon Language Society was an organization having as its purpose the independence of Korea from Japan. However, at that time, the society was engaged in researching the Joseon language, establishing spelling rules, and compiling a dictionary of the Korean language. Members did not engage in group activities that would violate the (Japanese) Public Security Act.

In the late 1950s, Lee Hee-seung (李熙昇) left a memoir closest to the truth. In the early 1970s, a new 'memory' was created in celebration of the 25th anniversary of liberation and the 50th anniversary of the Korean Language Society. In particular, the happening at Jeonjin Station, which was the beginning of the incident, was reconstructed to fit the status of the Joseon Language Society.

The writing in the diary, which is a private area, has been changed to an open space, a conversation in the train. The use of Korean, not Japanese, became a problem. From the beginning, it was 'Korean language common use' that could be interpreted in various ways. The Japanese police interpreted it in Japanese, and Korea in the 1970s interpreted it in Korean. In the 1980s, there were rebuttal recollections by the parties to the incident, but the historical narrative did not change. It was because the Joseon Language Society was already a symbol of suffering and resistance through the medium of the national language.^[2]

Laws leading to the event

• In 1936, the Japanese government in Korea passed the <Chosun Ideological Crime Protection Ordinance 조선사상범보호관찰령>.
• In 1941, the <Chosun Ideological Criminal Prevention Ordinance조선사상범보호관찰령> was modified.
• In 1943, the 4th Joseon Education Ordinance policy abolished Korean language education, banned the use of Korean, and forced the use of Japanese.

And from April 1939, the Japanese government in Korea abolished Korean language subjects in schools and proceeded to close Korean language newspapers and magazines.

Timeline

• In July 1942, Park Byeong-yeop (wearing Korean traditional costume) was waiting for a friend at Jeonjin Station in Hongwon-eup, South Hamgyeong-do. He was questioned and taken into custody at the Hongwon Police Station. The Hongwon police searched his house, and the diary of Park Young-ok (his niece) was confiscated. This contained a phrase apparently showing that one of her teachers at Yeongsaeng High School 4 in Hamheung rejected the Japanese law to teach using only the Japanese language. Young-Ok Park and her friends Soon-Nam Choi, Soon-Ja Lee, Jeong Seong-Hee, In-Ja were arrested and interrogated. After enduring torture for several days, they finally incriminated two teachers, Kim Hak-joon and Jung Tae-jin, who had encouraged students to use Hangul, and had tried to inspire a sense of independence by telling stories such as the fall of Japanese imperialism, the revival of the Joseon people, and the story of the sacrifice of Gyewolhyang during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. Both Kim Hak-joon and Jeong Tae-jin were members of the Korean Language Society.^[3]
• In September 1942, a student at Yeongsaeng Girls’ High School was arrested for talking in Korean by the Japanese police and interrogated.
• On October 1, 1942, the police, having concluded that the Korean Language Society was an independence movement group. began to arrest members, including: Lee Yun-jae (李允宰), Choi Hyun-bae, Lee Hee-seung (李熙昇), Jeong In-seung, Kim Yoon-kyung, Kwon Seung-wook, Jang Ji-young. Eleven people, including Han Jing, Lee Jung-hwa, Lee Seok-rin , and Lee Geuk-ro, were arrested in Seoul and sent to Hongwon, Hamgyeongnam-do.
• On October 18, 1942, Lee Woo-sik (李愚軾) and Kim Beop-rin( 金法麟) were arrested.
• On October 20, 1942, Jeong Yeol-mo was arrested.
• On October 21, 1942, Lee Byeong-gi (이병기), Lee Man-gyu, Lee Kang-rae, and Kim Seon-ki were arrested
• on December 23, 1942, Seo Seung -hyo, Ahn Jae-hong, Lee In, Kim Yang-soo, Jang Hyeon-sik, Jeong In-seop, Yun Byeong-ho, Lee Eun-sang were arrested separately
• Kim Do-yeon (金度演) on March 5, 1943, and
• Seo Min-ho (徐珉濠) on March 6, 1943, respectively, and all were detained at the Hongwon Police Station.
• From the end of March to April 1, Hyeon-mo Shin and Jong-cheol Kim were interrogated without detention.
• Kwon Deok-gyu and Ahn Ho-sang escaped arrest due to illnesses,
• By the end of March 1943, 29 people had been arrested and sentenced to all sorts of barbaric punishments. They were severely tortured, and 48 people had been interrogated.
• Lee Yoon-jae, Han Jing died in prison, before completion of their trials.

Persons involved in the Korean Language Society incident

In popular culture

The 2019 South Korean movie, Mal-Mo-E: The Secret Mission, fictionalises the story of the creation of the first Hangul dictionary and the story of this incident of torture and imprisonment of key members of the Korean Language society, while apparently remaining close to the facts.^[6]