Tracing An Jung-geun's Anti-Japanese Path: From Harbin Station to Vladivostok, 116 Years Later
Creatrip Team
4 months ago
Journalists retraced the 1909 route of Korean independence activist An Jung-geun, who assassinated Ito Hirobumi at Harbin Station. The tour began at the small An Jung-geun Memorial inside Harbin Station, where visitors can view the exact platform through a glass wall and see displays of his writings and belongings. Around Harbin, sites linked to his legacy remain: a stone inscribed with “Cheongchodang” (청초당, An’s last call for independence) in the former Harbin Park, and other memorials. Crossing into Russia, the journey visits Ussuriysk, home of nationalist leader Choi Jae-hyung (최재형) whose house is now a memorial, and a monument to Lee Sang-seol (이상설), a Hague envoy who protested the 1905 treaty. In Vladivostok, locations connected to Korean émigré life — including the former Daedong Press where An’s writing appeared — mark the painful history of forced Korean migration. Near the tri-border area at Kraskino stands the “Finger-Cutting Alliance” (단지동맹) monument commemorating the vow by An and 11 comrades to cut a finger joint in pledge for national restoration. The route and memorials illuminate the sacrifices and transnational sites of Korea’s independence movement.
