Inhwan Jang(March 20, 1876- April 24, 1930)
The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA) announced Mr. Inhwan Jang as the Koran Independence Activist for March 2008 in honor of and recognition of his distinguished achievement and sacrifice for Korean Independence against Japan.
He is best known for his patriotic actions with Myeong-un Jeon. In 1908, he was part of the assassination of Japanese lobbyist Durham White Stevens who praised and supported the Japanese occupation of Korea(the Joseon Dynasty) as an adviser to the Korean government.
Inhwan Jang(1876 - 1930) was born and raised in the southern Pyongan province. He lost his parents at a very young age and lived in poverty, depriving him the opportunity to be educated. Later in his life he became a Christian.
In Feb. 1905, he emigrated from Korea to Hawaii in the U.S. as a labor immigrant. Shortly after he moved to California in 1906, he became involved in the Korean independence movement while living there, and joined the Daedong Bogukhoe of the local Korean Independence Association.
Durham White Stevens(1851-1908) was an American diplomat and later an employee of Japan`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic adviser to the Korean government to advance Japanese propaganda in the United States. He was a passionate supporter and praiser of the Japanese occupation in Korea. He was also decorated several times by the Japanese government for his great diplomatic achievements for Japan. His pro-Japanese activities and statements provoked the Korean people, endangering his life.
Upon his arrival in the U.S. to visit his family, Durham White Stevens gave an interview with a San Francisco newspaper in which he stated that the common people of Korea welcomed the increasing Japanese presence in Korea. These statements infuriated the group members of the Korean Independence Movement. It provoked them to do something about Durham.
On the morning of March 23, 1908, Durham was shot by Mr. Inhwan Jang and fatally wounded at the ferry station just as he was to leave for Washington D.C. He was rushed to St. Francis Hospital where he was pronounced dead on March 25. Mr. Jang was arrested and held without bail on a charge with attempted murder.
During the trial, Mr. Jang made a court statement: "I shot him because he was the main factor in the Japanese reign of blood-shed and oppression in Korea, and because he, as the head and adviser of the regime, was responsible for the deaths of our fathers, mothers and brothers in Korea."
Even though Mr. Jang would have preferred death rather than life in prison, he was ordered to serve a 25-year sentence and released from prison in 1919. He came back to Korea in 1927 and was married. After returning to San Francisco and suffering from his illness, he took his own life in 1930 and buried there. In 1975, he was reburied in the Seoul National Cemetery in Korea.
Mr. Inhwan Jang was posthumously awarded the Independence Medal of Honor for the National Foundation in 1962, in commemoration and memorial of his great love and desire for Korean Independence.
Jeon, Yongjin
02) 2020-5151
jeonyong@mpva.go.kr
