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I was given an opportunity to go on a 7-day field trip, from July 17 to 23, 2012, to anti-Japanese battlefields in North China (華北) as deputy director of the 8th Independence Spirit Expedition Corps, organized by the Korea Provisional Government Foundation and sponsored by the Ministry of Patriots & Veterans Affairs and participated by about 40 college students. Although I had been to China dozens of times before, it was my first time to go on a filed trip to areas in North China where the Korean Volunteer Corps and the Korean Volunteer Army had put up a resistance against Japan.

The places we visited during this field trip, apart from Xi'an (西安), the region of operations of the Korean Liberation Army or the Korean Youths Battlefield Mission Corps, were in North China, the region of operations of primarily leftist independence movement forces, including the Korean Volunteer Corps and its successor, the Korean Volunteer Army, and the Huabei (華北) Korean Independence League. What is better, the itinerary also included the iconic sites of Chinese culture such as the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, Xingjiao Temple (興敎寺), Great Goose Pagoda (大雁塔), and Dragon Gate (龍門), as well as tourist attractions in Beijing, such as the Great Wall, the Tianmen Square, and the Forbidden City.

On the first day, we headed to the Korean Liberation Army site in Xi'an. as our first destination, only to find upon arrival that the building had been demolished not long ago and there was not much that could give us a glance into what it had been like, other than the ground used for military training and what was left of the building. The expedition corps, comprised primarily of college students, looked quite disappointed, although they were supplied with explanations, given by Director Lee Man-yeol, Deputy Director Kim Young-beom, and I, which allowed them to at least imagine what the circumstances had been like at the time.

Formed in October 1938 in Wuhan (武漢), China, the Korean Volunteer Corps marched north from Mengjin Country (孟津縣) near Louyang across the Yellow River. It was reorganized as the Huabei branch of the Korean Volunteer Corps in July 1941, and again as the Korean Volunteer Army in July the following year. The formation of the Korean Volunteer Corps gave a major impetus to the formation of the Korean Liberation Army under the Korean Provisional Government. The areas of their operations covered vast areas under China's jurisdiction, including Shaanxi Province (陝西省: the whole Yan'an area), Shanxi Province (山西省: Zouquan County), Hebei Province (河北省: She County·Xingtai City·Yuanshi County), and Henan Province (河南省: Louyang). Obviously, visiting all of these areas was out of the question, so we had decided to visit the selected sites of the Korean Volunteer Corps/Korean Volunteer Army located in Louyang, She County, Yuanshi County, etc.

Once they provoked the Second Sino-Japanese War on July 7, 1937, the imperial army of Japan proceeded to invade China with relatively little difficulty until they reached the North China Plain. For the Japanese army, the mountainous areas in Northwest China behind the colossal Taihang Mountains, and the whole Loess Plateau area, both under the control of the Communist Party of China (CPC), were not exactly easy places they could operate in.

The Zouquan County and the She County, where the Korean Volunteer Army were stationed, had adverse conditions for survival, with countless stiffs standing thousands of meters high, deep valleys with small creeks running through between them and little, if any, flatland. Even today, those areas are remote and poorly supplied.

Visiting these areas left me deeply touched and shocked. Even though I was aware that the armed resistance against Japan, particularly that of the Korean Volunteer Corps/Korean Volunteer Army, had been made possible by support and cooperation from the CPC powers, it was confirmed once again firsthand as I visited, watched, and walked the field, and listened to the explanation. Despite the hardships, our patriotic martyrs had struggled for the independence of our nation, and the liberation of our people.

On July 20, we visited the graves of patriots Yoon Se-ju and Jin Kwang-hwa in Sekmun chyun (石門村) in Se County(涉縣), which were apparently very nice locations, as also emphasized by Director Sang Young Saeng (尙榮生) our guide. The Jin Ji Lu Yu (晋冀魯豫) Patriots Graves Park in Han Dan (邯鄲) which we visited on the 21st was also nicely located downtown and struck me as a general park, where many citizens were seen taking a walk or doing a workout. The graves of patriots Yoon Se-ju and Jin Kwang-hwa, who were killed in action in May 1942, were controversial for they were not equal in terms of location and size, and the size and status of their gravestones with inscriptions. The grave of patriot Jin Kwang-hwa, a CPC member who had participated in China's anti-Japanese struggle, was more luxurious and better located than that of patriot Yoon Se-ju.

The Nationalist Government of the Republic of China led by Chiang Kai-shek had lent substantial support to the Korean Provisional Government and the Korean Liberation Army in the early 1940s. But what we discovered during the field trip was that the CPC and its Eighth Route Army had also treated the Korean Volunteer Corps with respect as bona fide warriors of internationalism and shown them a great level of interest and hospitality. The fact that the Korean Volunteer Corps and the Korean Volunteer Army operated under support and protection from the CPC powers awakens us to aspects of internationalism we often fail to appreciate. I thought that we might need to start caring about figures and organizations with universal human value transcending nationalism and ideology.

At around 4 pm on the 21st, in the scene of the famous Battle of Hogajang (胡家庄) by the Korean Volunteer Corps in North China, the significant 'Monument to Anti-Japanese Patriots in Battle of Hogajang' was unveiled. Our expedition corps was lucky to be present in this unveiling ceremony also attended by the governor and senior officials of Yuanshi County, journalists, local residents, and Kim Hae-yang (金海洋), the son of Kim Hak-cheol (金學鐵), who had been wounded in action in the Battle of Hogojang, having come as far from Yian Bian. The unveiling ceremony was a magnificent and significant event welcome by the local government officials, press, and residents.

One thing we should keep in mind is that while it is relatively well known that the Korean Volunteer Corps lost four of its warriors in the Battle of Hogajang on December 12, 1941, it is little known, if ever, that the Eighth Route Army on the rescue mission for the Korean Volunteer Corps also lost twelve of its warriors. I believe this fact warrants reevaluation of the CPC and its army for their international alliance and support for the Korean independence movement. Even some Japanese opposed to Japan's aggression took part in the Korean Volunteer Corps and the Korean Volunteer Army, joining forces with the Chinese in their fight. This means the formation of alliance of the peoples of Korea, China, and Japan struggling against the aggression of Imperial Japan. This is where the true significance of anti-Japanese struggle by the Korean Volunteer Corps and the Korean Volunteer Army lies.

Recently, East Asia is in 'nationalistic turmoil,' a vortex of fierce conflicts over Dokdo and military sexual slavery between Korea and Japan, over the Senkaku Islands (also known as Diàoyúdǎo in Chinese) between China and Japan, and over the Paracel Islands (also called the Xisha Islands (西沙群島)) and the Spratly Island (also called the Nansha Islands (南沙群島)) in the South China Sea between China and Southeast Asian nations. These territorial disputes need to be settled and overcome as soon as possible. Peaceful co-existence and co-prosperity is essential to East Asian countries. In this field trip to the living sites of anti-Japanese struggle through Korea-China alliance, I once again thought about what that means to us South Koreans today in the 20th year of the nation's diplomatic relations with China. I also realized that historical issues and reality would need to be judged in macroscopic views in the framework of East Asia.