뉴스레터

Korean Volunteer Army formed in Wuhan

The Second Sino-Japanese War broke out on July 7, 1937. On July 10, leaders of Korean revolutionary groups in China had a talk with Chiang Kai-shek, chair of the Military Affairs Commission of China, and made an agreement to fight against Japan in solidarity. The Korean Volunteer Army is Korea’s first armed group organized in China.

The Korean Volunteer Army that was formed as a military group of Korean National Front Federation in Wuhan on October 10, 1938, was a joint organization whose leadership was comprised of personnel from both Korea and China. Zhou Enlai who served as the Vice Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference said in his speech for the establishment of the Korean Volunteer Army that international solidarity and a unified front are the basic tactics for the people of the east struggling from oppression, and that these are important actions for independence and liberation. The Korean Volunteer Army mostly engaged in interrogation of Japanese prisoners of war and anti-war propaganda against the Japanese military, as well as anti-war propaganda for the Chinese people. It also functioned as an international army that led anti-war alliance between the Taiwanese Volunteer Army and Japanese in China, which later developed to become an international group in which the people of Korea, Taiwan, and Japan joined in solidarity.

In October 1938, with the fall of Wuhan by the Japanese military, the Korean Volunteer Army headquarters relocated to Guilin, and then to the wartime capital of Chongqing in March 1940. Some volunteers served as an armed propaganda unit, who were later sent to different battlefields in Hubei, Hunan, and Guangxi, along with the army of the Chinese Nationalist Party.

Korean Volunteer Army established in Taihang Mountains, North China

Some volunteers of the Korean Volunteer Army headquarters in Chongqing believed that the passive attitude of the Chinese Nationalist Party on anti-war affected negatively to Korea’s independence movement against Japan. That is how they suggested to change the base of anti-Japan struggles to the area of North China, or Huabei, where a significant number of Koreans lived. On November 4, 1940, during an executive meeting of the Korean Volunteer Army, it has been decided for Kim Won-bong and the headquarters to stay in Chongqing, while some volunteers relocate to the area of the Eighth Route Army that is fighting against Japan in the front line in Huabei. Captain Park Hyo-sam of the Third Force of the Korean Volunteer Army and political advisor Yoon Se-ju took their volunteers and crossed the Yellow River to get to Taihang Mountains, the front of anti-Japan struggles, in January 1941. Taihang Mountains where the general headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was based was a mountainous area across the boundaries of four provinces, including Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan. The Eighth Route Army took advantage of this rough geographical features to attack the Japanese army.

The Korean Volunteer Army was established in this North China region in July 1941 and started an anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare with the Eighth Route Army. They also formed the Korean Youth Association in Shangwucun in Shanx Sheng. Volunteers of the Korean Volunteer Army received positive feedback for successfully performing interrogation of Japanese prisoners of war and anti-war activities, while engaging in armed propaganda, and for cultural propaganda to the public.

The Japanese army kept an eye on the movements of the Korean Volunteer Army. In December 1941, it made a sneak attack to two units of the Korean Volunteer Army that were engaged in propaganda activities to residents of Hujiazhuang in Hebei. A lot of volunteers died from the battle, and Kim Hak-cheol, author of The Last Squad Leader, was severely injured. The Korean Volunteer Army and Chinese people held a funeral for those who sacrificed their lives at the battles, and the Korean Volunteer Army relocated to Yuntoudicun in Taihang Mountains to continue anti-Japanese propaganda.

Following a massive offensive in February 1942, the Japanese army mobilized 400,000 troops, tanks, and fighters in a battle against the Eighth Route Army headquarters in Taihang Mountains in May. The Korean Volunteer Army in the North China region also deployed tactics with the Eighth Route Army. However, it was sieged by the Japanese army and retreated with great loss. Yoon Se-ju and Jin Gwang-hwa who are the main leaders of the Korean Volunteer Army got away from the Japanese chasing them and successfully assisted the safe retreat of the Eighth Route Army leaders. The two of them who were the last to retreat were shot by the Japanese army and died in the end. Highly recognizing the patriotic spirit and international solidarity of the Korean Volunteer Army that gave its all for national independence, the Chinese Communist Party organized a memorial service for Korean volunteers who sacrificed their lives in September 1942.

Korean Volunteer Army reformed as Korean Volunteer Corps

The Korean Volunteer Army in the North China region whose leaders sacrificed their lives reinforced its front line again in May 1942. The Korean Youth Association was renovated as the Korean Independence League and formally included in the Eighth Route Army of the Chinese Communist Party from the Chinese Nationalist Party, renaming as the Korean Volunteer Corps. Meanwhile, the Military Committee of the Nationalist Party in Chongqing included Kim Won-bong and Korean Volunteer Army headquarters in the Korean Liberation Army in May 1942, and the Korean Volunteer Army was reformed as the First Unit of the Korean Liberation Army. However, both the Korean Volunteer Army and Korean Volunteer Corps were indicated as “KT,” an abbreviation of “Korean Volunteers,” showing a historical relationship of one succeeding the other.

At the time, Japan forcefully relocated many Koreans in Northeast of China and Joseon to Huabei region and established a special training unit for Joseon conscription in Tianjin. The Korean Independence League of Taihang Mountains established the North China Korean Youth Revolution School in Zhongyuancun in September 2022 October 1942 to train Koreans who escaped from the Japanese army to join the Korean Volunteer Corps. The Korean Volunteer Corps eagerly came up with tactics to put off the Japanese army. Korean and Japanese soldiers in the Japanese army who were affected by propaganda and psychological warfare of the Korean Volunteer Corps eventually surrendered. The Korean Volunteer Corps in the North China region also stationed in anti-Japanese guerrilla zones of the Chinese Communist Party in Shandong and Shanxi to collect information. A military government school and special training classes for Koreans were also made in anti-Japanese bases in Shandong and Jiangsu.

The Korean Independence League launched a branch league in Yenan located in the northern part of Shanxi, the central location of the Chinese Communist Party during the period of anti-Japanese war, in January 1943. Starting in 1943, the main forces and student volunteers of the Korean Volunteer Corps in Taihang Mountains moved to Yenan that was safer to build the Korean Revolution Military Government School and train the volunteer army. About 200 volunteers of the Korean Volunteer Corps that had left Taihang Mountins in early 1944 relocated the Korean Revolution Military Government School to Luojiapingcun in Yenan. The Anti-Japanese Military Government school that was established to cultivate executives and for Korean independence functioned as the headquarters of the Korean Volunteer Corps. Another Korean Revolution Military Government School was established in Nanzhuangcun in September 1944 for Korean youngsters who escaped the regions of the Japanese army and arrived to Taihang Mountains. Jeong Yul-seong(1918–1976) took the position as the head teacher.

As such, Korean independence activists formed armed forces in China and moved around the continent with either the Nationalist Party or Communist Party of China to lead anti-Japanese struggles for national independence. Anti-war activities and solidarity for peace of the Korean Volunteer Army/Corps in China during the Japanese Occupation must be evaluated and remembered as an essential part of the Korean history of independence movement.