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From Mass Protest to Underground Resistance
An Gyeong-sin was born July 22, 1888, in Daedong, South Pyongan province, in what is now North Korea. A Christian who studied for two years at a girls’ secondary school in Pyongyang, she became active in Korea’s struggle against Japanese colonial rule.
In 1919, An joined a demonstration in Pyongyang during the March First Movement, a nationwide uprising that called for Korean independence. Japanese authorities arrested her and detained her for a month.
After her release, An helped establish the Korean Patriotic Women’s Association with other Methodist women in November 1919. The organization grew to more than 100 members across eight regional branches. An worked at its Pyongyang headquarters and managed finances for its Kangso branch, helping transfer money collected for the independence movement to the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai.
By the time Japanese police uncovered the organization, it had raised more than 2,400 won for the independence cause. When 106 of her associates were arrested in early 1920, An fled to Shanghai.
Joining an Armed Independence Unit
In Shanghai, An joined the Provisional Government’s military organization known as the Gwangbokgun General Headquarters. The group planned attacks on Japanese colonial government buildings and officials inside Korea, seeking to disrupt colonial administration through armed resistance.
An told fellow activists that she believed petitions and negotiations could not secure independence. Having seen the limited immediate results of the March First demonstrations, she argued that armed attacks offered a more effective response to colonial rule.
The Provisional Government developed a plan for coordinated attacks after learning that a delegation of U.S. lawmakers would visit Shanghai and the Korean Peninsula in 1920. Korean independence leaders hoped the visit would provide an opportunity to draw international attention to their cause, combining diplomatic appeals with demonstrations and bomb attacks inside Korea.
The military unit divided 13 operatives into teams assigned to Seoul, Pyongyang and Sinuiju. An joined the five-member team sent to Pyongyang. The group carried bombs made by the Salvation Adventure Corps, an organization of about 40 young activists who had learned bomb-making techniques from British and Cantonese instructors.
An secretly transported explosives to Pyongyang and took shelter at a home in Daedong County on Aug. 1, 1920.
The Pyongyang Bombing Operation
Before the attack, independence activists distributed warnings across Pyongyang. The notices urged Koreans employed by colonial agencies to resign, called on informants to repent, encouraged wealthy residents to contribute money and asked the public to unite behind the independence movement.
On the night of Aug. 3, the activists divided into three groups. After an initial bomb thrown toward the South Pyongan provincial police headquarters failed to explode, two other operatives attacked the building again. The blast destroyed part of a wall, shattered windows and killed two Japanese police officers. Another bomb thrown at the Pyongyang municipal government building did not detonate.
An, who was pregnant at the time, was assigned to a team targeting a police station in Pyongyang. She attempted to light a bomb’s fuse, but rain prevented it from igniting. She escaped to a melon field and spent the night there. After receiving another bomb from an associate, she looked for a second opportunity to attack, but heightened police security made the attempt impossible. She later went into hiding in South Hamgyong province.
Japanese colonial censorship prevented immediate reporting of the bombing. The Maeil Sinbo newspaper did not publish an account until Aug. 19, after authorities lifted the reporting ban.
Death Sentence and Imprisonment
Police arrested An on March 20, 1921, shortly after she gave birth. Six days later, she was taken to the prosecutors’ office at the Pyongyang District Court while holding her infant, who was about 12 days old. The court sentenced her to death.
Leaders of the Korean Provisional Government sought to save her. After a meeting in Shanghai’s French Concession, independence figures including Kim Gu, who would later become one of the movement’s best-known leaders, sent a jointly signed letter to the Japanese colonial government. They argued that the bombing had been carried out under the Provisional Government’s orders and military command and claimed An was not responsible.
An appealed her conviction. Asked in court about the accusations, she replied that her objection was not to being credited with something she had not done, but to understanding exactly what the charge concerned. The appeals court considered the Provisional Government’s letter and reduced her sentence to 10 years in prison.
An was released on parole during her seventh year of imprisonment and went to live at her brother’s home in Pyongyang. Her whereabouts after that are unknown.
Personal Loss and Legacy
An endured a series of personal losses while imprisoned. Her mother died about three months after An entered prison. She later learned that her son had a disability and that her fellow activist Jang Deok-jin had died.
In an interview with the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, An said each loss caused her grief, but hearing of Jang’s death left her in tears and made the world seem like an enemy. Another woman who worked with her remembered An as unusual even among female independence activists because of her unwavering commitment to armed resistance.
South Korea’s government posthumously awarded An the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Independence Medal, in 1962. She is remembered not only for joining the March First demonstrations and raising money for the independence movement, but also as a woman who entered a military unit and participated directly in an armed operation against Japanese colonial rule.
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