The Jeamni Massacre () was a mass murder of 20 to 30 unarmed Korean civilians by the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

on April 15, 1919, in Jeamni,

Suwon Suwon (; ) is the largest city and capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's most populous province. The city lies approximately south of the national capital, Seoul. With a population of 1.2 million, Suwon has more inhabitants than Ulsan, tho ...

Korea, Empire of Japan From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

History

During the event, Japanese soldiers brought 20 to 30 Koreans they suspected were linked to the

March First Movement The March First Movement was a series of protests against Korea under Japanese rule, Japanese colonial rule that was held throughout Korea and internationally by the Korean diaspora beginning on March 1, 1919. Protests were largely concentrated in ...

protests into a church for a meeting. They then opened fire on the civilians, and burned down the church to destroy the bodies and evidence of the incident. They also set fire to nearby civilian homes. Despite the cover-up efforts, Canadian doctor

Frank Schofield Frank William Schofield (15 March 1889 – 16 April 1970) was a British-born Canadian veterinarian, missionary, and Korean independence activist. He was also known by his Korean name Seok Ho-pil (). In 1916, Schofield moved to Korea as a Presb ...

heard news of the event and immediately visited the scene. Schofield then wrote a report titled "The Massacre of Chai-Amm-Ni" and published it in ''The Shanghai Gazette'' on May 27, 1919.

Japanese cover-up

The Japanese lieutenant responsible was disciplined, but a group of senior officers decided to attribute the incident to resistance by local people. In his diary, Japanese commander Taro Utsunomiya wrote that the incident would hurt the reputation of the Japanese Empire and acknowledged that the Japanese soldiers committed murder and arson. Utsunomiya's diary revealed that Japanese colonial authorities met and decided to cover up the incident.

Aftermath

In 2019, a group of 17 Japanese Christians visited the site of the massacre and apologized for the incident on behalf of Japan.

References

{{reflist 1919 in Korea Massacres in Korea Massacres in 1919 Imperial Japanese Army Massacres committed by Japan Anti-Korean violence Japanese war crimes in Korea Church massacres in Asia March First Movement Cover-ups Massacres of protesters in Asia Church shootings Church arson in Asia April 1919 in Asia 1919 murders in Asia Attacks on buildings and structures in South Korea Building and structure fires in South Korea Hwaseong, Gyeonggi History of Gyeonggi Province Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1910s Arson in South Korea Arson in the 1910s 1919 fires 1910s fires in Asia Suwon