Ito Hirobumi's Assassination Of Japan

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Ito Hirobumi, Japan’s fourth prime minister, always intended on taking control of Korea to the extent of committing far greater crimes than he had previously committed. He planned ways to destroy Korea’s power in order to enable Japan to take control of the country. To be able to succeed and to take initiative of his schemes, Ito resigned from being a resident general to become part of the Privy Council, which was “the most powerful body of politicians in Japan”. A while later, Ito heard from Katsura Taro, his fellow partner, that the declaration to annex Korea was allowed to be taken into initiative. Consequently, Ito decided to meet up with Vladimir Kokovstov, the Russian Minister of Finance, in Harbin, China, to explain his intentions in Korea and to get Russia’s approval for Japan to annex Korea. Not only would they discuss this, but they also wanted to discuss the interests both countries had in the Far East …show more content…

He was immediately arrested and brought into court a few days later. Newspapers everywhere in Asia covered the assassination; it was heavily focused mainly in Japan and Korea. Images of Ahn had spread around Asia, revealing his murderous act.
After Ito’s death, number of uprisings increased; one of them was the 1911 Huangha Hill Uprising, which took place against the Qing Dynasty in Guangzhou, China. 72 people died, and coincidentally, the Wuchang Uprising had occurred the same year. It reached a point where many students in Korea would imitate Ahn by cutting off their fingers to show a sign of protest and support. Ahn had cut off his own finger when he vowed to dedicate his life to fight for his country. This alliance was called the “Dongui-danji-hoe”. A while after the assassination, Ahn was executed by being hung in Ryojin on 26 March