S. Korea holds memorial ceremony for independence hero

S. Korea holds memorial ceremony for independence hero

SEOUL, South Korea - A street march in Seoul on March 26, 2010, following a centennial memorial ceremony at the Seoul City Plaza for Ahn Jung Geun, a Korean independence hero who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor general of Korea, in 1909. Ahn, who fatally shot Ito on a railway platform in Harbin, in what was then Manchuria in northeastern China, in 1909, was executed by Japanese colonial authorities on March 26, 1910.

S. Korea holds memorial ceremony for independence hero

S. Korea holds memorial ceremony for independence hero

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un Chan delivers a speech during a centennial memorial ceremony at the Seoul City Plaza for Ahn Jung Geun, a Korean independence hero who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor general of Korea, in 1909. Ahn, who fatally shot Ito on a railway platform in Harbin, in what was then Manchuria in northeastern China, in 1909, was executed by Japanese colonial authorities on March 26, 1910.

Hirobumi Ito

Hirobumi Ito

Ito became Japan's first prime minister (1885-1888) under its modern cabinet system. Ito, who was the chief architect of Japan's first constitution, later served as the country's fifth (1892-1896), seventh (Jan. 12, 1898-June 30, 1898) and 10th (1900-1901) prime minister. Ito signed the Korean-Japanese Convention of 1905, which awarded Japan full control of Korea's foreign relations. Ito, who became the first Japanese resident general in Korea of 1906, was assassinated on Oct. 26 in 1909 in Harbin, Manchuria by Korean nationalist An Chung Gun. Born Sept. 2, 1841.

South Manchurian Railway Company Hospital - Shenyang, China

South Manchurian Railway Company Hospital - Shenyang, China

South Manchurian Railway Company Hospital - Shenyang (formerly Mukden), China. With the region under Japanese control following victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5), Japanese settlers were encouraged through the construction of schools, libraries, hospitals and public utilities. The South Manchuria Railway Company (Mantetsu) - was a company founded in the Empire of Japan in 1906, taken over after the Russo-Japanese War, and operated within China in the Japanese-controlled South Manchuria Railway Zone. The railway itself ran from Lushun Port (Port Arthur) at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula to Harbin, where it connected to the Chinese Eastern Railway. Date: circa 1920s

S. Korea holds memorial ceremony for independence hero

S. Korea holds memorial ceremony for independence hero

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un Chan delivers a speech during a centennial memorial ceremony at the Seoul City Plaza for Ahn Jung Geun, a Korean independence hero who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor general of Korea, in 1909. Ahn, who fatally shot Ito on a railway platform in Harbin, in what was then Manchuria in northeastern China, in 1909, was executed by Japanese colonial authorities on March 26, 1910. (Kyodo)

S. Korea holds memorial ceremony for independence hero

S. Korea holds memorial ceremony for independence hero

SEOUL, South Korea - A street march in Seoul on March 26, 2010, following a centennial memorial ceremony at the Seoul City Plaza for Ahn Jung Geun, a Korean independence hero who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor general of Korea, in 1909. Ahn, who fatally shot Ito on a railway platform in Harbin, in what was then Manchuria in northeastern China, in 1909, was executed by Japanese colonial authorities on March 26, 1910. (Kyodo)