"What would have happened if somebody in a fit of patriotism had shouted 'Mansei'?" I asked.
"We would have been killed instantly!" said the missionary soberly. "I was afraid of that!"
A prominent, educated and English-speaking Korean official, told me that in a conversation with a high Japanese official that that particular Japanese had said "Our plan will be to assimilate the Korean people!"
"But that will be impossible. There are twenty million of us. You will find that a hard thing to do!" said this Korean.
The Japanese official smiled and said significantly, "We know the way!"
The Korean knew what that meant. It meant extermination; extermination in every way possible. It meant extermination by introducing prostitution in Korea. This has been done. Korea never had any legalized prostitution. Korea never knew what the Red Light Section meant. Japan's first move was to introduce that. She sent her diseased women to Korea. She made prostitution ridiculously cheap; fifty sen; which is twenty-five cents in American money.
"Why?"
It is one of her ways of assimilation which means extermination and she has already shot venereal disease rates up to an alarming state in Korea.
Her next step in frightfulness was to introduce opium. Japanese Agents raise thousands of acres of Opium in Korea and sell it. This is another one of her steps in the process of assimilation or extermination.
Japan has stolen from poor Koreans their rice lands and their coal beds. The process is for a Japanese company to buy the water sources of the rice paddies below and then refuse to let the Koreans have water for his rice fields. This is another step in frightfulness that will finally exterminate the Korean if it keeps up long enough.