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義兵
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Uibyeong
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Ŭibyŏng
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, sometimes called '''irregular armies''' or '''militias''', have emerged repeatedly in Korean history, when the national armies have been unable to defend the country. The first righteous armies emerged during the
Mongol Invasions Of Korea . They subsequently rose up during the
Seven Year War ,
First and
Second Manchu invasions, and during the
Japanese Occupation and preceding events.
During the long period of Japanese invasion and occupation from
1890 to
1945 , the disbanded imperial guard, and Confucian scholars, as well as farmers, formed over 60 successive to fight for Korean freedom on the Korean peninsula. These were called the Righteous armies, who were preceded by the
Tonghak movement, and succeeded by various
Korean Independence Movements in the 1920s and beyond which declared Korean independence from Japanese occupation and genocide.
The righteous armies formed an
Irregular Military that fought the
Japanese Army that twice invaded
Korea during the
Seven-Year War of 1592-1598.
- The Battle of
- The Battle of
- The Battle of
- The Battle of
- The Battle of VS Kobayakawa Takakage
- The Battle of (Life 1568-1586)
- The Battle of
- The Battle of Unam (운암)( June 25 ) : Yang Dae-park
- The First Battle of
See also
Kangwon Campaign
Late
Joseon Korean nationalism outgrew the unplanned, spontaneous, and disorganized
Tonghak movement, and became more violent as the Japanese occupation began a brutal regime throughout the Korean peninsula and pursued repressive policies against the Korean people.
The Japanese occupiers fought with state of the art cannons, machine guns, repeaters, mounted cavalry reconnaissance units in the mountains, and an entrenched class of informers and criminals developed over the previous decade before the battles began.
Koreans fought with antique muzzle-loaders, staves and iron bars, and their hands. There were rare instances of modern weapons, and a few enemy weapons captured. Europe, particularly England and Germany, and the western allies were on the side of Japan, profiting from huge arms and naval sales, and did much to prevent Korean forces from being resupplied.
For at least 13 years after 1905, small irregular forces, often led by regular army commanders, fought skirmishes and battles throughout Korea against Japanese police, armies, and underworld mercenaries who functioned to support Japanese corporations looting Korea, and as well armed Japanese settlers who seized Korean farms and land. In one period, according to Japanese records in ''Boto Tobatsu-shi'' (Annals of the Subjugation of the Insurgent), between October 1907 and April 1908, over 1,908 attacks were made by the Korean people against the invaders.
While most attacks were done using available weapons, and bare hands, international arms dealers profited. Arms dealers and governments who supplied the Korean resistance included English arms dealers, Chinese arms dealers from across the Yalu and in coastal waters; German arms dealers provided Mausers, and a French cruiser in September of 1908, resupplied Korean Catholic armies in payment for gold at exorbitant prices. Smugglers from Japan as well supplied Murada weapons, with links to anti-Meiji forces who hoped to see Ito and his clan toppled in the wake of disasters in the Japanese economy.
After the Russian revolution, some weaponry was diverted from the White forces into what is now North Korea, and supporters built there, however this was sparse and while white Russian mercenaries fought against the Japanese, this was a minor element. And is in the article succeeding this.
Of the sixty righteous armies, the list and descriptions below follow what is known of the names of the more well known armies and their sequential appearance in combat; individual generals and named figures are given larger biographies on separate articles which cite more historical background. From limits of space, there is an ancillary article entitled
List Of Righteous Armies which also provides more information.
- General Yi Ch'ang Kun commanded 80 irregular soldiers of rifle armed hunters.
Major battle: November, 7, 1907 at Huch'i Pass, South Pangyong Province: Japanese army withdrew with 7 dead.
- Hong Pom To-Ch'a To Son army, commanded by General ? commanded 300 irregulars and rifle armed hunters.
Major battle: November 7, 1907 in South Pangyong mountain pass battle, engaged a Japanese (Miyabe) infantry company, and forced their retreat.
- Ch'a To Son righteous army, commanded by General ? or irregulars fought a small engagement.
Major battle: November 7, 1907.
- General Yi Ching Yong
- General Yon Ki U
- General Yong Paek of Chong'up in Cholla Province
- General Ki Sam Yong
- General Kim Kwan Su of Tokch'on in South Pyongyang
As both Confucianism and modernism have been given some distance by a century from their influence on Korean culture, there has been much interest on righteous armies as both continuing traditions and as well modernizing Korea on its own terms, thus lessening the traditional argument that Japan modernized Korea through invasion.
- Professor Song Su-Pak has done a sociological analysis of the background for the Righteous army leaders.
