Director Suho and Lee Chunsang (June 20, 1942)
Director Suho and Lee Chunsang(June 20, 1942)
The 4th Director Suho, who had an ambition of making Sorokdo as the world's largest leprosarium, used patients as slaves and even had a statue of himself built and ordered the people to bow before it.
At the time, patients almost lost hope for being cured. Their illness aggrevated and hands and feet were covered with injuries due to endless labor, and they were subject to brutal beating, which led some of them to commit suicide or try to get across by swimming to drown.
On a regular worship day of June 20, 1942, a patient named Lee Chunsang hid a knife in his arms while standing together with about 3,000 fellow inmates on the road in a sqaure (where Guratap stands today) in front of the statue of Suho to bow before it. When he saw Director Suho going up toward the statue, he blocked his way and shouted "You shoul die for being so brutal and forceful to us!" as he stabbed the Director's chest with the knife. Lee was tied up and taken away immediately. Director Suho died in his official residence that afternoon due to massive bleeding.
Lee Chunsang appealed to the High Court after being sentenced to death at the Gwangju District Court (1st trial) on August 20, 1942. But he was again sentenced to death at a judicial review by the Daegu High Court (2nd trial) on October 2, 1942 and the Supreme Court of the Japanese Government-General of Korea (3rd trial) rejected the appeal and confirmed the death sentence on December 7, 1942.
At the court, Lee testified his motive for murder in a calm and dignified voice. "I killed Director Suho out of righteous indignation. It was nothing personal. Because Director Suho had chief nurse Sato, who acted as his cat’s paw, to mobilize patients to do forced labor in so many projects, including expansion projects, I thought killing him will attract public attention and reveal the miserable reality of Sorokdo to the world so that situations can improve here."
Showa 17, Ruling No. 47
Decision
After reviewing the murder case put forth by prosecutor Hayashi of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, the Court made a judgement as follows.
Gwangju District Court
Court's Ruling
It is the sentence of the Court that the defendant be in death penalty.
Reasoning
The defendant was born to a poor farm family in Yoongheung-ri, Daega-myeon, Seongjoo-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do. He was bereaved of his father in his childhood and could not receive formal school education. He developed Hansen's disease at 14 and left home without notice for treatment. He was hospitalized at a hospital for lepers in Daegu for two years. After his symptoms improved, he was allowed to be discharged from the hospital.
Since then, while wandering from Daegu to Busan, and to Gyeongsung as a peddler selling living supplies like glasses and towels, he was caught by Gyeongsung police officers in the spring of 1939 and was sentenced to one year in jail and a fine of 50 won at the Gyeongsung District Court on May 12, 1939 for instigating theft and receiving stolen goods. However, in June that year, he had a second attack of Daegu Leprosarium and was transferred from Seodaemun Prison in Gyeongsung to Sorokdo branch of Gwangju Prison. While serving his sentence he was confined to the Dongsaeng-ri ward of the Sorokdo Rehabilitation Center...
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