This paper examines the massacre of Koreans in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, and the reactions of Koreans and pro-Korean groups in Europe and the United States.
At the news of the massive murder, The Korean Student Association of Germany held The Great Meeting of Koreans in Germany in Berlin on October 26, 1923, and condemned the Japanese barbarity. Li Kolu, one of the organizers, also published a booklet entitled Unabhangigkeitsbewegung Koreas und Japanische Eroberungspolitik in German in February 1924 to inform the general public of the reality of the massacre. Japan dismissed these reactions as communist activities, and propagated false information that Koreans committing criminal acts were the cause of the incident.
Koreans in the continental United States were kept in the dark about what was overshadowed by the great earthquake until October 1923, when they began to organize reactions. The Korean National Association in North America launched a fundraising campaign to collect consolation money for the victims, while The New Korea covered the misery extensively in a series of articles entitled The Truth of the Massacre of Koreans , revealing the brutal act of Japan.
Koreans residing in Hawaii, who learned about the massacre through local press such as Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star Bulletin , held a large memorial meeting as well as an anti-Japan rally on October 25, 1923, led by the Korean National Association in Hawaii. They also wrote a resolution in January 1924 that was disseminated to the Japanese government and press, as well as to media organizations in China, calling for fair punishment of the murderers, appropriate compensation for victims, and the withdrawal of the Japanese army and political organizations from Korea.
The League of The Friends of Korea, which had 21 offices in the United States and one each in London and Paris, acted, under the leadership of Floyd W. Tomkins, the Philadelphia Office Head, to urge Charles Evans Hughes, then Secretary of State, to investigate the truth of the massacre. Contrary to these reactions, pro-Japan Americans in the United States helped conceal and trivialize the Japanese barbarity, along with the lack of interest and coverage on the part of the American media. Aside from Japan’s deceptive propaganda, this was not unrelated with the stance of the United States government that regarded the horrible scene as a mere domestic issue, prioritizing its friendship with Japan.