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Concept
Hong Sa-ik
Summary
Hong Sa-ik (hangul 홍사익;hanja 洪思翊; 4 March 1889 – 26 September 1946), and was also known by the Japanese pronunciation of his name - Kō Shiyoku (Japanese: 洪 思翊) or Kou Shiyoku, was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army, and the top-ranking ethnic Korean in Japan to be charged with war crimes relating to the conduct of the Empire of Japan in World War II.
A graduate of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, Hong was placed in command of the Japanese camps holding Allied (primarily U.S. and Filipino) prisoners of war in the Philippines during the latter part of World War II, where many of the camp guards were of Korean ethnicity.
Hong was held responsible for all the atrocities committed by Imperial Japanese Army prison guards against Allied POWs in Philippines, and was hanged in 1946.
Hong, a member of the Namyang Hong clan, was born in 1889 to a yangban family in Anseong, Gyeonggi-do. In 1905, when the Eulsa Treaty was signed, he entered the military academy of the Korean Empire. With the abolition of the academy in 1909, he transferred to Japan's Central Military Preparatory School as a government-financed student along with Crown Prince Yi Eun on the orders of dethroned Emperor Gojong.
Soon after, he advanced to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. At that time, there were several students from the Empire of Korea enrolled at the military academy, and with the 1910 annexation of Korea by Japan, a few left the Academy to join the movements for Korean independence, but most followed the lead of Ji Cheong-cheon, who argued that they should leave to fight only after having studied and developed their skills. A few, such as Hong, attempted to stay aloof from either movement, and largely parted ways with their classmates.
In 1914, Hong graduated in the 26th class of the Academy and was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Imperial Japanese Army, and in 1923 graduated from the Army War College.
Official source
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