"Katsura-Taft Agreement", a Product of Aggressive Collusion
On July 29, 1905, the then Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro and US Secretary of the Army Taft held a talk in Tokyo to fabricate the notorious "Katsura-Taft Agreement" in the form of exchanging secret notes.
In order to depolarize the anxiety of the United States that Japan's "victory" in the Russo-Japanese War might be a prelude to the aggression upon the Philippines, Japan "made clear in the agreement that the Philippines should be ruled by such a powerful and friendly country as the United States and Japan hasn't got any plan of aggression upon the Philippines".
The United States also decided to recognize "Japan's suzerainty on Korea which went the lengths of disallowing the latter to conclude any agreement with a foreign country without the former's approval".
After all, in return for its support to the US domination of the Philippines, Japan got from the United States the guarantee for its freedom of action in Korea, that is, the freedom of its colonial rule over Korea.
Katsura-Taft Talks
Japan and the United States faked up the "Katsura-Taft Agreement" as if it were for "peace" and "security" of Asia. But it was no more than a preposterous sophistry.
Lecturer Pak Yun Gyong at the Central Class Education House says:
"The 'Katsura-Taft Agreement' is a product of the Japan-US collusion which made Korea a bargain for dividing the sphere of their influence in Asia and legalized their colonial rule over other countries. So, it did not ensure peace and security, but became the root cause of a new aggression and war.
The 'agreement' was an illegal and aggressive fraudulent document. It can be proved well by the fact that the 'agreement' had been kept in absolute secrecy and opened to the public much later along with its discovery in the archives of the US Department of State and that even its sign was not found in Japan."
According to the "agreement", Japan concocted the illegal and invalid "Ulsa Five-Point Treaty" without the approval of Emperor Kojong, the supreme ruler of Korea, and the great seal in November that year under the backing of the United States without intervention of other powers to deprive Korea of her diplomatic right. And in July 1907 Japan fabricated the "Jongmi Seven-Point Treaty", completely depriving Korea of her right of home administration. Japan also faked up the "Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty" in August 1910.
As a result, the Korean nation with a 5,000-year-long history and culture was totally trampled down by the Japanese imperialists.
The conclusion of the criminal "Katsura-Taft Agreement" gives a bloody lesson to the Korean people that if they have no strength, they can't defend the sovereignty of the country and nation but become only the object of bargain of the imperialists for aggression.
Now the Japanese reactionaries are making desperate efforts for reinvasion without any reflection on their past crimes and the sense of guilt from them. The Korean people will never pardon it but make Japan pay for all her crimes.