The Hahn 한 Family
José María Hahn 한종원
Korean citizen and
Independence Activist
José Hahn - Han Chong-weon: The day he became a professor and (on the right) his wedding to María Dolores announced in a Korean Newspaper.
This is the story of a brave man, a scholar and diplomat who dedicated his life to the liberation of Korea, to fighting for the rights of Korean immigrants in Mexico, and to the education of his people.
Our father's father José María Hahn 한종원 (born 한치혁), arrived with his parents in Mexico when he was 8 years old. He didn't know then that one day the first President of Korea, Syngman Rhee 이승만, would ask him to be cultural attaché and translator during a tour of Latin America with Korean Ambassador to Washington, Mr. Yu Chan Yang. Furthermore, he did not know he would become one of the leaders of the Korean National Association in this country.
My father Felipe Hahn Lee and his sister Emma Hahn.
My grandmother María Dolores Lee with her cousins and friends.
The top document reads:
MIGRATION SERVICE
FOREIGNER REGISTRY
ENTERED MEXICO THROUGH Salina Cruz on May 11, 1905.
REFERENCES Consul of Japan
(this due to the Japanese occupation of Korea at the time)
Below the document it reads in Korean:
Han Jong-weon's "passport" marked with Japanese nationality in 1930.
The bottom document reads:
DUPLICATE
MIGRATION SERVICE
Below the document it reads in Korean: Han Jong-weon's "passport" issued after he regained his Korean Nationality in 1949.
(After the Japanese were defeated by the Allied forces).
After graduating from the "Normal Superior" (University of Educational Careers), he became a History professor at the University of Veracruz and the National University of Mexico.
In 1921, José Hahn moved to Mexico City and in 1922 he was a diplomat representing the District of Merida. Later, he became Commmissioner of Education, dedicated to teaching second-generation Koreans.
Along with Lee Sun-yeo (이순녀) and Hwangbo Yeong Ju (황보영주), he helped rebuild the Mukgyeong District, which had been closed for a long time. In May of 1941, he served as a propaganda member for the Mukgyeong Provincial District, supporting the independence movement while protecting the safety of Koreans during the Pacific War.
Hence, on December 20, 1941, the three major daily newspapers in Mexico City published the propaganda of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea against Japan, Korea's independence movement, and the position of Koreans in Mexico.
HAHN THE JOURNALIST
In January of 1942, he published an article in Novedades newspaper entitled "Let Koreans repay the favor of former Mexicans" in order to strengthen diplomatic channels with the Mexican government for the safety of Koreans.
He established a system of close cooperation with the media, government agencies, and foreign missions in Mexico, stressing that Koreans were free citizens and that they were in a position to overthrow Japan together. It was thanks to his diplomatic skills that he arranged for Koreans to register as foreigners. (Photo below)
HAHN THE DIPLOMAT
On August 21, 1942, he sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affair of Mexico. It reads as follows:
The Korean text below the document reads: Han Jong-won's August 21, 1942 Mexican recognition request official letter/Independence Memorial provided
"To His Excellency The Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ezequiel Padilla
The undersigned José Hahn, of Korean nationality, residing at Moctezuma No. 58 of this Capital city, on behalf of the Korean Association of Mexico and the United Committee of Koreans in America, respectfully declare that:
Taking into consideration the state of war which the Mexican Nation is currently under, as well as our condition as Koreans, we have on multiple occasions and through several channels expressed our support for the Democratic cause, since it adheres to our own ideology and cause, and consequently, we should be considered as friendly sympathizers; Koreans living in the Mexican Republic are often mistaken for Japanese and treated as enemies.
For this reason, we entreat you earnestly to inform the Mexican authorities to treat us and protect us as friends of the Democratic and Libertarian Cause, and not as enemies, because Koreans are also fighting for our own Democracy and Freedom, as well as that of the whole world. For the aforementioned reasons, we beseech you once again to allow us to be oficially recognized by your Ministry and your honorable office and that this request be communicated to the Ministry of the Interior, so that this state of doubt and confusion in regards to Koreans cease.
I wish to reiterate our support and gratitude and remain yours most sincerely,
José Hahn"
Han Chong-weon. José Hahn, always active in the Korean Association in Mexico, working towards the Korean Independence Movement
In November of that same year, Mexico City Police Chief Miguel Martínez arrested José Hahn, Secretary of the Korean Association in Mexico City. Colonel Daniel P. Fort accused Hahn of "having a conversation (with an unidentified person) that was contrary to the democracies." (59) The Policemen's qualms grew when they searched Hahn and found two documents in languages they did not understand. One of them was written in Korean, but the policemen thought the text showed Japanese characters. The second document was typed in English and signed by Mr. Chi Kin, Chief of the Executive Committee of the local Korean Association in Mérida, Yucatán. Once translated from English to Spanish, it read (as a DIPS translator reported):
"At the present time America and Japan are at war and Mexico has declared war against Japan. This is a good opportunity for Koreans: one in a thousand years. After we lost the sovereignty of our country, people in the world called us slaves of a ruined country. (...) The matter we shall worry (sic) is that during this bitter war between America and Japan, if the unlawful persons mistake Koreans by (sic) Japanese: how (sic) should we do concerning the unreasonable and violent actions? (60)"
The Korean community's fear of falling victims to the anti-Japanese campaign proved justified. José Hahn was detained because a civilian passing by him in the street suspected him of being Japanese due to his appearance. His accuser did not have to explain in detail what kind of statements Hahn had made in order to warrant his arrest. It was Hahn's responsibility to establish his innocence and to prove he was legally in the country. It appears General Martínez released Hahn from jaIl after a General Rojo vouched for the Mexican Korean.
HAHN THE PROFESSOR in Mexico and Korea
Dr. Amalia Roales-Nieto of the School of Philosophy and Literature of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (University of Madrid), in her Doctoral Thesis "La Lengua y Cultural Castellana en Corea" (Spanish Language and Culture in Korea), shares an extract written by Professor Chang Sunion for Professor Roales-Nieto in 1965.
"In 1955, a transcendental event took place in the history of the Spanish Language in Korea: the School of Hispanic Language and Literature was established in Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Professor I-Bae-Kim was in charge of that project (...) One year later, Mr. José Hahn arrived in Korea, leaving behind Mexico, where he had spent half of his 50-year-old life, to dedicate his time to teaching the Spanish language for the rest of his days. His deep and erudite knowledge of the hispanic language and culture completely delighted the students. Specially, his more rational method of teaching Spanish, which facilitated the learning of that language."
In 1958, José Hahn (Han Jong-weon) was appointed third dean of Hankuk University.
HAHN TRANSLATOR of the FIRST PRESIDENT OF KOREA Syngman Rhee 이승만
Hahn's mission as Cultural Attaché accompanying the Korean Ambassador to the United States on his tour of Latin America is explained in the second page of the Korean Information Bulletin, published in Washington, D.C.
La Nación. Santiago de Chile
May 5, 1956
Our grandfather José Hahn (on the right, wearing glasses) TRANSLATION TEXT BELOW PHOTO:
SPECIAL AUDIENCE. His Excellency Mr. (illegible) yesterday morning received the South Korean Ambassador to the United States, Yu Chan Yang. The diplomat, after hiws conversation with His Excellency, presented him with a Portrait of President Syngman Rhee, with a artistic frame made of ivory, as well as an ornamental wooden coffer and a book containing the Constitution of that country. In the photo appear H.E. with Ambassador Yu Chan Yang, his Naval Attaché, Kyo sup Chung, Mr. José Hahn, Translator and the Minister of the Secretary of State, Mr. Mario Ciudad.
Our grandfather's sister María Hahn, with whom he sailed to Mexico in 1905.
Our grandfather's diplomatic mission mentioned in the Korean Information Bulletin in the USA
Click the circle to read a Korean Newspaper Article written about the 4th Generation Hahn Lee Family
Click the circle to read the article in English. Please wait a few seconds for the English version to appear on your screen.
Thank you Aunt
Chesun Lee Hahn이재순
The Hahns wish to thank Aunt Chesun 이재순, our great-aunt, daughter of our great-aunt María Hahn, who was José Hahn's sister.
She and our cousin Ulises Park generously provided us with information and unique anecdotes about our ancestors.
The QUIET ODYSSEY is a book you can buy here, It is a wonderful memoir that narrates the horrors and the beauty of a Korean inmigrant family's life in a foreign country. I truly recommend it, it will make you cry and it will also make you laugh.
Mary Paik Lee left Korea in 1905, just like our Korean ancestors in Mexico, after Japan took control of the country. Mary would one day marry H.M. Lee, who grew up in Mexico with my grandfather José Hahn (Han Jong Weon), as she narrates in the book.
Her father worked in the sugar plantations in Hawaii before taking his family to California, where they shared a life of poverty with thousands of Asian immigrants who worked the fields, as cooks and miners. She tells of the racismo she suffered all her life, of how the mercury in the mines affected her father's health, but also of entrepreneurial success.
SOURCES
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0072412
(2014) by Kim Do-hyeong (Independence Memorial Hall)
출처: 한국민족문화대백과사전(Han Jong -won)
http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0072412
28) Byung-Duk Choi, pp. 117-118
29) Ibid, p.32, Roh Jae-yeon Joong-kwon, p.72
30) Shinhan Minbo, February 26, 1942, May 7, June 18, October 15, etc.
31) Jang Ki-cheol's testimony in Mexico City, 1996.
32) Kim Gwi-ok's Monthly 'Mal' Magazine, p.100, October 1995 and Study on Korean Overseas, No. 5, p.167, Note 7. Byung-Duk Choi, p.127, pp.150-152
59 From General Miguel Martínez to C. Licenciado Miguel Alemán, dated November 13, 1942. IPS 2-1/362.4(52)1590. Other arrested Korean Mexican men were Antonio Kim, Pedro Kim and José Sosa. From Ricardo Lee to Sr. José Hahn, dated June 6, 1942. IPS 2-1/362.4(52)1331.
60 Iun Chi Kin (sic) to Mr. Tsun Yuan Ham, signed “December of the 23rd year of the Republic of Korea” IPS 2-1/362.4(52)1590.
61 From General Miguel Martínez to C. Licenciado Miguel Alemán, dated November 13, 1942. IPS 2-1/362.4(52)1590. Other cases of Korean men whose civil rights were cancelled are in the following files: IPS 2-1/362.4(52)1082, IPS 2-1/362.4(52)1331, IPS 2-1/362.4(52)1617
Han Jong-won
Jose Hahn
Korean citizen, independence activist
Written (2014) by Kim Do-hyeong (Independence Memorial Hall)
출처: 한국민족문화대백과사전 (Encyclopedia of Korean National Culture)
"La Lengua y Cultura Castellana en Corea" by Dra. D. a Amalia Roales-Nieto
Madrid, España
"국외독립운동사적지
실태조사부고서. 멕시코 쿠바 (속편). 국가부훈처" (Historical sites for the independence movement abroad. Report of the fact-finding survey.
Mexico and Cuba (Sequel). Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)