SOON HYUN
REPRESENTATIVE IN AMERICA 07 THE
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT Of
THE REPUBLIC Or KOREA
1323 Massachusetts Avenue,
Washington, D. C,
U.S.A.
REQUEST FOR RECOGNITION OF THE
INDEPENDENCE 07 KOREA
Tot
Sin
The Honorable Charles Evans Hughes,
Secretary of State for the United
States of America,
State Department, Washington, D. G,
I, Soon Hyun, by virtue of credentials which I hold from the President
of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea accrediting ms as
Diplomatic Agent and Representative from the Republic of Korea to the
United States of America with full power and authority, do, for and in
behalf of the President and Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
and the millions of loyal Koreans who have heretofore or may hereafter
acknowledge allegiance to the Republic of Korea, hereby appeal to you, and
through you to the President and Government of your great Republic—the
United States of America-—and respectfully but earnestly request and pray
that the full and complete independence of Korea be officially recognized
by the President and Government of the United States of America) that a
proclamation to that effect, addressed to all nations, may be issued by
His Excellency, the President of the United States of America) and that you
and your Government immediately resume direct diplomatic and commercial
relations with Korea on the general basis of the Treaty of 1882 between
our two countries.
We humbly make this request on the basis of our hereditary and unquestionable historic right. Korea was an independent and sovereign state and
nation for more than four thousand years. It has been officially recognized
and dealt with as an independent sovereignty by practically all the leading
nations of Asia, Europe and the two Americas.
In May, 1882, a Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States
and Korea was made, and the second paragraph of Article I of said Treaty
reads as followsi
"If other powers deal unjustly or oppressively
"with either Government, the other will exert
"their good offices, on being informed of the
"case, to bring about an amicable arrangement,
"thus showing their friendly feelings."
In various treaties between Japan and Korea, to and including the year
1904, Japan unequivocally recognized and reiterated the fact that Korea was
an independent state and nation, and in some of those treaties, notably the
one made in 1904, definitely and unreservedly guaranteed the independence
of Korea. Not only so, but in numerous treaties and conventions between
Japan and other nations, Japan expressly agreed to respect the independence
and territorial integrity of Korea.