Hong Sa-ik - Early Career

Early Career

Hong, a member of the Namyang Hong clan, was born in 1889 to a yangban family in Anseong, Gyeonggi-do. In 1905, as the Eulsa Treaty was being signed, he entered into the military academy of the Korean Empire. With the abolishment of the academy in 1909, he transferred to Japan's Central Military Preparatory School (陸軍中央幼年学校, Rikugun Chūō Yōnen Gakkō?) 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 shock of the 1910 annexation of Korea by Japan, a few left the Academy to join in 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 his 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.

Around this time, he was contacted by Ji Cheong-cheon, who had now defected to become the commander of the Korean Liberation Army; Ji invited him to join the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, based in Shanghai, but Hong felt that the time was not right and that other ethnic Korean officers serving in the Japanese Army would suffer if he defected, and thus refused his old friend's invitation. However, in spite of this, he secretly maintained his friendship with Yi and other anti-Japanese activists in the Korean Liberation Army, and even supported Ji's family with his own funds, an action which could have put Hong himself in danger if he made even a small mistake.