Hong Sa-ik

Hong Sa-ik (; 4 March 1889 – 26 September 1946), also known by the Japanese reading of his name , 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.

Early career Hong, a member of the Namyang Hong clan, was born in 1889 to a yangban family in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, Joseon. 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 as a government-financed student along with Crown Prince Yi Un on the orders of dethroned Emperor Gojong.

Soon after, he advanced to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. At that time, several students from the Empire of Korea were 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. The Manila tribunal sentenced Hong to death as a war criminal on 18 April 1946. He was executed by hanging on 28 September 1946. Hong, who converted to Christianity while in custody, asked a clergyman to read Psalm 51 from the Bible in his final moments.

Later views After Korea regained its independence, Hong's family became the target of blame and ostracism by various factions in Korea. His eldest son, Hong Guk-seon, graduated from Japan's Waseda University and afterwards worked in the Bank of Joseon, but was removed from his position on the orders of Syngman Rhee. He and his mother, Hong's widow, later emigrated to the United States.