In 1936 the Japanese military police suspended a Korean newspaper for 9 months and imprisoned eight Koreans associated with the newspaper. What was their crime? The newspaper had published a photograph of the Olympic gold medalist for the marathon, Sohn Kee-chung, with the Japanese flag removed from his running shirt. Sohn was Korean. Since Korea had been occupied by the Japanese since 1910, he ran as part of the Japanese Olympic team. But the newspaper proudly claimed him as a Korean and that was unacceptable to the Japanese who were trying to forcibly erase Korean language, culture, and heritage. Sohn had been required to compete under a Japanese-ified name, Son Kitei.
Sohn himself refused to acknowledge the Japanese anthem while it was played at his award ceremony and later told reporters that he was ashamed to run for Japan. His medal is recorded today as the first Olympic medal for a Korean.
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