안중근
제국들이 다투어 식민지로 점령하던 나라
풍부한 자원과 값싼 노동력을 차지하러
스페인과 포르투갈은 남아메리카로, 독일은 아프리카로
영국과 프랑스는 인도로, 인도차이나 반도로
일본은 이에 질세라 조선으로 청으로
태평양 제도는 분할점령으로 세력 확장에 열 올릴 때
명성황후를 시해하더니, 을사늑약을 강제하더니
헤이그로 밀사를 보내 국권 회복을 시도하던
고종황제마저 퇴위시키니
대한의 독립주권이 깡그리 침탈당해
이천만 의병으로 봉기하는 길밖에 없을 때
분노와 의기 삼키며
북간도 거쳐 블라디보스토크로
12인 단지동맹을 결성한 맹서가
마침내 하늘에 가닿았는지
어떤 날선 혁명보다 예리하게
적의 심장을 꿰뚫던 하얼빈역의 그가 아니면
누가 제국의 침탈에 의거할 수 있었겠는가!
서양 열강들의 식민 침략에 대항하여
동양 평화의 비책을 선포한 자가 있더냐!
그의 몸에 강신한 북두칠성이
대륙을 삼키려던 제국의 만행을 저지했네
침략의 원흉 이토를 총살로 응징하며 ‘코레아 후라!’
하얼빈역발 세 발의 총성이 대한만세를 외쳤네
An Jung-geun
The lands that empires fought to take over as colonies,
To rob them of their resources and cheap labor–
Spain and Portugal to South America, Germany to Africa,
England and France to India and Indochina,
In order to compete with them, Japan invaded Joseon Korea and Qing China,
While all of them tried feverishly to expand their powers, by dividing and occupying the Pacific Islands,
When the Japanese assassinated Korean Empress Myeongseong, forced the Eulsa Unwilling Treaty,
And forced Emperor Gojong to abdicate
After he had dispatched secret envoys to Hague to plead for the restoration of Korean sovereignty,
When, as independent Korean sovereignty was plundered,
There was no other way than to rise up as the Righteous Army of 20 million,
Withholding righteous anger and rage,
An Jung-geun went to Vladivostok via northern Jiandao.
The pledge of the 12-member blood brotherhood
Might have perhaps finally reached the sky then.
Who else but An Jung-geun, who penetrated the heart of an enemy at the Harbin Station,
More sharply than any sharp-edged revolution,
Could have risen to perform this noble deed against imperial aggression?
Who else but he could have declared an essential plan for peace in the East
Against colonial invasions by powerful Western countries?
It was thanks to the Great Bear that had descended into his body
That the Japanese empire’s barbaric plan to swallow up the continent could be blocked.
When he punished the main culprit of invasion, Ito, by shooting him, while shouting “Hurrah, Korea!”
Three shots at the Harbin Station shouted, “Long Live the Great Nation of Korea!”
Translated by Seung-Hee Jeon (literary critic and translator, editor of Asia: A Magazine of Asian Literature)
