Joseon had suffered a crisis of national catastrophe for 30 years from the Treaty of Ganghwa-do in 1876 to the Korea-Japan Treaty of 1905. In the wake of a series of 

historical events including Imogullan (Military Mutiny of 1882), Eulmi sabyeon (The assassination of Queen Min in 1895), and the Russo-Japan War, Japanese attempt 

to occupy Joseon became more apparent. Despite the enlightenment movement and the mobilization of the righteous army to the cause of saving the nation, Korea 

was virtually under the Japanese colonial rule with the ratification of the Korea-Japan Treaty of 1905. Ahn Jung-geun was born on Sept. 2, 1879 when the nation was 

caught in a whirlpool of turbulent history.