The Japanese imperialists cooked up the "Unyo-maru" incident, talking about the "Theory of Conquest of Korea" more than a century back. This was a curtain-raiser to the Japanese imperialists' military occupation of Korea and their harsh repressive colonial rule over it.

Japanese aggressors aboard the vessel "Unyo-maru" illegally intruded into waters off Kanghwa Island on Sept. 19, 1875 to spy on waterway and others in the area of Wolmi Island. The next day they intruded into the Chojijin battery, major military fortress in the West Sea of Korea and stronghold to defend Seoul. Members of the Korean garrison defending the battery showered a barrage of fire on the Japanese aggressors. As if they had been waiting for the opportunity, they conducted saturation shelling at the Chojijin battery and attacked Hangsan and Yongjong islets which were weak in defence, killing many innocent civilians and committing barbarous destruction and plunder.

Groundlessly asserting that "the Korean side perpetrated a hostile act against Japan", the Japanese invaders again intruded into Kanghwa Island in January of 1876, pressurizing Korea to conclude an unequal treaty with Japan. They finally fabricated the illegal and invalid "Kanghwa Island Treaty" on February 27, 1876, openly threatening and blackmailing Korea with artillery pieces and warships.

They succeeded in intervening in different domains of Korea including politics, economy and culture on the strength of the treaty.

Keeping Korea under their military occupation for more than four decades, the Japanese imperialists enforced an unprecedentedly harsh colonial rule over Korea, imposing unspeakable misfortune, sufferings and disasters upon the Korean people.

Japan should pay a dear price for all the crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists against the Korean people during their nearly half a century-long illegal occupation of Korea, urges the article.

Minju Joson in a bylined article refers to the "Unyo-maru" incident. The Korean people are filled with the determination to force Japan to pay a thousand-fold dearer price for the crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists against the Korean nation no matter how frequently the old generation is replaced by a new one, notes the paper.