Volta
Politics10 December 1941

The Provisional Government Declares War on Japan

Also called: Declaration of war on Japan (1941)

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War began, the Korean Provisional Government in Chongqing declared war on Japan and Germany on 10 December 1941 — resolved to win liberation by fighting as one of the Allies.

Three days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 (local time) and went to war with the United States and Britain, the Provisional Government issued a declaration of war in the names of Chairman Kim Gu and Foreign Minister Jo So-ang. It stated that the whole Korean people had joined the anti-aggression front, declared void the 1910 annexation treaty and every unequal treaty Japan had imposed on Korea, and vowed to fight until the Japanese were driven from Korea, China and the western Pacific.

The declaration gave the Korean Liberation Army grounds to fight alongside the Allies. It sent men to the India–Burma front in 1943 and in 1945 prepared an advance into Korea with the American OSS. Yet the Provisional Government never won formal recognition from the Allied powers.

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States and rulers at the time
Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea — Chairman Kim Ku
Places
Provisional Government Building, Chongqing

People

  • Kim Gu1876 – 1949

    key figure · Known as Baekbeom; founded the Korean Patriotic Organization and led the Liberation Army as Chairman of the Provisional Government

  • Jo So-ang1887 – 1958

    diplomat · Author of the Doctrine of Three Equalities, the basis of the 1941 Founding Principles

Before and after

Earlier
1941 Founding Principles of the Republic of Korea
Later
1942 Korean Independence League and Korean Volunteer Army

Themes that include this event

  • The Korean Provisional Government1919 – 1945

    From Shanghai to Chongqing, 1919 to 1945 — founding and crisis, the Patriotic Organization’s attacks, the wanderings across China, the Liberation Army and the return home