File No. 895.00/539.
American Embassy,
Tokyo, February 7,
1911.
No. 1296.][Inclosure 1.]
The American
Ambassador to the Minister for
Foreign Affairs.
American Embassy,
Tokyo, February 2,
1911.
No. 525.]Excellency: Referring to your excellency’s
note of November 29 last, on the subject of the procedure in Chosen
in cases in which American citizens are concerned, being a reply to
my note to you on the same subject, dated October 14 preceding.
Within the last few days I have discussed informally with you the
subject matter of this correspondence, and only yesterday had a
conversation with Mr. Ishii, vice minister. In your note in
question, you told me that on the 28th of November the governor
general of Chosen issued a decree, which reads as follows:
The governor general of Chosen, whenever he deems it
specially necessary, may order that criminal cases coming
within the competence of one district or local court shall
be dealt with by another court of the same grade.
This decree falls short of what was suggested in my note of October
14, above referred to, and some change or modification has been
discussed by us. As a result, I understand that while the Imperial
Government prefers to leave the decree in question undisturbed and
unchanged, you are nevertheless willing formally to say in waiting
that in any case where an American citizen is charged with a
criminal offense in any part of Chosen, the procedure against him
shall, on his request to the court or magistrate before whom the
same is pending, be transferred for further proceedings or trial to
the proper court at Seoul having jurisdiction of the subject matter
of the charge.
In view of the fact that the decree was made by the governor general,
no doubt you will wish that he join in the foregoing. The matter
will thus become one of record not only in your excellency’s
department in Tokyo, but also in the archives of the Government
General at Seoul. In this way the arrangement, while limited in its
application, will still be of as high an authority as the decree and
other regulations made by the Government General in that
territory.
Upon receiving your excellency’s reply, conforming to my
understanding, as outlined above, I shall be glad to make known to
my Government its character, and shall also advise that it be
considered acceptable.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
The Minister of Foreign
Affairs to the American
Ambassador.
Foreign Office,
Tokyo, February 6,
1911.
No. 6.]Mr. Ambassador: I have the honor to
acknowledge receipt of your excellency’s note of the 2d instant, on
the subject of the transfer to the proper courts at
[Page 333]
Seoul of criminal proceedings which
may be instituted against American citizens in Chosen.
I have duly referred to the governor general of Chosen your
excellency’s suggestion contained in the note under acknowledgment,
and the Imperial Government are entirely prepared to give the
desired assurance, having in view the existing state of things in
the new territory, that in any case where an American citizen is
charged with a criminal offense in any part of Chosen the governor
general, in the exercise of the authority provided for in the decree
of November 28, 1910, will order, at the request of the accused,
that the procedure against the latter be transferred to the proper
court at Seoul having jurisdiction of the subject matter of the
charge. It is confidently hoped that the foregoing assurance will be
found satisfactory by the American Government, as well as by your
excellency.
I avail, etc.,
