A photograph that marked the end of exile

In November 1945, as the Second World War drew to a close in Asia, a quiet but powerful moment was captured in Chongqing. Kim Gu, president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, stood for a photograph before boarding a plane back to Korea. Around him were leaders of China’s Nationalist government, including Chiang Kai-shek. The image marked more than a farewell. It symbolised the end of 26 years of Korean exile in China and the closing of a long chapter of shared resistance against Japanese colonial rule.

Chongqing as a wartime crossroads

Chongqing was not chosen by chance. During the latter years of the war, it served as the wartime capital of Nationalist China and a hub for anti-Japanese movements across Asia. For Korean independence fighters, it became a political and strategic base after years of displacement.

The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea had moved across several Chinese cities as Japanese forces advanced. By the time it settled in Chongqing, China and Korea’s independence movement were bound by a shared enemy and overlapping survival strategies.

Korea’s struggle in exile

Following Japan’s annexation of Korea in 1910, many independence activists fled abroad. China became the most important refuge. Over the next two and a half decades, Korean leaders organised political institutions, military units and diplomatic outreach from Chinese soil.

Kim Gu emerged as one of the most influential figures of this period. Under his leadership, the Korean Provisional Government maintained continuity and legitimacy despite constant pressure, limited resources and internal disagreements. Exile was not passive waiting. It was active resistance shaped by hardship.

China’s support beyond symbolism

Chinese support for Korean independence went beyond diplomatic gestures. The Nationalist government provided protection, training facilities and political recognition. Korean guerrilla units, including the Korean Liberation Army, operated alongside Chinese forces in the broader anti-Japanese war.

This cooperation reflected shared strategic interests, but it was also grounded in mutual understanding. China itself was suffering under Japanese invasion, and Korean resistance was seen as part of a wider regional struggle against imperial domination.

A shared anti-colonial narrative

The collaboration between Korean and Chinese resistance movements challenges simplified national histories. It shows that anti-colonial struggles in East Asia were deeply interconnected. Borders mattered less than survival, ideology and the shared experience of occupation.

Korean activists learned organisational skills and military tactics in China, while Chinese leaders used their support for Korea to frame the war as a fight for regional liberation rather than national defence alone.

The emotional weight of return

When Kim Gu prepared to return to Korea in late 1945, the moment carried enormous emotional weight. For him and his colleagues, China had been both sanctuary and battlefield. The farewell in Chongqing was filled with anticipation, but also uncertainty.

Liberation did not guarantee stability. Korea would soon face division and political turmoil. Yet in that moment, the photograph captured optimism and gratitude, a recognition of shared sacrifice across borders.

Why this history still matters

The story of Korean Chinese cooperation against Japanese colonial control offers lessons often overlooked in modern geopolitics. It reminds us that today’s national identities were shaped through collaboration as much as conflict.

It also complicates narratives that treat independence movements as isolated struggles. Korea’s liberation was inseparable from China’s wartime resistance, just as China’s fight was strengthened by allied movements across Asia.

Remembering solidarity in divided times

As contemporary relations in East Asia grow increasingly complex, this shared history provides a counterpoint to rivalry and mistrust. It highlights a period when cooperation was not optional but essential.

The photograph taken in Chongqing in 1945 is more than a historical record. It is a reminder that liberation, for both Korea and China, was achieved not alone, but together.