What if Emperor Hirohito was assassinated?

On 9th January 1932, as Emperor Hirohito was departing the Imperial Palace via the Sakuradamon Gate on his way to reviewing a military parade, Lee Bong-chang, a Korean independence activist, threw a hand grenade at the Emperor's horse carriage. The hand grenade missed, and exploded near the carriage of Imperial Household Minister Baron Ichiki Kitokuro instead, killing two horses. The would-be assassin was quickly apprehended by the Imperial Guard.

Lee was convicted on September 30, 1932 and was executed in Ichigaya Prison on October 10 of the same year.

But what if the grenade had not missed and Emperor Hirohito was assassinated by Lee Bong-chang?
 
1) Chichibu becomes Emperor.

2) Massive crackdown on Koreans are launched, western (especially British) media are largely silent or mixed on the matter, given the assassination of the previous sovereign.
 
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Oohhh... Before Akihito is born, so Yasihito (Prince Chichibu) is enthroned.
Yasuhito was sympathetic to the Kodoha and supposedly backed them in the 2-26 Jiken.

In addotion to the crackdown on Koreans (and quite likely massacres a la 1923), there'd be a much earlier version of 2-26, probably successful. You might see a war against the Soviets instead of a 2nd Sino-Japanese War. Yasuhito was known to argue w/ Hirohito over Go North/Go South, and this is well before the events that lead to the US embargos. The US may even look favorably on a war with the Soviets if their interests in China and the Pacific aren't u det threat.
 
Koreans would have one more cold-blooded murderer in their pantheon of national heroes.

link

(Sorry, nothing much against that guy, and I can understand why he's considered a hero in Korea. But something about his beatification always makes me imagine a memorial statue of Lee Harvey Oswald in downtown Havana.)
 
Koreans would have one more cold-blooded murderer in their pantheon of national heroes.

link

(Sorry, nothing much against that guy, and I can understand why he's considered a hero in Korea. But something about his beatification always makes me imagine a memorial statue of Lee Harvey Oswald in downtown Havana.)

The irony is that the man he assassinated, Prince Ito Hirobumi, was actually opposed to Japan's annexation of Korea.
 
The irony is that the man he assassinated, Prince Ito Hirobumi, was actually opposed to Japan's annexation of Korea.

Plus, the assassination took place before the full annexation. So obvously did nothing to prevent it.

I guess it is kind of a truism that lone-wolf assassins almost never accomplish the goals they were striving for.
 
Plus, the assassination took place before the full annexation. So obvously did nothing to prevent it.

I guess it is kind of a truism that lone-wolf assassins almost never accomplish the goals they were striving for.
And in this case, considering the likely reaction and who replaces Hirohito, history echos again.
 
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