South Korean government officials and lawmakers paid their respects Thursday in China on the 105th anniversary of the death of a revered Korean independence hero who assassinated a prominent Japanese colonial leader a century ago.

It was the first time that a South Korean government-organized memorial service for Ahn Jung-geun, who shot to death the Korean Peninsula's first Japanese governor-general, Hirobumi Ito, in China's northern city of Harbin in 1909, was held in China. Such events, however, have been organized by South Korean civic groups in China before.

The Chinese government built the memorial hall honoring Ahn early last year at the railway station in Harbin, where Ahn killed Ito. Ahn is viewed in both Korea and China as a symbol of the fight against Japan's Imperial Army, but Japanese officials have drawn criticism by describing him as a terrorist.

In 1910, Ahn was executed at a Japanese prison in the northern Chinese town of Ryojun, now called Lushun.

Lee Kyung-geun, a senior official at South Korea's Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, and several lawmakers, including Rep. Suh Chung-won of the ruling Saenuri Party, led the memorial service held at the Lushun prison museum in the Lushun district of the northeastern coastal city of Dalian.

In a speech read by Lee, Park Sung-choon, the South Korean minister of patriots and veterans affairs, said, "The righteous movement by Martyr Ahn sounded the alarm against imperialists worldwide at the time."

Rep. Suh called for Japan to demonstrate its "genuine remorse" over its wartime history as this year marks the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan.

The assassination by Ahn took place a year before the Korean Peninsula was formally subjugated by Japan as its colony. (Yonhap)