Korea under Japanese rule
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Korea under Japanese rule refers to the period of Japan's physical occupation of the Korean peninsula in the early 20th century. Japan's encroachment began with the 1876 Treaty of Kanghwa with the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, increased with the 1895 assassination of Empress Myeongseong and the 1905 Protectorate Treaty, and was completed with the 1910 Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty. This period ended with Japan's surrender to the Allied forces in the Second World War in 1945, and Korea was subsequently divided into North and South Koreas.
In Korea, this period is called the Japanese Imperial Period (Ilje Sidae) or the Japanese Imperial Forcible Occupation Period (Ilje Gangjeomgi). This history, which involves allegations of Japanese war crimes, informs continuing disputes between Japan and the two Koreas
| Period of Japanese Rule | |
|---|---|
| Korean Name | |
| Hangul | 일제 시대 or 일제 강점기 |
| Hanja | 日帝時代 or 日帝强占期 |
| Revised Romanization | Ilje Sidae or Ilje Gangjeomgi |
| McCune-Reischauer | Ilche Sidae or Ilche Kangjŏmgi |
| Japanese Name | |
| Kanji | 日本統治時代 |
| Hiragana | にほんとうちじだい |
| Rōmaji | nihontōchijidai |
Contents |
Background
Unequal treaties
Colonial powers often forced weaker countries to sign unbalanced treaties called Unequal Treaties. Following the Meiji Restoration, Japan sought to identify itself with Western colonizing powers. Japan forced an unequal treaty upon Korea, granting extraterritorial rights and opening three of its ports to Japanese trade in February of 1876.
Assassination of Empress Myeongseong
In 1895, Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by Japanese assassins. The Japanese minister to Korea, Miura Goro, is said to have orchestrated her assassination. A group of Japanese entered the Imperial palace, which was under Japanese guard, and Empress Myeongseong (also known as Queen Min) was killed, and her dead body was desecrated. The Empress had opposed Japanese interference in Korea. After the assassination, the ruling Emperor Gojong refused to talk with his father, the Daewon-gun, believing him complicit in the assassination. Empress Myeongseong may have been instrumental in having Emperor Gojong taking charge of the state, removing the Daewon-gun from the power.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Non-government bodies and individuals have also undertaken their own investigations. For example, in 2005, a South Korean freelance journalist, Jung Soo-woong, located in Japan some descendants of people involved in the assassination. Jung concluded that the assassination was conducted by Japanese government agents, in response to the empress's involvement in efforts to reduce Japanese influence in Korea. Jung recorded the apologies of the individuals.
Donghak Rebellion and protests for democracy
1894 and 1895 saw the advent of the Donghak Rebellion in Korea. This rebellion, fueled by religious fervor of a Buddhist/Taoist "messiah" amongst them (the syncretic religion of Jeung San Do based on the teachings of Gang Il-Sun) and anger at the government for high taxes on rice, began in the Jeolla province of southwest Korea (which is now the North Jeolla province) and spread to central Korea. The Korean government in Seoul asked for Chinese assistance in ending the revolt. When China sent troops into Korea, Japan, presented the Chinese dispatch as a justification, sent in its own troops to Korea. China and Japan soon went to war in the First Sino-Japanese War, which Japan won, and China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895). Among its many stipulations, the treaty recognized "the full and complete independence and autonomy of Korea," ending Korea's status as a tributary state of China.
So Chae-p'il, who had gone to the United States and learned Western ways, and Protestant missionaries, introduced Western political thought to Korea. Soon after, protesters took to the streets, demanding democratic reforms and an end to Japanese and Russian influence in Korean affairs. The Russians had become involved in Korean politics because the King did not trust the Japanese, and had gone to the Russian embassy in Seoul in order to run the country in an unimpeded manner. Fear of imprisonment by the Japanese government led So Chae-p'il to leave Korea to America again in 1898.
On the road to annexation
Russia gained control of several of Korea's forests and mines after permission was given to Russia to build and operate the Chinese Eastern Railway across Manchuria. Japan and Russia soon engaged in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and 1905. Japanese victory in the conflict put an end to Russian influence in Korea. Shortly afterwards, Japan and the United States, in the Taft-Katsura Agreement, agreed that Japan would be given a free hand in Korea, a departure from previous US statements which had led the Korean Emperor to believe that the United States government would support Korean independence. In return, Japan agreed not to interfere in the American-occupied Philippines. Then-US President Theodore Roosevelt: "To be sure, by treaty it was solemnly covenanted that Korea should remain independent. But Korea itself was helpless to enforce the treaty, and it was out of the question to suppose that any other nation, with no interests of its own at stake, would do for the Koreans what they were utterly unable to do for themselves ... Korea has shown its utter inability to stand by itself." By the end of 1905, Korea was already a Japanese protectorate. In 1907, Emperor Gojong abdicated, and his son became the new Emperor.
Annexation of Korea
On August 22, 1910, Korea was effectively annexed by Japan under a Governor-General of Korea with the Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty signed under duress by Lee Wan-Yong: Prime Minister of Korea, and Masatake Terauchi: Japanese Resident-General in Korea who became the Governor-General of Korea. Korea was ruled as an effective colony of Japan until Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces on 15 August 1945. This treaty was never ratified and lacked the Imperial Korean seal making it unofficial. This period of annexation and exploitative colonization explains why anti-Japanese sentiment is still strong throughout both North and South Korea.
Independence movement
After the former Korean Emperor Gojong had died, anti-Japanese rallies took place nationwide beginning on 1 March 1919 (the March 1st (Samil) Movement). A declaration of independence was read in Seoul. It is estimated that 2 million people took part in these rallies. The protests were violently suppressed: according to Korean records, 49,948 were arrested, 7,509 killed and 15,961 wounded; according to Japanese figures, 8437 were arrested, 553 killed and 1409 wounded. Encyclopedia Britannica states that about 7,000 people were killed by the Japanese police and soldiers during the 12 months of demonstrations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
After the declaration of independence and the subsequent massacres, some of the aspects of Japanese rule considered most objectionable to Koreans were removed. The military police were replaced by a civilian force, and limited press freedom was permitted.
Continued anti-Japanese rallies, such as the nationwide uprising of students in November 1929, led to the strengthening of military rule in 1931, after which freedom of the press and expression were curbed. Many witnesses, including Catholic priests, reported that Japanese authorities dealt with alleged insurgency severely. When villagers were suspected of hiding rebels, entire villages of people are said to have been herded into public buildings (especially churches) and massacred when the buildings were set on fire. One priest who witnessed the aftermath of a mass killing by Japanese forces termed their actions "utterly savage and against the will of the Holy See." Such events deepened the hostility of many Korean civilians towards the Japanese government.
1940s and the end
A Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was established in Shanghai during the Period of Japanese Rule. On December 11, 1941, shortly after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the provisional government under the leadership of Kim Gu, declared war on Japan.
Seven days after the sundering of the Friendship Pact, Soviet tanks invaded Korea from Siberia, meeting little to no resistance. Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces on 15 August 1945, ending 35 years of Japanese rule. US forces under General Hodge would not arrive to the southern part of Korea until 8 September. Colonel Dean Rusk proposed splitting Korea at the 38th parallel at an emergency U.S. meeting to determine spheres of influence during this time. Efforts by the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea to establish control over Korea at the conclusion of the war were resisted and ultimately stopped by both United States and Soviet authorities. The U.S. authorities in southern Korea viewed the self-proclaimed Provisional Government as a communist insurgency and refused to recognize it. Bitterness over the division of Korea into two halves by the Soviet Union and the United States is widely felt by Koreans to this day.
Economy
Modern transport and communication networks were established across the nation in order to facilitate industrial exploitation and mining systems. An industrial base was established in Korea under Japanese rule for the production of weapons and military arms for use in the First World War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Pacific War. The average lifetime expectation rose from 26 years to 42 years (1945) and the population increased twofold, despite widespread economic poverty and malnutrition caused by the annual confiscation of Korean rice by Japanese landlords. The average amount of rice brought from Korea to mainland Japan yearly was 1,056,000 sacks (8.33% out of 12,303,000 sacks) from 1912 to 1916, 2,196,000 sacks (14.29% out of 14,101,000 sacks) from 1917 to 1921, 4,342,000 sacks (28.57% out of 14,501,000 sacks) from 1922 to 1926, 6,607,000 sacks (40% out of 15,798,000 sacks) from 1927 to 1931, 8,757,000 sacks (47.06% out of 17,002,000 sacks from 1932 to 1936, and 7,161,000 sacks (36.84% out of 19,410,000 sacks) in 1937. Korea's underground resources were also taken advantage of at this time through the conscription of Koreans to work in mines connected to various railroads, all built by Japanese companies. During the Period of Japanese rule, trade barriers between Korea and mainland Japan were lifted. Many Korean businesses were unable to compete with their Japanese competitors in the Korean market, as they lacked the capital, financial expertise, and low tax rates of their Japanese counterparts. As a result, many Korean businesses went bankrupt, and many sectors which had been filled by Korean companies were after the introduction of Japanese rule largely the domain of Japanese-owned businesses.
Japanese landowners
As the Japanese government encouraged its citizens to emigrate to its new Korean dominions for colonization and development, these settlers came and bought many land reforms from the Korean aristocracy who had monopolized the land and farms before 1884. Many Korean farmers were hired by these Japanese, and labored under significantly higher taxation rates than before, and learned slightly more advanced agricultural methods from the Japanese. As such, Korean farmers suffered under the high degree of their labor, which was required in order to supply rice to an increasingly urbanized Japan. The ownership registration process that Japan required of the Koreans made it not only difficult for the Korean aristocracy to hide and monopolize farming land, but also made it impossible for self-employed Korean farms to keep their estates from being exploited and taken by the Eastern Real Estate Corporation, which had been established in the beginning of the colonial era by the Japanese Governor-General to consficate all land of hereditary ownership. Consequently, Japanese landowners succeeded in monopolizing the management of Korean farms and property, very much like their pre-19th century Korean predecessors. This is well demonstrated during the years 1916, 1920, and 1932, during which the ratio of Japanese land ownership started at 36.8%, then rose to 39.8%, and finally jumped to 52.7%, while the ratio of Korean ownership began at 63.2%, dropped to 60.2%, and finally ended up at 47.3%.
Labor conscription
The Japanese gathered Koreans to work in Japan in three steps. First, the Japanese government permitted recruitment of Korean workers by Japanese companies. The number of Korean employed in this way is estimated at about 0.6 million people. From 1939 and until the end of World War II in 1945, the Japanese government also offered jobs at local offices in Korea to 10,000 Koreans. Finally, from February 1942, the Japanese government forced tens of thousands of Koreans to move to Japan as forced labor.
About 5,400,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labor from 1939 to 1945. About 670,000 of them were taken to Japan, where about 60,000 died between 1939 and 1945. The total deaths of Korean forced laborers in Korea and Manchuria for those years is estimated to be between 270,000 and 810,000.<ref>Template:Cite book Available online: Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1938, 0.8 million Koreans were living in Japan as immigrants. The combination of immigrants and forced labor workers during WW2 brought that estimate to about 2 million Koreans living in Japan at the end of the war (GHQ estimation). In 1946, 1.34 million people returned to Korea (also estimated by GHQ) and 0.65 million Koreans remained in Japan.
Politics and Culture
Residents of the Korean peninsula, whether ethnic Korean or Japanese, did not have the right to vote or right to hold office in Japan's House of Representatives (衆議院). The election law was amended in 1945 to allot 18 seats of the House of Representatives to the Korean peninsula, but this did not go into effect because of the end of the war later in the same year. Koreans living in Japan did, however, have both a right to vote and a right to hold office. Park Choon-Geum (박춘금, 朴春琴) was the first Korean to be elected into the House of Representatives in 1932, and re-elected in 1938. Several members of the Korean Royalty were appointed to the House of Peers (貴族院) including Park Young-Hyo (박영효, 朴泳孝) in 1932. 38 Koreans were elected into local assemblies in 1942.
Royalty
The Korean royalty was incorporated into the Japanese royalty during the Japanese Rule. Yi Eun (李垠), then the prince of Korea, married Masako (方子) of Nashimotonomiya (梨本宮). Koreans who supported the annexation also were invited into the Korean royalty. Lee Wan-Yong (李完用), the last prime minister of the Korean Empire, was given the title of Count (later Duke) by Japanese fiat and against Korean resistance. In total, 76 Koreans were titled Count, Baron, etc. all of which were later invalidated by the Koreans.
Culture
Western and Japanese culture seeped heavily into Korea during the Period of Japanese Rule, and Korean intellectuals read and discussed European, American, and Japanese writers and artists. Authors tended to discuss social and political agendas, and some looked up to Western ideals such as modernization and mass education, as well as socialism. While many authors engaged in romanticism, the Korean Proletarian Artists' Federation of the 1920s and 1930s criticized the Japanese government and expressed the contempt of many Koreans towards the Japanese authorities. The Federation was banned in 1935. In the meantime, the Japanese Government based in Keijo (modern-day Seoul) rigidly enforced the oppression of Korean culture and language in public, eventually going as far as to ban the use of the Korean language in the media, outlawing Korean newspapers, encouraging the adoption of Japanese names in favor of Korean names, demolishing Korean national monuments and edifices, demonizing Korean heroes, degrading the statues of Korean culture, and propagating the importance of the Japanese race while emphasizing the inferiority of the Korean race. This eventually led to a revival in Korean nationalism, including in-depth research projects into Hangul, the Korean alphabet, which resulted in the standardization of the Korean writing system by scholars such as Lee Hui Sung and Choi Hyun Bae in the 1930s, as well as underground publications of books about historical Korean figures.
In addition, Japan destroyed much of the Korean Imperial palace complex, Gyungbok Palace, which was originally constructed in 1394 AD by Jung Dojun, a Korean architect. Located near northern Seoul, the palace had endured various reconstructions and eventually ended up as a massive 330-building complex. Covering over 41 hectares (101 acres) of land, it was a symbol of majesty for the Korean people and the home of the Royal family. In 1911, the Japanese destroyed all but 10 buildings. The Japanese also took Korean goods such as Hangul scripts or Korean arts from families and had the government confiscate them.
Education
As the Japanese were attempting to assimilate Korea into the Empire of Japan, classes were taught in Japanese during the early years of the annexation period. After the March 1st (Samil) Movement in 1919, the Japanese were forced to allow Koreans to learn Korean culture. After the outbreak of World War II, however, this lenient policy was reversed, and school subjects such as Korean history and language were once again turned into electives and not encouraged. During the entire colonial period, Korean students were required to pay their respects at Shinto shrines, swear an oath of loyalty to the Emperor of Japan, and show their support for Japan's "Asia for Asians" policy. Teachers at elementary, middle, and high schools were dressed in military uniforms and armed with swords to enforce the intimidation of students.
In May 1942, the number of elementary schools built in Korea counted 4,945, the number of the students totaled 1,876,455, and the school enrollment rate went up to 60%, which was about 42 times greater than the number at the beginning of the annexation period. There were also 75 junior high schools, 75 girl's high schools (高等女学校), 133 trade schools (実業学校), 145 trade continuation schools (実業補修学校), 16 teacher's schools (師範学校), 24 vocational schools (専門学校), and 1 prep school in May 1944. Keijo Imperial University (京城帝國大學), which was absorbed into today's Seoul National University and was one of six imperial universities back then, was established in Seoul in 1924.
Koreans and the Japanese Imperial Army
Starting in 1938, Koreans located in Korea were allowed to volunteer for the Japanese military and the first Korean Voluntary Unit was formed. Among notable Korean personnel in the Imperial Army was Hong Shi-Yok (洪思翊), a lieutenant general. Many volunteers later gained administrative posts in the government of South Korea, one well-known example being Park Chung Hee (朴正熙; 박정희).
Starting in 1941, Japan started conscription of Koreans into the armed forces. All Korean males were drafted to either join the Imperial Japanese Army, as of April 1944, or work in the military industrial sector, as of September 1944. Prior to 1944, 18,000 Koreans passed the examination for induction into the army. The application ratio was allegedly 48.3 to 1 in 1943. From 1944, about 200,000 Korean males were inducted into the army. The total number of Korean military personnel was 242,341, and 22,182 of them died during World War II. At the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal 148 Koreans were convicted of Class B and C war crimes, 23 of whom were sentenced to death.
Victims of Nuclear Attacks and Sexual Slavery
In the case of Korean A-bomb victims in Japan during the Second World War, many Koreans were drafted, enslaved or kidnapped for work at military industrial factories in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There were a total of 70,000 Korean casualties in both cities; 40,000 were killed and 30,000 were exposed to the A-bomb radiation.
During World War II, Japanese officials and local collaborators forcibly kidnapped poor, rural women from Korea (and other nations) for sexual slavery for men in the Japanese military. These women became known as comfort women. Historians estimate the number of sex slaves at around 200,000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
It has been claimed that the Japanese government intentionally destroyed the reports on these Korean women. Some have cited Japanese inventory logs and employees on the battlefield as evidence for this claim. For example, one of the names on the list was of a comfort woman who stated she was forced to be a prostitute by the Japanese. She was classified as a nurse along with at least a dozen other verified comfort women who were not nurses or secretaries. Currently, the South Korean government is looking into the hundreds of other names on these lists.
Controversy over the Nature of the Japanese Rule
The nature of the Japanese rule of Korea, especially its role in contribution to the modernization of the Korean penninsula, is a topic of heated discussion.
In South Korea and North Korea, Japanese rule in the early twentieth century is widely regarded as a ruthless attempt to exploit the Korean people, comparable to Hitler's treatment of the Jews under Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. This perception of Japanese rule is reflected today in the long-standing anti-Japanese sentiment held by many Korean people.
On the other hand, some scholars view the Japanese role in modernization of Korea in a somewhat positive light. For example:
- Professor Rhee Young Hoon (이영훈) of Seoul National University argued at a seminar hosted by the Asia-Pacific Research Center of Stanford University that despite human rights problems, the Korean economy had grown greatly under the Japanese rule and that the base of modern capitalism introduced by the Japanese to Korea later became a part of the foundation of the modern Korean economy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Professor Emeritus Ahn Byung Jik (안병직) of Seoul National University rejects the mainstream view that the late Joseon Dynasty had a germination of capitalism and could have grown into a modern society on its own, and argues that the Japanese rule helped the economic development of Korea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Ji Man-Won, a South Korean author, has caused controversy in Korea and further abroad with his revisionist view. Ji has praised Japan for "modernizing" Korea, and has said "most of the old women claiming to be former comfort women, or sex slaves to the Japanese military during World War II, are fakes."
In Korea, views like the above are extremely rare and widely regarded as being offensive, and as representing historical revisionism.<ref>Template:Cite web </ref>
- East Asian Curiculum Project at Columbia University writes: "Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) was a deeply ambivalent experience for Koreans. On the one hand, Japanese colonialism was often quite harsh. For the first ten years Japan ruled directly through the military, and any Korean dissent was ruthlessly crushed. After a nationwide protest against Japanese colonialism that began on March 1, 1919, Japanese rule relaxed somewhat, allowing a limited degree of freedom of expression for Koreans.
- "Despite the often oppressive and heavy-handed rule of the Japanese authorities, many recognizably modern aspects of Korean society emerged or grew considerably during the 35-year period of colonial rule. These included rapid urban growth, the expansion of commerce, and forms of mass culture such as radio and cinema, which became widespread for the first time. Industrial development also took place, partly encouraged by the Japanese colonial state, although primarily for the purposes of enriching Japan and fighting the wars in China and the Pacific rather than to benefit the Koreans themselves. Such uneven and distorted development left a mixed legacy for the peninsula after the colonial period ended. By the time of the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Korea was the second-most industrialized nation in Asia after Japan itself.
- "But the wartime mobilization of 1937-45 had reintroduced harsh measures to Japanese colonial rule, as Koreans were forced to work in Japanese factories and were sent as soldiers to the front. Tens of thousands of young Korean women were drafted as “Comfort Women” - in effect, sexual slaves - for Japanese soldiers."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
- History of Korea
- Imperialism in Asia
- Japanese Empire
- Chosen Army of Japan
- Anti-Japanese sentiment
- List of Japanese War Atrocities
- List of Korea-related topics
- List of Japanese governors-general in Korea
- Assassination of Empress Myeongseong of Korea
- March 1st Movement
- Japan-Republic of Korea Joint Declaration of 1998
- Korean-Japanese disputes
Notes and references
<references/>
External links
fr:Histoire de la Corée sous occupation japonaise ko:일제 시대 nl:Japanse bezetting van Korea ja:韓国併合 zh:日韓併合