Colonial Korea (1910-1945)

Colonial Korea (1910-1945)

• In 1905, Korea was deprived of its sovereignty through a treaty and became a protectorate of Imperial Japan.
• Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, becoming an official colony.
• The Government General of Korea (GGK) controlled Korean society.
• Japan's attempts to erase Korean culture, including its language, exacerbated colonial exploitation, repression, and racism.
• Issues stemming from this period still affect Japanese-Korean relations.
• Korea's geographical proximity to Japan, the colonizer was unique in modern colonial history compared to France and its North African colonies.
• There was a large migration of metropolitan émigrés and colonial people to the colonizer.
• Colonialists tried to justify their rule by saying they were uplifting a sibling culture, a rhetoric rejected by Koreans who viewed themselves as culturally superior.
• The GGK had significant power, with the governor general answering directly to the emperor.
• The GGK governed 25 million subjects, controlled tax revenues, commanded military forces and police, issued laws, and managed a large bureaucracy that employed 246,000 people by 1945.
• Colonial military police subdued resistance until mid-1912.
• The GGK favored the traditional elite while arresting and torturing malcontent Koreans and independence fighters.
• The leadership of Korean society was suppressed through mollification, imprisonment, or survelliance.

Legal and Political Structures

• Laws and punishments operated under legal apartheid, such as whipping being specific to Koreans.
• The judicial system was expanded but led by judges appointed by Japan, except for high court judges appointed by the emperor.
• Most judgeships were held by the Japanese.
• The colonial police transitioned from military to civilian, increasing from 6,222 in 1911 to 60,000 in the 1940s, and used informers for surveillance.
• Half of the police force were Koreans, collaborators who became unpopular when Korea was liberated.
• Privately run newspapers were closed down.
• The Korea Daily News, enjoyed extraterritorial protection because it was run by a foreigner, allowing it to avoid censorship until the Japanese takeover in 1910.
• Publication and pre-publication censorship were implemented.
• All private organizations apart from a few religious groups were abolished as public assembly was regulated.

Cultural Erasure and Assimilation

• In the 1920s, a colonial architectural style emerged.
• The Government-General building was placed in front of the Gyeongbok palace to erase symbolic remains of the past regime.
• The GGK built shrines to extend centralized state Shinto, which turned into obligatory loyalty rituals, and were demolished after liberation.
• The Japanese constructed thousands of kilometers of railroad tracks based on strategic and extractive objectives.
• Towns and economic activity emerged close to these railroads in the new ports.
• By 1945, Korea possessed a significant communications infrastructure.
• An unintended aspect colonial policy involved the use of coercion and strictness, especially in the first stages during Military Rule.
• A major Korean upheaval against oppressive Japanese rule in 1919 led GGK to usher in an era of Cultural Rule, involving softer rules.
• Japan sought to absorb Korea politically and culturally, aiming to erase Korean culture and historical memory. According to Japan, Koreans and Japanese were the same race to manipulate those living in Korea. The end goal was assimilation.
• Assimilation, or Japanization, became a leading goal as Japan's war in China was underway.
• In the Movement to Create Imperial Citizens and war mobilization efforts, Japan attempted to erase Korean culture and rewrite its history.
• The GGK published a History of Korea starting in 1932, rewriting it in 37 volumes to justify colonial rule.

Education, Society, and Korean Resistance

• Education for Koreans was meant to produce loyal subjects to the Emperor, with separate schools for Japanese and Korean students.
• The Education Ordinance of 1911 used approved textbooks.
• Studying the Japanese language was mandatory in all schools.
• The system stressed vocational and technical skills, with little liberal arts education except in private religious institutions.
• Without education Korean cultural education, many had had no choice but to study in Japan then find a Japan dominated job.
• "Good jobs" were in Japanese firms, so Koreans had to speak Japanese which would let Koreans take white-collar jobs.
• The March First Uprising in 1919 was a moment of national unity that placed the plight of those living in Korea to the world's stage.
• It precipitated a shift in Japanese politics but also brought about major public relations damage.
• The uprising may have been inspired by Woodrow Wilson's message of self-determination, which gave Koreans under Japanese rule a source to petition change.
• In 1919 Students from Tokyo drafted a declaration of independence, planning a nationwide demonstration to ask the global leaders for help.
• The planners recruited the church to influence a national message, requiring nonviolence from leaders.
• On March 1st, signatories gathered in Seoul as civilians commemorated the day by reading Korean messages in parks and schools while parading in the streets.
• The mass demonstrations caught Japanese police by surprise.
• The police retaliated.
  • Around 1,000,000 people took part in the uprising.
  • Police retaliated with brutality.
• Police responded with force using violence and atrocities that would lead to the burning of villages, mass arrests, and executions.
• International backlash contributed to the formation of the Shanghai Provisional Government in 1919.

The Impact of Japanese Rule

• The Japanese made the decision to force Koreans to change their names to Japanese named in 1940 to show support.
• This deeply impacted Korean identity to the point where they were still required to use Korean name identity cards to preserve the hierarchy over Japanese named citizens.
• There was an enormous decision that was made that would lead to the recruitment of military personnel from colonial schools around in 1934 where many promising Korean youths would study to join the military. A branch then opened in Manchuria, China in 1937 to support the cause.
• By 1943, The GGK made the official decision to promote a general conscription to the force that put 20,000 Koreans in the imperial navy and 200,000 in the army often relegated to lower position roles.
• The elites would later include Park Chung-hee, who attended Manchurian Military Academy.
• In 1938, Japanese became the language of instruction for all subjects in the colonial schools, and Korean language study was formally removed from the curriculum in 1942.
• The same year the GGK arrested all the leaders of the Korean Language Movement and stole valuable data.
• In 1940-1945, a full-scale mobilization took place and created a large population of forced labor and military from Korean youths.
• As Japanese colonial rule began to weaken, it created a society that had 2nd class citizens at the best.
• These years also were the beginnings of draft labor, cannon fodder, sexual abuse where even minor actions would be considered a rebellion against Japan, filling the over abundant prisons with political prisoners.

Later Years and Division

• When the Japanese were defeated in 1945, it left political factionalism that created a split amongst Korea preventing it's leadership.
• As various conservative groups returned, it led to terrorist act on Japanese citizens and installations which would set up the country heading to distrust. Kim Ku a staunch nationalist and anti-communist contributed to these events.
• With leaders like Syngman Rhee (who also caused unrest and terrorism), being known for supporting the conservatives while Kim Il Sung sided with communism it was a tough decision to create peace.
• The Cairo Conference in 1943 was to figure out how to establish a government when the Korean peninsula would be independent, but that would lead to nothing but trusteeships and conflicts.
• The Americans tried to limit the involvement of the communist and proposed a joint occupation which led to a divide in the 38th parallel of North and South Korea.
• In 1945, Japan formed the Committee for the Preparation of Independence (CPKI) Korean People's Republic which would later turn into the rise of Korean Communist organizations.
• 1946 The Soviets removed Japanese and Korean collaborators before the land was seized from said groups to the proper civilians. Americans conservative officials created a U.S. Army Military Govt. which prevented Koreans from creating its own government, delaying progress. This meant that Korean forces couldn't decide who ruled. -In contrast to the North, they would delay land reforms, causing mistrust among citizens.
• There would ultimately, be 2 separate states because of these political feuds forming in 1948: Republic of Korea (ROK) and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)

Korean War (1950-1953)

• There would be conflicts that would lead to the Korean war because of this division. Syngman Rhee and Kim Il-Sung had opposing objectives, but the Soviets and Americans deciding the country's future wouldn't happen.
• Kim II-Sung the premier, was an important reason why the North would triumph because he and his Chinese army had been in major events like the Chinese Civil War and would bring trained soldiers for North Korea.
• While not intended, the term limited war would come into play during the Korean was with over +30,000 Americans and millions of Korean and Chinese citizens would die which would later would be deemed a "police action."
• It was a long and drawn out war for 3 years would accomplish really nothing except keep the border in place and dividing families.
• In SK, anti-Communism would take a foothold, justifying those in authority.

From 1910 to 1945, Korea was under Japanese colonial rule marked by political control and cultural suppression. The Government General of Korea (GGK) exerted significant authority, impacting Korean society. This period led to lasting effects on Japanese-Korean relations due to colonial exploitation and cultural erasure.