Japanese Occupation of the Korean Peninsula: Key Points

Graeme H. Watkins

Japanese Colonialism

‘…Japan held Korea tightly, watched it closely, and pursued an organized, architectonic colonialism in which the planner and administrator was the model, not the swashbuckling conqueror; the strong, highly centralized colonial state mimicked the role that the Japanese state had come to play in Japan…’

-Korea's Place in the Sun by Bruce Cumings

(Via Han 2012)

Fig 1. Map detailing Japanese colonisation

Timeline; Law, War & Protest

Treaty of Ganghwa

• 1876

• Japanese navy – (unfair

)gunboat diplomacy

Sino-Japanese war I

ends

• April 17th 1896

• Korea recognised as

independent by China

Japan-Korea

Protectorate treaty

• Nov 17th 1905

• Korea made a

of Japan and given control

of trade

The Hague Secret Emissary

• 1907

• Emperor Gojong sends

emissaries to Hague second

peace conference, denied

as Japan took control of foreign

policy in 1905

Abdication of Emporer

Gojong

• July 18th 1907

• Due to Hague conference

intervention forced to abdicate

to son- Sun Jong

• Sun Jong rules for three years

prior to Japan’s official

annexation (1910)

Japan-Korea treaty of

1907

• July 24th 1907

• Gave power of Korea’s internal

affairs

• Only eight days after Sun Jong

was given the title of emperor

Korea-Japan Annexation treaty

• 1910 Aug 22nd

• New treaty renders Korea a

colony of the Japanese Empire

• August 29th treaty is put into

action

March 1st Movement

(1919)

• Group of Korean students

publish a statement asking for

freedom from colonial rule

• Peaceful protest conducted by

reading out the Korean

Declaration of Independence

Great Kanto Earthquake

• September 1st 1923

• During time of chaos many

Koreans accused of robbery,

and assassination

• Casuing Japanese officicals to

massacre an estimated 6-10

thousand Koreans in the Tokyo-

Yokohama area

June 10th Movement

• June 10th 1926

• Many people protest

after the death of

Emperor Sunjong

• Korean flag and flyers

printed

• Many captured by

Japanese military

• All but 7 released

• Jail time ranging from 1-

3 years

Soshi-Kaimei

• January 1st 1939

• Governor-general of Korea

created the act of Soshi-

Kaimei

• This put pressure on Koreans

to change their first and last

names to Japanese names

Victory over Japan

day

• August 15th 1945

• After the subsequent

bombings of Hiroshima

and Nagasaki, and

Japanese official

surrender Korea was

finally liberated

• A declaration of

independence was

announced

• Day referred to as

Japanese occupation

Quick facts

• Countless Korean cultural treasures stolen

• Items related to the previous dynasties destroyed or stolen

• Korean rice industry used to subsidise Japan’s food needs

• Rice imported from Manchuria (North of NK)

• Korean beef exported

• Nationalistic newspapers and literature suppressed

• Korean language supressed

• Koreans treated very poorly amongst Japanese colonials

Seikanron Debate (1873)

Yoshida Shoin advocates for capture of Korea as means of uniting the Japanese people, giving them a foothold in the Asian continent and protecting them from foreign threats

Saigo Takomori agreed, and wished to direct internal chaos created from the Meji restoration and hastey modernisation outward at JoesonKorea

Debate saw Japan leave Korea alone for the time being

Painting dated 1877 (3 years after debate)

What was life like for Korean’s in a Japanese occupied Korea?

Post Annexation (1910-45)

Koreans seen as ‘Japanese subjects’ but also a conquered people

Peaceful protests as part of March First saw Japan become more lenient toward Korean people

Korean print news was not allowed till 1921 and then later supressed in the lead up to the second Sino-Japanese war and the success of militaristic politics in Japan

US Library of Congress (1990)

Assassination of Ito Harabumi & what it meant for the Korean people

Japan’s first Prime Minister

October 6th 1909, Railway station in Harbin, Korean Nationalist Ahn Jeung-geun assassinates Harabumi

Ahn hanged a year later after Japan took colonial rule of Korea

Ahn hailed as a hero in modern day South Korea and China. With the opening of a memorial to Anh in South Korea (Japan Times)

In Japan the death of Harabumi was treated as a criminal case and worsened relations between Japan and colonial Korea

Yu Gwansun – A Korean Joan of Arc

“In Cheonan, Yu Gwan Sun (17) planned demonstrations for independence, and on March 31, 1919, Yu is remembered for lighting 24 torch beacons on Mt. Maebongsan, which inspired about 4,000 Cheonan citizens gathered at Aunae Marketplace to protest Japanese occupation shouting, “Long live Korean Independence!”

Often compared to the French Military leader Joan of Arc has a pivotal place in the Korean memory of Japanese occupation and is used by nationalists as a tool for reinforcing disparity among Korea and Japan

Massacre of workers during and post WWII

It was common place for Koreans killed after being used as foreign labourers; especially during waring periods where the construction of certain landmarks might have been sensitive information for the Japanese Empire.

Example case

Matsushiro, Outside Nagano, Tunnels built into Mt. Zou, large part of the work force was made up by Korean conscripts. Koreans being seen as a lower than Japanese were given more arduos tasks and had lower caloric intakes. Many starved. Official number of dead counted at around 300 but Korean numbers estimate around 1000, and believe mistreatment or torture may have been involved.

Japanese Imprisonment of Koreans

Seodaemun Prison

Used to imprison anticolonial; later moved to a different facility

Accommodated around 500 people

Tunnels were often used in Japanese colonial prisons to remove the corpses of malnourished, mistreated and tortured individuals

Unit 731; The Japanese HolocaustFocus on Korean POWs

Manchruia-based Kwantung Army’s department of Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Department

Unit used to develop biological weapons from 1930s onwards

Was set-up with approval from Imperial and Army authorities by Ishii Shiro

Facilities set-up in Harbin (Manchuria) just above NK

Human experimentation carried out by units 731 and 1644

Used to infect Soviet water supplies with typhoid and drop smallpox virus on Chinese villages to weaken resistance

Also airdropped supplies rife with fleas infected by the plague (killed 106)

Attempted to pack bombs with diseases and pathogens

Via Nie et al (2013)

Korean involvement in the 2nd Sino-Japanese War/ World War II

Comfort Women

Young Korean Volunteers (1938) in 2nd Sino-Japanese War

Later Korean Conscripts (1943) in World War II

Dictation at Korean schools to be taught in Japanese

Shinto shrines built throughout Korea

Supreme belief in the Emperor and his connection to Shinto Origins to be taught in schools and paid lip-service in general

Reparations, Policy, Education and Japanese public opinion

Reparations for Atomic bomb survivors, comfort women and other forced labourers were reluctant and often not perceived as unnecessary by the Japanese government

Korean and Japanese textbooks share mixed views on Korean occupation or make no mention of it

Japanese textbooks still claim the Ogasawara islands (Dokdo Islands) are property of the Japanese Empire despite having lost most of its territories at the end of WWII

Reference List

Columbia University. (2009). KEY POINTS IN DEVELOPMENTS IN EAST ASIA 20th CENTURY: Korea as a Colony of Japan, 1910-1945. Available: http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/kpct/kp_koreaimperialism.htm. Last accessed 9th Oct 2015.

Kyodo, AJ. (2014). Korean who assassinated Japan’s first leader honored in China. Available: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/01/20/national/korean-who-assassinated-japans-first-leader-honored-in-china/. Last accessed 19th Oct 2015.

Nie JB, Guo N, Selden M, & Kleinman A (2013).Japan's Wartime Medical Atrocities: Comparative Inquiries in Science, History, and Ethics Asia's Transformations. London: Routledge. p23-31.

Ponzio, R . (2009). The Peaceful Protests of Yu Gwan Sun: Korean Heroine. Available: http://hardcorepainting.blogspot.jp/2009/06/peacful-protests-of-yu-gwan-sun-korean.html. Last accessed 12th Oct 2015.

Sa, ES 2009, 'Development of Press Freedom in South Korea since Japanese Colonial Rule', Asian Culture and History, vol. 1, no. 2 (2009), pp. [*PAGES REQUIRED*].

U.S. Library of Congress. (1990). Korea Under Japanese Rule.Available: http://countrystudies.us/south-korea/7.htm. Last accessed 8th Oct 2015

Wang, A & Zheng, S . (2014). Korea Colonisation Timeline. Available: https://prezi.com/ihto1g7kqrv0/korea-colonisation-timeline/. Last accessed 18th Oct 2015..

Yamasa Institute . (2013). WWII Imperial Headquarters - Matsushiro.Available: http://yamasa.org/japan/english/destinations/nagano/tunnels.html. Last accessed 19 Oct 2015 .