Korea under Japanese rule

Korea was occupied and under Japanese rule during the period of Japan's administrative control of the Korean peninsula in the early 20th century from 1910 to 1945. Japan's recent era involvement began with the 1876 Treaty of Ganghwa during the Joseon Dynasty of Korea and increased with the 1895 assassination of Empress Myeongseong, culminating with the 1905 Protectorate Treaty and the 1910 Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty, both of which were eventually declared "null and void" in the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea [5]. 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, although there have been continuing disputes between Japan and the two Koreas.

In Korea, this period is called the Japanese Imperial Period (일제 시대, Korean: Ilje Sidae) or the Japanese Imperial Forcible Occupation Period (일제강점기, Korean: Ilje Gangjeomgi) in reference to an exploitative nature of occupation.

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, meaning reigned under Japan
Hiragana	にほんとうちじだい
Rōmaji	nihontōchijidai

Background

"Unequal" treaties

Following the Meiji Restoration, Japan sought to identify with Western colonizing powers which often sought trade rights abroad, sometimes by using treaties which are perceived as unbalanced. Japan sought the Treaty of Ganghwa with 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 agents. The Japanese minister to Korea, Miura Goro, is thought to have orchestrated the plot against her, though neither he nor any of the agents were found guilty by the Japanese court. A group of Japanese agents entered the Imperial palace in Seoul, which was under Japanese guard, and Empress Myeongseong (also known as "Queen Min") was killed and her body desecrated in the North wing of the palace. The empress had incurred the wrath of Japan for attempting to prevent Japanese interference in Korea.

After the assassination of his consort, 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 take charge of the state, removing the Daewon-gun from power.

Donghak Rebellion and protests for democracy

1894 and 1895 saw the advent of the Donghak Rebellion in Korea. This uprising, 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 and 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 (in Japanese: 桂-タフト 協定 Katsura-Taft Kyōtei), 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 wrote:

"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."

This secret agreement was concluded between William Howard Taft and Prime Minister Katsura Taro (in Japanese:桂太郎) in July 1905. In November, Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi came to Seoul in order to establish a protectorate over Korea. Accompanied by Ambassador Hayashi Gonsuke and the commander of the Japanese troops in the peninsula, Hasegawa Yoshimichi, and escorted by militaries, he penetrated the Imperial Palace and demanded that Emperor Gojong and his ministers sign a protectorate convention drafted in Tokyo. The subsequent rejection by the Emperor and the Prime Minister ignited anger and threats ensued in Japanese part, with thousands of Japanese troops entering Seoul and surrounding the Palace. After two days, five ministers yielded to the Japanese demand and entered Korean history as the "five traitors" (Eulsa Ohjeok).

Thus on November 17th 1905, the matter was concluded and Korea became an effective Japanese protectorate, with the signature under duress by the five aforementioned ministers, of the Eulsa Treaty. The agreement is known in Japan as the "Second Japanese-Korean convention" (第二次日韓協約, [Dainiji Nikkan Kyouyaku]) or "Japanese-Korean treaty of protectorate" (保護日韓条約, )[Hogo Nikkan Jouyaku].

The treaty had two main implications. On the one hand, Japan was to take control of Korean foreign affairs and relations. On the other hand, the local government was put under the supervision of a "Resident-General" (Japanese: 当管, Toukan), a position directly subordinated to the Emperor of Japan. Japan unilaterally defined the powers conferred to its supervisor - the right to use the local Japanese military forces to maintain order, authority over every Japanese officer there, the power of direct intervention in the decision process of the government. Finally, if needs be, the Resident-General was entrusted with the task of issuing decrees. Hirobumi was the first to hold the position.

In June 1907, an international conference was held in The Hague, in the perspective of peace. Emperor Gojong secretly sent three representatives, commissioned to bring the problems of Korea to the world's attention. The three envoys ultimately failed, as they were refused access to the public debates by the international delegates who alleged the legality of the protectorate convention, which deprived Korea of its diplomatic prerogatives. Out of despair, one of the Korean representatives, Yi Chun, committed suicide there at The Hague.

This incident gave the Japanese government the opportunity to take more radical measures. On July 19th, as a consequence of his offence, Emperor Gojong was forced to relinquish his imperial authority and appoint the Crown Prince as the regent. The Japanese officials exploited this concession to force through the accession of the new Emperor Sunjong in form of abdication, which was never agreed to by Gojong. Neither Gojong or Sunjong was present in the 'accession' cremony. Sunjong was to be the last ruler of Yi Dynasty, which had been founded in 1392.

Annexation of Korea

Flag of the Resident General of Korea

In May 1910, the Minister of the Army of Japan, Terauchi Masatake was also appointed "Resident General of Korea", with the mission to settle the last details of a formal annexation. He proceeded to take his dual position in Korea on July 23rd.

On August 22, 1910, Korea was effectively annexed by Japan with the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty signed under duress by Lee Wan-Yong, Prime Minister of Korea, and Terauchi Masatake, who became the first de facto Governor-General of Korea (Japanese: 総督, [Soutoku]), and the last Resident General of the former protectorate. Korea continued to be occupied by Japan until Japan's surrender to the Allied Forces on 15 August 1945.

For fear that upheaval and dissent should occur, the text was published one week later and applied the same day. The treaty stipulated:

• "Article 1: His Majesty the Emperor of Korea concedes completely and definitely his entire sovereignty over the whole Korean territory to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.
• Article 2: His Majesty the Emperor of Japan accepts the concession stated in the previous article and consents to the annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan."

The treaty that brought about effective Japanese control, whose legitimacy is still claimed by the Japanese government, is no longer accepted as valid in contemporary Korea or by modern international law, as the threat of retribution was present. Even without the application of modern standards the treaty is still considered invalid as only the imperial seal of Korea was affixed while the emperor had refused to give his signature, as attested in his last testament, an act required to bring any new legislation or diplomatic agreement into force as per Korean laws of the period. This period of annexation and colonization is part of the reason why anti-Japanese sentiment is present in 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, 46,948 were arrested, 7,509 killed and 15,961 wounded; according to Japanese figures, 8437 were arrested, 553 killed and 1409 wounded. The Encyclopedia Britannica states that about 7,000 people were killed by the Japanese police and soldiers during the 12 months of demonstrations. The March 1 movement was a catalyst for the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai in April 13, 1919 Some Koreans left the Korean peninsula to Manchuria and Primorsky Krai. Koreans in Manchuria formed resistance groups known as Dongnipgun (Independence Army) which would travel in and out of the Korean-Chinese boundary, fighting guerrilla warfare with the Japanese forces. These guerilla armies would come together in 1940s as Korean Liberation Army, The Armed Forces of the Provisonal Goverment bringing together the Korean resistance groups in exile. The government duly declared the war against Japan and Germany on December 9, 1941, and the Liberation Army took part in allied action in China and parts of South East Asia. Tens of thousands of Koreans also joined the Peoples Liberation Army and the National Revolutionary Army.

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". In the village of Cheam-Ni near Suwon, for instance, a group of 29 people was gathered inside a church which was then set afire to burn them alive.

Such events deepened the hostility of many Korean civilians towards the Japanese government.

1940s and the end

The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai was considered to be the de jure representation of the Korean people. It coordinated much of struggle against Japan in China and Korea itself throughout the Period of Japanese Rule. On December 9, 1941, shortly after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the provisional government, under the presidency of Kim Gu, declared war on Japan. The military force of the Provisional Government, the Korean Liberation Army took part on allied side in Chinese and Southeast Asian theatres. Tens of thousands more Koreans volunteered for the National Revolutionary Army and the Peoples Liberation Army.

In August 9 1945, seven days after the sundering of its Friendship Pact with Japan, Soviet tanks invaded northern Korea from Siberia, meeting little to no resistance. Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces on 15 August 1945, ending 35 years of Japanese occupation. 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 authority over Southern Korea at the conclusion of the war were resisted and ultimately stopped by United States, who had mistakenly believed it to be communist-oriented, and due recognition to the Provisional Government was not given. 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 and Exploitation

Proponents of Japanese Imperialism and supporters of Japanese Nationalism have often cited the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula as a time of industrial development. Although statistically this is not false, the greater question remains whether Korea would have been able to industrialize on its own had it not become a colony (See Below: Controversy over the Nature of the Japanese Rule).

What is important is that the industrialization of Korea marked not a modernization, but a form of colonial mercantilism,[6] with investments limited to activities that would generate a maximum benefit in returns to the colonizers. Emphasis on developing infrastructure (virtually non-existent or negligible at the time) was to facilitate the exploitation, transport and eventual shipment of commodities such as raw materials(timber and leather), foodstuffs (mostly rice, meat and fish), and underground mineral resources (especially coal and iron, particularly rich in the northern provinces) to Japan proper. Military manufacturing bases were also established in Korea under Japanese rule geared for the production of weapons and military arms for use in the First World War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Pacific War.

General average life expectancy did rise during the colonial era, however these figures can be generally misleading since they include the Japanese population living in Korea, which had access to far better nutrition, health care, commodities, and higher protein diets. Widespread economic poverty and malnutrition for the Korean population remained endemic, aggravated by the annual confiscation of Korean rice for export to Japan. The average amount of Korean rice exported to Japan rose from 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.

Many of the previous trade barriers that had existed between Korea and Japan prior to annexation were lifted in Japan's favor. Korean businesses were unable to compete with their Japanese competitors in the Korean market due to unbalanced Japanese laws and lack of capital, financial assistance, 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 land ownership

An issue that persists even to this day, the Japanese ownership of Korean land first became widespread during colonial occupation, when the Japanese government handed out large tracts of land at reduced costs to any Japanese family willing to settle and emigrate to Korea. Former Korean landowners as well as agricultural workers became internally displaced, having lost their entitlements to labor and property almost overnight. Those who did labor under Japanese landlords did so under significantly higher taxes and generally worse conditions. 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 difficult, if not close to impossible for self-employed Korean farms to keep their estates from being exploited and taken away by the Eastern Real Estate Corporation, which had been established during the beginning of the colonial era by the Japanese Governor-General to confiscate all land of hereditary ownership. Consequently, Japanese landowners succeeded in monopolizing the management of Korean farms and property. 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%, decreased to 60.2%, and finally fell to 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 600 thousand 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.

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.

Assimilation of the Royalty

The Korean royalty was incorporated into the Japanese royalty during the Japanese Rule. Yi Eun (李垠), then the Imperial Crown Prince of Korea, married Masako (方子) of Nashimotonomiya (梨本宮). Koreans who supported the annexation also were invited into the Japanese nobility. 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 Korean Governments.

Welfare

Japanese Government executed various welfare policies. For instance, Life insurance is one of the welfare policies that Japanese Government offered to Korean people.

Cultural Imperialsm

The colonial government soon put into to practice the oppression of Korean culture and language in public, The colonial government kept issuing a Korean language newspaper "毎日新報" until 1945 [7][8] The style of Japan was introduced into a Korean newspaper and the publication. (It was a style that the Chinese character is mixed with Hangul[9], Other means of cultural suppression included the unique Japanese method of "altering" public monuments, including several well-known temples, palaces, scripts, memorials and statues. Songs and poems, originally dedicated to Korean Emperors, were re-written to adore the Japanese Emperor. Carved monuments underwent kanji alterations to delete or change part of their meaning. Two of the more notorious events included the defacing of Namdaemun, a virtual symbol of Korea, which was altered by the addition of large, shinto-style golden horns near the roofs (later removed by the South Korean government after independence), and the incident of Gyeongbokgung, a former Korean Palace which was demolished and the Governor-General's house built in the exact location. In addition, many ancient Korean texts that were discovered mentioning Japanese historical inferiority or Korean military and cultural exploits were deleted methodically, and in general the awareness of Korean history among Koreans declined during this period.

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.

Forced Name Changes

The revision of the family registry in 1939 is strongly criticized by a modern South Korean. The Korean was prohibited from having two family names by this law. Moreover, if the permission of the court was obtained, the Korean was able to obtain the name of the Japanese style.

As part of their program to 'integrate' Koreans into the Japanese Empire and forced them to adopt more Japanese ways, many Koreans were forced to 'japonify' their names. On 1939 Imperial Decree 19 (조선민사령 "帝令19朝鮮民事令")[10] went into effect, whereby all Koreans had to surrender their Korean last names(姓名制) and adopt Japanese family names(氏名制). This forceful use of Japanese names is known as Changshi-gaemyong (창씨계명"創氏係名") and is today generally regarded as a humiliation by Koreans. (See article: Korean names)

Imperial Education

Following the annexation of the Korean Peninsula, education became an instrument of "citizen forming" ("황민화" "皇民化") by the Empire of Japan as part of their dōka seisaku (同化政策; Assimilation Policy). Classes focused mostly on teaching the history of the Japanese Empire as well as glorification of the "Heavenly Emperor". Korean students were forced to worship at Japanese Shinto shrines, swear an oath of loyalty to the Japanese Emperor, and show their support for Japan's "Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" policy. Teachers at elementary, middle, and high schools typically dressed in military uniforms and carried military-style swords to enforce the intimidation of students. All classes were taught in Japanese with Korean Language originally being a student elective. Later this policy was scrapped and replaced by a "Penalty Point" system whereby students were academically penalized for the use of the Korean language during schooltime. Elementary Schools during colonial times were known as gukmin-hakkyo "國民學校" or "Citizen Schools" as a means of forming proper "Imperial Citizens" "皇國民" since early childhood. Elementary Schools in South Korea today are known by the name chodeung-hakkyo "初等學敎" (literally: "Elementary School") as the term "gukmin-hakkyo" has become a politically incorrect and sensitive term.

Imperial Japanese Army Incidents

Starting in 1938, Koreans located in Korea were forced into 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 later gained administrative posts in the government of South Korea but were limited in rank, one well-known example being Park Chung Hee (朴正熙; 박정희), who became years later a South Korea president.

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. In 2002 South Korea started an investigation of Japanese collaborators. Part of the investigation was completed in 2006 and a list of various names of individuals who profited from exploitation of fellow Koreans were posted. Many collaborators were able to afford higher education with the money they had made from exploitations, this allowed them to take up influential positions and afford to contribute to the well being of their children who also profited from Japan's exploitations.

Comfort Women and Victims of Nuclear Attacks and Japanese War Crimes

During World War II, Japanese officials and local collaborators are alleged to have 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.

As these investigations continue more evidence is discovered each day. It has been claimed that the Japanese government intentionally destroyed the reports on Korean comfort women. Some have cited Japanese inventory logs and employee sheets 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.

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 Japanese Occupation of Korea many Koreans became victims of Japanese war crimes such as Christians being crucified, Human experimentation, Mass Killings, Forced labour,Torture among other crimes. Koreans along with many other Asians were experimented on in secret military medical experimentation units such as Unit 731,Unit 516 and many more an estimated 270,000 to 810,000 Koreans died in 7 years from Forced labor alone.

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 peninsula, is a topic of heated discussion.

In South Korea and North Korea, Japanese rule in the early twentieth century is widely taught as a ruthless attempt to exploit the Korean people, comparable to the ruthless exploitation of the Poles during the Nazi German occupation. This perception of Japanese rule is reflected today in the long-standing anti-Japanese sentiment held by many Korean people.

A small minority of scholars view the Japanese role in modernization of Korea in a somewhat positive light.

Controversial examples:

• Professor Rhee Young Hoon (이영훈) of Seoul National University (서울대) 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.

• 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.

• Ji Man-Won, a South Korean author, has caused controversy in Korea and further abroad with his 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."

Views like the above are widely regarded as offensive in Korea, and as representing historical revisionism.

• East Asian Curriculum 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."

Also, a question within this controvesy is in what way Korea would have developed without Japan's interference over the 35 years. Could their have been a beneficial industrialization of Korea that was positive for the Koreans themselves as compared to the exploitative nature of their industrialization.

Modern Interpretations and Arguments

The general view in South Korea today is that modernization in the Korean Peninsula began in the post-1945 period under the stewardship of the United States and the income from a highly export-oriented industrialization for several reasons:[11]

1. The Korean War (1950-1953), which happened after the Japanese occupation, destroyed most of the peninsula (In total about 2,500,000 people were killed. More than 80% of the national infrastructure including industrial and public facilities and transportation works, as well as three-quarters of the government offices, and one-half of residential areas were destroyed. See Article: Korean War). The Korean peninsula after the Korean War had an overall economy "comparable with levels in the poorer countries of Africa" (see CIA World Factbook). This, in no ways, is comparable to being the "second-most industrialzed nation in Asia after Japan."

2. North Korea is not, by modern standards, an industrialized nation and suffers from widespread poverty, famine and power outages.

3. South Korea's economy grew mostly during the 1960's and 70's under the dictatorship era of General Park and the economic reforms under the Third and Fourth Republics. "From 1960/62 to 1973/75 the share of agriculture in GDP fell from 45 percent to 25 percent, while the share of manufacturing rose from 9 percent to 27 percent" The total GDP also grew in excess of 500% for this relatively short period. It was during this time of rapid economic growth that foreign observers first applied the term Economic Miracle of the Han River and that Korea earned itself the distinctive title of Economic Tiger

4. Most Korean companies, especially the large Chaebol which form the powercore of the South Korean economic oligarchy, were founded well after the end of the Japanese occupation. These include, but are not limited to: Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Group, LG Group, and SK Telecom (known as the "Big Four" in South Korea).

Japan's Cover-up Efforts

Sensitive information regarding the Japanese occupation of Korea is often difficult to obtain. Many argue that this is due to the fact that the Government of Japan has gone out of its way to cover up many incidents that would otherwise lead to severe international criticism. On their part, Koreans have often expressed their abhorrence of Human experimentations carried out by the Imperial Japanese Army where people often became fodder as human test subjects in such macabre experiments as liquid nitrogen tests or biological weapons development programs (See articles: Unit 731 and Shiro Ishii). Though some vivid and disturbing testimonies have survived, they are largely denied by the Japanese Government even to this day.

A recent example of this behavior included the complete denial by the Japanese Government of the burial of non-Japanese test-subject bodies several dozen feet below buildings in Japanese urban areas (such as the bodies found under the Toyama No. 5 apartment blocks) in order to cover up these experiments. Flatly denied, even after the bodies are discovered as new developments are constantly being erected in Japan. The unmarked mass graves on the "west side of Tokyo is deeply troubling" The testimony of Toyo Ishii, a nurse involved in the coverup, are down played or ignored. "After more than 60 years of silence the 84-year-old nurse's story is the latest twist in the legacy of Japan's rampage." In addition, as cited above alot of the statistics are skewed due to the fact that they included Japanese migrants in Korea, making the poverty analysis of true Koreans indiscernable. Also, as referenced above the inventory logs and employee sheets were falsified by the Japanese in order to cover up the comfort women issue. These coverups and falsification of data have made accurate assessment of Japan's impact on Korea very difficult.

See also

• History of Korea
• Japanese war crimes
• Unit 731
• Imperialism in Asia
• Japanese Empire
• Japanese General Government Building, Seoul
• 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
• Taiwan under Japanese rule

External links

• Country Studies on Korea