Korea had a long history as an autonomous nation before the arrival of imperial powers in the late 19th century. Japan used treaties signed with Korea in 1876 and 1910 to gradually increase its control and influence over Korea. By 1910, Japan formally annexed Korea. The Japanese occupation had both positive and negative impacts on Korea. It modernized infrastructure but also suppressed Korean culture and imposed assimilation policies. Koreans resisted through protests and preserving their language and traditions. The occupation complicated Korea's national identity and its relationships with Japan and other world powers.

1. Jeannie Logan / New Trier High School / loganj@nths.net

3. 
“Age of Western Dominance”
Limitations and Concerns
Complicate the master narrative
Imperialism Narrative

4. 
Historical context
Explore the complexities of the
colonial space
Introduce resources
Goals

5. 
Korea
Unified, autonomous nation since 668 CE
3 Dynasties:
Silla (668- 936)
Koryo (936-1392)
Choson (1392-1910)

6. 
The End of Japanese Isolation

7. Why Empire? Why Korea?

8. 
Treaty of Kanghwa 1876
Opened up 3 ports to Japan
Gave Japan exemption from tariffs
Recognized Japanese currency at ports of trade
Japanese diplomatic mission set up in Seoul
Granted Japanese extraterritoriality

9. 
Internal crisis in Korea: Peasant uprising
Tonghak movement
Chinese and Japanese troops engage
Japanese victory
Acquisition of Taiwan
China recognizes Korean independence
Sino-Japanese War
1894-1895

10. 
Russia & Japan now jockey for
preeminence on the peninsula
Stunning defeat of Western power
Korea: Japanese Protectorate
Russo-Japanese War
1904-1905

11. 
1910: Annexation

12. 
Treaties of 1904 and 1910
“For the purpose of maintaining
a permanent and solid friendship
between Korea and Japan and
firmly establishing peace in the
Far East, the Imperial
Government of Korea shall place
full confidence in the Imperial
Government of Japan and adopt
the advice of the latter in regard
to improvements in
administration.”
“In order to maintain peace and
stability in Korea, to promote
the prosperity and welfare of
the Korean people, and at the
same time to ensure the safety
and repose of the foreign
residents, it has been made
abundantly clear that
fundamental changes in the
actual regime of government
are absolutely essential.”

13. 
Justifications for Empire

14. 
“For those of us who live in the Orient, unless we
want to prevent the coming ofWestern
civilization with a firm resolve, it is best that we
cast our lot with them.
From the perspectives of civilized Westerners,
they may see what is happening in China and
Korea and judge Japan accordingly, because of
the three countries’ geographical proximity.”
Fukuzawa Yukichi (1885)

15. “The governments of China and Korea still retain
their autocratic manners and do not abide by the
rule of law. Westerners many consider Japan
likewise a lawless society. Natives of China and
Korea are deep in their hocus pocus of nonscientific
behavior.Western scholars may think that Japan
still remains a country dedicated to the yin and
yang and five elements. Chinese are mean-spirited
and shameless, and the chivalry of the Japanese
people is lost to theWesterners… How unfortunate
it is for Japan.”

16. “It is stated in two famous Chinese histories…
that Korea is bounded on the east and west by
sea and borders Japan on the south. If Japanese
territory had not extended to the Korean
peninsula over the sea in those days, such record
would never have been written; but the sea
would have been represented as circumscribing
Korea not only on the east and west but also on
the south. It is thus reasonable to infer that
Japanese domination extended to the Korean
peninsula beyond the sea…”
Komatsu Midori (1910)

17. “…it is not unreasonable to conclude that the
Japanese and Korean peoples formed for a long
time one and the same nation.The recent
annexation of Korea by Japan is therefore not the
incorporation of two different countries inhabited
by different races, but, it may rather be said to be
the reunion of two sections of the one and same
nation after a long period of separation. Indeed it is
nothing more nor less than the old state of things
restored…”

18. 
Justifications for Empire
Complicated Web of Justifications

19. 
Colonial Administration:
3 Phases
1910-1919: Military
Rule
1920-1930:
Cultural Rule
1930s: Naisen Ittai
(“Korea and Japan
are One”)

20. 
Colonial Impact and Responses

21. 
March 1 Movement
• How did Korean protestors perceive their
colonial relationship?
• What presuppositions did they have?
• What claims to legitimacy are they making?

22. 
We hereby declare that Korea is an independent state and
that Koreans are a self-governing people.We proclaim it to
the nations of the world in affirmation of the principle of
the equality of all nations…We make this declaration on
declaration on the strength of five thousand years of history
as an expression of the devotion and loyalty of 20 million
people. We claim independence in the interest of the eternal
and free development of our people and in accordance with
the great movement for world reform based on the
awakening conscience of mankind.
Declaration of Independence
March 1, 1919

23. 
 First 3 years (1920-1923): ~7000 new Korean
communications organizations were created
 Most widely read Korean daily newspaper had 37,000
subscribers
 Official government gazette had circulation of 23,000
 By 1929 total subscriptions to 4 major newspapers
reached 100,000
1920-1931: Easing of Restrictions

24. 

25. 

26. 

27. 
 Korean language newspapers shut down
 All instruction in schools in Japanese, Korean banned
 Shinto shrines built throughout the country
 Schoolchildren required to show ritual deference to
Japanese emperor
 Decree “encouraging” Koreans to adopt Japanese names
(1939)
1930s: Aggressive Assimilation

28. 
Naisen Ittai

29. 
 1925: Japanese established a committee to rewrite
Korea’s history
 Japanese relocated tens of thousands of cultural artifacts
to Japan
 Many public monuments and buildings were altered
Cultural Destruction

30. 
 Pak Songp’il:
Describes his struggle over changing his name
 Chong Chansu:
Drafted to work in shipyards, describes conditions
 Kang Pyongju:
College educated, describes the disparity in treatment
between Koreans and Japanese
Oral Histories

31. 
Lost Names, Richard Kim
 Born 1932, Grew up in
northern Korea during
Japanese occupation
 Series of stories about his
childhood up until Korea’s
liberation from Japanese
rule

32. (p. 109)
Then the teacher gestures abruptly, as if to touch my face. “I am sorry,” he
says.
My father gives him a slight bow of his head.
“Even the British wouldn’t have thought of doing this sort of primitive
thing in India,” says the Japanese.
I am at a loss, trying to comprehend what he says and means.
“…inflicting on you this humiliation…” he is saying, “…unthinkable for one
Asian people to anotherAsian people, especially we Asians who should have
greater respect for our ancestors…”
“The whole world is going mad, sir,” says my father quietly, “going back
into another dark age. Japan is no exception.”
My teacher nods. “As one Asian to another, sir, I am deeply ashamed.”
“I am ashamed, too, sir,” says my father, “perhaps for a reason different
from yours.”
My teacher, without a word, bows to my father, turns round, and
disappears into the blinding snow.
“It is a small beginning,” says my father…

33. President Barack Obama watches as South Korean President Park Geun-hye, left, and
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, leave their seats, March 25, 2014, during the start
of their trilateral meeting at the US Ambassador's Residence in the Hague,
Netherlands. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

34. Jeannie Logan
New Trier High School
loganj@nths.net