Japan's colonization of korea

1. Japan’s Colonization of Korea
1910-1945

2. Resistance to Japanese colonization
-Establishment of ”protectorate” in Korea(1905): control of Korean diplomacy
-Abdication of King Kojong (1907)
-Assassination of Ito Hirobumi by An Chung-gun in Harbin (1909)
-Annexation of Korea (1910): Prime Minister Yi Wan Yong
-Guerrilla resistance by demobilized soldiers, patriotic scholars, peasant militias
-March 1st movement (1919): nationwide mass protests (c.f. Taiwan)
-Rise of Korean nationalism: studies of Korean history (Dangun myth and Kokuryeo)
publishing newspapers, novels in vernacular Korean
-Christian opposition: denial of attending shindo service

3. Socialist & Communist Resistance
-Korean socialists joined in the Chinese communist party against Japan
-Communists’ influence among young people, laborers, peasants
-Korean Communist Part founded in 1925 (Park Heon Young)
-Korean guerrilla activities in Northeast China in the 1930s (Kim Il Sung):
deified in N. Korea and distorted as an imposter in S. Korea,
a threat to Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria
-Nationalist: Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai (Kim Ku & Seungman Lee)
education in USA, fluent in English, diplomatic efforts
attempts of assassinating Japanese politicians
not very effective without support of Chinese nationalist party (KMT),

4. Enforcement of Shinto shrine worship

5. Erasing shameful history:
demolishment of Japanese govt. building (1995)

6. Still Remaining:
Seoul Train Station & Korean Central Bank

7. Tourism of dark history: Kunsan

8. Modernization or Exploitation?
Great Depression (1929) -> damage to Japanese exports to US dropped by 40%
population doubled since the Meiji restoration (1868) -> unemployment
Puyi (Qing dynasty’s last emperor) was restored as the prime minister of Manchukuo (1932)
Development of steel, mining, petrochemical, auto industry in North Korea
-> new frontier for Korean farmers, bureaucrats, soldiers, students, businessmen
E.g. Kyongbang Textile Company loans from Japanese bank -> export to China
Chosun Oil Company -> a oil refinery in Wonsan
Chosun Nitrogen Fertilizer Company in Hungnam
Railway connection(South Manchurian Railway) from Pusan via Manchuria to Europe
-> Najin & Chongjin– a port for huge export trade

10. Modernization or Exploitation?
Japan enhanced the interests of Korean landlords based on legal property rights and modern contract
laws, connections with colonial officials
-> Dispossession of traditional tenancy rights and land rights based on moral customs
Increased demands for rice consumption in Japan -> higher export price
-> Korean landlords expanded their land ownership (concentrated land ownership),
agricultural output increased (new seeds, fertilizers, irrigation)
Industrialization -> mobilization of rural population into new cities and factories
(by 1944, 11% of Koreans living abroad, 40% of adult population outside their native place)
In 1942-1945, labor was drafted or conscripted in Korea (mobilization campaigns)
Korean laborers were forced to work in miserable conditions (e.g. mining, comfort women)

11. Comfort Woman Statue in front of Japanese embassy

12. Conscripted laborers

13. Images of Manchukuo Propaganda