Korea under Japanese rule
Korea under
Japanese rule refers to 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 Kanghwa during the
Joseon Dynasty of Korea and increased with the 1895 assassination of
Empress Myeongseong, cumulating with the 1905
Protectorate Treaty and the 1910
Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty, both of which are now considered to be invalid. 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 (
Ilje Sidae) or the
Japanese Imperial Forcible Occupation Period (
Ilje Gangjeomgi) in reference to a exploitative nature of occupation.
"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 Kanghwa 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.
[http://www.kimsoft.com/2002/jp-rape.htm Murder of Empress Myeongseong] 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 dead body desecrated in the North wing of the palace.
[http://www.gkn-la.net/history_resources/queen_min_tmsimbirtseva_1996.htm] 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.
and individuals have also undertaken their own investigations. In 2005, a South Korean freelance journalist named Jung Soo-woong managed to locate in Japan descendants of people involved in the assassination. Jung concluded that it was conducted by agents of the Japanese government, in response to the empress's efforts to reduce Japanese influence in Korea. Jung recorded the apologies of the individuals.
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: 桂太-タフト "定
Katsura-Taft Kyoutei), 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 ignited anger and threats ensued, with thousands of Japanese troops entering Seoul and surrounding the capital. After two days, five ministers yielded to the Japanese demand and entered Korean history as the "five traitors" (
Ohjeok).
On November 17th 1905, the matter was thus concluded and Korea became an effective Japanese protectorate, with the signature under duress, by the five aforementioned ministers, of the
Eulsa Treaty, known in Japanese as the "Second Japanese-Korean convention" (第二次日""約, [
Dainiji Nikkan Kyouyaku]) or "Japanese-Korean treaty of protectorate" (保護日"条約, )[
Hogo Nikkan Jouyaku], in defiance of the wishes of the Korean Emperor. The lack of the sovereign's signature in the treaty and the real threat of retribution by the Japanese meant that the treaty was largely considered to be null and void.
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: "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.
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.
[Lee, Ki-Baik, A New History of Korea ("国史新論). Translated by Edward W. Wagner with Edwar J. Shultz, Ilchorak/Harvard University Press, p. 344. ISBN: 0-674-61575-1] 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.
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.
[Wells, Kenneth M. "Background to the March First Movement: Koreans in Japan, 1905-1919." Korean Studies V. 13, 1989, pp. 1-21.] 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.
[Lee, Ki-Baik, A New History of Korea ("国史新論). Translated by Edward W. Wagner with Edwar J. Shultz, Ilchorak/Harvard University Press, p. 344. ISBN: 0-674-61575-1]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.
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.
Modern
transport and
communication networks were established across the nation in order to facilitate industrial exploitation and mining systems. An industrial base was established in Korea under Japanese rule for the production of weapons and military arms for use in the
First World War, the
Second Sino-Japanese War, and the
Pacific War. The average life expectancy rose from 26 years to 42 years (1945) and the population increased two-fold, despite widespread economic poverty and malnutrition caused by the annual confiscation of Korean rice by Japanese landlords. The average amount of rice brought from Korea to Japan yearly was 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. Korea's underground resources were also taken advantage of at this time through the conscription of Koreans to work in mines connected to various railroads, all built by Japanese companies. During the Period of Japanese rule, trade barriers between Korea and Japan were lifted in Japans favor. Many 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 landowners
As the Japanese government encouraged its citizens to emigrate to its new Korean dominions for colonization and development, these settlers came and bought many land reforms from the Korean aristocracy who had monopolized the land and farms before 1884. Many Korean farmers were hired by these Japanese, and labored under significantly higher taxation rates than before. 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 not only difficult for the Korean aristocracy to hide and monopolize farming land, but also made it impossible for self-employed Korean farms to keep their estates from being exploited and taken by the Eastern Real Estate Corporation, which had been established in 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, very much like their pre-19th century Korean predecessors. 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%, dropped to 60.2%, and finally ended up at 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.
[Available online: ]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.
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.
Royalty
The
Korean royalty was incorporated into the
Japanese royalty during the Japanese Rule.
Yi Eun (李垠), then the Imeperial 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"), 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 Koreans.
Culture
Western and Japanese culture seeped heavily into Korea during the Period of Japanese Rule, and Korean intellectuals read and discussed European, American, and Japanese writers and artists. Authors tended to discuss social and political agendas, and some looked up to Western ideals such as modernization and mass education, as well as
socialism. While many authors engaged in
romanticism, the
Korean Proletarian Artists' Federation of the
1920s and
1930s criticized the Japanese government and expressed the contempt of many Koreans towards the Japanese authorities. The Federation was banned in
1935. In the meantime, the Japanese Government based in Keijo (modern-day Seoul) rigidly enforced the oppression of Korean culture and language in public, eventually going as far as to ban the use of the Korean language in the media, outlawing Korean newspapers, burning various Korean books and artifacts, encouraging the adoption of Japanese names in favor of Korean names, demolishing Korean national monuments and edifices, demonizing Korean heroes, degrading the statues of Korean culture, and propagating the importance of the Japanese race while emphasizing the inferiority of the Korean race. 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.
In addition, Japan destroyed much of the Korean Imperial palace complex,
Gyungbok Palace, which was originally constructed in
1394 AD by
Jung Dojun, a Korean architect. Located near northern Seoul, the palace had endured various reconstructions and eventually ended up as a massive 330-building complex. Covering over 41 hectares (101 acres) of land, it was a symbol of majesty for the Korean people and the home of the Royal family. In
1911, the Japanese destroyed all but 10 buildings. The Japanese also took Korean goods such as Hangul scripts or Korean arts from families and had the government confiscate them.
Education
As the Japanese were attempting to assimilate Korea into the
Empire of Japan, classes were taught in Japanese during the early years of the annexation period. After the
March 1st (Samil) Movement in 1919, the Japanese also allowed teaching of Korean culture. After the outbreak of
World War II, however, this lenient policy was reversed, and school subjects such as Korean
history and
language were once again turned into electives and not encouraged. During the entire colonial period, Korean students were required to pay their respects at
Shinto shrines, swear an oath of loyalty to the
Emperor of Japan, and show their support for Japan's "Asia for Asians" policy. Teachers at elementary, middle, and high schools were dressed in military uniforms and armed with swords to enforce the intimidation of students.
In May
1942, the number of elementary schools built in Korea counted 4,945, the number of the students totaled 1,876,455, and the school enrollment rate went up to 60%, which was about 42 times greater than the number at the beginning of the annexation period. There were also 75 junior high schools, 75 girl's high schools (高等女学校), 133 trade schools (実業学校), 145 trade continuation schools (実業補修学校), 16 teacher's schools (師範学校), 24 vocational schools (専門学校), and 1 prep school in May
1944.
Keijo Imperial University (京城帝國大學), which was absorbed into today's
Seoul National University and was one of six
imperial universities back then, was established in
Seoul in 1924.
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).
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 Japans exploitations.
Victims of Nuclear Attacks and Sexual Slavery
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 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.
It has been claimed that the Japanese government intentionally destroyed the reports on these Korean women. Some have cited Japanese inventory logs and employees 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.
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."
Modernization in Korea can be said definitely to have begun in the post-1945 period under the stewardship of America and its allies in a way that benefited Korea itself.
*
History of Korea*
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*
Country Studies on Korea
