A Handy Overview

Laura Horner

Goal of the Japanese during the Colonial Time Period:

• Make Korea one with Japan in every aspect of life so that Japan could expand their empire

Main events (1910-1945):

• Japanese came into Korea to dominate
• Japanese implemented “military policy”
• Koreans worked to organize unions, policies, newspapers, etc. to combat Japanese power
• Japanese rulers shut down the organizations and went back to harsh conditions
• Japanese implemented strict land and resource regulations that turned most of Korean land and resources over to the Japanese government (the Government-General)
• Korea struggled with their identity towards their country
• Nationalist movements were formed mostly by Korean students who recognized that there was an unfair advantage benefitting the Japanese
• March First Movement (1919) was an organized protest that resulted in Japanese pushing back harder with military tactics but Koreans started the conversation about independence from Japanese
• Japan exploited and used Korean resources (usually rice) to benefit the economy
• New Government-General came in and lessened the military policy but not much changed
• Korean students and Korean collaborators came together to draft a declaration of independence and gain support from Western powers
• Growing number of countries grew resistance towards the Japanese and decided to come together to free Korea

Education in colonial period:

• Separate schools for Japanese and Koreans
• Korean schools were a four-year primary and four-year secondary system for boy and a three-year for girls
• Korean school’s purpose was to create “good and loyal subjects of the Emperor”
• The number of Korean private schools dropped
• Opportunities for Koreans to study after high school were limited
• Japanese looked to place all schools under government control and lower the quality of education
• To extinguish Korean national consciousness, Japanese tried to keep them illiterate
• Japanese confiscated and burned Korean history books
• Government-General reinterpreted Korean history to suit Japanese needs
• Colonial rule limits those who are educated to a minimum
• Selection was biased based on colonial loyalty

Family in colonial period:

• Core elements of Korean family system
  • Prohibition on changing family names
  • Prohibition on marriage between a couple with the same family name
  • Prohibition on adopting a child without the same family name
• Japanese colonial authorities took advantage of the old system to maintain control
• Family background was important
  • Yangban family background was preferred
  • Average peasants survived because of extended family
  • Agriculture required more labor, more family
  • Social welfare was poorly developed, emergency aid only given to those without a family
  • Families made sacrifices to make sure their sons had education
  • If a son was successful after his education, he was required to support his family
  • Average poor peasants had a disadvantage
  • Japanese tried to model their family structure off of Korean family structure
• There was no effort to change the Korean family system

My understanding of the time period:

The Japanese were power hungry during this time period and tried to dismantle the Koreans in order to join the two countries as one. Though family systems were not stripped away from Koreans, almost everything else was. Education, access to resources, and finances were all granted to the Japanese who took full advantage of the fear that they instilled in the Koreans. There were two time periods within the colonial time period, military rule and cultural rule. At the start, the Japanese used force to control Korea and there was little that Koreans could do. Once some Korean students realized that they were all inhibited by fear, they came together and used strikes and protests to try to get their message across that they did not like how they were being treated. Though the movements were not originally accepted by the Japanese, when new leadership came in it seemed like the students had somewhat gotten their word across. The military rule shifted to cultural rule where fear was lessened but national consciousness was taken by the Japanese. Koreans became unsure about what to think of their country and their identity. The educated Koreans around the world came together to draft a declaration of independence and, after a lot of pleading, got the attention of the Western powers.

Bibliography

Ha, Yong Chool. “Colonial Rule and Social Change in Korea: The Paradox of Colonial Control.” In Colonial Rule and Social Change in Korea, 1910-1945, edited by Ha Yong Chool, Lee Hong Yung, and Sorensen Clark W., 39-75. Seattle; london: University of Washington Press, 2013.

Kim, Jinwung. “The Period Of Japanese Colonial Rule: (1910–1945).” In A History of Korea: From “Land of the Morning Calm” to States in Conflict, 321-66. Indiana University Press, 2012.

Robinson, Michael E. “Colonial State And Society.” In Korea’s Twentieth-Century Odyssey: A Short History, 36-55. University of Hawai’i Press, 2007.