Japan’s Colonization of Korea: Control by Coercion

The colonization of Korea by Japan had a major affect on the direction and development of Korea. It changed Korea’s history and caused a major upheaval in Korean society. However, the ultimate question is whether or not any good came of this brutal period of Korea’s past. The merciless and inhumane conditions Koreans endured caused great suffering that surpass any positive change implemented by Japan. It is a common misconception that Korea was a backward, dirty, uncivilized nation before Japan came and rescued it. Korea was in the process of modernizing on its own, despite their slow, problematic, difficult efforts, it was progress nonetheless. It is impossible to say what Korea could have done on its own because Japan stepped in and derailed the process. Since Korea was an agricultural country, Japan converted Korea “into a market for their goods, a source of inexpensive raw materials and labor, a place for capital investment and a strategic military point in the Far East” (Korean Communist Platform 464). The aim for Japanese expansion corrupted the lives of all Koreans because the Japanese invaded Korea and demanded control. The Japanese developed an infrastructure of roads, railroads and harbors to maximize profit and trade. Koreans had no choice in the matter and were forced to give up their land when the Japanese conducted land surveys. The Japanese wanted to “record the ownership of each farm property” to determine what each person owned (Kang 12). At this time, Koreans did not have any documentation of their farm properties so the Japanese took all the unclaimed land, which was most of what many poorer families had. The Japanese controlled the majority of what farms and villages produced so the working class people were left with minimal income that was barely enough to survive. The Korean peasants were “compelled to hand over their produce to the Japanese imperialist at the existing low monopolist prices -- less than half of the market prices -- while they [were] forced to take Japanese goods at prices increased three or fourfold” (Korean Communist Platform 466). The harsh conditions Koreans dealt with made them more dependent on the Japanese imperialists. Taxes became a huge burden especially on the poor and middle-class peasants who were unable to keep up with the increasing payments on land and water taxes. If the taxes were not paid promptly, it often lead to “confiscation of the whole harvest and property of the peasant and deprived them of tenant rights” (467). The Koreans struggled to cultivate enough harvest to pay their dues, but whether the harvest was ripe or rotten, they only had enough to live in the same standards as slavery. As the economy grew, the Japanese obtained all the riches. Koreans only played a small part in this economic modernization because most of the companies were owned and funded by the Japanese. Many Korean companies ceased to exist directly due to the inability to gain favor with the government or compete with larger, more powerful Japanese companies. Very few Korean companies were able to prosper because of the colonial policies of Japan so many Koreans that became unemployed had to serve as unskilled, cheap labor. On the official opium farms, if Japanese authorities were “to detect any misbehavior” from workers or villagers around, they “punished the entire village and evacuated it” (Kang 67). The Japanese were ruthless in their tactics to demand control over Korea and had little concern for the well-being of any person below their status. Countless Koreans were victims of the Japanese brutalities even if it was a minor error hence why many Korean villagers had to hide their resistance. Not only did the Japanese rid of everything the Koreans had, they used coercion in attempt to convert them into Japanese. The High Police -- also known as the “secret” or “thought” police -- were the watchful eyes of the government to ensure that everyone was compliant with the Japanese rule, even if it meant resorting to violence or torture tactics. Due to the over-capacity of people, “many martyrs died in prison while languishing under the harsh conditions” as they waited “for their trial, and tortured every day” (94). The Koreans were stripped of their pride and dignity due to the limited personal choice the Japanese gave them. In 1938, the Korean language was abolished so students were no longer allowed to speak it in school nor were people allowed to use it in public. Following the policy to speak only Japanese, mandatory attendance at Shinto shrine ceremonies were required in 1939. The Japanese banned any other form of religion or religious service, including Christianity. “Christians gained the reputation of being anti-Japanese, partly because some groups refused to bow to the Japanese Emperor or the gods of the Shinto” (101). If one did not attend the Shinto ceremonies or secretly held masses, punishment ranged from mild (like to deny food ration cards) to more severe (like imprisonment or death). An increasing number of ministers and members of Christian churches were imprisoned because of their refusal to participate in the Shinto rituals, and a growing number of Korean private schools and social and cultural organizations were closed. Although Shinto ceremonies were not considered religious and said to be used to simply honor the Emperor, the Japanese believed the emperor to be a divine entity. Korean radicals -- including Kaneko Fumiko -- tried to reveal to the public that the Emperor was only human in an attempt to assassinate him. However, the ultimate indignity for Koreans was in 1940 when they were forced to change their family and personal names to Japanese, in order to form a “more perfect union” (Kang 117). The objective of changing names was not just to make everyone sound Japanese, but to breed the younger generations in their plan to eliminate any evidence of Korean recognition. Failure to do so denied the Koreans many privileges and rights such as acceptance into schools, availability of jobs, or obtaining ration cards or mail packages. Many Koreans refused to convert their names into Japanese, but the ones that did comply creatively formed a name in relation to their Korean name, family or their birth place. The Japanese made the Koreans feel ashamed of their country and descent. In Blue Swallow, Kyung-won was an independent, modern Korean woman who lived during the time of the Japanese reign. She was a prime example of the passive, obedient nature Koreans had to exemplify. Regardless of where her allegiance lay, she had to remain loyal to the Japanese and obey their orders. In doing so, if Kyung-won were to fulfill her dream of flying, she had to represent Japan by flying a Japanese aircraft with the Japanese flag. Despite Kyung-won and the growing hostile feelings among other Koreans and anti-Japanese communists, “to survive, most people went along with the insults, humiliation, and persecution” (Kang 74). The Japanese has proven to take brutal and inexorable measures to arrest or kill anyone suspected of being anti-Japanese, most significantly in the Nanjing Massacre. The relentless acts of bombings, murder, rape, torment, and suffering the Koreans had to endure was inconceivable for many people. Many deny the existence of the event in In The Name of the Emperor, but the actuality is that humans are capable of such barbarous exploitation and corruption. Before Japan’s colonization, Korea’s education system was swiftly improving. Education had been important in Korea since the fourteenth century. It was one of the few ways one could better oneself and obtain a higher position in life. The private schools were based on western models of learning and thought built by Koreans, newly arrived missionaries, or by the Japanese. They taught history, geography, politics and law, as well as the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. Japan’s colonization destroyed much of this system by passing a law that stated private schools could only operate if they used textbooks that were approved by the government, which brought demise to most of the schools in Korea. According to Under the Black Umbrella, General Terauchi Masatake, the first governor, burned over 200,000 books containing information such as Korean history, Korean geography, and freethinking modern ideas. One of the goals of the new policy was to destroy Korean culture and restrict the use of Korean language. The Japanese wanted to filter what schools taught so they could control the minds of children at a young age. “Children whose families sent them to the new Japanese-built schools showed their willingness to trade various level of oppression for the gift of new knowledge” (Kang 44). Some children went to school by choice because their families looked down upon the new Japanese primary schools especially because they required students to cut off their long hair if he attended that school. Many Korean families that were unwilling to change said, “children would turn into Japanese if they went to Japanese built schools” (25). The education provided by Japan was an impediment to the modernization of Korea. Although men and women were allowed to attend schools, it was not the broad based education that they received through the private schools and missionary schools of the years before the annexation. It was designed to keep Koreans subject to Japan and make them citizens, albeit of a lower level, of the empire. It was based on educating Koreans to be good citizens of the Japanese empire and giving them the basics needed for the work they were to perform. When Koreans searched for jobs after obtaining a good education, “regardless of how qualified the Koreans might be,” the Japanese were always more superior than the Koreans (56). The level of education did not apply because the Japanese always got priority for work and higher pay than any Korean would. Koreans and Japanese people were accepted in society, but discrimination was still at a high level in the work force and in schools. It could be said that the education system was one of the tragedies of the colonial period. Koreans seemed hopeless against the Japanese because they were still lower ranking in the social system despite their efforts. It was not until 1945, Korea was finally released from Japanese control when Japan was defeated by America and Russia during the second World War. It was a gradual realization for Koreans to recognize their freedom after over 35 years of oppression from Japan as Korea came to a halt when the Japanese no longer reigned in power. Korea’s success has little to do with Japan, but more so with its own initiative, independence and opportunities provided later by the U.S. government and other forces. Colonial Japan annexed Korea primarily for its own strength and growth as they created policies that solely accommodated the needs of Japan. The Japanese took advantage of Korea to expand their economy and made Koreans suffer for their own benefit. Korea was on its own direction of growth and reform before it was stolen from Japanese imperialists that wanted ultimate Asian domination. Japanese colonialism had a major impact on Korea, but the anguish and misery Koreans tolerated supersedes any positive development made by Japan.
Works Cited
Blue Swallow. Dir. Yoon Jong-chan. Perf. Lee Byeong-Heon and Kim Yoon-jin. Korea Pictures, 2005. DVD.
In The Name of the Emperor. Dir. Christine Choy and Nancy Tong. Perf. Robin Brentano, Ted Hannon and Matthew Myers. Film News Now Foundation, 1998. DVD.
"Kaneko Fumiko: What Made me Do What I Did." Socialism and the Left. 915-19. Print.
Kang, Hildi. Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910-1945. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2005. Print.
"The Platform of Action of the Korean Communist Party." The Communist Movement. 463-73. Print.