contributor
26,975
edits
Changes
From SamuraiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to searchno edit summary
*''Japanese'': 朝鮮 ''(Chousen)''
*''Japanese'': 朝鮮 ''(Chousen)''
Korea was a Japanese protectorate from [[1905]] to [[1910]], and an annexed colony of Japan from 1910 until 1945. Under Japanese rule, Korea saw considerable industrial and economic development, but suffered "draconian and vindictive"<ref name=peattie1718>Peattie, 17-18.</ref> military rule, which destroyed many native Korean political and social institutions and replaced them with Japanese ones, as well as oppressing the people, severely damaging Korean cultural traditions and setting the stage for profoundly negative Korean attitudes & views towards Japan down to the present day.
Korea was a Japanese protectorate from [[1905]] to [[1910]], and an annexed colony of Japan from 1910 until 1945, ruled by a semi-autonomous and rather authoritarian government based at [[Seoul]] (renamed Keijô). Under Japanese rule, Korea saw considerable industrial and economic development, but suffered "draconian and vindictive"<ref name=peattie1718>Peattie, 17-18.</ref> military rule, which destroyed many native Korean political and social institutions and replaced them with Japanese ones, as well as oppressing the people, severely damaging Korean cultural traditions and setting the stage for profoundly negative Korean attitudes & views towards Japan down to the present day.
==Background and Prologue==
==Background and Prologue==
==Protectorate (1905-1910)==
==Protectorate (1905-1910)==
[[Ito Hirobumi|Itô Hirobumi]], who had some years before ended his term as Japan's first modern [[prime minister]], became the first [[Governor-General of Korea|Resident General]] in Korea. Historian [[Mark Peattie]] describes Itô as having "attempted a series of well-intentioned reforms while at the same time systematically liquidating Korean political institutions and substituting Japanese ones."<ref name=peattie1718/>
[[Ito Hirobumi|Itô Hirobumi]], who had some years before ended his term as Japan's first modern [[prime minister]], became the first [[Governor-General of Korea|Resident General]] in Korea. Historian [[Mark Peattie]] describes Itô as having "attempted a series of well-intentioned reforms while at the same time systematically liquidating Korean political institutions and substituting Japanese ones."<ref name=peattie1718/>
The first objective of Japanese rule in Korea was to consolidate power and attempt to eliminate the ability of the people to mount effective resistance. Among the steps taken towards this objective were the establishment of Japanese in advisory posts within the Korean army, followed by the downsizing of the army and its eventual dismantling in [[1907]], at which time the best Korean officers were then incorporated into the Japanese army. Peattie compares the resulting mutinies amongst Korean soldiers to the [[1877]] [[Satsuma Rebellion]], in which samurai rose up against the destruction of their elite warrior class; both were powerfully and successfully suppressed by the Imperial Japanese Army.
Japanese rule in Korea continued to inspire Korean resistance, which led to open rebellion in [[1908]] to [[1910]]. The assassination of Itô Hirobumi in [[1909]] by activist [[An Jung-geun]] spurred Japanese authorities to move forward with the culmination of plans already underway to formally annex Korea; this they did the following year, marking the end of Korea as "protectorate" and the beginning of Korea as "colony."
Japanese rule in Korea continued to inspire Korean resistance, which led to open rebellion in [[1908]] to [[1910]]. The assassination of Itô Hirobumi in [[1909]] by activist [[An Jung-geun]] spurred Japanese authorities to move forward with the culmination of plans already underway to formally annex Korea; this they did the following year, marking the end of Korea as "protectorate" and the beginning of Korea as "colony."
==Colony (1910-1945)==
==Colony (1910-1945)==
Peattie describes the administration of the first [[Governor-General of Korea]], [[Terauchi Masatake]], as "iron-fisted," as the full power of the Japanese military was deployed to violently suppress further rebellions with "savage reprisal[s]."<ref name=peattie1718/>
Peattie describes the administration of the first [[Governor-General of Korea]], [[Terauchi Masatake]], as "iron-fisted," as the full power of the Japanese military was deployed to violently suppress further rebellions with "savage reprisal[s]."<ref name=peattie1718/>
Under Terauchi, the colonial administration was transformed into a powerful engine for change, aimed at reshaping entirely Korea's political, economic, educational and social systems, imposing Japanese values, and at eliminating or profoundly altering Korean national or cultural identity. In 1919, Korean frustrations grew to a climax, exploding violently in the March First Movement, to which the Japanese colonial government responded brutally, against protestors and others who, most of them, had been relatively peaceful in their resistance.
Japan's takeover of Korea came just at the time that a unified Korean national identity was emerging, making nationalistic, emotional opposition to Japan's rule all the stronger. What was for the most part acquiesced to by the Japanese public as necessary steps towards modernization was violently opposed by Koreans as being imposed by a foreign invader. While there were surely efforts to explain the goals and advantages of modernization, these were ignored or rejected (and quite understandably) as propaganda. Where Japanese had themselves negotiated and debated Confucian vs. Western values, and any number of other similar debates as to the character and direction of modernity, now, several decades later, the Japanese did not engage in any such discussions with Korean scholars or officials, but simply saw them as stubbornly conservative, and so, dragged the Koreans kicking and screaming, so to speak, into conformity with Japanese "modern" attitudes and practice without consideration for their feelings or desires, or intellectual opinions.
{{stub}}
{{stub}}
