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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/> As throughout the empire, the scale and pervasiveness of military might, used to enforce obedience to Japanese authority, was a key element of the Japanese colonial operation in Korea. After 1920, two of Japan's best divisions were stationed in northern Korea, and numerous ''[[kenpeitai]]'' (military police) units were distributed throughout the peninsula.

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/> As throughout the empire, the scale and pervasiveness of military might, used to enforce obedience to Japanese authority, was a key element of the Japanese colonial operation in Korea. After 1920, two of Japan's best divisions were stationed in northern Korea, and numerous ''[[kenpeitai]]'' (military police) units were distributed throughout the peninsula.

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.

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. By the 1930s or '40s, the teaching of Korean language or history was banned in the public schools, Koreans were obliged to use Japanese pronunciations for their surnames, and [[State Shinto]] was imposed upon the populace.<ref name=jansen77>[[Marius Jansen]], "Japanese Imperialism: Late Meiji Perspectives," in Peattie (ed.), 77.</ref> 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.

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.

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