Japanese Occupation of Korea

Saigo Takamori Key Person for Colonization of Korea

Japanese creating railway in Korea

Japan -KoreaTreaty of Amity 1876

Written by Yooya Hwang

Japanese invasion of Korea!! In 1876, after the Meiji restoration, Saigo Takamori announced that Korea should be part of the Japanese territory. During this time, Korea was attacked by french warships and due to this Korea decide to close international relationship. In Korea there was an economical problem during this time and the Japanese aids the Korean’s to sign a treaty which would allow the Japanese trade to happen and make the economical state better.The trade occurred and the Koreans starts to modernize. This treaty was called the Treaty of Ganghwa. In Korea due to the great modernization, there were two different societies forming, the Eastern tradition learning and the Western new learning. In Korea the governments started putting high taxes on the peasants, which were the Eastern traditional educated people. These Eastern tradition educated people had an uprising to justify its stance. Due to the uprising, the government power declined and asked the foreign nations for help. China backed up the governments and soon started gaining power again. Although the government have managed to gain power the Japanese join helped the Eastern educated people. This war continued and became a Sino- Japanese war and Japan won in April 1895. Japan and Korea signed the Shimonoseki Treaty and Japanese were able to influence Korea with its ideas. ! Having hegemony over Korea, Japan wanted to expand its nations in Asia. Also Japan started to change the governmental system and the Koreans disliked the acted the Japanese were taking. Korea had a movement to restore Korea and surrounding nations demanded Japan to return Korea over to the Chinese. In 1900 there was a Boxer Rebellion in China which lead Russia to

invade Manchuria. Japan wanted to protect Korea from Russia therefore the Russo Japan war broke out. In 1905 the war finished with Japan victory. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed and this allowed Japan to have political military and economical interest in Korea. The Japanese wanted to protect Korea from the foreign influences such as China and Russia, therefore Japan influenced Korea with its culture. In 1910 the Japanese and the Koreans signed an Annexation Treaty which allowed the Emperor of Japan to have entire power of Korea and made Korea part of the Japanese Empire.

Political Effects in Japan! The occupation that Japan casted on Korea created economical benefits in Japan and Korea. When Japan took control of the military of Korea, the Japanese created large communication system, the currency and financial system. In the world, there were international wars going on and from the wartime business boom Korean materials sold well. Japan was going through a rapid industrial growth and there rice production sank. Therefore Korea began to produce large amount of rice but when the Great Depression hit rice production deteriorated and when Japan went to war with China, rice was created for the Military for Japan and low quality cereal was for the Korean civilians. Korean military increased and many people fought in Manchuria and in 1944 Korean men got conscripted and fought for the WWII.

Factors that allowed the Japan to rule over Korea

! Korea was the frontier for the Asian continent therefore Japan taught and educated the

The flag of the Japanese imperial army

Japanese Colonization

Korean people joining the military

Koreans with the Japanese studies. In this time period both China and Russia had small plans of taking control over Korea and this was a problem for the Japanese. If Korea gets colonized by the neighbor nations, Japan had a higher risk of getting colonized. Japan wanted to protect themselves from colonizations so they fought the Chinese and Russia and able them to influence Japanese culture to Korea. Polices from Japan controlled the riots happening and tried to keep people calm. The Shintoism from Japan was brought in to Korea and gave them Japanese style of tradition. One other factor was that the treaty of Annexation written in 1907 was a key factor for Japanese to establish control of Korea

March 1st 1919 Korean Uprising

! In 1919 March 1st the Koreans had there first uprising because Korea wanted freedom from its colonial rules. In January 19 1919, Woodrow Wilson gave a speech on the 14 points and of the terms were “self determination”. Koreans wanted to rule there nation by themselves therefore there was an uprising. King Kojong also passed away in Japan 1919 therefore Koreans revolted. Koreans say that they were being discriminated and had high taxes to pay. In 1919 of March 1 in Seoul the uprising occurred 47,000 Koreans were arrested, 10,500 were indicted , 7,500 were killed and 16,000 were wounded.

Korean Effects ! Korean People were affected in the Colonization in several ways. When Japan occupied in Korea, the high taxes on the Korean people were crucial and made there lives hard to live. Discrimination was another factor the Korean people faced. ! In Korea during the Occupation, Korean schools taught Japanese at school and had an Japanese style of education. Korea particularly had strong Japanese influences during this time because Korea was one of the first nations colonized by the Japanese and was the key nation for entering the Asian Continent. ! During this time period Korean people started having Shinto beliefs. This is also because Korea was a key colony of Japan and Korean started honoring the Emperor of Japan.! Korean land were given to the Japanese people during the occupation and was used for

Korean Perspective

Japanese Colonizes by 1943

Newspaper article about the March 1st Movement in

Keijo University (Japanese style school in Korea)

agriculture for the Japanese. There were a lot of ores in Korea however as Manchuria became part of Japanese colony, Korean land were used for agriculture than ores. Manchuria is rich with ores therefore most of them came from there. ! The Korean citizens were given Japanese surnames during the occupation to close their Korean identity during the occupation. This allowed the Korean people to live equally as the Japanese during the occupation. ! Many Koreans migrated to Japan during to occupation and looked for jobs in Japan. After the occupation Korean residents were given a special identity called the Zainichi- Kankoku jin which allowed Korean to live like same as the Japanese expected for their nationality. But most of these Zainichi Kankoku jin took the Japanese nationality and now lives life among the Japanese society.

Current Foreign affairs ! In the Korean Occupation of Japan, Japan annexed the island Takeshima/ Dokdo as they arrived in Korea. Japan has already claimed the island from before but during the occupation they have clarified there occupation. After the colonization of Korea there was a San Francisco treaty created which allowed Japan to have control over the island today. However the Koreans protest that Takeshima is their island and they placed military on the island. This prevents the Japanese from entering the island and it is becoming a serious problem. The Koreans have protest is intensify over the couple years and Japan must make it clear that its there island.

Did You Know???

In 1945 after the WWII the Japanese loses all its colonies in the Pacific and the US occupies Japan for 6 years. From 1950- 1953 Korea enters an internal war “Korean War” which is a conflict between two ideologys. The Korean nation did not come up to a conclusion and it is still divided on the 38th Parallel in Korea. Korea now is divided into South Korea

(capitalist state) and North Korea (communist state).

Korea and Japanese International Affair

Takeshima/Dokodo

Questionnaires?1)How did Japan successfully occupy Korea?

2)Why did they occupy Korea?3)To what extent is it fair when Korea was occupied by the Japanese.

Bibliography

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"History10C - Ryan Lee." History10C - Ryan Lee. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <http://history10c.wikispaces.com/Ryan Lee>.

"Korea under Japanese Rule." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule>.

"Korean War." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War>.

"Profile: Dokdo/Takeshima Islands." BBC News. BBC, 08 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19207086>.