Japan Korea Conflict
Throughout the history of East Asia, there have been countless conflicts from which lessons for the future can be learned. One of the most notable, in my opinion, is when Japan sought to take over and integrate Korea into part of Japan. This whole event was a big mistake that had significant implications for the future. Japan’s takeover of Korea decimated the Korean people and culture and changed the landscape of Korea forever. It also showed us the strength of people, the power of unity, and how modernization can affect a country. Thus this event brought out both the best and worst traits in people and although it came about with much bloodshed, it led to the economic advancement of a nation.
Japan took over Korea with the blessing of the United States in exchange for Japan recognizing that the US had hegemony over the Philippines. During this time, Japan immediately forced Korea into signing the Eulsa Neukyak, which made Japan the protectorate of Korea. This was humiliating to the people of Korea. Japan then established a dark period where they suppressed all of Korea’s culture and politics. They made it illegal for groups to meet without police permission and all nationalist protest was met with execution and arrests. This was the event that began the process of modernizing Korea, which until then had been a mostly agricultural society. This process was done in a fairly hostile way. Many Japanese soldiers burned Korean churches and texts. All Korean people were made to adopt the Shinto lifestyle and it was declared that all major texts be written in Japanese. Eliminating the native Korean culture made it clear that the Japanese were seeking to take over by making the Korean people become Japanese. The Japanese wanted to make the Korean people submit my any means. One example is when in response to nationalist protests, Japanese soldiers decided to send a message by locking up many Korean people in a church, setting it on fire, and incinerating all who were locked inside as well as those in other neighboring villages. The Japanese were trying to get people to conform through fear.
During world war II they sent many Korean women to the female’s worker corps where they became comfort women, which was a sex slave for the Japanese army. The Japanese army even went as far as to push pregnant women to be sex slaves. The number of victims of this practice is thought to be around 200,000 women, making this event one that has echoed throughout history. This event has caused much tension between Korea and Japan because Japan has been so resistant to admit these war atrocities in the past. When Japan finally admitted to this wrong deed, they established a fund with donations collected by the Japanese people. Many have debated the fact that the amount given was not enough and that the money should have come directly from the Japanese government, rather than the Japanese people. The people of Korea wanted Japan to understand and acknowledge that the events that unfolded with the comfort women separated many Korean families and took many women away from Korea, thus changing the makeup of Korean society.
After world war II, Korea was given back its own ability to self govern. At that point being under the rule of the Japanese, they wanted their freedom back. The Korean people developed two factions, the cultural faction that wanted to battle Japanese Imperialism peacefully, using education, literature, and unity to win back their country. The west and other western socialists heavily influenced this approach. The other faction was the radical nationalists, that advocated taking back Korea by force and using military might. This second approach was much harder and more dangerous because the radicals risked being labeled nationalist and getting charged with collaboration, which was a crime that many were being put to death for by the Japanese. This split within Korea is what lead to the division known now as North Korea and South Korea. Korea is split into two territories to this day. Japan’s actions served to permanently de-unify and split this country, despite the many efforts of Korea’s people to remain as one.
Later, the Japanese decided to take a different approach to the way they colonize Korea, this time collaborating with Korea. The Japanese men put away their swords and started sharing more technologies with Korea. During this time we see a period of economic growth with higher annual Economic growth rates in both agriculture and manufacturing in Korea that is often attributed to the age of Japanese modernization; however, many East Asian historians would also say that Japan did not contribute to Korea’s natural modernization path. It would seem the economic boost had more to do with the foreign aid that Korea got from the united states. The lesson that can be learned from this example is that it may be more beneficial for a country to ally with another country rather than to take it over. Perhaps if Japan had shared technology with Korea in the beginning and collaborated with them, rather than taking them over, they would have had a better result and gained more profits. The two countries could have both benefitted as allies and lives could have been saved.
One theme that we can see throughout this event concerning the Korean people is unity. The Korean people did not sit quietly as all of this was taking place; they fought hard to maintain their way of life. Many lost their lives to fight for the Korean nation. Even after mass burnings in churches, the Korean people continued to protest. For example, although there was much mass killing by the Japanese, the Korean people continued to fight. They established a provisional government in China in order to support resistance operations. From there they were able to have a safe place to send out information to the resistance.
Throughout the history of man, we have found that diplomacy and cooperation have been more effective tactics than fighting. When examining this historical account see that aggression is being met with peace, diplomacy, and unity of the Korean people. Every March 1st, the Korean people would go out and march in the streets showing unity as the people of Korea, even after these peaceful attempts lead to public executions and mass killings, they continued to be strong and in unity with one another. This is a trend that is repeated over time even outside of East Asia when Britain took over India as a means of exploiting the land for the spice trade they took using the East India company which seized a large portion of land from India. In the case of India, Gandhi led the Indian resistance to British colonial rule through peaceful protest and fought for their rights.
This theme of a hostile take over by a foreign power is something that is all too familiar in our society. One of the best-known examples in the western world is the story of Columbus and how he tried to take over early America from the Native people using force, including the raping, pillaging, and mass killing of the indigenous people, as a show of power in the hopes that the people will submit. Throughout our history, we have found that diplomacy and cooperation have been more effective tactics than fighting. This is clearly seen in the case of Japan’s hostile takeover of Korea. Korea did not merely lay down. They remained unified, and many people were killed in order to maintain their culture and possession of their country. Korean society was forever divided by Japan’s actions. One can only imagine what would have happened if they had used collaboration, information sharing, and an attempt to ally with Korea rather than to take it over and assimilate the people. From this example, we learn that that the method of hostile takeover clearly does not work. People are resilient and strong. The idea of hostile takeover also teaches us that people have a great sense of culture and nationalism that they will fight or at all costs.
Work Cited
The Creation of the Oriental Development Company: Japanese Illusions Meet Korean Reality Author(s): Karl Moskowitz Source: Occasional Papers on Korea, №2 (March 1974), pp. 73–121 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41490392 Accessed: 14–05–2019 00:02 UTC
Shultz, E. J. (1990). David I. steinberg, “the republic of korea: Economic transformation and social change” (book review). Korean Studies, 14, 191. Retrieved from https://login.peach.conncoll.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1311643684?accountid=10255
Jun, B., & Kim, T. (2017). Non-financial hurdles for human capital accumulation: Landownership in korea under japanese rule. Cliometrica, 11(1), 63–92. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11698-015-0138-x
Uchida, J. (2013). The Public Sphere in Colonial Life: Residents’ Movements in Korea Under Japanese Rule. Past & Present, 220(1), 217–248.
Uchida, J. (2013). The Public Sphere in Colonial Life: Residents’ Movements in Korea Under Japanese Rule. Past & Present, 220(1), 217–248.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
