Colonialism at the turn of the century of often associated with the African continent, and the European world powers of the time. Colonization was the “move by nation[s] to settle its own people on territory outside its own borders” , and was also beginning to thrive in Asia as Japan emerged as a military and economic power. The colonial rule of the Japanese over Korea is one of the most forgotten footnotes in history, even though the 35 years of foreign rule set the stage for the division of the peninsula into two separate nations, the war that would follow, and the lasting tension in the region today. In 1905, the nation of Korea was a quiet actor on the world stage; there were treaties negotiated and signed, economic loans were transferred, and military groups were moved around Asia for small operations . The nation was, with some reluctance, moving way from the traditional way of life towards the modernizing world. The peninsula became an area of contention during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars; each was fought over which expansionist Northeast Asian nation would gain control of the peninsula and surrounding area. Korea was suddenly thrust onto the world stage and into Japanese control; without discussion or involvement in the process, the nation would stay in foreign Japanese control 1945 when WW II ended . The Japanese colonization of Korea in Asia is often looked at as different from the colonization in Africa, yet Japan followed the European lead in committing human rights violations and violently putting down revolutions of the Korean people. It cannot be argued that just because it took place in a different continent, and not by one of the ‘western’ superpowers that the atrocities committed against the Korean people are somehow lesser since they did not follow the ‘Gold, God, and Glory’ stereotype of the colonization of Africa. The Japanese rule compromised every aspect of Korean society, politics, and economics. Today, although South Korea has become an economic world power, the peninsula exists as two separate nations, still locked in war, and always compromised because of their colonial past.

   In 1904 Japan declared war on Russia after several previous years of skirmishes over Manchuria. At this time, the Korean peninsula, still one single nation, was invaded by Japanese troops vying for position in the region . This was where Korea’s sovereignty began to fail, as the Japanese forced them under military rule to sign ‘agreements’ handing control of the Korean government over to the Japanese government . 1905’s Portsmouth Treaty ended the Russo-Japanese war, but although it recognized the independence of Korea, the peninsula was not given back its independence . Japan continued to control the nation under a protectorship; both the United States of America and Great Britain supported Japan’s control, each signing treaties and deals to formalize this support . Two months after the Portsmouth Treaty, Korean Emperor Kojong signed the Treaty of Protection on November 17th, 1905 , handing all control of the country over to the Japanese. Signed under military threat, an argument was made to western powers at the Hague Peace Conference in 1907 that the treaty should not be legally binding , and Korea’s independence should be returned. This was not to happen, and in 1907 Emperor Kojong abdicated his throne under Japanese pressure , solidifying Japanese control of the peninsula. The Treaty of Annexation was signed on August 22, 1910, and with this the end of the traditional Imperial system in Korea came to an end after 519 years of Yi Dynasty rule .

   The first rule of the Japanese government over Korea has been referred to, quite rightly, as “enlightened despotism” . As such, the Japanese government controlled Korea through a highly bureaucratic and oppressive system, although efficient . Korean citizens had little to nothing to do with their government, especially in the higher positions; a measure the Japanese deemed imperative to keeping an unwavering control of the nation on all levels. Power was consolidated in the governor-general, who answered directly to the Japanese emperor only . Japanese citizens headed all government offices and departments; it was a policy criticized by even some Japanese, but explained as “due to the lack of political sophistication and experience in local self-rule on the part of the Koreans” . The Japanese, like most colonial powers, were intent on controlling every aspect of Korean life and society. This led them to, early in their rule, change the name of the nation ‘Korea’ to ‘Chôsen’, and the capital ‘Seoul’ to ‘Keijô’ , to keep in life with the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters used to spell these names. Although the colonization of Korea was not for ‘God’ per say, religious organizations were one of the few-sanctioned congregation of Korean peoples; the right of assembly and to free speech were both abolished quickly in 1910 . Newspapers were taken under Japanese government control to prevent the spreading of pro-Korea sentiment, and although this was again questioned by Japanese groups, calling the action” extremely short-sighted” , the ability to “maintain public peace and order” was given a higher priority.

   Given that the Korean peninsula had been ‘annexed’ by Japan, the nations military had been replaced with the Japanese policy, an action that had been completed before the annexation itself in 1907 . Once the official annexation took place, the Japanese focused on spreading the force around the nation, even to the farming communities, to suppress the anti-Japanese movement that was beginning to gain ground. The Japanese were so worried about keeping control of the nation, and its ideas, that the ratio of civil patrol officers to military police officers in the nation in 1910 was 3:1, and only a year later the ratio had jumped to 44.4:55.5 . Korea was turned into a military state with the military police controlling all aspects possible;

Collection of intelligence to the extermination of anti-Japanese guerilla units, the summary disposition of criminal affairs, the meditation of civil suits, the serving of processes, the collection of taxes, the protection of forests, the compilation of population registers, the provision of escorts for postal officers, the enforcement of quarantines and the prevention of epidemics, the measuring of rainfall, [and] the control of economic activities including smuggling

   were left to the military police to administrate and control. However, unlike the political realm, Korean citizens were allowed to be a member of the military police, just in lower positions than Japanese . In particular, the military was to pay close attention to the students, who were thought to be the most radical, and therefore dangerous to the Japanese rule. In 1915, additional military divisions were sent to the peninsula , and military headquarters were further set up in all four directions of the country to solidify control. This influx of military personnel from Japan, as well as the control the military police was given in the country leads Kang Man-gil to argue that “ Although the Japanese described their occupation of Korea as ‘annexation’, the simple fact that they had to rely to such a high degree on the military police indicated that it was a military occupation” .

   Just as Afrikaners rose up against their European colonialists, the Korean people took similar action against the Japanese in the peninsula. This uprising came in the form of the March First Movement of 1919 . After nine years of oppressive and humiliating rule by the Japanese, the Korean people banded together in solidarity, just as the Japanese had been working to prevent. The catalyst for the movement was the announcement of American President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points; one of the points mentioned the process of self-determination for people subjugated, as applied to those colonies of the defeated nations of WW I . Since Japan was on the winning side in the war, there was no legitimate claim to the principle of self-determination , but the Korean people decided to take advantage of the situation, regardless. The nation was united in this sudden cause; nationalism had never died under Japanese rule, and everyone from farmers to capitalist business owners had been adversely affected by the Japanese policies . Kang states, “As a general rule, colonial national movements in the initial stages arose under the leadership of the national bourgeoisie and intellectuals, and the March First Movement was no exception” . What is often forgotten about the March First Movement is that the leaders still held firmly to the old Korean Patriotic Enlightenment Movement, which thus led the leaders to denounce any use of violence or active resistance at anytime against the colonialists. Thirty-three Korean nationalists signed what is known as the Korean Declaration of Independence , which was originally intended as the only action to be taken on the date . Yet there was a movement within the intellectual population, particularly students, teachers, and urban workers, that called for more decisive action to be taken against the foreign power who ruled them . The Movement was for the most part unplanned; as the Korean Declaration of Independence was being read across the country in public, rallies began to take shape and people began to flock to the streets of Seoul , and cities across the nation. March 2nd brought more than 400 workers to demonstrate in the streets of Seoul, changing and waving the Korean flag in a peaceful manner. By the 22nd of March, over 800 workers had gathered in a demonstration in Seoul, calling it a “Workers Convention” . In total, some two million people participated over the course of two months in peaceful demonstrations and rallies calling for a free and independent Korea.

   The Japanese response to the uprising was one standard of a colonial power wishing to keep control of their interests. The leaders of the movement were arrested as soon as they could be located; those who signed the Declaration each received three years or less in prison, and were released early . It was in dealing with the public that the true brutality of the Japanese is seen; 533 people were killed, 1409 wounded, and over 21, 713 Korean citizens were arrested for their involvement in the peaceful demonstrations . Further, the Japanese military police burned down thousands of Christian churches and homes in the process, as retribution against the religious leaders who had organized the Declaration, and those religious leaders who joined the populace in the streets . It should also be noted that the Christian church had long been involved in the underground anti-Japanese movement since Japanese rule had stated that all churches must participate in the Japanese Shinto shrine ceremonies . Many Christian ministers had been imprisoned because of their refusal to cooperate with these laws. The prisoners of the March First Uprising were housed and tortured by the Japanese at Seodaemun Prison ; the prison was built in 1908 under Japanese guidance , and was the destination for all Korean patriots, not just those from the March First Movement, that rose against the Japanese rule. The prison was home to vicious torture carried out by the Japanese against the captured Koreans; Yu Kwan-sun was only seventeen when she was tortured to death in a cell only 190 m² in total area, built specifically for women prisoners in 1916. The Japanese were ruthless in their quest to control the Korean peninsula and people.

   As with colonization in other parts of the world, the effects of colonialism after often not known or seen until years later. When WWII began in 1939, Japan was involved in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the Pacific War began. As a colony of Japan, Korea was being used both to fuel the Japanese war machine, and as a preliminary ground for the movement of troops to Russia. Yet even while involved in war, the Japanese still managed to commit atrocities against the Korean people. Perhaps the least known, but the most atrocious is the ‘Comfort Women’, or Military Sexual Slaves . A symbol of colonial Japan in Korea, these women numbered in the hundreds of thousands and many were kidnapped from their families to offer sexual favors to the Japanese troops in the peninsula . The practice had been going on for years leading up to WWII, but it is during this time period the practice is best known for. These women were provided to the troops as a way to “help maintain troop morale” . The Korean ‘Comfort Women’ became “the largest and most elaborate system of trafficking women in the history of mankind, and one of the most brutal” . These women were abused and lived in what are often described as ‘brothels’ , and subjected to disease and mental anguish that took many of their lives early. Many of the women never married, being ‘shamed’ in all circles of Korean society because of their past involvement as sexual slaves . Of those who did marry, many were unable to have children because of the brutality and disease they encountered from the Japanese soldiers .

   The ‘Comfort Women’ are part of the legacy that is left behind in nations that have been colonized. Nameless and faceless victims of a brutal regime, over two hundred women came forward in the late 1990’s to register as victim-survivors with the Korean government . In a society that is still deeply rooted in traditional values, the action of these women furthered their distinction from the rest of society as not following the otherwise commonly accepted and mandated idea of pre-marital purity. They are an example of how Japan’s colonial ambitions in the Korean peninsula were not based on God, or even gold, but mostly instead of glory. The act of submitting Korean women to Japanese soldiers is nothing but an act to prove a dominance of one culture over another, and reinforce the control of a dominant power over that of another.

   Colonialism is most often associated with the countries of Africa, and the colonialist powers being those from Europe. Yet the same actions taking place in Africa were also taking place in Asia, just on a smaller scale. Often overlooked, the ‘annexation’ and colonization of the Korean peninsula to expand the Japanese empire was a colonial rule that followed the same ideas of those in Africa. A thriving military and economic power, Japan ruled Korea for 35 years, until they lost the nation in the Second World War and the peninsula was divided between the Communist Soviet Union and the democratic United States of America. Japan’s colonial rule was solidified with a firm, military backed government intent on controlling the peninsula and putting down and dissention early on. Yet that didn’t stop the spirit of the Korean people from continuing on, and on March 1st, 1919, the beginnings of a movement, aptly titled the March First Movement, began. What was two months of peaceful demonstrations and rallies around Woodrow Wilson’s support of self-determination by students and workers alike became a bloody and brutal footnote in history after the Japanese military police took action. The following years were spent under the same military rule, where ordinary Koreans had no rights, no voice, and no real hope for escaping their colonial captors. The Japanese further asserted their power of the peninsula through the use of ‘Comfort Women’, or Military Sexual Slaves. Taken from their families, these women were used in military brothels before and during the Second World War for the pleasure of the Japanese military servicemen stationed there . Japan’s colonization of the Korean peninsula was not primarily for God, nor for gold, but instead for the glory that came with controlling who they thought to be a lesser people. Their actions were not any different than those of African colonialists, with their violent actions against demonstrators, and the blatant human rights violations, yet are forgotten because South Korea today is an economic power and an important democratic actor on the world stage. However, if it had not been for the oppressive and militaristic rule of the Japanese for 35 years on the peninsula, desecrating both the political and economic structures of Korea, it can be easily argued that the turn of the North towards Communism, the resulting war, and the lasting tension on the peninsula, in the region, and in the world, could have been avoided.


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