The Independence Army
Various independence forces operating in Manchuria were
unified and placed under the command of the Provisional Government. The
independence armies underwent frequent reorganization, however, owing to changes
in the international situation and differences of opinion among leaders of the
Provisional Government. A group of leaders met in Beijing in April 1921 to work
out a plan for united military action, realizing that the most urgent task was
to unite the independence armies active in Manchuria. The conference later
developed into the all-inclusive Council of National Representatives that held
its first meeting in Shanghai in January 1923. Armed resistance under the
leadership of the Provisional Government was given a firm basis, and the Korean
troops in Manchuria continuously fought the Japanese army, sometimes with
spectacular success.
In October 1920 at
Ch'uongsan-ri,
a gallant force of about 400 men, in a fierce four-day battle, dealt a crushing
blow to a Japanese force of brigade strength. It was only in Manchuria that
armed struggle was carried on continuously. During the Bolshevik revolution, a
brief invasion by the Japanese army drove the Korean independence fighters from
the Russian Maritime Province. A Korean army of 3,000 men was besieged by the
Red Army in the "free city" of Braweschensk in June 1921, and several
hundred Koreans were killed. The survivors, numbering 1,700, were ordered by the
Chinese government to abandon their weapons and were then taken to Irkutsk to be
absorbed into the Red Army, thus putting an end to their fight for independence.
Back to Top
Changes in Japan's Colonial Policy
The Japanese counterattack against the Korean independence
movement was typical of Japan's militaristic policy. The Japanese forced
colonial-style education down to a minimum level. They banned the teaching of
the Korean language and history while laying greater emphasis on the teaching of
Japanese language and history. The deliberate policy of annihilation was hailed
by Japanese propaganda as a "Cultural Policy."
Though absorbed into the ordinary police structure, the
military police executed police administration as before under the protection of
special laws. The police force expanded as a result of transfers and
amalgamation of military policemen into the ordinary police.
A group of Korean educational leaders passed a resolution on
June 22, 1920, calling for approval of their plan to establish a private
university. The Japanese rejected the resolution, however, under provisions of
the Korean Education Ordinance, and reacted with renewed oppression. Instead,
they established Keijo Imperial University as a colonial institute in 1924 -
1926. Admission of Korean students to that university was limited to one-third
to one-fourth of the total number of students. Extreme limitation of fundamental
education for Koreans was the most important basic "Cultural Policy"
of Governor-General Saito Makoto.
In 1920 the Government-General permitted the start of two
private newspapers besides those already in existence as its own organs for
propaganda. The real intent of this permission was to spy on Koreans of
anti-Japanese opinion. Enforcement of strict censorship was practiced on every
word and phrase. Japanese colonial policy was geared as before to the oppression
of the Korean people by expansion of the police, judicial and prison systems.
Having completed a land survey, Japan planned to meet its food
grain shortage with increased rice production in Korea. In order to fill the
deficit, Japan called for sharply increased rice production by soil improvement
and modernization of farming methods. The plan fell short of its goals and was
finally abandoned in 1934, but the increase in rice production was impressive,
and large quantities were shipped to Japan.
The policy of increased rice production inflicted severe
damage to Korean farmers. The drastic decline in per capita rice consumption by
Koreans between 1912 and 1931 was due to an increase in the quantity of rice
sent to Japan of more than 500 percent during the period. Having taken from
Korea 48 to 50 percent of its total rice production, the Government-General
attempted to supply a small part of the resultant grain deficit by importing
millet from Manchuria, but the price was higher than the price Japan paid for
Korean rice.
More and more farmers were downgraded by the colonial policy
to either tenants or semitenants. In 1931, they numbered nearly 12 million,
comprising 2,325,707 households under high farm-rents in a state of near
starvation. The farm-rents, a principal means of exploitation, were as high as
50 to 80 percent of the annual income from farming.
The destitution facing Korean farmers before the harvest of
summer barley periodically drove them to the verge of starvation. Some farmers
(about 19 percent) emigrated to Manchuria, Siberia or Japan. Still others found
employment as unskilled laborers in factories or did odd jobs to earn a small
and uncertain income. Some families had to disperse, each member earning his own
livelihood.
A considerable number of those who stuck to farming were
burdened by usurious loans. According to statistics compiled in 1930, at least
75 percent of the 1,733,797 farming households were in debt. More than 70
percent of the debts were payable to Japanese financial institutions, at
interest ranging from 15 to 35 percent a year.
Koreans living in urban areas fared no better than their rural
countrymen. Nearly 80 percent of urban dwellers lived in grinding poverty. It
was Japanese policy to keep the wages of Koreans at less than half the amount
paid to their Japanese counterparts. The fact that 132 out of 170 disputes
occurring in 1935 concerned demands for higher wages is clear evidence of the
poverty which overwhelmed the colonialized people.
The devastating effects of the colonial agricultural policy
finally weakened the very basis of colonial domination. Japan, seeing the
importance of rural problems, tried to resolve them by establishing rational
relations between agriculture and industry. Governor-General Ugaki Kazunari
(1931 - 1936) professed a desire to rejuvenate Korean rural villages, binding
them into near feudal bondage.
In 1934 the Farmland Ordinance was enacted, ostensibly with a
view to securing the position of tenant farmers. In fact, these measures
resulted only in recognizing the exploitation of farmers through high-interest
farm rents. An agency set up by the Government-General to settle the tenant
disputes served only to protect the interests of landlords.
Back to Top
Governor-General
Ugaki, who had advocated rural development,
enforced cotton cultivation in southern Korea early in the 1930s when Japan's
import of cotton was restricted for financial reasons. As a result, cotton
output increased from 689,000 kun (1 kun
equals about 0.6kg) in 1910 to 213,749,000 kun
in 1934. In order to give a helping hand to Japan's import of raw wool as well,
he forced the northern district of Korea to raise sheep, thereby subordinating
Korea to Japan's textile industry.
As the 1930s dawned, the Government-General gave priority to
the police in budget allocation, surpassing the outlay for general
administration and education. The Japanese police were further armed with a set
of oppressive laws designed to crush any national or social opposition: laws
governing rebellion, riot, disturbance, publication, press and crimes against
the Japanese royalty (lese majesty), political offenses and maintenance
of public order. After 1919, the Korean criminal ordinances and the Korean civil
ordinances underwent revision. In particular, the revised Korean census
registration ordinance imposed strict surveillance and repression on the routine
daily activities of Koreans.
Whereas the rate of increase in general crimes was relatively
slow, that of political offenses showed a rapid increase, reflecting intensified
ideological oppression. The strengthening of physical restraint measures was
accompanied by strict enforcement of the colonial education policy.
The colonial university was given the task of the compilation
of the history of Korea under the Korean History Compila-tion Society founded by
the Government-General. Their objective was to negate the creativity,
originality, and autonomous spirit of the Korean people in their cultural and
historical traditions. In order to achieve such an aim, they kept historical
documents and royal library collections from Korean scholars.
Back to Top
Colonial Policy in Action
The independence movement, meanwhile, improved in organization
and methods. More militant, systematic, and diversified resistance was effected.
Japan's colonial policy in Korea remained unchanged although fancy appellations
such as "new administration" or "cultural administration"
were used to gloss it over after the March First Independence Movement.
The reorganization of the police brought about a rapid
increase in the numbers of organization and in budgetary appropriations. The
police budget quadrupled in the 1920s, comprising 12-13 percent of the total
budget. In contrast, educational outlays were less than 1.8 percent of the
police appropriations.
The police did their utmost to suppress all spontaneous
activities by Koreans. The depth of police penetration was evident in the number
of inhabitants per policeman - one policeman for 722 persons in Korea, compared
with one for 1,150 in Japan.
As a result of judicial reforms designed to crack down on
political offenses, so-called "thought" prosecutors and
"thought" judges were appointed and "special high police"
squads were added to each police organization. Communist circles, which spread
rapidly in Korea following the trend of the times, were among the main targets
of the Japanese police. Strikes, labor disputes and tenant farmer protests were
largely motivated by anti-colonial and nationalistic sentiments directed against
the Japanese.
Various laws and ordinances were utilized to halt all critical
expression and acts of sabotage or sedition against the Japanese colonial
authorities. In enacting and promulgating the laws, Governor-General Saito
expressed his determination to suppress all resistance movements.
Back to Top
By the 1930s, the peasants were on the verge of starvation.
The only way out of such a condition was to desert the farm. Many went to
Manchuria or Japan, only to find it no easier to settle there. According to the
statistics of the Government-General for 1925, of all the farm deserters, 2.88
percent went to Manchuria and Siberia, 16.85 percent to Japan, and 46.39 percent
were scattered in cities of Korea with marginal jobs.
A dwindling of the international market following the close of
World War I had a decisive bearing upon the colonial policy of Japan. The Japan
Nitrogen Fertilizer Co., Onoda Cements and Japanese textile businesses found
cheap labor available in Korea. The invasion of massive Japanese capital
gradually forced native landowners and tenant farmers to abandon farmland in
return for nominal compensation. Korean-owned lands were bought or virtually
expropriated at about one percent of the then current value to accommodate
Japanese industrial plants. The Government-General granted eminent domain to
Japanese capitalists in an arbitrary manner.
Expansion of Japanese colonial capital during the 1920s
resulted in increased poverty and depression for Koreans, and it became a target
of the resistance struggle. Colonial capitalism also stimulated the rise of
socialist movements that were in vogue at that time. Japanese laborers
frequently joined Koreans in disputes over Japanese capital interests.
The exiled Provisional Government of Korea made efforts to
appeal before the great powers at the League of Nations Conference in Geneva in
1932, but leading countries with colonies of their own refused to discuss the
Korean problem. Nevertheless, some countries made persistent efforts to
recognize the Provisional Government. The Moscow government of Lenin approved
the granting of a loan in the amount of 2 million rubles, while the Canton
government of Sun Yat-sen extended formal recognition to the Provisional
Government.
Secret organizations continued to operate at home, attacking
and destroying Japanese police stations and government buildings. Korean leaders
were also active in supplying funds to independence fighters in Manchuria and
Shanghai to promote their military and political activities. Along the northern
border many small groups of Korean soldiers continued attacks against the
Japanese troops. The Eiyoltan,
organized in Manchuria in November of 1919, as an independence organization,
infiltrated its commandos into Seoul and Tokyo to carry out the mission of
attacking Japanese government offices and assassinating officials. There were
frequent explosion incidents in Korea and Japan, and even in China. Yun Pong-gil
(1908-1932), a member of the Aeguktan (Patriotic Association), succeeded
in killing several Japanese army commanders in China with a bomb at their
gathering in Shanghai in April 1933. His success raised the morale not only of
Koreans but also of the Chinese who were faced with mounting Japanese
aggression.
Manchuria lay just across the Amnokkang river, so many loyal
troops went there after 1906, and when Korea was overtaken by Japan, groups of
patriotic leaders sought exile there. They engaged in reclaiming farmland,
educating the children of exiled patriots and organizing military training
centers. Manchuria was also an ideal military base for launching quick attacks
on the Japanese, and the independence troops operating in eastern and southern
Manchuria were gradually integrated under the leadership of the Provisional
Government.
The independence army suffered severe financial hardship,
while Japan tried to obtain the cooperation of the Chinese in an attempt to oust
it from Manchuria or to annihilate it altogether. Despite such adversities, the
Korean troops fought well and achieved significant results. The Ch'vongsan-ri
Battle of October 1920, in which a Korean force outnumbered eight to one
triumphed over the Japanese, will remain a landmark in the history of the Korean
independence struggle.
Back to Top
Venting their rancor on the Koreans for that disastrous
defeat, Japanese troops slaughtered many Korean residents in Manchuria. Some
others were buried alive in random massacres, and other atrocities were
committed in horrible scenes, as witnessed by a Presbyterian missionary from
America.
As the independence army's resistance in Manchuria and its
penetration into Korea intensified, the Government-General concluded an
agreement designed to block Korean activities in that area with Chang Tso-lin, a
strongman in Manchuria. In order to overcome the crisis, many separate units
were incorporated into a 15,000-man force. The reorganized independence army
continued its struggle even in 1933, when Japan succeeded in annexing Manchuria.
But, by making use of mounted bandits, the Japanese troops slaughtered many
Korean residents.
Most impressive among various activities at home after the
1919 independence uprising was the press movement aimed at promoting national
consciousness by criticizing and attacking Japanese colonial policy. In 1920,
three newspapers came into being, the Dong-A Ilbo, the Chosun Ilbo
and the Shisa Shinmun. These dailies spread the use of the Korean
language and made significant contributions in the traditional fields of
literature, drama, films, music and fine arts, and also in the dissemination of
information from abroad.
Back to Top
The educational movement began to awaken the masses on a broad
scale to the necessity for anti-Japanese struggle. Private institutes and night
courses for workers were established by the Koreans themselves. Youths and
students who came to cities from rural villages could earn their school expenses
through affiliation with organizations of self-supporting students. The
determined effort to establish a private college in order to provide higher
learning was repeatedly rejected by the Government-General.
Prominent among social projects at that time were the movement
for women's liberation, the juvenile protection movement and a movement designed
to eliminate discrimination on the basis of class. These movements were carried
out in close association with the national liberation movement, and at times
were connected with the socialist movement which first made its debut in Korea
in 1920, as well as with Christian churches.
A nationwide movement for a self-supporting economy was also
launched in order to shake off the colonial economic shackles. The Korean YMCA
began a rural enlightenment campaign on a nationwide scale, and the successors
to Tonghak followed suit. These movements aimed at economic
self-sufficiency, and called for the boycott of Japanese commodities.
A common front between nationalist and Communist leaders
mounted a vigorous campaign against the Japanese, and a nationwide student
movement erupted on June 10, 1926. The Communist Party secretly sent Kwon O-sol
home from Shanghai to lead the independence demonstration, a mass struggle as
large in scope as the March First, 1919, Independence Movement, by capitalizing
on the masses gathered because of the demise of former Emperor Sunjong in April
of 1926.
Back to Top
Preservation of Korean Culture
A group of about 10 Korean teachers in private schools
organized the Korean Language Society (Choson Cohak'oe)
in December 1921, with the mission of "contributing to the education of our
next generation by studying the principles of the Korean language." The Dong-A
Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo dailies and monthly magazines rendered full
cooperation to the Korean language movement. The Chosun Ilbo designated a
Han-gul Day, when the daily carried a special
supplement presenting treatises by scholars specializing in the study of the
Korean language.
A journal devoted to Han-gul
was published and by 1932 had secured for itself a firm position as the organ of
the Korean Language Society, which not only conducted research but also
subsidized scholars faced with financial difficulty. The society fixed a new
spelling system for the Korean language in 1933 and standardized Korean and the
transcription system of foreign words. Also, the task of editing and publishing
a Korean dictionary was undertaken in 1929 and continuously pursued by the
society. Ch'oe Hyon-bae's works on Korean grammar
and linguistic theory contributed immensely to the promotion of the national
language movement under Japanese rule. Meanwhile, the daily newspapers launched
a mass enlightenment campaign. The Dong-A Ilbo adopted the newly
proclaimed spelling system April 1, 1933, and the Chosun Ilbo soon
followed suit. Furthermore, the newspapers sponsored a literacy campaign,
enlisting the participation of middle school students. The Chosun Ilbo
upheld the slogan, "the Movement toward the People." However,
beginning in October 1942, leading members of the society were arrested and
imprisoned, and only the Japanese surrender of August 15, 1945, ended the long
ordeal of some of these patriots.
The Japanese embarked upon rewriting Korean history from a
strongly Japan-centered viewpoint which tried to denigrate the nation. Korean
historians in their struggle for independence had to refute and discredit the
Japanese historiography on Korea, and describe the results of Japanese
aggression as they witnessed it. Pak En-shik, Shin
Ch'ae-ho, An Chae-hong and Chong In-bo made the most
outstanding contributions by refuting the distorted history of the Japanese
colonial scholars.
Pak En-Shik (1861-1926) attempted
to find the means to convey to contemporary Koreans and future generations the
reality of the nation's efforts to achieve overall reform, and to do justice to
Korean experiences during the armed resistance against alien invaders. During
his exile, he wrote two books with cooperation from his colleagues. These books,
which were published at the same time, made a lasting impact upon the minds of
Koreans.
Song Sang-do (1871-1946) was a unique researcher who compiled
biographies of each of the independence fighters after gathering facts through
on-the-spot inquiries. Undertaken under the shadow of Japanese surveillance and
oppression, his work, concentrating on the period between 1919 to 1945,
supplemented Pak En-shik's works dealing with
activities abroad until 1919.
Shin Ch'ae-ho (1880-1936), who wrote on the early history of
Korea, actively participated in the armed independence movement in Manchuria,
Shanghai and Beijing. He continuously made public the results of his studies on
Korean history.
Back to Top
Modern literature, written in Han-gul,
called upon the public to achieve social and national awakening, and sought to
absorb the spiritual heritage of modern European literature. Two main streams
developed in the process of absorbing foreign literature: one group of writers
produced satirical works in an effort to stimulate a spirit of independence and
patriotism, while the other group looked to foreign influences in their efforts
to stimulate modernization in Korea. Pak En-shik,
Shin Ch'ae-ho and An Kuk-son produced works
belonging to the first category, and representative among writers of the second
group included Yi In-jik. Both groups suffered from the degradation of their
spiritual ethos under Japanese domination.
The essence of modern Korean literature can be found in the
literary activities of a group of writers who in the 1920s contemplated the
colonial reality from a nationalist viewpoint and tried to overcome their
dilemma through literary works. The move toward what was called "new
literature," replacing the traditional literature, started as early as
1908. It was impossible for Korean writers to produce enlightening works before
1919, because of the press law forced upon the Korean government in 1907. The
Government-General allowed the Koreans publish their works only through the Maeil
Shinbo, the Japanese propaganda medium in Korean; thus it was difficult to
create a literature reflecting the true Korean consciousness.
In 1919 Kim Tong-in and Kim Ek
founded a literary magazine, Ch'angjo (Creation) marking the starting
point of modern Korean literature. The magazine was followed by P'yeho
(The Ruins), published in 1920 by Hwang Song-u and Yom
Sang-sop; Paekcho (White Tide) published in
1922 by Yi Sang-hwa and Hyon Chin-gon;
and Kumsong (Gold
Star) published in 1923 by Yi Chang-hui and Yang Chu-dong.
Through such literary works, these writers tried to grasp the dominant current
of thought and show the future course Korea should take.
Other literary magazines which appeared during the 1920s and
1930s laid the basis for the future development of modern Korean literature.
Almost all of these magazines were ordered to discontinue publication in the
1940s as the Japanese tightened their grip with the spread of their aggressive
war to the Pacific and all of Southeast Asia. The important task of the 1920s
was to work out ways of introducing foreign elements into literary works dealing
with the reality of colonial rule in Korea.
Back to Top
Shim Hun's Sangnoksu (Evergreen Tree, 1943) was based
on the theme of rural development pursued by the Koreans. Yi Ki-yong's
Kohyang (The Home Country, 1932) described the process of infiltration of
Japanese colonial capital into the rural areas. In these works and others, the
poverty of Korean rural villages of the 1930s was delineated with a romantic
touch. Hong Myong-hui's Im
Kkok-chong described
a confrontation between corrupt government officials and a group of bandits led
by Im Kkok-chong
and stirred the people's antagonism toward Japanese colonial rule.
There were many poets as well who appealed to the national
sentiment. Perhaps the greatest pioneer of modern poetry was Han Yong-un. His Nimui
Ch'immuk (The Silence of My Beloved, 1925) expressed his affection for a
homeland deprived of sovereignty. The beautiful spirit of another poet, Yi Sang-hwa,
sang his boundless love of his homeland in a symbolic way, and Yi Yuk-sa, who
was arrested, imprisoned and tortured to death by the Japanese military police,
expressed his endless hope for the future of his fatherland. These were the main
themes in the Korean literary spirit throughout the colonial period.
Yom Sang-sop
was one writer who pursued national consciousness in historical perspective. He
tried to describe the independence struggle in the 1920s in terms of the
interaction between nationalism and communism. In Samdae (The Three
Generations, 1932), a literary masterpiece, he gave expression to the dilemmas
and frictions faced by Koreans in the process of transition from a traditional
to a capitalist society.
In deriving their themes from such transitional phenomena,
writers of the 1930s had to part from Yom's
naturalistic, realistic style and resort to satirical touches. One of these
writers, Ch'ae Man-shik, made his debut late in the 1930s. His T'aep'yongch'un
(The Peaceful Spring on Earth, 1937) ridicules the outdated vestiges still found
in colonized Korea, and his T'angnyu (The Muddy Stream, 1941) satirizes
Korean society in general, sharply criticizing Japanese capital for its
devastating effect on Korean society.
Back to Top
Shin-ganhoe: A Unified National Organization
Founded on February 15, 1927 in Korea under the Japanese rule,
Shin-ganhoe (New Stem Association) was a unified national organization.
The association attempted to form a joint front by combining leaders of the
nationalist and Communist camps. The plan to organize Shin-ganhoe was
first proposed by nationalist leaders keenly realizing the necessity of
combining leaders of the nationalists and Communists into one of the various
independence organizations. The Communist camp, under a directive from the
Comintern, also felt the need of forming a joint front in cooperation with the
nationalist camp.
At the time of its founding, Shin-ganhoe was headed by
Yi Sang-jae, president, An Chae-hong, secretary-general, and Hong Myong-hui,
in charge of organization. Yi Sung-bok distinguished
himself in raising operational funds. From the beginning, the association was
subjected to extreme oppression by the Japanese police. Although not all of the
aims of the association proclaimed upon its inception were implemented, its main
platform - the call for political and economic awakening, unity of purpose and
rejection of any compromise with Japan - continued to be the ideological
mainstay of the association.
The association sponsored local meetings which were aimed at
discussing such measures as: the exemption of school fees for children of
proletarian families; demands for the teaching of the Korean language;
opposition to the Japanese emigration policy; the denunciation of compromising
political movements; abolition of the "Laws and Ordinances of 1919"
and of special control laws against Koreans (laws aimed at oppressing the
nationalist and Communist movements); opposition to all county agricultural
associations (Japan's exploitation agencies); enforcement of education for the
benefit of Koreans; the acquisition of freedom for the study of social sciences;
opposition to imperialistic colonial education policy; and the abolition of hyanggyo
and acquisition of the right to dispose of property.
The Shin-ganhoe was, however, plagued by disunity and
pressure from the Comintern, which soon ordered the Korean Communists to work
for its dissolution. Early in 1931 the leftist leaders of Shin-ganhoe
asked for its dissolution. The Pusan branch was disbanded, and at a Seoul
meeting on May 16, 1931, the resistance organization finally disappeared,
succumbing to maneuvering by its left-wing elements. Its nationalist leaders
were arrested by the police, and there emerged no other resistance organization
of comparable scale that replaced it.
Back to Top
Resistance Against Japan's Policy of Assimilation
The beginning of Japan's war of aggression on the Asian
continent and its spread into the Pacific brought further tightening of Japan's
reins over Korea. The Japanese colonial policy was aimed at transforming Korea
into a logistical base for continental aggression, the closing phase of Japanese
colonial rule in Korea.
Invading Manchuria on the pretext of a fabricated provocation
in Mukden, the Japanese soon took over the whole region. The venture was sparked
by Japan's quest for an overseas solution for its economic depression at home.
Monopolistic capital from Japan flowed into Korea to create
the arsenal for invasion of the continent. Cheap labor was available as the
result of Korean impoverishment caused by Japanese exploitation. Rapid advances
had been made in some manufacturing, but it was a "dependent"
industrialization, geared to colonialism.
Back to Top
Japan carried on its war of continental invasion from
Manchuria into mid-China. During the 1930s in Korea, the industrial emphasis of
the Japanese gradually shifted from foodstuff manufacturing to such heavy
industries as machines, chemicals and metals. In 1939, heavy industry
constituted more than 50 percent of all industrial sectors. Production of
agricultural commodities steadily declined in value from 60 percent of the gross
national product in 1931 to 32 percent in 1942.
Despite marked progress in industries, the native capital
invested was minimal. As the war went on, the exploitation of Korean labor
became ever greater. Koreans were excluded from positions of skilled work and
forced to do heavy manual labor at wages less than half those received by their
Japanese counterparts. The official enforcement of industrial development went
hand in hand with the colonial agricultural policy of increasing rice
production.
As the tide of the war turned against the Japanese, they
squeezed more and more agricultural products out of the peasants by means of kongch'ul
or "quota delivery." Farmers were compelled to grow rice with
expensive fertilizers to fulfill their assigned quotas.
In March 1944, the Japanese placed production quotas on major
mining and manufacturing industries for the purpose of securing military
supplies, and medium and small enterprises were consolidated. Alignment of
colonial industries was undertaken with an emphasis placed on iron and light
metal industries and the production of raw materials. These economic
restrictions were accompanied by further infringement upon freedom of thought
and civil liberties.
Back to Top
For example, in the course of invading China in 1937, the
Japanese began to suppress freedom of religion, substituting compulsory worship
at Japanese Shinto shrines. In 1938, Korean-language teaching was banned from
secondary school curricula. From April 1941 onwards, the curricula of Japanese
schools was imposed upon Korean schools. As the war intensified, the education
of Koreans under the Education Decree of March 1943 was increasingly geared to
the Japanese war establishment. No longer was the Korean language taught in
primary schools.
But such high-handed oppression by the Government-General
could hardly fail to bring about persistent resistance. Many were arrested on
charges of "seeking to attain the ambition of liberating the Korean
people." Nationalists were the most active group in the most oppressive
period (1937-1945). In 1941, a Thought Criminals Preventive Custody Law went
into force, and a protective prison was established in Seoul, where almost all
anti-Japanese activists were held. The Government-General declared that
preventive custody was intended to isolate from society these unruly
"thought criminals" and to discipline them. It was the first step in a
drive to uproot the will to independence from the minds of the Koreans.
In 1942, the Government-General came under the central
administrative control of the Japanese government, and a massive mobilization of
Korean manpower and materials was integrated into the war effort. From 1943,
Korean youths were drafted into the Japanese army, and the Student Volunteer
Ordinance of January 20, 1944, forced Korean college students into the army,
Moreover, under the National General Mobilization Act of
Japan, Korean labor was subjected to forcible removal from the peninsula. The
drafting of laborers began in 1939 and many were sent to Japan, Sakhalin or
Southeast Asia. Statistics up to August 15, 1945, show that 4,146,098 workers
were assigned inside Korea and 1,259,933 in Japan. Many Korean workers were sent
to coal mines in Japan; some of them remain in Japan and Sakhalin even to this
day.
Back to Top
The course of the Sino-Japanese War forced the Chinese
Nationalist Government to move to Chongqing, and in 1940, the Provisional
Government of Korea as well had to move there. On August 28, 1941, the
Provisional Government, in response to the declaration by President Roosevelt
and Prime Minister Churchill, issued a statement demanding recognition of the
Korean government; military, technical and economic assistance for the
prosecution of anti-Japanese campaigns; and Korean participation in deciding the
fate of Korea after the war.
After Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Provisional
Government of Korea set up a Euro-American Liaison Committee in Washington for
the purpose of active diplomacy with European and American states. An aid
agreement was concluded with the Nationalist government of China, and efforts
were made to strengthen the internal organization of the government. When the
three powers, the United States, China and Britain, met in Cairo in 1943, Kim Ku
of the Provisional Government sought the aid of Chiang Kai-shek, while Liaison
Committee Director Syngman Rhee ordered Chong Han-gyong
(Henry Chung) to go to Cairo to promote the cause of Korean independence. Upon
the proposal of Generalissimo Chiang, the three powers agreed to include a call
for Korea's self-determination and independence in the Cairo Declaration.
In February 1944, the Provisional Government brought some
leftist personalities into its fold and formed a sort of coalition cabinet, with
Kim Ku as chairman and Kim Kyu-shik as vice chairman. In February 1945, it
formally declared war against Japan and Germany by taking part in active
campaigns; altogether after 1943, more than 5,000 Korean troops joined the
allied forces in military operations throughout the Chinese theater of war.
Korean college students and youths drafted into the Japanese army deserted their
units to join the ranks of China's anti-Japanese resistance war. In the United
States as well, a number of Korean immigrants volunteered for the U.S. army to
fight against the Japanese in the Pacific. Korean Communists in Kando, northeast
Manchuria, also joined the Soviet Union or Chinese Communists.
Back to Top
Information
provided by the Korean Embassy
|