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The Japanese colonial legacy in Korea essay
Colonial legacy in Korea and impact on country development
Colonial legacy in Korea and impact on country development
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INTRODUCTION
The era of Japanese colonial rule is a dark part of Korea’s history. Korea had been in political turmoil since King Gojong ascended to the throne in 1863. This political instability heightened when Empress Myeongseong, Gojong’s wife, overthrew Heungseon Daewongun’s, Gojong’s father’s, influence. Heungseon Daewongun had been open to foreign relations; Empress Myeongseong had not. Seeing this turbulence as an opportunity, Japan proposed the Ganghwado Treaty, or the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876. The treaty lifted Korea’s status as a tributary to Qing China, and opened three Korean ports to Japanese trade. Unfortunately, the terms of this treaty were unequal and it opened the country to Japanese annexation.
Seen as an obstacle to annexing Korea, Empress Myeonseong was assassinated by Japanese agents in 1895. In 1905 Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, defeating their biggest rival for claim over Korea. The Eulsa Treaty was signed that same year, making Korea a protectorate of Japan. Gojong was forced to appoint the Crown Prince Sunjong as regent, and the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty was signed in 1910.
Japanese colonial rule had a large influence on Korea’s society and culture in the early twentieth century. However, although Japanese colonial rule set some framework for Korea’s political and economic modernization, Korea’s own people and the United States of America had a bigger influence.
Japanese colonial rule suppressed much of Korea’s culture. This included changing clothing and surnames, restricting the use of the Korean language, and many other changes. On the other hand, Japanese colonial rule had little impact on Korea’s political modernization. Politics in Korea at the time were fully under Japanese control, a...
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...ence from Japanese rule. This system still exists in Korea today.
As for economic modernization, South Korea’s rapid economic growth happened largely thanks to the policies of Park Chung Hee, a Korean President. Although Japan did introduce Korea to the heavy industry, increased agricultural production, and created transportation, these were not done for the benefit of Koreans. Japan developed Korea’s economy to the extent that it benefitted Japan. Park’s government and economic plans, with some select advice from the Americans, grew Korea’s economy at a rapid rate and helped the nation get to where it is today.
Japanese colonial nearly destroyed Korean culture, and colonial rule did not contribute much to the development of Korea’s politics and economy. With a little help from the United States, the Koreans themselves made all of Korea’s modern developments happen.
This signifies the dominant presence of Japanese hegemony in Korea. Similarly, the dominance of Japanese colonialists’ educational agenda was evident, as the threat of the emergence of Korean women’s identity and role within the context of the new spaces created by education, led the colonial government to discharge advancements in female education(Yoo,60). Instead of creating equal opportunities for women and men, Japanese colonial authority’s educational agenda created “secondary education [that] aimed to create more ‘feminine’ women”, in which “the highly gendered division of courses encouraged women to select ‘feminine’ courses” (Yoo 70). This eventually led women to be in their original positions: to stay within the domestic sphere. For example, in the Japanese empire and colonial Korea, women were more encouraged to learn housekeeping and sewing in lieu of learning masculine courses such as “ethics, national language, literature, history, geography, mathematics or science” (Yoo 70).
Korea had been united as one country for many years. Japan took control of Korea and made it part of its empire. After World War II, Japan was defeated and its empire fell. Korea was left without a leader or a system of government. This provoked the United States troops to occupy the southern half and Soviet troops to occupy the northern half. The United States and its allies favored democratic government, while the Soviet Union and China favored a communist system of government.
Japan was imperializing late nineteenth century to early twentieth century. Korea was a Japanese colony. After World War II, the Japanese had to get rid of the colony. North Korea became a Communist. South Korea wants to be democratic.
The period from 1905 to 1924 is characterized by quite a different group of Korean Immigrants. One part of this group was made up of Koreans who were running from their government and students who were studying in the US. Syngman Rhee, who would become the leader of South Korea during the Korean War, was earning his Ph.D. at Princeton University during this time. About 500 students and political refugees arrived in America (...
1Encounter: A Novel of Nineteenth-Century Korea by Moo-Sook Hahn, Translated by Ok Young Kim Chang. Foreword by Don Baker. University of California Press, 1992. ISBN(s): Cloth-- 0520073800 Paper-- 0520073819
Today, Japanese and Korean civilizations are advanced, wealthy, and independent with their own system of government and religious beliefs due to the influences from China. The majority of Asia experienced changes in government and dealt with inter and intra state conflicts when the countries were most susceptible to influences from alliances made with other countries. The Tang Dynasty/ Silla alliance shaped the future of Korea’s religious and government movements. Art and literature from China also greatly impacted Korea’s and Japan’s society and provided new insight into literary expression through new forms of poetry and a new system of writing. Religion was also a major influence because of popularity and acceptance of new views and beliefs. Agriculture played an important role in the development of Korean and Japanese civilizations because new tools and forms of irrigation led to more efficient harvesting. The bulk of Chinese influence impacted Japanese society through the Heian period and Korea was heavily influenced by Chinese culture during the period when Silla unified Korea. Although there were many factors of Chinese culture that influenced Korean and Japanese civilizations, religion and government legislation had the most impact.
Despite the fact that this was the age of Western imperialism and gunboat diplomacy, Korea failed to erect a large standing military and navy. Instead of uniting under the banner of protecting Korea’s sovereignty, some officials were more concerned with protecting their own privileges. Robinson wrote “The lack of consensus in domestic politics…inhibited any program to gather
After nine years of Japanese Annexation of Korea in 1910, around 540 student were admitted for study at American schools. Most of these students were political refugees so they became an addition to the Korean community. Korean immigrants started to form anti-Japanese programs to free their country. This was a great concern to Japan. Japanese government decided to grant Korean women who were willing to move to America as marriage contracts to calm Korean immigrants from contributing to anti-Japanese programs. This decision didn’t change Korean immigrants from involving in Korean independence movement but made them more desperate to get their country back for their daughters and sons.
Steinberg, David I., and Donald N. Clark. "Review of The Kwangju Uprising: Shadows over the Regime in South Korea." The Journal of Asian Studies 47.3 (1988): 662-63. Print.
Imperialism was good for developing countries because imperialism promoted modernization, improved the economy, and increased military advances and power. Because Japan was a developing country at this time and drastically changed because of imperialisms, it is perfect example of this. Imperialism helped modernize many developing countries. Japan is an exemplary example of this. During this time, Japan was isolated from other countries and did not have the desire to trade or engage in other “normal” pursuits like Europe, Asia, America, and other various countries did.
When people think of successful reforms or revolutions in Korean history, they rarely think of the end of the Chosun Dynasty as the likely part of history. Instead of the collapse of a Confucian Dynasty during the end of the 19th century, a reformation of an empire began, the Gwangmu Reform. Gwangmu reform formally began shortly after the proclamation of the Korean Empire (大韓帝國) in 1897. The reform lasted eight years until the Eulsa treaty (乙巳條約) with Japan in 1905; however, the practical start was much earlier. It is not an overstatement to say that it was as early as the late 1880s. Emperor Gojong (King Gojong at the time) tried in vain to modernize the country for several decades but did not succeed. Grander projects began after the proclamation of the Empire. Under the rule of Emperor Gojong (高宗), Korea was successful in the reform, ignoring neighbouring countries that oppressed and pressured the empire.
There has always been lack of balance of power between the two nations. Back in thousands of years ago, Korea was the one that had more power and helped Japan develop her culture and since the late Chosun era, Japan has been the more powerful one. Conflicts between Korea and Japan continued and the ill feelings towards each other reached the top when Japan colonized Korea. As a result, the history of the Korea-Japan relations is full of conflicts and ill feelings towards each other and even during the time of temporary peace for the 2002 World Cup, small diplomatic conflicts continue.
This summary begins in Korea with the largest peasant rebellion of Korean history: The Tonghak Rebellion of 1894. The Tonghak movment was a new religion beginning in 1860 that opposed Western Culture and supported equality of all people. The Korean government was opposed this religion and tried to shut it down by executing the founder in 1866 but the movement secretly continued. By 1892 and 1893 supporters held great rallies protesting the government efforts to shut down the movement. In February 1894 the disorder stirred up again and spread swiftly. By late April of 1894 the Korean peasants gathered in an uprising once again. On June 3, the Korean king Yuan Shikai requested that the Chinese send troops to help stifle the rebellion. China in accordance to the terms of the Treaty of Tainjin, notified Japan of their sending of 2,000 troops to Nanyang, a coastal city between Seoul and Asan. Undeterred by the Korean request that Japan not send troops, within days over 2,000 Japanese troops had landed and marched to Seoul. Although this violated the Treaty of Tianjin, the Jap...
Savada, Andrea. South Korea: a country study. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1992.
...ussions on Japan’s history, we can now understand why Japan’s emperor remains a significant figurehead in modern Japanese society. Finally, due to our examination of Korea’s colonized past; we now have a clearer indication as to the reason behind their modern day divide.