It all started with an idea. A single person’s idea to seize the rights, freedom, and identity once owned and so dearly treasured by a proud people. This idea was later followed by a dark chapter in Korean history, a period marked by oppression, suffering, loss and an unending yearning for liberation. Under the colonial rule of the Empire of Japan, the Korean people witnessed several attempts to erase their language, culture, and national identity. Yet, even in the midst of oppression, the Korean people did not relent. Across the peninsula, men, women, boys, and girls resisted in many different ways. This unwavering determination would not only lead to their liberation but would also lay the foundation for the Korea that we know today, a country proud of its history and confident in its future.
Long before Japan took over the peninsula, the land of Korea thrived under the Joseon Dynasty, stretching from 1392 to 1897. But spanning from 1910 to 1945, Korea’s name was recognized as Chōsen, a foreign name imposed upon a proud land. Beginning with the first unequal treaty – the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1876 (an agreement signed between Japan and Korea, forcing Korea to open several of its ports to Japanese trades and granting Japanese citizens special privileges in Korea), Japan steadily began asserting influence on the Korean Peninsula. What first appeared as diplomacy was soon revealed as domination. Japan further deepened its involvement and intervened during the Donghak Peasant Resolution – a mass uprising by Korean peasants protesting corrupt officials, oppressive taxation, and the growing shadow of foreign interference.
On April 1894, when Joseon could no longer live to endure the hardships and pressure weighed down on them, they asked the Chinese for assistance in ending the revolt and on May 3rd 1894, 1,500 Qing forces appeared in Incheon. Japan started the First Sino-Japanese war against China and emerged victorious. This shifted the political balance of East Asia and Korea became nominally independent. This led to the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki by the Chinese in the same year, an act forced by Japan to recognize Korea as an independent state, thereby, removing China’s protection and allowing Japan to gain greater influence over Korea by quickly making Korea a protectorate by imposing the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1905, transforming Korea into a protectorate and placing its foreign affairs strictly under Japanese control.
This action greatly reduced Korea’s whole sovereignty as Japan succeeded in ruling the country indirectly and forced Emperor Gojong to abdicate in 1907, a cruel act that paved the way for Japan’s annexation over Korea, administering the country for decades by their appointed Governor General of Chosen who was based in Keijo (now Seoul). Under the ideology of Nissen Dōsoron, Koreans were pressured to adopt Japanese names and discouraged from speaking their own language. This theory was used to justify colonization by claiming that Korea and Japan were one people with the same ancestral origin, and therefore, Koreas were pressured to be assimilated into the Japanese empire. And so with the power gained, the Japanese made sweeping political, economic, and cultural transformations that changed Korea. Cultural heritage was displaced as artifacts were forcefully taken to Japan and historic landmarks such as the Gyeongbokgung and Deoksugung palaces were partially demolished with colonial infrastructure and industries rising in their place.
On 8th October, 1895, a tragic event took place which shook the entire Korean Peninsula and left the nation in profound grief. 43-year-old Queen Min was assassinated by Japanese agents at Gyeongbokgung Palace, after which her body was desecrated in the north way of the palace. This brutal act was orchestrated by the Japanese minister to Korea, Miura Gorō. Following this atrocity, Emperor Gojong fled for his safety, taking the Crown Prince to the Russian legation in Seoul, from where he governed for over a year. Outraged by these numerous injustices, a group of Koreans formed the Independence Club in 1896, advocating a good number of societal reforms, including democracy and a constitutional monarchy, and promoting closer ties with Western nations as a counterbalance to Japanese influence. In October 1897, Emperor Gojong returned to Deoksugung Palace and proclaimed the founding of the Korean Empire at the royal altar, Hwangudan, symbolically asserting Korea’s independence from China.
Korea became a country where its citizens were subjected to extremely harsh conditions. They were forced to work in extremely poor conditions for discriminatory wages, while also facing unbelievable taxation that in some cases exceeded 50%, leaving families struggling to survive. This cruel act went on further to mass killings, including the Gando Massacre, the Kantō Massacre, the Jeamni Massacre, and the Shinano River Incident, events that left deep scars on the nation’s history. During this period, Koreans were treated not as human beings, but as tools to serve Japan’s ambitions having their lives and labour exploited in many different ways. By 1939, approximately 5.4 million Koreans were forcibly mobilized to support Japan during World War II, while countless girls and women were turned into sex slaves, or rather, “comfort women,” enduring unimaginable abuse under the harsh rule of 일제강점기, the Japanese Occupation Period. Even after the war, Japan showed no remorse, instead, they disregarded the 1964 Treaty on Basic Relations, which was meant to recognize all treaties between Japan and Korea prior to August 22, 1910 null and void, further denying justice to a people who had already suffered exploitation, violence, and oppression. The events during this dark chapter are a painful reminder of Korea’s struggle, and also a testament to the resilience of its people.
In June 1907, the second peace conference was held in The Hague. Emperor Gojong secretly dispatched three representatives to the conference to raise international awareness of Korea’s plight. Tragically, the envoys were denied access to the public debates. Among these representatives were Homer Hulbert, a missionary and historian, and Yi Tjoune, who, in despair and frustration, committed suicide at The Hague. On 24th July, 1907, another treaty was signed between Korea and Japan represented by Lee Wan-yong and former Prime Minister Hirobumi respectively, officially transferring all Korean sovereignty to Japan. In the years leading up to the annexation of 1910, numerous irregular civilian militias, known as the Righteous Army, arose across Korea.
Comprised of tens of thousands of peasants and former soldiers from the disbanded Korean armies, they courageously engaged in anti-Japanese armed rebellion, particularly at Namdaemun. Despite their valiant efforts, they were defeated and forced to retreat into Manchuria, where many continued the Guerilla Resistance Movement, which persisted until Korea’s liberation in 1945. In response to persistent resistance, Japan replaced the Korean police system with the Kempeitai, a military police force commanded by Akashi Motojiro. By June 1910, the Japanese had fully combined the Korean imperial police with military police forces, granting these officers sweeping authority over the Korean population.
Eventually, on 22nd August, 1910, Japan formally annexed Korea under the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910, signed by Prime Minister Ye Wanyong of Korea and Terauchi Masatake, who became the first Governor-General of Chōsen. The treaty declared that Emperor Gojong had completely and irrevocably surrendered his sovereignty over the Korean territory to the Emperor of Japan, who formally accepted the annexation, marking the beginning of, yet, another harsh colonial rule that would last until 1945. This period came to be known as the Military Police Reign Era (1910–1919), during which the police were granted complete authority to rule the entire country and Japan maintained strict control over the media, legal system, and the government.
In March 2010, marking the 100th anniversary of the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, 109 Korean intellectuals and 105 Japanese intellectuals gathered and jointly declared the annexation treaty null and void, issuing their statements separately in their respective capital cities, Seoul and Tōkyō, through a simultaneous press conference. In their declaration, they stated that the “Japanese Empire” had suppressed the will of the Korean Empire and forced the signing of the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910. They further argued that both the full text of the treaty and the agreement itself were flawed, and that the process and formalities surrounding the treaty contained great deficiencies, thereby rendering it null and void.
From around the time of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Japanese merchants began settling in towns and cities across Korea in search of economic opportunities, and by 1908, the number of Japanese settlers in Korea had risen to under 500,000. Many of these settlers showed interest in acquiring agricultural land even before Japanese land ownership was officially legalized in 1906. As a result of subsequent developments, many Korean landowners and agricultural workers were displaced, becoming tenant farmers almost overnight after losing their land rights, largely because they could not afford the costs of land reclamation and irrigation projects imposed on them.
Korean peasants were eventually forced into long hours of compulsory labour to build irrigation systems and were heavily taxed to pay for these same projects, pushing many further into poverty and causing them to lose their lands. Following Japan’s rice shortage in 1918, Korean farmers were increasingly pressured to produce rice to supply Japan. As of April 2020, approximately 81,889 Korean cultural artifacts remain in Japan, some of which were taken illegally. On 8th February, a declaration of independence was issued by Korean students in Tōkyō, proclaiming Korea’s independence from Japan. This declaration was later publicly read aloud at Tapgol Park, leading to the nationwide March 1st Movement – peaceful protests that were met with violent suppression by Japanese authorities. Over the course of a year, 46,948 people were arrested, 17,509 were killed, and 15,961 were wounded. After the repression of the movement, many Koreans fled the peninsula to Shanghai, but we’re forced to relocate to Chongqing after series of bombings in Shanghai. In Chongqing, they received support from the Chinese government.
Following the events of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, and the imminent advance of United States and Soviet forces into the Korean Peninsula, Japan surrendered to the Allied forces on 15th August, 1945, bringing an end to 35 years of colonial rule. However, it took several more weeks for a complete withdrawal, which was later finalized by mid-September. American forces, under General John R. Hodge, arrived in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula on 8th September, 1945, while Soviet forces, along with some Korean groups, had established control in the northern region. U.S. Colonel Dean Rusk proposed to Chistyakov, the Soviet military administrator in northern Korea, that the peninsula should be divided along the 38th parallel. This proposal was made during an emergency meeting to determine postwar spheres of influence and ultimately led to the division of Korea, and after Korea’s liberation from Japanese rule, the “Name Restoration Order” was issued on 23rd October, 1946 by the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea south of the 38th parallel, allowing Koreans to reclaim and retain their original names if they wished.
Korea’s experience under Japanese rule is not just a story of suffering, but one of resilience, courage, and a desire for independence. Despite decades of oppression, forced labour, despair, cultural erasure, and violence, the Korean people continued to resist in every way they could, through protests, sacrifice, and a firm belief in their nation’s future. The legacy of this period still remains till this day, not only in the scars it left behind, but in the strength it brought. Remembering this history is not just about the past, but is also about acknowledging injustice, honouring those who endured it, and ensuring that such a chapter is never written again.
By: Mercy Archibong
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