일제의 부산·경남권 전쟁 시설 설치와 학생강제동원의 국제법적 불법성

Abstract

This study explores the process of installing war facilities in Colonial Korea by the Japanese military when it designated the southern part of colonial Chosŏn as a rear base for its military actions during the Asia-Pacific War. Additionally, it investigates violations by Japan of international law, specifically ILO (International Labor Organization) principles, in its compulsory mobilization of students in Busan and other areas in Kyŏngnam Province into military service.
 After the United States entered the war., Pusan and Kyŏngnam Province became increasingly important as a strategic base for military operations. Students were forced to build aircraft bases and roads, including forest roads for war facilities, maintain park areas for constructing batteries, convert school playgrounds into agricultural plots to increase food production, and help in the recruitment of soldiers.
 Additionally, the study suggests that student mobilization should be treated as a category of forced mobilization. This becomes clear in two respects. First, the Japanese Government-General of Chosŏn legalized the forced mobilization of students via a National Mobilization Act enacted through two revisions to the Chosŏn Education Ordinance. Second, the Government-General beautified the practice under names like ‘education in labor’ and ‘physical training’, and reorganized students into ‘National Labor Groups’ (1938-1941) and ‘General Student Forces’ (1941-1945) which were collectively mobilized. After 1943, students were mobilized ranging in age from elementary pupils to college students, and after 1944, all classes were abolished and students were instead forced to engage in wartime labor.
 Furthermore, the study reveals that the mobilization of student labor promoted by the Japanese imperial government clearly violated International Labor Organization principles, as seen in the specific cases of Pusan and Kyŏngnam Province. This fact suggests that those students should be classified as victims of Japanese forced labor because they were routinely deployed through a separate organizational system.