Legacies of Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War

Abstract

This chapter addresses the history of the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945) and the Korean War (1950–1953) as a crucial foundation to understand the political and economic development of the two Koreas. The declining Joseon Dynasty was colonized by Japan who had already achieved successful modernization and industrialization. As a result, the Korean people were under Japanese colonial rule for 36 years from 1910 to 1945. Koreans not only experienced Japanese political oppression and exploitation of human and material resources, but they also underwent the process of modernization initiated by Japanese colonial authorities during that period. The atrocious acts such as forced labor and sexual slavery committed by the Japanese military are continually sources of historical disputes and tensions between Korea and Japan. During the colonial period, the future leaders of the two Koreas were rising, given the sharp division between leftists and rightists in their struggle against Japan. Internal division among Korean leaders and the arrival of the Cold War divided the country and finally ignited the Korean War. As a consequence of the war, millions of Korean people were killed and injured, and the country turned into ashes. The Korean War generated strong hatred between the two Koreas, and the leaders of the two regimes consolidated their power based on the experiences of the war.