Truths Unacknowledged: The Public Sphere and Japan’s Colonial Project in Korea

Abstract

Japan’s increasing control of Korea, culminating in its annexation of the peninsula in 1910, effectively shut down the peninsular nation’s nascent public sphere, while reforms associated with “Cultural Rule” following the 1919 March First Independence Movement opened it back up to a limited degree, until it was once again closed during the Pacific War. This paper reveals how, despite the closure of the public sphere in Korea from 1910 to 1919, the presence of Anglo-American missionaries and their connections to their home governments would create an international religious public sphere in which criticism of Japanese colonial rule could take place. In particular, this paper examines this sphere through three case studies: the 1911–1912 Conspiracy Case, the educational ordinance of 1915, and the 1919 March First Movement, and argues that while the international religious public sphere did reduce some of the suffering caused by colonial rule, it was unable to produce a real dialogue that could have benefited all parties.