Japan's Annexation Research Articles

Collective memory of the Korean independence fighter Beom-do Hong in Soviet Korean Literature

Abstract: The study reveals the political and ideological journey of Beom-do Hong, a Korean independence fighter and general as reflected in the historical novel of Soviet Korean writer Kim Se-il. Due to to the lack of historical records on Beom-do Hong, stories on his deeds before and after the Japan's annexation of Korea remained at the level of legends. In Korean society, his figure is seen within opposing positions and discourses; to some he is a national hero; to others a communist collaborator. This investigation of the historical novel as a medium for the transmission of shared memories based on the protagonist's battle diary and the recollections of his comrades will fill the gap in the historical memory and contribute to alleviating social political conflicts. Memorial heritage is closely linked to the intangible aspects of heritage, which is an essential driver of development.

일본의 독도편입과 한국의 항의 부존재에 관한 검토 나가시마 히로키(永島広紀) ｢‘내정’화하는 한일의 ‘외교’｣에 대한 반론

일본의 독도편입과 한국의 항의 부존재에 관한 검토 나가시마 히로키(永島広紀) ｢‘내정’화하는 한일의 ‘외교’｣에 대한 반론

울도군수 심흥택의 치적과 ‘독도 보고서’의 법·역사적 의미

In March 1906, Shim Heungtaek, the governor of Uldo-county, submitted a report beginning with “Dokdo belonging to this county” (hereafter referred to as the Dokdo Report) to the department of the interior and to the Gangwon-do provincial governor. This report is important to acknowledge the fact that it was the first use of the name, ‘Dokdo’ in the Korean literature in line with its first awareness of and response to Japan's annexation of Dokdo in 1905. This article aims to explore the significance of legal and historical aspects of the Dokdo Report by reviewing the achievements of Uldo-county governor Shim Heungtaek, the Ullengdo’s social situation of his time, and the contents of the Dokdo Report. The report can confirm that ‘Dokdo’ was officially used as an administrative place name in 1906, and that the name was commonly used among the Korean people in Ulleungdo at that time. In addition, the governor Shim’s immediate countermeasures against Japan's claim to annex the territory of Dokdo can show that he clearly recognized Dokdo as part of his jurisdiction. Moreover, based on the governor Shim’s report, the Korean Empire issued an order to investigate and report the situation of Ulleungdo, and the Japanese resident-general also inquired about the history of the establishment of Uldo-county and the islands belonging to Ulleungdo. Shim Heungtaek, despite the difficult living conditions of Ulleungdo, served as the Uldo governor for a long period of about four years and two months, reorganizing the administrative system of Uldo-county and faithfully fulfilling his role as a local official during the country’s decline.

The Penetration of 'Sanitary Discipline' in Colonial Local Society: Hygiene and Medical Care Problem in the Honam Plain in Korea.

This paper intends to examine the realities of modern hygiene and medical institutions making their appearance in the rural Honam Plain (often called the "rice basket") of colonial Korea in terms of organizing local units and spreading colonial 'sanitary discipline' throughout the region. In the Honam area, modern medical staff and facilities tended to concentrate on the cities in plain region (Kunsan, Jeonju, and Iri), while in the counties in mountainous region they were placed in the township where head office of each county was located. The case of Iksan County in plain region represented this pattern, which was closely associated with the behavior pattern of local Japanese immigrants as well as population growth (i.e., urbanization). The colonial city of Iri in Iksan County with burgeoning population of Japanese immigrants witnessed an early case of hygiene association right after Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910. The Iri hygiene association was a product of organizational restructuring of the pre- annexation Japanese resident association into the school association after the annexation, under which it was subordinated. It stands as an interesting contrast to the Jeonju hygiene association organized 'autonomously' under the official (police) auspices in the mid-1930s, which did not undergo the stage of school association. Yet, both cases represented the urban 'autonomous' (civil) organizations' effort to transplant colonial 'sanitary discipline' into the colonial local societies without recourse to the hygiene police apparatus. On the other hand, the sanitary project in rural areas was carried out on the basis of model hygiene village, with the identical purpose of raising awareness of hygiene and prohibiting epidemics just as the hygiene association in cities. However, considering the low level of epidemic inspection of Korean patients, the effect of the Japanese colonial sanitary project in Korean local societies was disappointing. There was an ever-widening gap in the colonial hygiene and medical services between Koreans and their colonizers as well as between urban and rural areas.

Proving Korea's Claim of Sovereignty over Dokdo: The Evidentiary Relevance of Imperial Ordinance No. 41 of 27 October 1900

Korea's claim of ownership and possession over Dokdo is based on original title and the continuous exercise of sovereignty from earlier Korean kingdoms up until and through the modern period. Japan argues that Dokdo was terra nullius, belonging to no country, when it incorporated Dokdo into Japan in 1905 as part of Shimane Prefecture. A critical piece of evidence contradicting this Japanese argument is Imperial Ordinance enacted on 27 October 1900 by the Empire of Korea, which purports to indicate that the Empire of Korea understood that Dokdo was an inherent part of Korea. This paper is an attempt to highlight this imperial ordinance in the context of Korea's claim of sovereignty and argues for its relevance and veracity using principles of evidence taken from US law. As a piece of evidence, the Empire of Korea's Imperial Ordinance No. 41 of 27 October 1900 supports two major contentions of the Korean government in its sovereignty claim to Dokdo in contradiction to Japan's assertions of sovereignty. First, it serves to prove Korea's position that pursuant to international law, Korea had sovereignty over Dokdo at the turn of the 20th century and second, it undermines the Japanese claim that Dokdo belonged to no state in 1905 given Korea's ownership, which would invalidate the terra nullius rationale of Japan's annexation of Dokdo. Assuming Korea's position on the content of Imperial Ordinance No. 41 to be true, it is quite evident that it would be deemed to be relevant in demonstrating Korea's case for sovereignty over Dokdo. Nevertheless, an objection would certainly be raised by Japan as to the relevance of the imperial ordinance given the different designation of Dokdo (Seokdo) in the document. In such an instance, the question of relevance comes down to the reason and experience of the judge along with the supporting evidence that has been given.

Eastern learning and the heavenly way: the Tonghak and Ch'ondogyo movements and the twilight of Korean independence

Tonghak, or Eastern Learning, was the first major new religion in modern Korean history. Founded in 1860, it combined aspects of a variety of Korean religious traditions. Because of its appeal to the poor and marginalized, it became best known for its prominent role in the largest peasant rebellion in Korean history in 1894, which set the stage for a wider regional conflict, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Although the rebellion failed, it caused immense changes in Korean society and played a part in the war that ended in Japan's victory and its eventual rise as an imperial power. It was in this context of social change and an increasingly perilous international situation that Tonghak rebuilt itself, emerging as Ch'?ndogyo (Teaching of the Heavenly Way) in 1906. During the years before Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, Ch'?ndogyo continued to evolve by engaging with new currents in social and political thought, strengthening its institutions, and using new communication technologies to spread its religious and political message. In spite of Korea's loss of independence, Ch'?ndogyo would endure and play a major role in Korean nationalist movements in the Japanese colonial period, most notably the March First independence demonstrations in 1919. It was only able to thrive thanks to the processes that had taken place in the twilight years of Korean independence. This book focuses on the internal developments in the Tonghak and Ch'?ndogyo movements between 1895 and 1910. Drawing on a variety of sources in several languages such as religious histories, doctrinal works, newspapers, government reports, and foreign diplomatic reports, it explains how Tonghak survived the turmoil following the failed 1894 rebellion to set the foundations for Ch'?ndogyo's important role in the Japanese colonial period. The story of Tonghak and Ch'?ndogyo not only is an example of how new religions interact with their surrounding societies and how they consolidate and institutionalize themselves as they become more established; it also reveals the processes by which Koreans coped and engaged with the challenges of social, political, and economic change and the looming darkness that would result in the extinguishing of national independence at the hands of Japan's expanding empire.

Contemporary Art in Early Colonial Korea: The Self Portraits of Ko Hui‐dong

Historires of modern art in Korea frequently begin with the self-portrait of Ko Hui-dong (1886-1965), widely recognized as the first examples of Western-style oil painting by a Korean artist. His three existing self-portraits were painting right before, or just shortly after Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, when the shift to colonial rule dramatically raised the stakes of representation. This essay argues that in addressing this shift and its implications, Ko's self-portraits thus anticipate the emergence, and more importantly, the ambiguity of hyondae misul, a phrase doubly invoked to refer to both modern and contemporary art. They embodied what might be describe as the predicament of understanding the potential of contemporaneity in a time that seemed overly determinated by the impweratives of a certain model of modernity predicated on teleology and the attendant destabilisation of long-standing forms of social order.

A Study on the Invalidity & Illegality of "the Treaty of Japan's Annexation of Korea in 1910"

A Study on the Invalidity & Illegality of "the Treaty of Japan's Annexation of Korea in 1910"

“The Future of Korean Buddhism Lies in My Hands”: Takeda Hanshi as a Sōtō Missionary

Was the work of Japanese Buddhist missionaries evil, as many historians have indicated? To problematize this view, this article revisits the most vilified of Japanese Buddhist missionaries of the pre-colonial and colonial period (1877-1945). Takeda Hanshi (1863-1911) was both a staunch imperialist and a Sōtō Buddhist priest. His infamy in politics derives from his participation in the assassination of the queen of Korea and enabling Japan's annexation of Korea. For Buddhists, he is the mastermind behind the Sōtō sect's attempt to control Korean Buddhism through an alliance with its first modern institution, the Wŏnjong. Scholars have focused on these three events, thus reinforcing the view that Takeda was the epitome of Japanese imperial aggression. However, a close examination of Takeda's writings from 1907 to 1911 sheds new light on his missionary work. I argue that despite his imperial ideology, Takeda made strenuous efforts, until 1910, to promote the Wŏnjong and defend its autonomy. Based on overlooked primary sources, this article presents a case study that furthers recent scholarly calls to move beyond the imperialist/victim or hero/traitor framing of colonial Korean Buddhist history.

A Perspective on ‘the Treaty of Japan's Annexation of Korea in 1910’ in International Law

A Perspective on ‘the Treaty of Japan's Annexation of Korea in 1910’ in International Law

Japan's Annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom and the Change in the East Asia Order - Focused on the Political Relations with the Korean Peninsula -

오키나와에는 19세기 후반까지 중국적 세계질서에 적극적으로 참여하면서 ‘비무장의 섬’으로서 독특한 정체성을 간직하고 있던 유구왕국이 존재하고 있었다. 그러나 유구왕국은 19세기의 위기상황 속에서 일본의 메이지 정부에 의해 강제로 병합되고 말았다. 유구병합에 관한 일본 측 연구는 상당히 많이 축적되어 있다. 하지만 한반도 정황과의 상관관계에 주목하는 시각은 거의 찾아보기 어렵다. 본 연구는 유구왕국의 해체가 동아시아 질서가 변동하는 과정에서 특히 한반도 ‘안과 밖’의 정치적 상황 변화와 어떻게 맞물리게 되는지 고찰하는 것을 그 목적으로 한다.<BR> 중국적 세계질서의 변동은 아편전쟁이라는 외부로부터의 충격에서 비롯되었다. 하지만 동아시아 삼국 간의 구체적인 관계 변동은 메이지 유신이라는 일본 국내의 정치변동을 기점으로 본격적으로 가시화되었다고 할 수 있다. 일본의 메이지 신정부는 중국적 세계질서의 가장 약한 고리에 해당하는 유구왕국을 기점으로 거대한 전환기 동아시아 질서의 재편을 모색하게 된다. 1870년대 일본에 의한 유구왕국의 해체과정은 몇 차례의 단계를 거치면서 치밀하게 진행되었으며, 예측 가능한 반발과 갈등의 소지는 가급적 사전에 봉쇄되었다. 메이지정부는 ‘국제적’ 분쟁으로 비화할 수밖에 없는 유구문제를 교묘하게 ‘내정’ 개혁의 문제 혹은 ‘지방’ 제도의 개혁문제로 환원시켜 가면서 분쟁의 여지를 애매하게 흐리게 하는 방식으로 유구를 병합해 나갔다. 일본에 의한 유구병합은 19세기의 거대한 전환기 동아시아 국가간 권력정치양상이 구체화되는 과정에서 나타난 중대 사건으로서 기존의 중국적 세계질서가 근간에서부터 변동하였으며 아울러 더욱 큰 폭으로 변화할 것임을 시사 해주는 국제정치적 사건이었다.<BR> 이러한 일본의 유구병합 과정은 중국 측의 위기의식을 급격하게 심화시켜 놓았다. 이에 따른 중국의 위기감의 증대는 조선에 대한 간섭과 압박의 심화, 즉 기존의 전통적인 한중 양국관계의 변질로 나타날 조짐을 보이고 있었다. 일본의 유구병합이후 나타난 중국 측 위정자들의 권고와 자기 내부의 문건들에는 기존의 중국적 세계질서 패러다임이 근간에서부터 동요되고 있으며, 조선은 향후 동아시아 국가 ‘간’ 패러다임 변환의 핵심적 이슈가 될 것이라는 전망과 함께 조선에 대한 압박이 어떠한 방식으로 이루어져야 할 것인지가 진지하게 논의되고 있었다.<BR> 이후 동아시아 갈등의 축은 본격적으로 ‘조선문제’로 이전되게 된다. 조선의 입장에서 보면, 유구병합의 시점을 기점으로 하여 제국주의적 시대상황에서 구미열강-중국-일본이라는 삼중적 압박에 놓이게 되었다고 할 수 있다. 아울라 국내적으로는 정책결정자들의 위기의식이 고조되어 이에 대한 해법을 놓고 정치적 모색과 갈등이 급격하게 상호 상승하는 상황이 연쇄적으로 나타나게 된다. 이러한 사실은 1870년대 진행된 유구병합과 1880년대 나타난 조선정부의 개혁추진, 그리고 국제정치적 맥락에서 ‘조선문제’가 부상하게 되는 과정이 마치 하나의 도미노처럼 긴밀히 맞물려 진행되었음을 보여주는 것이기도 했다.

Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power (review)

Reviewed by: Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power James C. Baxter Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power. By Alexis Dudden. University of Hawai'i Press, 2005. 213 pages. Hardcover $45.00. Alexis Dudden takes up a matter of enduring significance and—it seems—everlasting controversy in Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power. How did Japanese government spokesmen and their sympathizers explain Japan's actions in establishing a protectorate in Korea in 1905 and in annexing the peninsula in 1910, and why did the dominant nations of the day acquiesce so readily in this phased extirpation of the Korean state? How was it that the outside world, or anyway all the powerful states that defined legality in international relations, accepted the legitimacy of Japan's claims? Focusing on "the discursive aspects of Japan's annexation of Korea" (p. 2), Dudden sets an agenda that contrasts with earlier Western scholarship on the subject. The books that have generally been thought of as the standard treatments in English, Hilary Conroy's The Japanese Seizure of Korea, 1868-1910: A Study of Realism and Idealism in International Relations (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1960) and Peter Duus's The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910 (University of California Press, 1997) are hefty, broad-ranging studies that concentrate basically on political and diplomatic history. Dudden does not engage in detailed analysis of the politics of imperialism and nationalism such as occupied her eminent forerunners. She examines instead the rhetoric of Japanese and Koreans who played parts in the events leading up to annexation, and she puts their use of terms such as "sovereignty" (kunshuken), "independence" (jishu), "protectorate" (hogokoku), and "annexation" (heigō) into the context of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century international discourse about national sovereignty and legitimacy. Displaying a nice dramatic sense, Dudden begins her first chapter, "Illegal Korea," with an account of the appeal made by representatives of Korea's Emperor Kojong at the 1907 International Conference on Peace at the Hague. The envoys attempted to get a hearing for their assertion that the protectorate agreement of 1905, which provided for Japanese takeover of Korean foreign affairs, among other things, was invalid. The forty-three nations participating in the conference, however, were unwilling to risk undermining the international order by listening to them. The international community had accepted the concept of a protectorate two decades earlier. Dudden links the thinking about protectorates to "race-driven theories of civilization" that "shaped a Euro-American political climate" (p. 9). The discourse and politics of "enlightened exploitation," as she labels it, legalized Japan's actions. From the early days of their regime, "[f]or the architects of Meiji Japan, building the new nation-state necessarily meant creating one that would engage openly with [End Page 409] the world in international terms" (p. 31). In chapter 2, Dudden reviews some of the history of Japanese encounters with those terms. Before the Restoration, Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law was being studied by Japanese scholars in William Martin's Chinese translation and also in a bakufu-sponsored synoptic version in Japanese. Nishi Amane's Bankoku kōhō, a transcription of his notes on lectures by Simon Vissering in Leiden between 1862 and 1866, was published in 1868. Anti-bakufu intellectuals, too, took part in the effort to interpret and domesticate the new Western terminology; Dudden gives us the example of Shigeno Yasutsugu, who put his own Japanese and Martin's Chinese on facing pages of an edition of Wheaton's text for the lord of Satsuma. Tutoring Meiji officials on "The Vocabulary of Power" (as Dudden titles her third chapter), Gustave Boissonade provided critical counsel in 1875-1876 when Japan was negotiating a new Treaty of Peace and Friendship with reluctant Koreans. The French legal scholar continued to give highly useful advice throughout his long (1873-1895) employment by the Japanese state, and his way of thinking about the relationships among nations was internalized by opinion leaders both in and out of government. No one absorbed the logic and language of the European-dominated system better than Itō Hirobumi, who one-upped Li Hongzhang by negotiating the...

Japan's colonization of Korea: discourse and power

From its creation in the early twentieth century, policymakers used the discourse of international law to legitimate Japan's empire. Although the Japanese state aggrandizers' reliance on this discourse did not create the imperial nation Japan would become, their fluent use of its terms inscribed Japan's claims as legal practice within Japan and abroad. Focusing on Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, Alexis Dudden gives long-needed attention to the intellectual history of the empire and brings to light presumptions of the twentieth century's so-called international system by describing its most powerful - and most often overlooked - member's engagement with that system. Early chapters describe the global atmosphere that declared Japan the legal ruler of Korea and frame the significance of the discourse of early twentieth-century international law and how its terms became Japanese. Dudden then brings together these discussions in her analysis of how Meiji leaders embedded this discourse into legal precedent for Japan, particularly in its relations with Korea. Remaining chapters explore the limits of these 'universal' ideas and consider how the international arena measured Japan's use of its terms. Dudden squares her examination of the legality of Japan's imperialist designs by discussing the place of colonial policy studies in Japan at the time, demonstrating how this new discipline further created a common sense that Japan's empire accorded to knowledgeable practice. This landmark study greatly enhances our understanding of the intellectual underpinnings of Japan's imperial aspirations. In this carefully researched and cogently argued work, Dudden makes clear that, even before Japan annexed Korea, it had embarked on a legal and often legislating mission to make its colonization legitimate in the eyes of the world.

Rediscovering Manchuria: Sin Ch'aeho and the Politics of Territorial History in Korea

In the years immediately prior to Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, the historian Sin Ch'aeho posed a fundamental challenge to conventional assumptions about the limits of Korean territoriality: was the nation bound to the peninsula or did it more properly extend into the lands of Manchuria? For Sin, the answer was straightforward. Despite writing during the waning years of the Chosŏn dynasty—a time when the court could neither defy Japan's imposition of a protectorate nor resist Japanese pressure for Emperor Kojong to cede the throne, and when thousands in the Righteous Armies (Ŭibyŏng) were dying at the hands of the Japanese military in defense of the peninsula—Sin nevertheless called brazenly for a Korean Manchuria.

Japan's Annexation of Korea

Japan's Annexation of Korea