Korea is a mountainous
peninsula of some 85,000
square miles, with arable land in the south and significant mineral and
hydroelectric
resources in the
north. Unfortunately, the coal
deposits
around Pyongyang
are separated from the iron
ore fields at Mosan
by the mountainous spine of the country,
but the Japanese got around this problem by building hydroelectric
plants at Fusenko
and elsewhere to power electric
furnaces. These were used to produce special
steels.
Korea is the closest point on mainland Asia to the
Japanese home islands, and it became the focus of Japanese national
security concerns following the Boshin Civil War in 1869 and the
founding of the modern Japanese Army. The peninsula was seen as a
natural invasion route for the Chinese
and later the Russians. The First
Sino-Japanese War was fought in 1894-1895 for control of the peninsula
and resulted in a Japanese victory. However, the Tripartite
Intervention by Germany, France, and Russia reversed some of
the Japanese gains, and Russia promptly began extending its influence
into Korea. The Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905
moved Korea firmly into the Japanese sphere of influence.
Korea formally became a part of the Japanese Empire in 1910, when it was annexed by the Japanese after the ruling Choson Dynasty (dating back possibly as far as the 14th century) was overthrown. The Koreans soon found themselves second-class citizens in their own land. Korean children were pressured to take Japanese names and were required to attend schools in which only Japanese was spoken. But Koreans had no representation in the Japanese Diet and, as late as 1941, no Korean held a higher post in the rail system than assistant stationmaster. All the higher postings were held by Japanese immigrants.
Korea was one of the few Asian nations where Christian missionaries had had much success. The Japanese attempted to eradicate Christianity, with the number of practicing Christians dropping from a peak of 700,000 to 250,000 by 1941. This was similar to the pattern seen in China, though there were proportionally far fewer Christians in the Chinese population.
Koreans were subject to conscription into the Imperial forces, but they were invariably assigned the most menial of duties, such as serving in labor battalions or as prison camp guards. Ironically, some of the most brutal treatment handed out to Allied prisoners came from Korean guards, who were themselves brutally treated by their Japanese non-commissioned officers. Korean laborers were more likely than Japanese soldiers to attempt to surrender to the Allies, but to Western eyes they all looked the same, and Western soldiers were often reluctant to accept their surrender. Thus, the Koreans got a bad deal from both sides in the war, though in the end the Allies restored Korean sovereignty, at least in South Korea.
Koreans were also conscripted in large numbers to work in Japan, replacing Japanese laborers who had been drafted into the military. They were usually poorly paid and otherwise mistreated, with a legal status equivalent to that of indentured servants. In addition, it is claimed that tens of thousands of Korean women were forced to work as prostitutes for the Japanese Army.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2006-2007, 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index
