Korean History
1) The colonial rule of Japan over Korea lasted for three decades and a half and left behind a controversial legacy that causes disputes among historians and laymen to this day. Japanese policy towards Koreans and
Korea was ambivalent: on one hand, they systematically mistreated the local people whom they didn't consider equal to themselves by subjecting them to forced labour in the case of men, prostitution in the case of women (who were known as “comfort women” in Japan), while also transporting Korean cultural artifacts to Japan; on the other, the Japanese rule was marked by the attempts to promote Korean culture in Korea and in the metropole as well as some contributions to socioeconomic and cultural development of Korea.
The first and arguably most important legacy of the Japanese colonial rule is the industrialization of Korea, a unique phenomenon in colonial history, because Japan was the only country in the world to build heavy
industry in its colonies. Given the small amount of territory generally and in particular suitable for building industry plants, Japan, trying to satisfy its growing industrial needs, had to relocate or build from the scratch not only factories, but also the whole infrastructure system to supply them. The governmental buildings, power and telephone lines, hydroelectric dams, barrages and irrigation works transformed Korea’s visual geography (Robinson, 42). The Japanese have also built a railroad system connecting southern ports to Seoul and Manchuria as well as mines and rice-producing areas in the heart of Korea to the newly built ports on
the coast. Communications like telephone and telegraph connected colonial administrative centers to the center and laid the basis for a strong central government instead of unrelated rural communities - a model adopted
both by both powers after the country’s division (a similar process has been described by historians in the case of India under the British colonial rule; see Wallerstein’s “Does India exist”, for example). The cumulative effect of these measures was rapid urbanization that drew population from the hinterland and revival of economic activity at railroad junctions or at the new ports (Robinson, 43). The bulk of industrial base was built around the Yalu River that became North Korean territory - a factor that would explain the rapid pace of industrial development
experienced by North Korea in the years to follow.
Apart from purely material contributions to Korean economy, Japan has implemented several cultural and educational reforms in the country whose aim was to create a literate citizen capable of performing modern forms of labour. Another reason is to be found in the Japanese notion of “dōka” - the cultural policy whose aim was to assimilate Korea and make it similar with Japan in all aspects (Robinson, 43). To this end, in the first years following Korea’s annexation, Japan has introduced a system of free public education, that led to the rise of …
