The Japanese Colonial Legacy In Korea Essay Sample

In the summer of 1945, Korea was finally announced to be liberated from Japan's suppression (Caprio). But they were not free from the Japanese. The impact of the Japanese split Korea into two groups, contributing to a civil war ("Korea"). The Japanese wanted to rule over Korea for industries, and economic and agricultural benefits. Imperialism impacted Korea politically, economically, and culturally. Korea was impacted politically by the limitation of freedom in political expression, the expulsion of many civilians for war, and their rule contributed to the separation of the country due to political opinion. Imperialism forced Korea into trade, and agricultural failure within the country, which then led to an imbalance in society. Culturally, Japan wanted to erase Korean culture, religion, education, and public opinion and change it into Japanese ways. 

Before the colonization of Korea by Japan, Korea had experienced conflicts with other nations in the past. Korea was a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty of China. In the relationship, they equally benefit each other. As Korea adopted Chinese culture and used China's Confucian systems as a basis for societal construct, China received military aid from them ("Background").  Under relations with China, Korea was a "Hermit Kingdom", and they did not want any interaction with the outside world ("Background"). But this has all changed due to the exertion of economic influence from Japan, as Japan formed a treaty with Korea to open its trade ports and to give them extraterritoriality. After Korea opened its economy to Japan, other nations started to form similar unequal treaties with Korea (Caprio). Korea was also involved in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, fought due to rivalry between Russia and China against Japan. As stated, "The Japanese victories gave the Japanese Capitals a free hand in Korea" (Lewis). In addition to the advantage, the unstable government of Korea at the time helped Japan take over and weakened the state. Japan forced the weak government of Korea to separate from China and to sign the Eulsa treaty which made Korea one of Japan's protectorates ("Kojong").  This was the beginning of Japanese control over Korea.

The limitation of political freedom and Korean military control by the Japanese in WWII contributed to disunity and weakened Korea’s people and nation. The consequences of these actions would be seen in the future, such as conflict within the country. Firstly, the Japanese did not let Koreans support the government and political opinions they wished. They were forced to submit to Japanese ways and follow strict political opinions. This was possible due to the installation of strong colonial government and police that can easily take hold of Korea's peoples ("Background"). The Japanese also disbanded Korea's army due to the Eulsa Treaty, the treaty that marked the start of Japanese colonization. The disbandment stripped Korea of its own protection; they were now left to rely on the Japanese military ("Kojong"). These systems allowed the Japanese to easily gain control over Korea as a whole. In addition, millions of soldiers were recruited for the Japanese army in WWII, as the soldiers gave their lives to fight for Japan ("Korea"). Leading to many deaths, the Japanese now had power over Korean life. The enraging results encouraged Koreans to act, and the Korean provisional government in China was formed. Initially, the people of the government had a unified strategy of gaining Korean independence but soon split into multiple groups, each having a different political opinion. One latter was inspired by Chinese/Russian communist activities and sought to get aid there, while another group went on to fight for Korean Independence by seeking international support rather than using communist ideas (Caprio). The multiple parties created tension in Korea, as the people disagreed with each other’s solutions to make Korea independent. This conflict would later contribute to the splitting of Korea into the North and South. The Japanese have indirectly created the line between the grouping of people in Korea, splitting the country from its past unified form.

Japan had an ultimate plan when colonizing Korea, they strived to become an empire by making Korea one of their colonies. Japan wanted Korea to supply their rising industries and to use them as a source for trade and agricultural benefit. They conducted this plan by first forcing the Korean economy to open. Japan took advantage of the sheltered and developing nation, as Korea became an agricultural economy under the dictatorship (Lewis). Japan was thriving in its industries and factories, and to sustain this growth, they used Korea for supply and raw materials that were needed for production. The economy was especially taken over by the surplus demands of rice for trade and supply for the Japanese people. Due to materials being obtained through farming and harvesting, Korea's workforce was needed on agricultural systems to meet the demands.  Korea’s land held vast areas of crops but, to the expense of imperialization, much of this land was controlled by Japan. While Japan gained land, poor Korean farmers were being forced to become tenant farmers, giving copious amounts of their crops to the wealthy Japanese landowners. Most farmers were devastated, due to a decrease in profit created by the expenses given to the landowners to use the seized land for crops ("Background").  This allowed many upper-class farmers that were able to hold on to their own land to become prosperous, with the help of the colonizers and the decrease in competition. In 1945, Korea finally obtained independence. But the liberation had severe aftereffects on the Korean economy. The Japanese left the societal construct of Korea imbalanced. Virtually all of the middle class was wiped out, and the only ones remaining were the two extremes, the poor farmers that were the victims of the Japanese system, and the wealthy farmers who have worked with the Japanese ("Background"). In addition, Korea has lost the base of its economy because it heavily relied on Japanese trade relations before (Lewis). The nation was left to rebuild its economy from the start.  Japan has destroyed the Korean economy during and even after its dictatorship.

In the nadir of rule, Japan wanted to erase all aspects of Korean culture and substitute it with their own, with the overall goal of obtaining complete control over the citizens. The annihilation of culture was provoked after the first Korean independence movement, the March 1st movement. The movement encouraged Koreans to fight back, and pro-independence acts were uprising. Japan, now afraid of the rebellious Korean citizens, wanted to weaken them as much as possible. Thus, suppression intensified ("Korea"). First, they censored information and ideas of Korean minds by shutting down newspapers and destroying thousands of Korean pieces of literature. The Korean people lost their source of reliable information, leaving them with resources of biased Japanese literature. Japan then moved on to the restriction of language and mannerisms. The Korean language was banned to be spoken in schools and Japanese language and manners were forced on instead ("Background"). Students were limited in the expression of their Korean culture. In addition, Japan altered the curriculum of institutes. The subject of Korean History ceased to be taught in schools. This impacted the education and knowledge of the generation. The suppression of religion was present, the forced practice of

Japanese Shinto religion. Enforcement was possible by the violence of Japanese police. Many Koreans practiced Shinto Religion in fear (Blakemore). Japan now had complete control of Korea in all aspects.  Not only did these actions affect Korea as a nation, but they negatively impacted the young generation during imperialization as well. Conclusively, Korea at the present is at a loss of important records of history acquired before the imperialization era. The destruction of literature included important Korean artifacts of the past (Blakemore).  Japan has erased implacable objects of Korean History and Culture.

Out of the many negative impacts Japan has made on Korea in the past, the most significant impact that would still be seen today is the cultural effect of colonialization made on the nation. The history of Korea before imperialization is lost, affecting many future generations finding it difficult to learn parts of their important culture. In addition to the destruction of literature, Japan stole ancient artifacts of Korea and destroyed many historical buildings. Japan has also imprinted its dominance over Korea, by showing its power over the country in numerous textbooks (Blakemore). The education system of Japan used these textbooks, imprinting false aspects of power on the students. They have also asserted supremacy by displaying Korean artifacts in their museums, showing that Korea is primitive and below modern and civilized Japan (Blakemore). The rule over culture also affected Japanese and Korean alteration of perspective and their relationship as two countries. Strong emotions from the suppressed citizens would contribute to the possibility of further conflict such as the war between the two nations in the future. On top of the political and economic suppression, robbing the people of their own culture has created anti-Japanese views and Japanese superiority perceptive. These perspectives may still be present in the people of both countries today. During colonization, the Japanese not only stole the ability of Korea to act independently but also stole their freedom of politics, economical decisions, culture. Japan in all robbed them of what makes them Korea.