Changes Within The Colonization Of Korea

The colonial systems seen in both Korea and the Philippines in the early 20th century share similarities that are typical of colonial states. However, the differences in how Japan and the United States, respectively, ruled over them are stark. Government, religion, education, and nationalism all played important roles in both systems, but how those roles affected the nation as a whole differ in comparison. In this essay I will compare the two systems of colonization and examine the similarities and differences in the approaches taken by the colonizers in their method of controlling both Japan and Korea.

In history, colonization was a truly popular tradition practiced by great and powerful empires in order to extract and retrieve all materials necessary to support their homeland. However, in order to achieve such sense of commerce and well-being, those colonists who had the power, had to colonize weaker and far less advanced societies. Great powers such as Britain and France would then travel to these societies and implement their rule in order to gain prosperity. Some, those who benefited from colonization, felt that the practice of colonization was an obligation to better the “uncivilized,” societies and help them advance, but the emotional and physical hurt that came from colonizing outweighed the positive aspects. The intention was good, but the manner in which colonization was carried out was poor. This topic is immensely controversial that pieces such as Kipling’s poem, “A White Man’s Burden,” and Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart,” have been written in order to support or go against colonization. But despite much debate, colonization has been a tradition that has caused those regions being colonized much struggle and negativity.

"As I stood on a mountain pass, looking down on the valley leading to Inch'Con, I recalled these words of my friend. The Ôstrong hand of Japan' was certainly being shown here. I beheld in front of me village after village reduced to ashes. Destruction, thorough and complete, had fallen upon it. Not a single house was left, and not a single wall of a house." (F.A Mackenzie). Japan did many brutal and harsh things while colonizing Korea. Imperialism is when another nation forcefully takes control of another nation. In the 19th and 20th century, many European powers were trying to get colonies in countries in Africa and Asia. In order to do so, they needed to imperialize countries. Japan was the first Asian nation to defeat western countries trying to imperialize them. During the 1900’s, Japan

In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyosi, who united Japan, wanted to conquer the Korean Peninsula and use it the way for its incursion into China. However, Japan was defeated by Admiral Yi sun-sin, one of the most respected figures in Korean history. They invaded again in 1597 but they withdrew in 1598.

From 1910 to 1945, Korea was under Japanese rule as a colonial country (Mackerras, Murphey & Stapleton 2012). Japan exploited Korea in various ways during while the country was occupied as a colony. For example, living standards were really low since Japan gained a lot of raw materials and food

Korea has experienced Japanese encroachments for decades, however, up till the early 20th century, they have only experienced imperial encroachments from Japan. Starting from the early 20th century, Japan infiltrated Korea’s economy and tightened its grasp around Korea’s economic growth. Paek Namun was an important intellectual figure who analyzed the growth of Korea’s economy during the early 20th century. According to his The History of Korean Society and A Theory on the Present Stage of Korean Economy, “Korea was being ravaged by a social class conflict and an imperial conflict with Japan, which ultimately allowed for Japanese dominion over Korean economic progression” (Namun, pg. 107). The National Reconstruction movement began with Yi

Because of this, Korean tradition was mixed up with Mongolian and Chinese, and as a result, it did not have a truly Korean traditional culture. In the age of imperialism in China, Tonghak movement was occurred in Korea. Tonghak is a Korean fundamentalism to threat its people with bad western image, and the movement was encouraged by Korean government to pressurise its people to keep away from the West. Even though French people came to and started exploiting Korea in 1866, Korean people kicked out the French and kept the Tonghak way to organise the country. Nevertheless, Japanese invasion to Korea became a trigger to war against China in 1894, and Japan won the war so that Korea changed its name. Great Korean Empire was established in 1897 in order to modernise the country, and it was not successful. Korea eventually became part of Japan by 1910 although she was exploited before the World War Two

The Korean war started on June 21, 1950. When 75,000 North Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th Parallel, which is the border between the People’s Army to the north and the Pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. The war prior to the Korean War, World War 2, in which the Japanese Empire had control over all Korea. ¨China treated the Kingdom of Korea as a tributary state for centuries and fought Japan for influence on the Korean Peninsula in 1894–95¨ ("The Korean War, 1950–1953 - 1945–1952 - Milestones - Office of the Historian." The Korean War, 1950–1953 - 1945–1952 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2016.) When World War 2 ended the Japanese Empire fell and lost control of Korea. TheKorea had no native government to fall back on, so the country fell into war dragging many more countries into it.

Colonialism involves the creation of a hierarchy which is imposed on everyone affected. The highest ranking people in the hierarchy are the colonialists while the lowest ranking people are the subjects. The subjects exist to fulfill the purpose of the colonizers. Presently, the colonizers create this hierarchy through the mind of the subjects leading to psychological colonization. As a result of calculated influences, every person knows their place in the world. In most cases, the people at the bottom of the hierarchy will try to fight this undesirable arrangement (Harding 5). However, the people at the top are unwilling to take a lower or equal position. Other times the people colonized do not even realize that they are, which makes this form of colonization effective. This is possible because they have been socialized to believe various things about distinct groups. For instance, the African countries will be led to believe that their beliefs are culturally backward. Consequently, they adopt other cultures which they believe to be superior.

Korea was under the control of Japan since 1910 until the end of World War 2. In August of 1945, the surrender of Japanese declared the surrender of the force in Korea. Soviet Union and US were the main force against Japan and they helped the independence of Korea from Japan. “ No people in the world could want a new world war less than the Japanese, who were all but blasted out of history by the last one.” (The Japanese Seek Safety in MacArthur and the U.S, John Gunther) By 1948, two different governments were set up in Korea and both claimed to be the legitimate government, however neither of them accepted the border to be permanent. Japanese were totally afraid of the force of the US. From reporter John Gunther, when the Korean campaign went badly, Japanese’s answer is “please annex Japan to the US”. The conflict started between two forces, North Korean forces supported by the Soviet Union and South Korean forces supported by the US. The Korean War started.

and its cities were on par with those of Eastern Europe. It was not until the

-The Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) was established in August 1948. North and South Korea went through a three-year Korean War. An armistice ended the war in 1953, but a permanent peace treaty has never been signed. After

The colonisation and subjugation of the minds of indigenous peoples was an integral part in the successful domination of nationstates by global powers such as the United Kingdom. Colonialism, the policy of ruling other territories for ones own benefit, normally by force, dominated the worlds stage for hundreds of years, ravaging the traditional societies, religious practices and customs of a myriad of indigenous communities. In the consideration of whether the minds of indigenous peoples were colonised in conjunction with the domination of their land, it is prudent to remember and fully consider the accepted anthropological definition of indigenous; self governing, ethnically homogenous, sedentary groups with collective ownership of land. As the power of colonialism, orientalism and imperialism grew in the second half of the second millennium, the cultural integrity and independence of indigenous peoples globally decreased at an alarming rate. Colonial overlordship has resulted in assimilation and syncretism in the realms of social culture and religious practice worldwide, creating new and unique, hybridised communities in colonised areas. These cultures are created through a sequence of cultural erosion as described by Olivia Harris; starting with syncretism, continuing to colonisation, colonisation with active borrowing, alternation between two ways of knowing, assimilation, resulting in innovation and creativity of a new way. The goals of colonisation were time and time

South Korea was a developmental state that created an environment for the chaebols to thrive in. Ever since the reign of Park Chung Hee, the government has created macroeconomic policies in order to allocate resources that favour some industries. The government’s strategic use of subsidies and the manipulation of prices and wages create conditions advantageous to the development of domestic industries especially in the manufacturing sector. (Hundt, 2014). This created the suitable environment for chaebols to monopolize the domestic economy. The government was also instrumental in helping the chaebols to bounce back after their collapse and near bankruptcy during the 1997 AFC. The government pushed for structural reforms for the chaebols and then President Kin Dae Jung introduced eight policy goals under the guidance of the International Monetary Fund. The policies goals were: (1) increase managerial transparency; (2) pressure corporations to focus on core businesses and divest themselves of unrelated enterprises; (3) improve financial health; (4) end loan guarantees among affiliates; and (5) increase accountability of chaebol leaders for their performances. Three more policy goals were added in 1999: (1) prevent industrial capital from dominating finance, (2) discourage circular investment between chaebol affiliates, and (3) prohibit nepotistic transfer of management or ownership to family heirs. The changes prescribed were to help South Korea move towards a more liberal and

According to the Institute of International Education’s 2013 open door findings, the second highest place of origin for foreign students in Minnesota is South Korea, with 9.8% of the total of international students in 2013 (Open Doors Data Minnesota, 2014). I was unaware of this information when I was partnered with two sweet girls from South Korea during our visit to the ELS center. With little knowledge of the South Korean culture myself; I realized many students at the University of St. Thomas probably had little knowledge of the culture as well. Because South Korean students are abundant in Minnesota and around our campus, I believe it is essential that we understand more about these students’ culture, beliefs, and values in order to