Korea Under Japanese Colonialism

Korea Under Japan

Education/ Laws

The early cultural policy of the Japanese was aimed at the destruction of Korean nationalism and racial consciousness. Thus, under a law enacted in 1908, all Korean magazines were abolished and all public assembly was banned. The singing assembly of Korean patriotic songs was banned and the display of the Korean national flag was outlawed. The only newspapers in Korea were those written in Japanese and published by the Japanese. The suppression of freedom of speech, the press, and assembly was extremely strict. Almost all mission or other private schools, where students or teachers expressed Korean nationalism were shut down, all social and political organizations were disbanded, and religious services were put under police surveillance. In 1911 the Japanese stated that the purpose of education in Korea was to create loyal, useful, and obedient subjects to the emperor. After that Japan adopted a system of four-year primary education and a four-year secondary school education for boys and a three-year secondary education for girls. The goal of the Japanese was not to educate too many Korean or train them in scientific and technical fields, therefore only a handful of public school were established. There were two small private liberal arts schools for Koreans and one medical college for Koreans and all were established by foreign mission boards. The study of Japanese language, the official language, and history was made mandatory at all primary and secondary schools. However, the Korean language was taught at both levels until 1938 but no Korean history was taught at any school. Most teachers were Japanese.

Agriculture/ Natural Resources

Nationalism

Economy

In 1910 the Land Survey Ordinance was put into effect, and it had a direct impact on the economy. The colonial government had already taken over large areas of land but were not about to stop. The purpose of the land survey was to classify the land according to the size of holdings, establish legal ownership or rights to cultivate farmlands, and make the collection of land tax more efficient. Under the law all owners and cultivators were required to prove their legal ownership or right to cultivate the land. Most of the big landlords were able to prove their ownership but a large number of small farmers and former tenants failed to do so. All of those lands were taken over by the government. When the survey was completed the government owned 40% of farm and forest lands by 1930. The government in turn, sold these lands to Japanese farmers who were brought to Korea. One example of the Japanese prospering and the Koreans economically suffering is that while the number of Japanese owners increased the number of Korean tenants increased. Japanese