Korea falls under Japanese rule

1. Korea falls underJapanese rule • Oct. 4, 2012

2. Review • What role did China play in Korea in the last quarter of the 19th century? • What role did Japan play in Korea in the last quarter of the 19th century? • What impact did the Independence Club have on Korea’s ability to respond to the changing environment it faced in the last decade of the 19th century?

3. Problems Korea faced at the end of the 19th century. • 1) lack of strong leadership at the central government level • 2) lack of financial resources to purchase technology and weapons needed to grow the economy and counter foreign pressure • 3) lack of mass education in modern subjects • 4) lack of nationalism

4. Three approachesto the challenge of modernization • Which model to follow: • a) pro-Japanese modernizers • b) pro-American modernizers • c) traditionalists: preserve Confucianism.

5. Japan gets a free hand • The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 in China • The Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902 • The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 (What role did the Ilchinhoe play in the war?) • Protectorate agreement of 1905 Sources, pp. 312-313 • Taft-Katsura Agreement of 1906 • King Kojong forced to step down in 1907 --Korea refused admission to Hague Conference. • What were the “Righteous Armies”? Why did they fail in their battles against the Japanese? • 1910 Chosŏn becomes Chōsen, a Japanese colony

6. Why did Chosŏn fall? • weak economy meant no financial wherewithal to acquire modern military technology. • Lack of a strong military tradition. • weak monarch for most of the 19th century • system of balance of power between yangban and king that worked for almost 500 years did not allow the dramatic changes in policy needed to cope with a radically changing international environment. • the only foreign countries interested in Korea were too weak to keep the Japanese out of Korea. Besides, Korea relied far too long on China for protection.

7. evaluating the colonial period • 1945 to the mid-1980s: the evaluation was predominantly negative, and attempts were made to counter Japanese claims that pre-modern Korea was stagnant and dependent on others by promoting counter-claims that pre-modern Korea had sprouts of capitalism and that the rigid hierarchy was unraveling. • Since the mid-1980s, there was been talk of colonial modernity, based on recognition of “colonial development” and diversification of the social structure. • It is important to note that “modern” doesn’t always mean “better.”

8. What is modernity? • Economic modernization: • from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy • peasants become farmers • faster means of transportation and communication • move from animate to inanimate power • Social modernization: • from hereditary occupations to occupational mobility • women gain more autonomy, at home and in public • mass education arrives. • individual horizons expand

9. political modernity • A centralized bureaucratic administration, staffed by people with expertise in specific areas of administration • central government reaches directly into villages (a more intrusive state). • a government of laws, not of people (government officials can’t govern in an arbitrary fashion)--a more impersonal government. • participatory government, in which subjects become citizens. Nationalism is encouraged. • Did Japan bring political modernity to its Korean colony?

10. Nationalism • How does modern nationalism differ from pre-modern attitudes toward state, culture, and community? • The nation is defined more in political than in cultural terms (Culture may be changed to ensure political survival.) • The people become citizens, not subjects, and identify their self-interest with the national interest. • There is recognition of a global community of nations. • In some societies, nationalism is a manifestation of ethnic identity, and a demand for rule by the ethnic majority.

11. Defining Korea and Koreans • A variety of ways to define what it is to be Korean • culturally, either as civilized (Confucian) or as distinctively Korean • ethnically, either as a part of the “yellow race” or as a distinct “minjok.” • politically, either identifying with the monarchy or with the nation.(Sources, pp.293-95)

12. Creating Nationalism • What stimulates nationalism? • A threat from another people or nation • technological and cultural developments creating a larger sense of community • a pre-existing sense of distinctiveness and a common history • a common government • urbanization • an elite teaching nationalism to the masses

13. Forms of Resistance • Nationalism appeared among the elite before 1910: • Education as resistance--Syngman Rhee and Pak Ŭnsik (Sources, 299-305, 309-12) • Economic and cultural resistance (han’gŭl as a marker of Korean identity). The Shinminhoe • The Righteous Armies --why did they fail? (Sources, pp.292-95) • Other forms of armed resistance: An Chung-gŭn, a terrorist or a patriot? • Did many Koreans cooperate with the Japanese? (What was the Ilchinhoe?)

14. Religious Reactions • Tonghak becomes Ch’¯ŏndogyo, a modern religion, and splits with Ilchinhoe. • Buddhism--a few modernizing reformers (Han Yongun) • Catholics are mostly quiet, but Protestants are modernizers and nationalists • Taejonggyo--nationalism as religion. Based on worship of Tan’gun, the legendary first Korean/ first Korean king. • Religions that worship Kang Chŭngsan.

15. 1910 Annexation • Preceded by 1905 protectorate: • The role of Yi Wanyong • Was the Japanese seizure of Korea legal? • How did the Japanese justify the annexation? • Koreans needed to be dragged into the modern world • Koreans were related to the Japanese, as little brothers.