Korea under Japanese rule

From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan as a colony under the name Chōsen (朝鮮), the Japanese reading of "Joseon".^[a]

Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under policies of isolationism, with Joseon being a tributary state of Qing China. However, in 1854, Japan was forcibly opened by the United States. It then rapidly modernized under the Meiji Restoration, while Joseon continued to resist foreign attempts to open it up. Japan eventually succeeded in forcefully opening Joseon with the unequal Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876.

Afterwards, Japan embarked on a decades-long process of defeating its local rivals, securing alliances with Western powers, and asserting its influence in Korea. Japan assassinated the defiant Korean queen and intervened in the Donghak Peasant Revolution.^[10][11] After Japan defeated China in the 1894–1895 First Sino–Japanese War, Joseon became nominally independent and declared the short-lived Korean Empire. Japan defeated Russia in the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War, making it the sole regional power.

It acted quickly to fully absorb Korea. It first made Korea a protectorate under the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905, and ruled the country indirectly through the Japanese resident-general of Korea. After forcing Emperor Gojong to abdicate in 1907, Japan formally colonized Korea with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910. For decades it administered the territory by its appointed governor-general of Chōsen, who was based in Keijō (Seoul).

Japan made sweeping changes in Korea. Under the pretext of the racial theory known as Nissen dōsoron, it began a process of Japanization, eventually functionally banning the use of Korean names and the Korean language altogether. Its forces transported tens of thousands of cultural artifacts to Japan. Hundreds of historic buildings, such as the Gyeongbokgung and Deoksugung palaces, were either partially or completely demolished.

Japan built infrastructure and industry to develop the colony. It directed the construction of railways, ports, and roads, although in numerous cases, workers were subjected to extremely poor working circumstances and discriminatory pay. While Korea's economy grew under Japan, scholars argue that many of the infrastructure projects were designed to extract resources from the peninsula, and not to benefit its people. In addition, Koreans faced heavy taxation, with rates in some cases exceeding 50%.^[12][13] Most of Korea's infrastructure built during this time was destroyed during the 1950–1953 Korean War.^{[14][15][16][17]}

These conditions led to the birth of the Korean independence movement, which acted both politically and militantly, sometimes within the Japanese Empire, but mostly from outside of it. Koreans were subjected to a number of mass murders, including the Gando Massacre, Kantō Massacre, Jeamni massacre, and Shinano River incident.

Beginning in 1939 and during World War II, Japan mobilized around 5.4 million Koreans to support its war effort. Many were moved forcefully from their homes, and set to work in generally extremely poor working conditions. Many women and girls were controversially forced into sexual slavery as "comfort women" to Japanese soldiers.

After the surrender of Japan at the end of the war, Korea was liberated by the Allies. It was immediately divided into areas under the rule of the Soviet Union and of the United States.

The legacy of Japanese colonization has been hotly contested, and it continues to be extremely controversial. There is a significant range of opinions in both South Korea and Japan, and historical topics regularly cause diplomatic issues. Within South Korea, a particular focus is the role of the numerous ethnic Korean collaborators with Japan. They have been variously punished or left alone. This controversy is exemplified in the legacy of Park Chung Hee, South Korea's most influential and controversial president. He collaborated with the Japanese military and continued to praise it even after the colonial period.

Until 1964, South Korea and Japan had no functional diplomatic relations, until they signed the Treaty on Basic Relations. It declared "already null and void"^[18] all treaties made between the Empires of Japan and Korea on or before 22 August 1910.^[19] Despite this, relations between Japan and South Korea have oscillated between warmer and cooler periods, often due to conflicts over the historiography of this era.

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