Korea, which has fallen to be a vassal of China for many centuries, has a unique destiny for the country of the East during the period of colonialism. This is the only country that was under the colonial domination of not the Western, but the Eastern power, Japan. Such a circumstance in itself did not change much in the historical fate of Korea, but nevertheless it is worth recalling it, as well as the fact that Japan was the only eastern power that had colonial possessions. Not vassal territories like China, but colonial possessions exploited by Western-style colonial methods, including colonial trade, capital import, resource development and industrial development of the colony, including the creation of the necessary infrastructure for all this.

Although Korea was considered a vassal territory from China (this vassalage was, by the way, not very noticeable), at the end of the 19th century. many influential sections of its population were more oriented towards Japan, seeing in its post-reform development a model for their country. Local pro-Japanese reformers in the early 1880s they even tried to arrange a coup with the support of the Japanese consul, but he failed. The result of this was the strengthening of China's position in the country, but not for long. Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895 put an end to Chinese influence in Korea. Reformists came to power. And although, along with the Japanese in the country, the influence of Russian capital also increased in these years, under the terms of the Russo-Japanese agreement of 1898, Russia officially recognized Japan's predominant economic interests in Korea. After Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, Korea was turned into a Protectorate of Japan.

Almost devoid of natural resources itself, Japan actively took up the capitalist development of Korea. Mines and forests, railroads and light industry, Korea's foreign trade - everything ended up in the hands of Japanese companies, in any case, mainly in their hands. In 1910, it was officially proclaimed annexation of Korea, which was managed on behalf of the Japanese emperor by the colonial administration headed by the Japanese governor-general. Optimal conditions were created in the country for the development of Japanese capital, whose interests were protected by a well-thought-out system of military-police coercion. To the detriment of Korean, the Japanese language was artificially implanted. Korean workers in factories were brutally exploited. As for the sphere of agrarian relations, the privatization of land was proclaimed in Korea, and a significant part of it turned out to be the property of Japanese settlers, as well as capitalists or the governor general, i.e. Japanese state. As in Japan itself, the agrarian reform contributed to an increase in the marketability of agriculture, and landless peasants went in masses to the cities, where they replenished the ranks of workers in industrial enterprises and in mines, the number of which was constantly growing.

The powerful popular uprising of 1919, suppressed with difficulty by the colonialists, forced them to make certain concessions and abolish military forms of government. Korean legislative assemblies were introduced under the Japanese administrative bodies. The number of Korean and mixed Japanese-Korean companies has increased. Trade unions, public associations, and parties began to form in Korea. After the Japanese invasion of China and the creation of Manchukuo, Korea became the Japanese military-industrial foothold on the continent. Industrial production here, as well as in Japan itself, developed at an accelerated pace, which should be noted as a positive fact that played a role in the subsequent development of the peninsula. Metallurgical plants, power plants, chemical plants were built. Since the end of the 1930s, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, the Japanese tried to win over the Koreans to their side by putting forward the pseudo-patriotic slogan "Japanese and Koreans are brothers."

The defeat of Japan in World War II resulted in the appearance of Soviet and American troops in Korea and division of the peninsula into two parts. In the northern part, as is known, a course was taken for the construction of Marxist socialism in its most rigid modification. South Korea has undergone roughly the same transformations as Japan. These transformations, based on the socio-political, financial and economic industrial base created by the Japanese colonizers, contributed to the development of the country in the same direction and at the same rapid pace as in Japan. However, a lower starting level for quite a long time did not allow the South Korean state to achieve the same impressive results in all areas of the economy and lifestyle as modern Japan has achieved. But today the South Korean standard is practically equal to the Japanese in this respect.

You can hear about how many troubles Korea's annexation brought to Korea at any public holiday. But it is not customary to talk about the positive aspects, somehow. I have set myself the goal of correcting this omission in this article.

It's no secret that for 35 years (and de facto 40, since the victory of the Japanese Empire in the Russo-Japanese War) - the entire Korean Peninsula was under the rule of Japan. Modern Korean and Chinese media love to inflame the people with nationalistic slogans, accusing modern Tokyo of almost all mortal sins. Until the very end of the 1980s, nationalist hysteria in Korea maintained a ban on the import and translation of all printed and film products from Japan. In the 90s, the Korean government decided to demolish the residence of the Governor-General of Japan in Chosen, which was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Then they went even further, and during the revision of historical documents, they deprived more than 100 owners of their land plots: those, allegedly, were received by the ancestors of the current owners from the despotic Japanese regime.
At the same time, the fact that the entire ruling elite itself came out of yesterday's policemen is successfully hushed up. For example, park chung hee , grandfather of the current president of Korea and former president himself - formerly known as Takaki Masao, alumnus Japan Higher Military Academy and senior lieutenant armies of manchukuo .

On the right - Park Chung-hee, on the left - he, in the form of the Japanese Imperial Army

You can hear about how many troubles Korea's annexation brought to Korea at any public holiday. But it is not customary to talk about the positive aspects, somehow. Let's fix this oversight! In my post, I will try to list the main known facts in favor of the fact that the occupation was more good for Korea than evil.

1. Lifespan
If at the beginning of the 9th century in Korea there was at least a semblance of higher education, then students would die on the day they received their diploma. The average life expectancy of a Korean in 1905 was 22 years. Many did not live up to this. This was largely facilitated by the total unsanitary conditions on the Korean streets, the decline of the economy (Korean industry was a combination of foreign concessions, first Russian - then Japanese, and the mountainous terrain did not favor the development of Agriculture), the complete absence of social guarantees and labor legislation.
The effective management of the state apparatus by the Governor-General made it possible to bring this figure to 44 in 1941. Those. Korean life expectancy has increased twice .

2. Education

The literacy rate at the time of annexation was an all-time low of 2%. The vaunted Hangul, which is currently the only script on the entire Korean peninsula (what? Did someone say "hancha"? Have you seriously seen it somewhere other than an encyclopedia?), at that time was known to an extremely narrow circle of people. The elite of the population considered it "frivolous children's writing", preferring Chinese characters, and the remaining 98% happily shared this dismissive attitude towards Hangul, but did not consider it necessary to master at least one other method of writing the language. That's how it happened...

This first became a problem during an attempt to organize anti-Japanese protests in 1910. A group of students actively distributed leaflets and manifestos around Keijo (now Seoul), but most of the population simply could not understand what they wanted from them ... It is not surprising that the rallies ended in nothing .
However, the governor-general regularly implemented the planned educational program. More than 3000 schools were built and even the first in the history of Korea - a university called " Keijo Imperial University". Now known as Seoul National University. In fact, an education system was built from scratch, which operates in Korea to this day. So, within the framework of the policy of enlightened government, since 1922, ethnic segregation was finally abolished, and the Koreans began to study with the Japanese in general schools.

3. Economy and Business
Business first. The modern economic model of South Korea is entirely built on the principles of Japan. So, in Korea, the main financial levers are concentrated in the hands of mega-corporations - Chaebols. Doesn't it remind you of anything? Yes, this is a Zaibatsu (Keiretsu) "with a Korean face"! All the same powerful financial conglomerate uniting gigantic enterprises in all sectors of the economy. All the same, the colossal political influence of their leaders ... All the same ideology of the "company-family", from year to year nurturing a galaxy of workaholics who consider it an honor to die in the workplace.
In fairness, I’ll say that here the Koreans have moved away from their usual practice of appropriating other people’s achievements, and yet they recognized that Chaebol and Zaibatsu are the same thing, different readings of one word.

The economy grew rapidly during the occupation. The Gross National Product increased by more than 2.77 times, domestic consumption - by 2.38 times, income level - by 1.67 times.
In the village, manual labor was replaced by mechanization, which was carried out at such a pace that even the Soviet Union with its five-year plans could envy.
At the time of the annexation, there were 151 factories in Korea, and by the end of the colonial period - 7,142. In addition, the share of factories owned by Koreans increased from 25.8% in 1910 to 60.2% in 1940. The number of workers increased from 15,000 to 300,000.

4. Infrastructure
The Japanese Empire built the first railway in Korea, entirely at its own expense. This line connected the capital of Keijo (now Seoul) with the North Korean border Singisyu (now Synuiju). In fact, the capital has turned from a "one-story large village" into a solid multi-story city with capital buildings.

5. Culture
Japan gave Korea such a miracle as broadcasting. About 22 radio stations were built at their own expense, and the percentage of listeners grew steadily (with the growth of the people's well-being): if in 1926 there were 1,829 radio listeners in Korea, then in 1942 - 277,281.
Contrary to popular misconceptions about media censorship at the time, the laws and regulations for Korean media were 100% identical to those for Japanese media. There was no fundamental difference between them.
During the period of annexation, modern Korean literature was born, and the ubiquity of Hangul finally made the literary works of Korean writers Korean-language (before the annexation, most Korean literature was written in Chinese).
Lee Gwangsu, Ki Dong-in, Kim Yoojung, Lee Hyusuk, Yeom Sangseop- it's all from there, from "Japanese Korea".
At the end of the colonial period, many writers and poets, including Li Gwangsu, began to actively support the colonial administration and the expansion of the Japanese Empire in East Asia. Among them were those who had previously been critical of the Japanese authorities, for example, the leftist writer Khan Sorya, future chairman of the Union of Writers of the DPRK

The annexation period also saw the release of the First Korean Film and the First Korean Drama (the birth of theater).

6. Relations between nations
As previously stated, the administration did not make any distinction between Koreans and Japanese, pursuing a policy of assimilation. Mixed marriages were commonplace. The fact that many Japanese employed Koreans as servants in their homes is easily explained by the fact that the Japanese immigrated to Chosen with capital already acquired. Naturally, the wages on the island of Honshu and in the province (Korea) were different, but every year this difference was shrinking and shrinking.
After all, if "colonial oppression" were as unbearable as modern Koreans are trying to present it, would hundreds of planes take off then, with kamikaze pilots of Korean origin? Would they die with the emperor's name on their lips? Navryatli.

Finally, I would like to say a seemingly banal thing: in the world there is no uniquely white and black, good and bad, good and evil. Therefore, one should not believe politicians who seek to realize their selfish interests at the expense of our conflicts. And be especially skeptical of peremptory statements, be they Korean, or Russian, or Equatorial Guinean.

Korea's interaction with its neighbors has always been difficult. For many centuries, the country of morning freshness has suffered from the influence of China, Mongolia, Manchu raids and wars of conquest against the Japanese. But colonial period(식민지 시대) has a special place in the history of the country.

Map of the Japanese Empire with the dates of the seizure of territories, the end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th centuries.

During the period Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945. The decision to become part of the Japanese Empire was not voluntary, the occupation was violent. The Japanese pursued a harsh policy towards the Koreans, subjecting them to both physical and psychological violence. However, the opinions of contemporaries regarding this period were divided. Some (supporters of the so-called "colonial modernization") believe that at that time Korea achieved unprecedented economic growth, and society was going through one of the stages of development. Others (supporters of the so-called "colonial exploitation") believe that the Korean economy after 1945 had to be developed from scratch, and the country was subjected to harsh exploitation during this period.

To better understand the reason for Japan's interest in Korea, it is necessary to know what happened in both countries on the eve of the colonial period.

Japan

In the period from 1868 to 1889, Japan is transformed from an agrarian country into one of the leading states in the world. This time in history is called Meiji Restoration».

The name of the period was given by Emperor Mutsuhito (1852 - 1912) - "Meiji" ("enlightened rule").

The country refuses from self-isolation and makes a "leap" from the past to the future, changing the logic of the traditional way of life and forming a society on the European model. The reign of the samurai ended, power was returned to the emperor. Almost all spheres of life were reformed, from the economy to education. In particular, the feudal structure of the country was eliminated, private property was allowed, the University of Tokyo was founded, universal military service was introduced, the “master-servant” behavior model was eliminated, inter-class marriages were allowed, etc. Having strengthened its internal positions, Japan decides to dominate the entire region. In particular, relations with Korea are of great interest.

Korea

Korea is in no hurry to improve relations with its neighbors. In the late XIX - early XX centuries, it shows itself weak player in the global political arena. The country, torn apart by internal contradictions and riots, cannot repulse external invaders. The king, later emperor, Kojong, having no real power, continues the policy of isolation begun by his predecessors. Japan, after a short debate and provocation, decides to capture Joseon Korea, which refuses to make contact.

Warlord of the Joseon era, 1863

However, this process is gradual. The colonization was preceded by a number of measures on the part of the Japanese, namely: the signing in 1876, the Japanese-Korean friendship treaty on about. Ganghwado, according to which the largest seaports of Busan, Wonsan and Incheon were opened to Japan. In addition, the Japanese won the right to acquire Korean land holdings and effectively deprived the country of customs autonomy. They gradually penetrated into all spheres of activity, first controlling the press and individual departments, and then becoming "advisers" to the king. And finally, the murder of Queen Ming, the wife of Kojon, who actually rules in his place. All these conditions created fertile ground for the annexation of Korea.

It should also be noted that Korea at that time was the center of a clash of interests of several countries at once besides Japan: Russia, China, the USA, England, France, Austria, etc. However, due to the remoteness, the Western states quickly surrendered, and Japan unleashed a war in which she emerged victorious. Therefore, no one could prevent Japan from realizing its plans as a metropolis.

Korea as a colony

During the colonial period, Korea was led by a governor-general appointed from Tokyo. As a rule, the governor-general was appointed from among the military Japanese. This explains the rigidly authoritarian policies pursued in the colony. However, in 1919, Saito Makoto was appointed to this post - the only one not from among the military. He spent a relatively mild " cultural management policy”, encouraged Korean culture and was opposed to violent measures.

Seoul during the Japanese occupation.

Became a colony, Korea lost sovereignty. The country acted as a market for both labor and farmed products. About 90% of all investments belonged to the Japanese, as well as 3/5 of all enterprises.

The people were subjected discrimination, the Korean language was banned from teaching in schools. Over 200,000 Korean historical documents were burned. The right to be a judge, to elect and be elected was awarded only to the Japanese, and the supreme legislative and executive power was in the hands of the governor-general. There was an Advisory Council under the government, which consisted of well-known Koreans, but it had no real influence.

In 1911, the Japanese demolished part of the buildings of the famous Gyeongbokgung palace complex, building the House of the Governor General. Released in 1939 Decree to change names, according to which every Korean had the right to change his name to Japanese. In fact, more than 80% of Koreans took Japanese names, as they were persecuted if they refused. The colonialists actively promoted Shintoism and built Shinto shrines. The whole world became infamous " comfort stations" - brothels for the Japanese military, where "comfort women" were in sex slavery. The girls were either kidnapped, or, promising work in Japanese factories for a large pay, they were tricked into brothels by deceit. Not everyone was destined to return home: many died from daily torture, many committed suicide.

At the same time, it was during the period of occupation that the time of growth of the Korean economy, education and industry fell.

Economics and politics

By the end of the colonial period, there were over 7,000 factories in Korea employing about 300,000 workers. The average growth rate of the Korean economy was about 4%. In agriculture, new technologies were introduced, the area of ​​cultivated agricultural land grew. Many buildings were built that became the prototypes of modern ones. Among them: Keijo Station, Chosen Bank, People's House. For about 10 years, railroads were built that connected modern Seoul with the northern regions of the Korean peninsula. Export of products was carried out both directly to Japan and to China, Russia, the USA, India, and Thailand. Import - mainly from China, Manchuria, USA. A judicial system of three levels was introduced: local, appeal and Supreme. The territory of the country is divided into provinces, each headed by a governor (Japanese or Korean). Established a law enforcement system.

Chosen Bank, now the Bank of Korea Museum, 1909

Social sphere

Korean traditional medicine was viewed with distrust by the Japanese. But the use of modern medicines was introduced, in connection with which the life expectancy of the population increased from 20 to almost 45 years. The population has almost doubled and amounted to about 27 million people. At the same time, the number of prisons has steadily increased, as There were many dissatisfied with the colonial policy.

In 1924, the first Korean university, Keijo Imperial University, was opened (it was on its basis that Seoul National University was later established). True, only the Japanese had the opportunity to visit it, since the training was conducted in Japanese. The literacy rate increased significantly: from 2% to 40%. In the field of school education, the Japanese model was taken as a basis, with the division into junior and secondary schools. There was an opportunity to attend classes in special vocational schools, where they taught, incl. and kisaeng.

The first newspapers appeared in Japanese and Korean (Meil Shinbo, which still exists today, Joseon Ilbo). The censorship system was quite strict only for Korean publications. In 1927, the first radio appeared, which was very popular. During the occupation, Korean literature, in particular prose, also flourished. When writing works, they now used exclusively Korean writing, leaving Chinese in the past.

Fight for independence

The Koreans did not abandon their attempts to gain independence on the peninsula. March 1, 1919 the first major independence movement took place. Its origins were Korean students and patriots who advocated the need for a Declaration of Independence.

The movement was massive. Starting in Seoul, it gradually expanded throughout the country, increasing its supporters every day. One year later the uprising was brutally suppressed the Japanese army. As a result, about 7 thousand people died, but the imperial policy towards Korea softened - it was at this time that Saito Makoto took over. To commemorate the first national resistance, 1 March was declared Independence Movement Day.

Seoul residents greet freedom fighters released from prison, 1945

Later, the Korean government-in-exile establishes Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai. Among the founders is the first President of the Republic of Korea - Lee Syngman. The activity of the unrecognized Provisional Government is to coordinate the guerrilla units and control the Korean Liberation Army. But in reality, despite all efforts, Korea manages to achieve independence only years later due to the capitulation of Japan and the impossibility of its further control of the colony.

____________________

End of the first part

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Consequences of Japanese colonial exploitation of Korea

§ 1. Enslavement of Korea by samurai from the East

On the geographical atlas of the world, the territory of Korea looks like a bizarrely shaped peninsula in the east of the vast Eurasian supercontinent. Stretching for almost a thousand kilometers from north to south, cutting through the Yellow and Japan Seas, the peninsula has been growing since the second half of the 19th century. has become a kind of "solar plexus" in the foreign policy strategy of the neighboring geopolitical giants - China, Japan, Russia. During its centuries-old history, the Korean ethnos has known everything - fierce intertribal enmity and the birth in the throes of national statehood, stubborn resistance to foreign invasion and the phenomenal flourishing of their own civilization. But nothing has left such a deep unhealed wound in the soul of every Korean as many years of Japanese colonial domination, finally established in August 1910.

The colonial rule of Japan in Korea can be chronologically divided into four periods: the first (1905-1910) - the Japanese protectorate over Korea; the second (1910-1919) - military administration, or "saber regime"; the third (1919-1939) - "cultural management", or the period of "velvet cat's paw"; the fourth (1939–1945) was an attempt to forcefully assimilate Koreans into the Japanese cultural space.

The complete annexation of Korea by Japanese militarism in August 1910 meant that Japan, which was rapidly modernizing on the basis of the well-known Meiji reforms, turned out to be stronger than other rivals in the Far East, primarily China and Russia. It was precisely because of its strategic superiority in the region that the Mikado empire managed to establish its absolute control over Korea, an ancient original country, without a major colonial war.

Since that time, the Japanese governor-general has become the sovereign ruler of the entire Korean Peninsula. Japanese officials took over all the posts of provincial governors without exception and established complete control over the financial, diplomatic, trade, economic, judicial, police and other services. A sovereign state, rooted in distant historical times, ceased to exist overnight.

But the loss of national sovereignty by Korea was due not only to external, but also to internal factors. By the end of the XIX - beginning of the XX century. Korean statehood entered a period of deep entropic (all-encompassing) crisis and decline. Behind the facade of strict bureaucratic regulation, built on Confucian principles, there was an almost complete paralysis of the state machine. None of the key government departments - the Ministry of Official Affairs, the Ministry of Taxes, the Ministry of Ceremonies (Protocols), the Ministry of War and others - were not able to at least minimally fulfill the functions assigned to them. Taxes were not collected, the state treasury was empty, and the armed forces could not reliably protect not only the state borders, but even the palace complex of the ruling Li dynasty. Outrageous arbitrariness and lawlessness were going on in the counties and provinces, although, according to the law, the change of governors and local administrators took place every two years.

It should be noted here that Russian diplomacy quite presciently foresaw the impending catastrophe. So, in search of reasons forcing King Kojong (ruled since 1863) at the end of the 19th century. persistently seek foreign patronage, the Russian diplomat A.N. Speyer reported in September 1897 to Count M.N. Muravyov in St. Petersburg:

“The ugly state in which Korea is currently located, whose upper classes, not excluding the king, raise bribes to the level of a necessary, if not the only factor in domestic policy, that total deceit and that hopeless lie that now reigns in all strata of Korean society , lead me to the sad conviction that no effort of ours will be able to raise our unfortunate neighbor to that moral height, below which the independent existence of the state is unthinkable and cannot be allowed by its neighbors.

There was not the slightest exaggeration in this disturbing report. In the context of growing external expansion, the Korean state was in the process of self-disintegration. In court circles there was a fierce internecine struggle, court intrigues and mutual envy reigned, a complete inability to perform the most necessary managerial functions. The Achilles' heel of the ruling elite was the inability to elementary consolidation and unity for the sake of preserving the national-state sovereignty of the country. The ancient original country of East Asia, burdened with the excessive burden of conservative traditions, the arbitrariness of the bureaucratic caste, could not but be a relatively easy prey for the rapidly rising Japan. The Japanese annexation meant the collapse of the centuries-old national statehood of Korea.

Recognizing the impossibility of holding enslaved Korea with the policy of a police whip alone, Japan from the very beginning began to pay close attention to creating its social support in the colony. A special decree of the Japanese monarch provided for "due and proper treatment" of representatives of the ruling Li dynasty, if they showed appropriate loyalty to the colonial government. After the annexation of 1910, the nominal ruler of Korea Sunjong (reigned from 1907) retained the title of Imperial Highness, and budgetary funds in the amount of 1.5 million yen were allocated for his maintenance. In addition, by decree of the Japanese emperor, 76 specially elected representatives of the ruling class of the yangban (an approximate analogue of the European nobles), who previously held important administrative, military, diplomatic and other posts, received high titles of the Japanese empire. Among them were 6 "kosaku" (marquises), 3 "hakusaku" (counts), 22 "shisaku" (viscounts), 45 "dansaku" (barons). Each of the representatives of the new Korean compradors was paid monetary rewards from the Japanese treasury. Representatives of the middle-level yangbans, who occupied less significant and weighty bureaucratic positions in the administrative apparatus, were not bypassed either. The crumbs from the master's table were also thrown to the "representatives of the people" - Confucian preachers. Over 9.8 thousand "correct" interpreters of Confucian dogma received from the mikado as a one-time gift of 24 yen. It was a symbolic compensation for serving the new foreign power.

At the same time, Tokyo was aware that to govern Korea, not only a new system of ideological intoxication would be needed, but also a considerable number of lower-level officials and hired workers who knew the elementary basics of literacy. After the suppression of the nationwide March 1st Uprising in 1919, the mother country introduced a series of school reforms in Korea aimed at expanding the scope of primary, secondary, and vocational education, with particular emphasis on learning the Japanese language and basic work skills. The opening of the Seoul Imperial Korean University, intended mainly for people from privileged families, was widely advertised.

However, contrary to official declarations of the transition to an "era of cultural control", the foreign system of colonial education was fundamentally discriminatory. As people of the "second class", Koreans were forced by all means to abandon their native language, change Korean names and surnames to Japanese ones, and become Japanese subjects. The gigantic Japanese propaganda machine tirelessly convinced Koreans that their future depended on the degree of their unconditional naturalization in order to get closer to mainstream Japanese society. Those few inhabitants of the peninsula who fell for this propaganda bait and forgot about their national self-identification, the Koreans even in the pre-war period, with a clear shade of sarcasm, began to call the "new Japanese".

In accordance with the decrees promulgated by the Japanese General Government, the indigenous people of Korea and the Japanese settlers had formally equal access to education. In practice, however, there were two separate systems of education: one, primitive, for Korean children and youth, and the other, privileged, for Japanese colonists. The well-known South Korean scholar Lee Gi-baek cites the following data on the mythical "equality" of Koreans and Japanese in getting an education in colonial Korea in the pre-war period. Out of every 10 thousand of the population, 208 people were enrolled in the Korean elementary school, and 1272 people in the Japanese school, 5 people in the male secondary Korean school, and 106 people in the Japanese school, 1 student in the female secondary Korean school, and 128 in Japanese people, professional Korean school - about 3 people, Japanese - more than 62 people. etc. At Seoul Imperial University, including its industrial department, the total number of Japanese students significantly exceeded the number of Korean students, although the Japanese made up only 3% of the colony's population. It has already been noted above that from the first days of their rule, the Japanese authorities began to pursue a policy of discrimination and even persecution of the Korean language.

This campaign was completed by the end of World War II, when the teaching of the national script, Hangul, was legally prohibited in the country.

The victims of the Japanese colonial policy of forced recruitment of "human goods" are innumerable. During their thirty years of domination in Korea, the Japanese authorities gradually implemented the Law on General State Mobilization, the Order on General Labor Service, the Law on Labor Service of All Adults, the Decree on the Service of Women in the Self-Sacrifice Brigade, etc. These legislative acts were not only a gross violation of human rights, but also violated generally accepted international codes of conduct in the temporarily occupied territory. According to an investigation by the Society of Koreans Affected by Forced Recruitment by the Japanese Authorities, submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee in November 2003, the far from complete list of victims of wartime forced mobilization included 427,129 Koreans. The fate of these unfortunate people was hard labor for meager wages in coal mines, mines, road construction, and logging. Masses of young Korean women were sent as "sex slaves" to the Japanese military. The total number of Koreans who had to experience the brunt of the mobilization of "human goods" reached 8.4 million people, of which more than 1 million people. died in captivity.

Japanese colonial domination paralyzed for an entire historical epoch the natural development of the sovereign Korean state, its education, science, and national culture. The entire policy of Japanese "cultural management" on the peninsula was subordinated to one goal - the spiritual intoxication of the population of the colony, its total decoration and Japaneseization in order to create the so-called "Great East Asian Prosperity Sphere", which meant a colonial empire covering the entire region of Northeast Asia.