History of Korea

Coming out the relative freedom of the Cultural policy of the 1920's, the harsher measures of imperial rule made resistance more difficult than before. Throughout the colonial period, Korean nationalist attempted to gain liberation from Japanese colonial rule, such as the March First Movement of 1919 and the Kwangju Student Movement of 1929. With the introduction of the new Governor-General Ugaki, and especially Minami, who was a former Minister of War and one of the leading generals in the Manchurian Incident, resistance was minimized to guerrilla warfare. There were others who collaborated with the colonial government, during this time. But the majority of the Koreans were locked in a middle ground between resistance and collaboration.

Resistance was left to either guerrilla fighters or political figure in exile. The guerrilla threat was usually located in Manchuria and North China, where leaders such as Kim Il-song (Kim Il Sung) and Ch'oe Hyon managed to survive the colonial period. In the 1930's resistance movements like the Righteous Brotherhood (Uiyoltan) and other communist forces in Korea and China, as well as the Korean nationalists joined forces in order to throw away the shackles of colonial rule. Other, like Syngman Rhee, who was abroud in America, used diplomatic channels in order to gain support for the Korean cause. However, the resistance movements of this period never achieved the prominence and mass support of the Korean people as in the 1920's, because of the possible threats of torture , imprisonment, work camps, or death.

Collaborators were still present during this time. The only way to try and succeed in the colonial period was to collaborate with the Japanese government. For the majority, this was not a simple choice between getting ahead and being patriotic. A real dilemma occured in the country, as people had to sustain their livelihood, but wanted to preserve their national and cultural identity. This paradox exemplified the problems of Koreans during the colonial period.

Colonial Period