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“The Truth Of Japan’s Annexation Of The Korean Peninsula” According To Professor Che Keiho

In this interesting series of videos South Korean Professor Che Keiho gives a talk on the history behind Japan’s annexation of Korea, presenting a very harsh image of pre-annexation Korea as a brutal and backwards kingdom that needed Japanese imperialism to modernize (I doubt folks in his home country like him much):

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

[Via Yin Yang Report]

24 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - July 20, 2007 at 7:51 pm

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags:

http://www.jamaipanese.com Jamaipanese

interesting videos, I had to watch them all

now I’m late for work -_-
noahT

“(I doubt folks in his home country like him much)” Oh yeah, what are you, a fucking scientist now?
http://gweilo.nl/ Lex Van

This is extremely interesting and very controversial. I understand the Japanese did some bad things in Korea during the colonial period, but this story is completely new to me and makes sense.

Thank you so much for posting it!
-lex
James (not the admin)

All true maybe but who cares…
Even if all of this was true it was not done as a great effort by the Japanese government to help the Koreans, it was done so that Japan could exploit the resources of Korea…

http://takechanpoo.blogspot.com/ Takechanpoo

>Japan could exploit the resources of Korea
Huh?
There is almost no resources in Korea before Japan colonized it.
Resource itself too was created by Japan after colonized.
Study more before saying like that as if you know everything.

James

>> There is almost no resources in Korea before Japan colonized it.

Yeah resources are worth nothing till you have mines to extract and railways to transport…
Of course it is not this simple the the idea that it was done as some kind of gift to uplift and modernize the Korean people for their own benefit is ridiculous…

mitaker

No one is saying that Japan did this out of pure benevolence. This professor is merely arguing that Koreans were in a pitiful state–again, not because Koreans are inherently inferior or anything–and Japan, out of its own self-interest, albeit an imperialistic interest as well as out of national defence, modernized Korea and saved Korea from China and itself.

No one is saying that what Japan did was right or wrong. But according to the value systems of the time, any country would have done that, and they did. Over half the world was owned by England! If you compare the kind of colonization in India with the kind done by Japan, Koreans were much well off! Now, again, it’s not because Japan was doing this out of altruism or anything. Japan did it out of pure self-interest. Japan wanted Korea modernized so that Korea could fight the oncoming Western colonizers too. But Koreans should not be BLIND to the reality that Koreans were in a desperate state and that they were helped and they did profit from Japanese colonization.

http://takechanpoo.blogspot.com/ Takechanpoo

If Japan didnt colonized Korea, Russia must had colonized Korea.
If Japan or Russia didnt colonized korea, China must had colonized Korea.
Which country were less objectionable to Korea among those 3 country?
Needless to say, JAPAN!
Steve

I typed a long response, but decided against it…

Anyway, interesting point of view, but highly doubt the annexation and colonization was to modernize and uplift the Korean people. If that was the case, then I guess western colonization was right all along? It was simply a buffer zone for Japan against Russia, China and to create second-class labor. But thats my opinion…
abcd

He has no idea what hes talking about. Korea was on the road to modernization before Japan annexed the peninsula. The Korean court/government invited several western educators and missionaries and helped them open western schools.

Yugyoung Kung-won
Ehwa
Yeondong Academy
Baeje Academy
Kyeongshin Academy
Kwangseon
Sungdok
etc

These are the names of schools and universities opened and taught by westerners in Korea before Japan invaded. Korea was modernizing. Early Korean newspapers were being published using western style decades before the Japanese arrived. Hanseong Sunbo, Hanseong Jubo and the Ganjo Shimpo which were newspapers widely circulated to the public. The Hanseong Jubo used Hangul which gave commoners easy access to the news. Reading these early newspapers paint a positive picture on Korean modernization. Electricity, piping and other western influences were popping up years before the Japanese arrived. The Korean government even gave westerners high ranking jobs in Korea. Sir Robert Hart who was in charge of Koreas Maritime Customs Service. A.H. Maeterns who was hired to practice and bring western agricultural methods to Korea. The Korean government created the Bureau of Machines in 1883 to study and develop modern machines. Medicine, roads, machines, education etc were all being modernized without any help from Japan. Then one day, Japan murders the Korean queen and invades Korea and turns it into a giant labor camp for the Japanese the abuse.

This is nothing more then a sad attempt at somehow justifying Japanese occupation and decades of brutalization. Korea did not need or want Japanese “help”. Japan invaded Korea, during Koreas own meiji revolution. Considering that Korea today is a healthy, modern and high technology based economy. Im pretty confident that Korea did not need Japanese “help”. Quite the contrary. Korea would have been far better off without Japanese help.

http://takechanpoo.blogspot.com/ Takechanpoo

Needless to say, you live in fantasy world.

abcd

What kind of reply is that? Are you even trying to prove anything? If anyones living in a fantasy world its you. At least make a decent point before you insult me.

99% of the stuff that “professor” says is false and easily countered. Korea did not need Japanese help to modernize. Korea was modernizing before Japan colonized it. Every name and event I mentioned earlier is real and goes to show that Korea didnt need Japanese help. If Korea was “unable” to modernize by itself then please explain South Korea today or the fact that Korea was more advanced then Japan for most of the last 2000 years.

Japanese colonization wasnt something the Koreans enjoyed. A foreign country invaded their country, then forced everyone to work for them. They heavily taxed the populace and brutalized them for years while quashing their freedom. The factories and roads built by the Japanese were done so not to help the Koreans but to line the pockets of Japanese officials. The factories in Korea churned out products that would go to Japan. The rice farmed in Korea was sent to Japan. That certainly doesnt look like “help” to me.

If a Korean lord taxed a Korean peasant then at least most of the wealth stayed in Korea. The Japanese on the other hand taxed the Koreans and then sent the wealth to Japan.

http://takechanpoo.blogspot.com/ Takechanpoo

You still live in fantasy world.
Japan reluctantly colonized Korea to protect Japan against Russia.
At first Japan had support to modernize Korea by itself. But ruling Yangbangs were extraordinary stubborn and never had tried to change their old way. So Japan decided to colonize Korea before Russia do.

Actually in Korea war, school, hospital, roads etc which Japan builded was broken.
But Korean people who had studied in Japan-builded school were NOT broken.
And these educated Korean people had builded post war modernized Korea.
(It is just the same as Japan. In Japan too, almost all of infrastructures were broken by U.S. But it is NOT that we Japanese started from ZERO in post war)

You should face what you should face.

abcd

You think ultra nationalist Koreans are bad? Why dont you take a look at the ultra nationalist Japanese. That said Takechanpoo has no idea what hes talking about like most ultra nationalistic Japanese. He has no idea what true history is. Japan invaded Korea out of greed. You can deny this all you want(Japan and denial tend to be synonymous these days). If Japan was doing this out of protection or Korea’s benefit then why did they turn Korea into a giant labor camp that was taxed heavily under the Japanese government? Korea was modernizing before Japan arrived. You are delusional if you think otherwise because its all supported by facts. In fact it was Japan that murdered the Korean queen(the leading reformist), invaded the country, then kicked out the western educators, doctors, scientists and replaced them with Japanese professionals.

You claim that Russia was trying to conquer Korea. Well then are you forgetting that Korea had an alliance with China. And that it was Japan who waged war against China in the first sino japanese war in an attempt to break Koreas alliance from China. Or in other words to eventually invade and colonize Korea. Thats was the entire point of the sino japanese war. Russia wasnt even involved in the equation.

Then in the mid 1890s a peasant revolt erupted in Korea. Without even asking Koreas permission the Japanese army invaded the Korean peninsula and massacred the peasants. After the revolt ended, the japanese army refused to leave the peninsula and eventually announced the annexation of the Korean peninsula. Now ask me this. Why on earth did the Japanese government send its army to Korea over a matter that had nothing to do with Russia. Over a something that was an internal Korean matter. What connection did the Japanese government have with a peasants riot in Korea? Absolutely nothing. Other signifying Japans colonial attempt.

Didnt I mention earlier that Koreans were inviting western experts and opening up modern schools years before the Japanese arrived? The Korean government even placed many foreigners in high positions(the Queens advisor was a westerner). Quit making the excuse that Korea benefited from the factory and road building labour they had to endure during Japanese occupation. Are you telling me that Korea was unable to modernize on her own? Let me remind you that Japans modernization was done by simply copying the west and having a 20 year start over Korea thanks to Perry. Copying western technology isnt much of a feat.

http://nhatkyviet.com Viet

although i personally hate the current korean ultra-nationalist kids out there (can’t put any sense into them), i still have to disagree with takechanpoo. it does not matter which country colonized korea, it’s still bad. terrible things, whether it is to the level of what korean media’s been saying or not, still happened. invasion/colonization, in whatever form, is still regrettable. i’m a vietnamese living in america, and have first hand experience about these things. please be more sensitive when you talk, cuz you sound a lot like US Pres. Bush invading Iraq right now. modernizing korea ? spreading freedom to the Iraqi ? everyone knows they’re pile of bull…
Shaffer

Are there any ultra-nationalists you do like O.o? I personally can’t seem to stand any ;/, though maybe the Tibetan kind…

As for colonization, it’s very doubtful Russia or China had that in mind at the time, as their style was more of setting up puppet power. It’s more reasonable to push the idea that colonization was purely for beneficial reasons. By the way takenchan, you have a very interesting blog, it was a fun read .
http://takechanpoo.blogspot.com/ Takechanpoo

At that time, world was the age whether one country eat or be eaten.
So Japan ate before being eaten.
What colonization itself or invasion itself is whether right or not by current standard is making no sense.
Japan needed Korea not to be eaten by Russia. And Japan needed Manchuria to protect Korea.
That’s all.

abcd

So basically “eating” a country means murdering, enslaving, exploiting and crushing their freedom while forcing them to adopt your culture and customs. But then, didnt you claim earlier that Korea had no resources? How typical of Japanese nationalists. Quit making excuse after excuse.

Yes, im pretty Japans intentions at Nanking were noble. That is unless youre one of those Nanking deniers. Which I wouldnt be surprised if you were. Btw what was the purpose of those 2 wars Japan had with China? Was it to protect Japan from China? Just like how Japan was protecting itself from America when it bombed pearl harbor. Correct? lol

Roppongi

^So, you’re saying that Japanese imperialism was essential in keeping the country independent?
pooh

Please see a colonial policy of Japan. It is the irony to a white’s colonial policy clearly. Please compare the coexistence and co-prosperity which is one-sided exploitation of a white and a target of Japan.
Ishikawa Minoru

Regarding the huge demographic growth in Korea between 1910 and 1942: I haven’t read the book yet and I might end up ordering it in the future, but there’s something I believe professor Keio failed to tackle in his exposé, namely the posibility (or refutation of said thesis) that Japanese coloni emigration might have played a part in that phenomenon. How many people moved into Korea? That’s important information.

the overthinker

Not a lot, I believe. The large-scale migration was to Manchuria. Korea was already “full” and while there was migration, it was on a much more limited scale, and possibly offset by the number of Koreans that went to Japan.

Young Hwang

How lucky I am to have found this Youtube showing an interview with a professor who claims ” a justification of Japan’s annexation of Korean peninsular. These days I have been motivated to do a small research on An Jung’s assasination of Ito Hirobumi who has been highly praised by this professor.

Yes, it is OK for any scholar to address his or her own theory on any part of history for academic pursuit. It is, however, extremely important to tell the truth from the facts. Yes, Japan constructed many bridges and railroads including factories and etc. The quesion is for whom ?????? They were for only the benefits of Korean People ?

One of my closest company colleagues used to work in Japan about more than 20 years and his knowdge about Japan is incredibly vast. He is sick and tired about Japapese hypocracy.

Japan’s main stream of philosophy(? just mindset ?) originates from “Samurai” spirit. No philosophy in it. Samurai means is ” to fight and take away and give it to their master.” That is about it. They were lucky enough to have imported and learned from Korea ” Korean philosopy”. Japan’s expansionism began because they wanted to expand their territory. They had been long suffering from kind of “inferiority complex’ due to much higher spiritual heritages of Korea. That is why they want to destroy Korean heriate, tradition, scholarship, arts and good customs. Yes, Korea had been very poor. But Korea’s long tradition supported by many different idealism and pragmatism had existed and has still existed. I thank this Youtube to stimulate my research to know much more about our great( but painful) history. Honestly I had been long enjoying my business career mingling with many international business peeople including those of Japan. Of course I hightly admire Japanes efficiency, diligency, and many other things.

It is one of my obligations as a senior to let our young generation know about the truth of our history and Asian history.

Thanks,

Young Hwang

The Overthinker

And where did Korea get its philosophy from? China.

“The Truth Of Japan’s Annexation Of The Korean Peninsula” According To Professor Che Keiho

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