Korean independence movement

The Korean independence movement was a series of diplomatic and militant efforts to liberate Korea from Japanese rule. The movement began around the late 19th or early 20th century, and ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. As independence activism on the peninsula was largely suppressed by Japan, many significant efforts were conducted abroad by the Korean diaspora, as well as by a number of sympathetic non-Koreans.
In the mid-19th century, Japan and China were forced out of their policies of isolationism by the West. Japan then proceeded to rapidly modernize, forcefully open Korea, and establish its own hegemony over the peninsula. Eventually, it formally annexed Korea in 1910. The 1919 March First Movement protests are widely seen as a significant catalyst for the international independence movement, although domestically the protests were violently suppressed. In the aftermath of the protests, thousands of Korean independence activists fled abroad, mostly to China. In April 1919, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (KPG) was founded as a self-proclaimed government in exile.
After the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, China became one of the Allies of World War II. In the Second Sino-Japanese War, China attempted to use this influence to assert Allied recognition of the KPG. However, the United States was skeptical of Korean unity and readiness for independence, preferring an international trusteeship-like solution for the Korean Peninsula. Although China achieved agreement by the Allies on eventual Korean independence in the Cairo Declaration of 1943, continued disagreement and ambiguity about the postwar Korean government lasted until the Soviet–Japanese War of 1945 created a de facto division of Korea into Soviet and American zones.
August 15, the day that Japan surrendered in 1945, is celebrated as a holiday in both South Korea and North Korea.
Until the mid 19th century, Qing China, Japan, and Joseon Korea all maintained policies of relative isolationism. Around this time, Joseon was a tributary state of Qing. The Opium Wars during the mid-19th century between China and various Western powers led to the Qing government being forced to sign several unequal treaties, opening up Chinese territory to foreigners. Japan was also forced to open up by the United States via the 1853 to 1854 Perry Expedition. It then underwent the Meiji Restoration and experienced a period of rapid modernization. However, in 1866, Joseon was able to resist an American attempt to open it as well as a French attempt.
It was Japan that eventually succeeded in opening Korea, when it forced Joseon to sign the unequal Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876. Japan then began a process of absorbing Korea into its own sphere of influence over the course of several decades. According to Kirk W. Larsen, by 1882, Japan appeared to be the preeminent power on the peninsula, even over Joseon's formal suzerain, Qing. Japan's hegemony over Korea was further cemented by the Japanese victory in the 1894 to 1895 First Sino–Japanese War. The Treaty of Shimonoseki that ended the war stipulated that Qing would relinquish Joseon from its influence. The Russian Empire then attempted to put Korea in its own sphere of influence, but was soundly defeated in the 1904 to 1905 Russo-Japanese War. By this point, Japan was the unquestioned hegemon over Korea. In 1905, it made Joseon its protectorate, and in 1910, it formally absorbed Korea into its empire.
Meanwhile, shortly after Korea's forced opening, Gojong, the king of Joseon, made efforts to reach out to the United States and various European powers via a number of treaties, foreign exchange student programs, and diplomatic missions. But these overtures often went ignored or forgotten, as the powers prioritized their own interests in Japan and China. Koreans requesting assistance from foreign governments and being ignored became a frequent occurrence even until the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945.
Following Joseon's forced opening, Japan continued to open more and more parts of Korea to exclusive Japanese trade, to the chagrin of the citizens of Joseon as well as Joseon and Qing officials. In some areas of Korea and especially near the port of Wonsan, "small roving bands of Koreans" attacked Japanese people who ventured outside at night.
In 1882, the Imo Incident occurred, in which general anti-foreigner sentiment (especially anti-Japanese) amongst the Joseon Army and later the general citizenry led to the killing of both Korean government officials and members of the Japanese legation.
In 1894, the Donghak Peasant Rebellion occurred. Like the Imo Incident, this rebellion was also generally anti-foreigner, with a focus on Japan. This incident is what sparked the First Sino–Japanese War.
In April 1896, Soh Jaipil and others established the Independence Club: the first political organization that advocated for Korean independence. Among other goals, the group advocated for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. While Gojong initially recognized and tolerated the organization, he eventually disbanded it in December 1898.
Between 1905 and 1912, a number of volunteer guerrilla armies, called "righteous armies" emerged among the Korean populace to fight the Japanese. Around 20,000 volunteers died in these confrontations, which ultimately did not stop the colonization of Korea.
The period of Japanese colonial rule that ensued was oppressive to a far-reaching degree, giving rise to many Korean resistance movements. By 1919 these became nationwide, marked by what became known as the March First Movement.
Japanese rule was oppressive but changed over time. Initially, there was very harsh repression in the decade following annexation. Japan's rule was markedly different than in its other colony, Formosa. This period is referred to as amhukki (the dark period) in Korean historiography and common parlance in Korea. Tens of thousands of Koreans were arrested by the Japanese colonial administration for political reasons. The harshness of Japanese rule increased support for the Korean independence movement. Many Koreans left the Korean Peninsula for Manchuria and Primorsky Krai in Russia, some of whom formed resistance groups and societies in Manchuria to fight for Korean independence. Koreans also carried out armed struggles against Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea. In 1919 and 1920s, Korean independence army units engaged in resistance activities in Manchuria, which traveled across the Korean-Chinese border, using guerrilla warfare to fight against the Japanese army. At this time, Beom-do Hong's unit ambushed and annihilated the Imperial Japanese Army that was advancing in Bongodong(Fengwudong), Jilin, Manchuria(June 1920). Also, the combined forces of the independence army commanded by Jwa-jin Kim and Beom-do Hong, while repeatedly retreating operationally, ambushed and killed about 1,500 Imperial Japanese soldiers in Cheongsanri(Qīngshānlǐ), Jílín, Manchuria. In retaliation to loss at Battle of Qingshanli, the Imperial Japanese Army committed the Gando Massacre, massacring between 5,000 and tens of thousands of Korean civilians in Gando. Some Koreans went to Japan, where groups agitated clandestinely. There was a prominent group of Korean Communists in Japan, who were in danger for their political activities.
Partly in response to Korean opposition to Japanese colonial policies, this was followed by a relaxation of some harsh policies. The Korean crown prince married the Japanese princess Nashimoto. The ban on Korean newspapers was lifted, allowing publication of Choson Ilbo and The Dong-A Ilbo. Korean government workers received the same wages as Japanese officials, though the Japanese officials received bonuses the Koreans did not. Whippings were eliminated for minor offenses but not for others. Laws interfering with burial, slaughtering of animals, peasant markets, or traditional customs were removed or changed.
After the Peace Preservation Law of 1925, some freedoms were restricted. Then, in the lead up to the invasion of China and World War II, the harshness of Japanese rule increased again.
Although the Empire of Japan had invaded and occupied northeast China from 1931, the Nationalist government of China avoided declaring war on Japan until the empire directly attacked Beijing in 1937, sparking the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the United States declared war on Japan in 1941, China became an Ally of World War II, and tried to exercise its influence within the group to support Pan-Asian and nationalist movements, which included stipulating a demand of the complete surrender of Japan and immediate independence of Korea afterwards.
China tried to promote the legitimacy of the Provisional Government of Korea (KPG), which was established by Korean exiles in China after the suppression of the March 1st Movement in Korea. The KPG was ideologically aligned with the Chinese government of the time, as independence leader Kim Ku had agreed to Chiang Kai-shek's suggestion to adopt the Chinese Three Principles of the People program in exchange for financial aid. At the same time, China supported the leftist independence leader Kim Won-bong and convinced the two Kims to form the unified Korean Liberation Army (KLA). Under the terms in which the KLA was allowed to operate in China, it became an auxiliary of China's National Revolutionary Army until 1945. China's National Military Council had also decided that "complete independence" for Korea was China's fundamental Korean policy; otherwise, the government in Chongqing tried to unify the warring Korean factions.
Although Chiang and Korean leaders like Syngman Rhee tried to influence the U.S. State Department to support Korean independence and recognize the KPG, the Far Eastern Division was skeptical. Its argument was that the Korean people "were emasculated politically" after decades of Japanese rule, and showed too much disunity, preferring a condominium solution for Korea that involved the Soviets. China was adamantly opposed to Soviet influence in Korea after hearing about atrocities in Poland following its Soviet takeover in 1939. By the Cairo Conference, the US and China came to agree on Korean independence "in due course", with China still pressing for immediate recognition of the exile government and a tangible date for independence. After Soviet-American relations deteriorated, on August 10, 1945, the United States Department of War agreed that China should land troops in Pusan, Korea from which to prevent a Soviet takeover. However, this turnaround was too late to prevent the division of Korea, as the Red Army quickly occupied northern Korea that same month.
Although there were many separate movements against colonial rule, the main ideology or purpose of the movement was to free Korea from the Japanese military and political rule. Koreans were concerned with alien domination and Korea's state as a colony. They desired to restore Korea's independent political sovereignty after Japan invaded the weakened and partially modernized Korean Empire. This was the result of Japan's political maneuvers to secure international approval for the annexation of treaty annexing Korea. During the independence movement, the rest of the world viewed what was occurring in Korea as an anti-imperialist, anti-militarist, and an anti-Japanese resistance movement. Koreans, however, saw the movement as a step to free Korea from the Japanese military rule.
The South Korean government has been criticized as recently as 2011 for not accepting Korean socialists who fought for Korean independence.
There was no main strategy or tactic that was prevalent throughout the resistance movement, but there were stages where certain tactics or strategies were prominent.
From 1905 to 1910, most of the movement's activities were closed off to the elite class or rare scholar. During this time, militaristic and violent attempts were taken to resist the Japanese including assassination. Most of the attempts were disorganized, scattered, and leaderless to prevent arrests and surveillance by the Japanese.
From 1910 to 1919, was a time of education during the colonial era. Many Korean textbooks on grammar and spelling were circulated in schools. It started the trend of intellectual resistance to Japanese colonial rule. This period, along with Woodrow Wilson's progressive principles abroad, created an aware, nationalist, and eager student population. After the March First Movement of 1919, strikes became prominent in the movement. Up to 1945, universities were used as a haven and source of students who further supported the movement. This support system led to the improvement of school facilities. From 1911 to 1937, Korea was dealing with economic problems (with the rest of the world, going through the Great Depression after World War I). There were many labor complaints that contributed to the grievances against Japan's colonial rule. During this period, there were 159,061 disputes with workers concerned with wages and 1018 disputes involving 68,686 farmers in a tenant position. In 1926 the disputes started to increase at a fast pace and movements concerning labor emerged more within the Independence Movement.
There were broadly three kinds of national liberation groups: (a) the Christian groups which grew out of missionary efforts led by Western missionaries primarily from the United States prior to the Japanese occupation; (b) the former military and the irregular army groups; and (c) business and intellectual expatriates who formed the theoretical and political framework abroad.
Catholicism arrived in Korea towards the end of the 18th century, facing intense persecution for the centuries afterwards. Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries followed in the 19th century starting off a renaissance with more liberal thoughts on issues of equality and woman's rights, which the strict Confucian tradition would not permit.
The early Korean Christian missionaries both led the Korean independence movement active from 1890 through 1907, and later the creation of a Korean liberation movement from 1907 to 1945. Korean Christians suffered martyrdoms, crucifixions, burnings to death, police interrogations and massacres by the Japanese.
Amongst the major religious nationalist groups were:
Supporters of these groups included French, Czech, Chinese, and Russian arms merchants, as well as Chinese nationalist and communist movements.
Expatriate liberation groups were active in Shanghai, northeast China, parts of Russia, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Groups were even organised in areas without many expatriate Koreans, such as the one established in 1906 in Colorado by Park Hee Byung. The culmination of expatriate success was the Shanghai declaration of independence.
Sun Yat-sen was an early supporter of Korean struggles against Japanese invaders. By 1925, Korean expatriates began to cultivate two-pronged support in Shanghai: from Chiang Kai-Shek's Kuomintang, and from early communist supporters, who later branched into the Chinese Communist Party.
Little real support came through, but that which did develop long-standing relationships that contributed to the dividing of Korea after 1949, and the polar positions between south and north.
The constant infighting within the Yi family, the nobles, the confiscation of royal assets, the disbanding of the royal army by the Japanese, the execution of seniors within Korea by Japan, comprehensive assassinations of Korean royalty by Japanese mercenaries, and surveillance by Japanese authorities led to great difficulties in royal descendants and their family groups in finding anything but a partial leadership within the liberation movement. A good many of the righteous army commanders were linked to the family but these generals and their righteous army groups were largely dead by 1918, and cadet members of the families contributed towards establishing both republics post-1945.