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 1st 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.
Ideologies and concerns[edit]
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.[20][21][22]
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.[23] Koreans, however, saw the movement as a step to free Korea from the Japanese military rule.[23]
The South Korean government has been criticized as recently as 2011 for not accepting Korean socialists who fought for Korean independence.[24]
Tactics[edit]
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.[25]
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.[23] After the March 1st 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.[23]