Colonialist Historiography and YMCA Baseball Team

In "Minjok as a Modern and Democratic Construct: Sin Ch’aeho’s Historiography" Em addresses the issue of the modernity of a Korean "narration" and of colonialist historiography justifying Japanese imperialism. These two concepts are ones that I also noticed are present in YMCA Baseball Team. When discussing minjok as a modern concept, Em emphasises the need to first examine when Koreans became Korean, when a national identity was established. Did Koreans become Korean when their norms and culture were being taken away by the Japanese in the early 20th century? In the context of YMCA Baseball Team there is a prominent theme of Japan vs. Korea -- the most glaring being the two rival baseball teams, as well as Min Jong-rim's relative's suicide protesting the Eulsa Treaty, the hatred "Eulsa Five" traitors, and the depiction of the Japanese as brutal colonists beating up Koreans--  but what I found interesting was that in many ways, the film creates a sense that a Korean identity had not yet been formed. The YMCA baseball team was created by the American missionary while the Japanese team was completely Japanese. Though the movie stresses the rift between the two countries, even just on the basis of it being called the YMCA team and not the Korean team, a lack of national identity is displayed. In recognising that baseball was a Western, and primarily American, sport, the film gave the sense that even once the Japanese were gone, Korea would still have the presence of foreign influence. On the other hand, one moment that stood out was the parallel created between Lee Ho-chang's love letter to Min Jong-rim and the mourner's expressing their grief/anger towards Japan. Korea and Japan's colonial relationship in this moment was made to be comical but at the same time, referring to Japan as "the thief who stole my heart" might be understood as Japan taking away what makes Koreans Korean, giving the sense that there was an existing national identity.
In regards to colonial historiography, Em addresses Japan's justification in historiography for their imperialism by Korea's "lack" for development and progressiveness. In YMCA Baseball Team, this "lack" is displayed most  noticeably in the different uniforms of the two teams. While the Koreans were using hay bales as bases, cloth for gloves, and had hand-made shoes, the Japanese were using a proper field, fancier uniforms and real shoes. Though the film is Korean, the fact that it is set during the colonial period connects the two countries. Korea and Koreans are still defined in relationship to the Japanese. This made me question what type of colonial historiography the film could be seen as. Having depicted the "lack" that Em discusses, YMCA Baseball Team has an aspect of Japanese colonial historiography but creating a sense of confusion as to whether or not there was a Korean national identity captures the limbo that Korea was in during the colonial period.