Japanese Occupation in Korea

Japanese occupation in Korea was characterized by the interest in maintaining control in Korea and their attempts to prohibit any possibility of uprising or resistance by the Korean people. Japanese subverted Korean youths and women to prefer foreign and more modern sentiments (as it is shown in YMCA Baseball Team and Yoo’s study) with the help of pro-Japanese collaborators. All the authors deal with the issue of struggle between traditional Korean values and culture and the new influences on them.

YMCA Baseball Team, a semi-historical film, comically interprets the historical events of the first Korean baseball team in 1905. The events taking place prior to the movie indicate how Japan has occupied Korea and influenced youths. Many Koreans went to study in Tokyo as it is represented by the few characters of the film. YMCA Western missionaries collude with the Japanese in order to replace traditional Korean values by Japanese values and customs through indoctrination of Korean youths.

In his study “The “New Woman” and the Politics of Love, Marriage, and Divorce in Colonial Korea,” Yoo examines the way of radical transformation of “Korean woman” concept during the years of Japanese occupation. Not all Korean women supported the dictates of colonial Japan; some of them distinguished between the definition of “modern” (for instance, Western outfits) as legitimate and “Japanese” as illegitimate. Thus, the experience of these Korean women can be seen as unique due to the dual confrontation with colonial power of Japan and modernity itself.

In his study “Form of Existence and Structural Character of Pro-Japanese Collaborators in Korean History,” Seo examines the history of modern Korea through the lenses of nationalism.  The chapter critically questios the political abuses and uses of nationalism by Korean ruling elites. The author does not blame those Koreans who held positive views about Japan; he states that pro-Japanese collaborators were those who “engaged in anti-national activities” (Seo, p. 90) and thus abused national interests.

Seo, Yoo and Kim Hyun-seok deal with the issue of struggle between traditional Korean values and culture and the new influences on them. Korean youths, women and elite has changed under the impact of Japanese and Western cultures. As a result, the face of Korea has become different.