Go Not Gently [historical tidbits]
anonymous
February 3 2009, 23:09:34 UTC
Thought I posted this already. My bad.
The Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of August 22, 1910 reads, in part, "His Majesty the Emperor of Korea makes the complete and permanent cession to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of all rights of sovereignty over the whole of Korea." Korea didn't have much choice in the matter, although then-Emperor Sunjong refused to sign it, leaving the task to Prime Minister Lee Wan Yong. These days Koreans remember the day as Gukchi-il, which means something like "the day of national shame."
Korea's resistance to Japanese occupation and its independence movements are really too numerous to cover in a kinkmeme comment. Suffice to say that the country didn't take its occupation or its treatment passively. The March 1st Movement (Sam-il Undong) of 1919 is one of the first examples of these movements: a group of 33 nationalists met at a restaurant to read a declaration of independence and then called the police to come and arrest them. This set off a chain reaction of public readings and demonstrations, which ended with a lot of deaths - Korea says around 7,000, Japan says 550.
Beginning in the 1930s, classes in Korean schools were taught in Japanese and students were penalized for using their native language. Korean history wasn't taught. Korean literature dedicated to native emperors was rewritten to praise the Japanese emperor, and Korean historical texts that cast Japan in a negative light or emphasized Korea's history as an independent nation were altered or destroyed.
During World War II, Koreans were used as forced laborers, often working in inhumane conditions or under Allied fire. Somewhere between 200,000 and 800,000 of them died.
The Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of August 22, 1910 reads, in part, "His Majesty the Emperor of Korea makes the complete and permanent cession to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of all rights of sovereignty over the whole of Korea." Korea didn't have much choice in the matter, although then-Emperor Sunjong refused to sign it, leaving the task to Prime Minister Lee Wan Yong. These days Koreans remember the day as Gukchi-il, which means something like "the day of national shame."
Korea's resistance to Japanese occupation and its independence movements are really too numerous to cover in a kinkmeme comment. Suffice to say that the country didn't take its occupation or its treatment passively. The March 1st Movement (Sam-il Undong) of 1919 is one of the first examples of these movements: a group of 33 nationalists met at a restaurant to read a declaration of independence and then called the police to come and arrest them. This set off a chain reaction of public readings and demonstrations, which ended with a lot of deaths - Korea says around 7,000, Japan says 550.
Beginning in the 1930s, classes in Korean schools were taught in Japanese and students were penalized for using their native language. Korean history wasn't taught. Korean literature dedicated to native emperors was rewritten to praise the Japanese emperor, and Korean historical texts that cast Japan in a negative light or emphasized Korea's history as an independent nation were altered or destroyed.
During World War II, Koreans were used as forced laborers, often working in inhumane conditions or under Allied fire. Somewhere between 200,000 and 800,000 of them died.
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