On March 1, 1919, a mass uprising of Koreans against the tough policy of the Japanese colonialists began in Seoul. Within a few days, spontaneous protests spread throughout the Korean Peninsula. The metropolis managed to suppress the rebels with the help of the army, but the official Tokyo had to make significant concessions in managing the rebellious land.
In the first half of the 20th century, Korea was ruled by Japan. The current situation directly arose from the results of the Russian-Japanese war for influence in the Far East. Having defeated its western neighbor, the island state took root on the mainland. Under the 1905 treaty, Korea became a protectorate of Japan. However, many in the empire wanted more. The fruit of their efforts was the signing of the treaty on the annexation of Korea to Japan in August 1910. For exactly 35 years, before the surrender of this country in World War II, Korea turned into a Japanese colony.
This period of Korean history is filled with tragedy. The governors-general sent from Tokyo adhered to a tough course - the so-called "policy of sabers", strenuously tried to Japaneseize the population of the peninsula. The Japanese demonstratively neglected the cultural heritage of Korea. Any form of protest was suppressed by punitive authorities.
Repression threatened not only politically active Koreans, but also ordinary peasants, as well as girls, the massive violence against whom became a symbol of that time and was captured in various sources.
The harsh and ineffective course of the second governor-general of Korea, Yoshimichi Hasegawa, appointed in October 1916, led to a massive uprising. The reason for the speech was announced in January 1918 by US President Woodrow Wilson the right of weak nations to self-determination. An underground committee of 33 cultural and religious figures was formed who developed secret plans to overthrow the Japanese government.
The first to demand sovereignty were the Korean students studying in Tokyo. Future famous Korean writer Lee Kwang Soo drew up the Declaration of Independence of Korea. About 600 students gathered in the Assembly Hall of Korean Protestant Youth on February 8, 1919, read the text of the Declaration and decided to pass it on to the Japanese Emperor. The document ended with four main points: on granting independence to the Korean people; the convocation of the Korean National Assembly; the decision by the Paris Peace Conference to grant Korea the right to self-determination; that the Korean nation will rise up to fight if these requirements are not met.
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The Declaration referred to the experience of the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia. In the midst of the meeting, the Japanese police broke into the premises. More than 60 people were captured. Information about what happened quickly spread throughout Korea.
On March 1, two days before the funeral of the country's former emperor Kojong, rumored to have been poisoned by the Japanese, Korean patriots called a mass rally.
A crowd of 300,000 gathered for the demonstration in Seoul Pagoda Park: people accepted the Declaration and began collecting signatures in support of it. However, "33 representatives of the nation" did not appear at the people's gathering. At 2:00 pm, they gathered at the Taehwagwan restaurant, where they read and signed the Declaration, sent a copy to Governor General Hasegawa, raised glasses to Korean independence, and then called the Japanese police and surrendered voluntarily.
Such strange behavior, more like political populism than real action, was due to security concerns. However, the unrest began just the same - even in the absence of the leaders. The national Korean banner was raised over the square. People who came to the Park began to chant: "Long live independence!" Students threw up their uniforms, sang patriotic songs and danced. The mood quickly spilled over into the streets of Seoul. The Japanese police came out to meet the crowd. Over 1,000 people, according to Korean sources, were killed.
News of the March 1 events spread with lightning speed throughout the country, and the demonstration was supported by the entire Korean people.
Of the 218 counties Korea was divided into, 211 saw large demonstrations. In some places they acquired an armed character. The rebels ransacked police stations, the buildings of the Japanese administration, the houses of Japanese officials and the estates of landowners. Workers' strikes escalated into clashes with troops urgently called out from Japan. Seoul, Pyongyang, Sinuiju and rural areas became the centers of the uprising. Almost all major cities went on strike. Stores refused to work in protest against the colonial regime. Any Japanese were at risk of beating. At least 1,542 popular demonstrations swept across the country. The peasants were especially active. In total, over 2 million people took part in the struggle.
The peak of activity began to subside only by the second half of April, which was not least due to the increase in the army contingent thrown by the Japanese against the protesters. In the northern and central provinces, the "First March movement" was suppressed earlier than in the southern.
However, North Korean sources of the 1990s argued that the uprising did not actually start in Seoul, but in Pyongyang, where the Declaration of Independence was also read.
In addition to the territory of the Korean Peninsula, the movement affected the places of compact residence of Koreans in Manchuria and Russia. For example, the Koreans of Primorye performed on March 17 in Nikolsk with their own Declaration.
According to Japanese officials, 553 people were killed during the protests, 12 thousand were arrested. If you believe the work of the Korean historian of those years Park Eun Sik "The Bloody History of the Independence Movement", during the suppression of the "First March Movement" 7509 people died, received 15 961 wounded, 46 948 were imprisoned.
In addition, Japanese security forces destroyed 48 churches, two schools, and burned 715 houses.
And although the uprising ended in failure, the Japanese authorities were forced to significantly soften the regime in Korea, moving from "military rule" to "cultural rule". New Governor General Makoto Saito, who had a reputation as a liberal, announced reforms, which, however, did not have the expected result. But Koreans also rejoiced at individual "conquests" such as easing censorship and allowing publications in Korean.
End of Japanese rule
By August 1945, it was clear that Japan's defeat in World War II was inevitable. On August 8, the Soviet Union entered the war; The Red Army quickly defeated the Japanese forces in Manchukuo and occupied the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. On August 6 and 9, American troops dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities. In these conditions, the Japanese Empire announced its acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and surrender to the allies. Under the terms of surrender, she, in particular, renounced Korea, which was divided into the Soviet and American zones of occupation along the 38th parallel. In September 1945, American troops led by John Hodge landed in South Korea. On September 8, 1945, Korea's last governor-general, Abe Nobuyuki, signed an act of surrender to the Allies, and the colonial government was formally dissolved the next day. Thus ended the 35-year period of Japanese rule in Korea.
After Japan's surrender, the American occupation authorities organized the repatriation of Koreans to their homeland from the former metropolis and the repatriation of Japanese from Korea to the Japanese islands. Within a few years, the vast majority of the Japanese left the Korean Peninsula.
The colonial period in Korea was a period of economic growth. So, the GNP of the colony from 1912 to 1939 increased 2.66 times (on average 3.6% per year), the total consumption - 2.38 times (on average 3.3% per year), and the level of income per capita - by 1.67 times (on average by 2.3% per year).
Agriculture in Korea was modernized during this period. In 1912, Agricultural Technology Bureau (農業 技術 館) was established in each Korean province to plan and implement new agricultural technologies.
The total area of cultivated land in Korea grew, although rather slowly: for example, from 1919 to 1938, this area grew by 132,995 hectares. During the colonial period, the share of land belonging to Japanese owners grew: in 1912 they owned 3-4% of the cultivated land, and in 1932 - 16% … A significant part of this land was land confiscated from the former imperial house of the Korean Empire. The colonial authorities pursued a policy of exporting rice grown in Korea to the metropolis.