The Japanese takeover of Korea in the 19th and 20th centuries in the context of the New Imperialism of the period

1. Korea and
New Imperialism

2. New Imperialism?
• Process
– Interaction - Distortion - Influence -
Colonization
• Justification
– Social Darwinism (race, eugenics)
– White Man's Burden
– New Nationalism (Romanticism +
Irrationalism)
• Migration: Conquest v. Settler

3. New Imperialism
• Industrialization
–Military advantage
–Need for Raw Materials, Markets
• International Law
–Treaties Without Participation
(e.g. Berlin Conference)
–Exclusion

4. Unequal Treaties
• Starts with 1842 Treaty of
Nanjing
• Extraterritoriality
• Trade Concessions and Treaty
Ports
• "Most Favored Nation" clauses
• Indemnity Payments

6. Japan-Korea
Engagement
• 1872: Seikanron
• 1876: Kangwha Treaty
–1881: US-Korea Friendship
Treaty
• 1885: Li-Ito Agreement
• 1894: Tonghak Uprising

7. Sino-Japanese War, 1894-1895

8. Increasing Control
• 1895:
–Treaty of Shimonoseki
• Korea, Taiwan, Liaotung Peninsula
–Assassination of Queen Min
• 1896: Triple Intervention
• 1900: Boxer Expedition
• 1902: Anglo-Japanese Alliance

9. Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905

10. Protectorate
• 1905
– Treaty of Portsmouth
– Taft-Katsura Agreement
– Treaty of Protectorate
• 1907
– Korean Mission to the Hague
– Emperor Kojong Abdicates
– Korean Army Disbanded
• 1909: Ito Hirobumi Assassinated
• 1910: Annexation

11. Japanese Colonial Territories and Spheres of
Influence, 1895-1912
Taiwan:
1895: Treaty of Shimonoseki
1898: Fujien region
Commercial Treaty
Korea:
1904: First Japan-Korea Treaty
1905: Second Japan-Korea
Treaty (Protectorate)
1907: Third Japan-Korea Treaty
(Internal Administration and
Military Disbandment)
1910: Korean Unification
Agreement
Liaodong Peninsula
1905: Portsmouth Treaty
1905: Sino-Japanese
Portsmouth Treaty Confirmation
Agreement
Manchuria
1907: First Japan-Russia
Treaty
1912: Third Japan-Russia

12. Colonial Korea
• 1910s: Aggressive Suppression
• 1919: Kojong Dies; March 1st
Movement
• 1920s: "Cultural Policy" and
development
• 1930s: Cultural Unity Movement;
China Colonization
• 1940s: Wartime Labor Exploitation

13. Influence In
China Before
WWI
Pink: Japan
Dark Pink: Japanese
colonial territory
Green: Russia
Pink/Green: Originally
Russian, becomes
Japanese
Blue: Germany
Orange: Great Britain
Purple: France
Dark Purple: French
Colonial Territory
Dark dots indicate Open

14. Colonial and Military Strength
Comparisons, 1911
Square indicates Territory
controlled in 10K square
kilometer units: red square
is home country; tan square
is colonial territory
Blue line indicates
population of home country
in millions
Green Bar indicates Imports
and Blue Bar indicates
Exports, in ¥10M units
Circle indicates Military
Naval Tonnage in 10K ton
units.
England
Russia
France
China
America

15. Sources
• Most maps and charts from Yamakawa
Nihonshi Sogo Zuroku [Japanese History
Maps and Charts Omnibus], 1985
• Tonghak map from Korea Old and New: A
History.
• All translations by Jonathan Dresner
• Ito Hirobumi and An Chung-gun images
public domain