(1) Japanese Imperialists and Korea's Rights as a Nation

Japan, which had desired exclusive domination of the Korean peninsula, finally declared war on Russia in 1904. War broke out between the two powers, and because the object of this war was the invasion of the Empire of Korea, the battlefield was the entire Korean peninsula.
As the Russo-Japanese War broke out, the Korean government declared neutrality. However, Japan, while declaring war, simultaneously dispatched two army divisions to Korea to occupy Seoul and other important locations as bases for their operations. They then forced Korea to sign the Korea-Japan Protocol in 1904 and mobilized Koreans in large scale for war. Using the war as a pretext, Japan swiftly constructed the Seoul-Pusan and Seoul-Sinuiju railroads and stole tens of millions of pyong (standard of land measure) for military use.

Afterwards, Japan forced Korea to sign the First Korea-Japan Convention and grasped the real powers of diplomacy, finance, military, police, education, and the palace in 1904. They unilaterally concluded and promulgated the Second Korea-Japan Convention and took away Korea's diplomatic rights. Japan, which held on tightly to the reigns of control, set up a Bureau for the Governor-General in Seoul to manage not only Korea's diplomatic but internal affairs as well in 1906. As the first Governor-General, Ito Hirobumi, the mastermind and the archvillain behind the invasion was appointed.
Japan stole Korea's rights as a nation by viciously taking over the will of the Korean people. In the process of concluding the various treaties with Korea, Japan not only threatened and bought off the Korean ministers who opposed them, but also dispatched troops to create an atmosphere of terror throughout the whole country. Emperor Kojong dispatched Yi Sang-sol and Yi Chun to the World Peace Conference at the Hague as representatives and denounced the unjustifiable acts of aggression by Japan in 1907.
Japan, taking retribution against this act, forced the abdication of Emperor Kojong and Emperor Sunjong acceded to the throne. A new Japan-Korea Convention was then signed in 1907 and Japan appointed vice ministers to each government branch who were given actual power of control. Furthermore, Japan forced the Korean army to disband, turning Korea into a country without the power of self-defense.
The effects of the Japanese invasion extended to the police force and judiciary powers as well. By depriving Korea of its police and judiciary powers, the Japanese gendarme police took charge of national security. And after taking away the people' freedoms of speech, press, assembly and association to cast darkness over the whole country, Japan even took away Korea's nominal sovereignty and turned Korea into a Japanese colony in 1910.
The Japanese aggression was not limited to the political field. In the process of aggression, they took away Korea's rights to currency and stole large areas of land in order to build an economic basis for colonization.

(2) Oppressive Domination by the Gendarme Police

After turning Korea into a colony, Japan established the office of the Government-General of Choson in Seoul as the central ruling organization. Underneath it, various agencies of aggression and plunder were set up like a string of cobwebs.
The Governor-General was directly under the Japanese Emperor and exercised tremendous powers in the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches of government, and also possessed the authority of command over the army. Japan stationed two infantry divisions, 40,000 gendarme and police, in addition to 20,000 auxiliary gendarmes throughout the country to build the foundations for her colonial control.
The domination by the gendarme police set up by Japan was so cruel that few similar examples exist in the world.
The commander of the Japanese gendarme possessed both central and local police power under one system of command. He was oppressive beyond belief.
The gendarme police not only engaged in simple activities to ensure security but also searched out and punished patriotic independence fighters and even moved into the sphere of everyday life of the people. Furthermore, the Korean people were oppressed with threats, and Japan forced even civilian officials and school teachers to wear uniforms and carry long swords.
Under the control of the Japanese police, the Korean people lived somber lives as if in prison, completely deprived of their freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association.
Any Korean who was under suspicion by Japanese authorities was immediately arrested and tortured by every imaginable means. The leaders of the Korean people were mercilessly arrested and thrown into prisons.
But just as new buds sprout from under a snowbank frozen over in midwinter, the national spirit continued to steadfastly grow, even under the cruel control of the Japanese gendarme. Finally, it burst forth in the March First Movement.

(3) Plunder of Land and Food

After seizing the rights of the nation, the Japanese adopted a policy of plundering. Before colonization, the Japanese had already stolen large areas of land. In 1910, the Temporary Land Surveying Bureau was established in the Government-General's office and by mobilizing tremendous funds and personnel, usurped more lands away from the Koreans.
Under the pretext of reorganizing land ownership through this new survey, the Government-General ordered Koreans to reregister land ownership through a complicated procedure. Land, whether public or private, which failed to be declared or was declared late, fell under the ownership of the Government-General.
In this way about, 40% of all farm land in Korea was improperly repossessed by the Government-General. The Government-General sold these lands either to development companies or private Japanese citizens at low prices.
With the plundering of the land, Japan took several million Soks (1 Sok = 80kg) of rice and soybeans a year. When they began to send rice to Japan, Korea's food situation went from bad to worse. Thus, the Korean people were forced to fill their hungry bellies with grass roots and tree bark.

(4) Oppression of National Industries and Exploitation of Labor

While plundering the land and food, the Government-General oppressed the development of Korea's national industries.
First, they passed a corporation law which interferred with industrial activities carried out by Koreans. Then, they passed a Forestry Law by which the Government-General and private Japanese citizens occupied 50% or more of all Korean forests.
The Japanese took control of the fishing industry as well. Under the support of the Government-General, Japanese fishermen took over the Korean fishing industry, which had at one time been the second largest catching nation in the world.
The Government-General and the Japanese plutocrats (cartels) also took possession of the underground resources of Korea. Gold, silver, iron, coal, and tungsten and other important mines were owned by the Japanese. The quantity of minerals excavated from the mines owned by Koreans did not exceed 1/300 of the total.
In addition, the Government-General monopolized the operation of banks, railroads, harbors, roads, and communication facilities. In this way, Japan thoroughly oppressed Korea's national industries and Japanese enterprises built with Japanese capital became the main industries.

When Japan oppressed the development of Korean industries, the Korean people were forced to consume Japanese-made goods in exchange for food, and to supply labor at low wages.
In 1930, Japan turned Korea into a weapons depot for a continental invasion and enforced a policy for industrialization. To this end, Japan demanded exceptionally hard labor.
Koreans, irrespective of age or sex, were forced to go to the munition factories in Korea and abroad to work long hours at the risk of their lives.

(5) Enforcement of the Policy to Obliterate the Korean Nation

The Japanese policy of colonial domination was evident in education as well. They destroyed Korea's national history and culture and strove to inculcate the Japanese spirit and culture into the Korean people. All text books were rewritten to fit the Japanese aggression policies and the use of Han'gul and the Korean language were prohibited. Furthermore, they closed the Sodangs (villages schools) which instituted patriotic education while allowing some industrial and vocational education in order to create mild and obedient colonial subjects out of the Korean people.

Such Japanese policies were further strengthened in the process of invading Manchuria and the Chinese continent. Japan determined a plan to squeeze out as much commodity and labor as possible from Korea in order to carry out their war plans.
In order to obtain these objectives, the Japanese could not but train Koreans to become colonial slaves loyal to the Japanese Emperor.
At first, Japan tried to appease the Korean people with a vain and unfounded theory that the Korean and Japanese people are descendants of the same ancestors and thus, are like brothers. Then, they forced Koreans to study Japanese history, to use the Japanese language and to swear allegiance to their Emperor. All insubordinators were thrown in prisons or expelled from their jobs.
In order to make Koreans just like the Japanese, the Korean people were forced to change their family names into Japanese names. In religion life, Japan forced the Korean people to worship the Japanese gods as a part of their duty.
This policy was aimed at erasing the Korean nation from the earth forever and to nurture them as colonial subjects and slaves obedient only to the Japanese.
Ultimately, the Japanese drew countless Korean youths and women to the battle fields, factories, and mines to aid in their conquests and wars.

(6) Emigration of Nationals Abroad and Japanese Suppression

After the opening of the ports, rapid changes occurred in domestic politics and society, and as the Japanese economic aggression intensified, many Korean people emigrated abroad. Many left due to desolate economic conditions to search for a new life elsewhere with their families and others left hoping to amass huge fortunes in commerce. However, some Koreans left to establish Korean villages beyond the reach of the Japanese in order to set up national schools, train independence fighters and wage wars to restore Korea's independence.
The number of Koreans living abroad in early 1910 had exceeded 200,000 and under Japanese rule, this number further increased until at the time of liberation, there were over 4,000,000 Koreans living abroad.
Koreans lived in large numbers in Manchuria and the Maritime Province. In particular, since Kando in eastern Manchuria was believed to be a part of Korea from ancient times, Koreans crossed the river to live there. In the days of the Empire of Taehan, an administrator was dispatched to Kando to protect the Koreans residing there.
But Japan, which deprived Korea of its diplomatic rights, transferred Kando to China in exchange for their right to occupy the Anpong railroad which would enable them to march to Manchuria. From then on, Kando was excluded from the Korean territory forever. Despite this fact, Korean residents in Kando organized large units of indepenednce fighters to attack the aggressive Japanese army. The Pong'o-dong and Ch'ongsal-li Battles are such examples.
Nevertheless, Japan continued their suppression of the Koreans living in Kando.
In particular, the Japanese massacre of the Korean people through suprise attacks toward the end of 1920 was notably cruel. This incident was carried out in revenge of their defeat in Ch'ongsal-li. At the time, the Japanese attacked Korean villages around the Yalu and Tumen Rivers under the pretext of searching for independence fighters. They massacred more than 10,000 innocent Koreans and burnt a majority of their houses, schools and churches. But the Koreans in Kando refused to surrender and continued to carry out anti-Japanese struggles to restore the independence of their country.

Koreans living in the Maritime Province carried out similiar activities. They supported the bases of the independence fighters as they cultivated the paddy rice fields in the cold.
Even though they were later forced to resettle in Central Asia by the Soviet government, they have not forgotten their national consciousness and traditional cultures. Even today, they continue to live there in group settlements.
Among the foreign lands, the place where the greatest number of Koreans lived was Japan.
During the Japanese colonial domination, oppression and plundering increased in severity and some Koreans sailed to Japan to build a new life.
As victims of discriminatory treatment by the Japanese, they worked hard in the factories and mines. During the Kwantong earthquake of 1923, approximately 7,000 Koreans living in Japan were mercilessly massacred by the Japanese without reason.
There were also many Koreans who were dragged away to Japan. Whenever labor shortages occurred, Japan took Korean youths and women to work in Japanese munition factories, mines, or textile factories. In fear of death, they worked, but the Japanese discrimination and persecution against Koreans only increased in severity.
Although smaller in numbers, Koreans also resided in the U.S., Mexico, and other countries.
In these strange new lands, Koreans lived enthusiastically all the while holding held on to their national tradition. They also collected funds to send to the independence fighters to support the independence movement.