Жапон оккупациясына қарсы күрес және Корея тәуелсіздігі қозғалысы

Activism to end the Japanese occupation

The Korean independence movement was a series of diplomatic and militant efforts to liberate Korea from Japanese rule. The movement began around the late 19th or early 20th century, and ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. As independence activism on the peninsula was largely suppressed by Japan, many significant efforts were conducted abroad by the Korean diaspora, as well as by a number of sympathetic non Koreans. In the mid 19th century, Japan and China were forced out of their policies of isolationism by the West. Japan then proceeded to rapidly modernize, forcefully open Korea, and establish its own hegemony over the peninsula. Eventually, it formally annexed Korea in 1910. The 1919 March 1st Movement protests are widely seen as a significant catalyst for the international independence movement, although domestically the protests were violently suppressed. In the aftermath of the protests, thousands of Korean independence activists fled abroad, mostly to China. In April 1919, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (KPG) was founded as a self proclaimed government in exile. After the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, China became one of the Allies of World War II. In the Second Sino Japanese War, China attempted to use this influence to assert Allied recognition of the KPG. However, the United States was skeptical of Korean unity and readiness for independence, preferring an international trusteeship like solution for the Korean Peninsula. Although China achieved agreement by the Allies on eventual Korean independence in the Cairo Declaration of 1943, continued disagreement and ambiguity about the postwar Korean government lasted until the Soviet–Japanese War of 1945 created a de facto division of Korea into Soviet and American zones. August 15, the day that Japan surrendered in 1945, is celebrated as a holiday in both South Korea and North Korea.

Until the mid 19th century, Qing China, Japan, and Joseon Korea all maintained policies of relative isolationism. Around this time, Joseon was a tributary state of Qing. The Opium Wars during the mid 19th century between China and various Western powers led to the Qing government being forced to sign several unequal treaties, opening up Chinese territory to foreigners. Japan was also forced to open up by the United States via the 1853 to 1854 Perry Expedition. It then underwent the Meiji Restoration and experienced a period of rapid modernization. However, in 1866, Joseon was able to resist an American attempt to open it as well as a French attempt. It was Japan that eventually succeeded in opening Korea, when it forced Joseon to sign the unequal Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876. Japan then began a process of absorbing Korea into its own sphere of influence over the course of several decades. According to Kirk W. Larsen, by 1882, Japan appeared to be the preeminent power on the peninsula, even over Joseon's formal suzerain, Qing. Japan's hegemony over Korea was further cemented by the Japanese victory in the 1894 to 1895 First Sino–Japanese War. The Treaty of Shimonoseki that ended the war stipulated that Qing would relinquish Joseon from its influence. The Russian Empire then attempted to put Korea in its own sphere of influence, but was soundly defeated in the 1904 to 1905 Russo Japanese War. By this point, Japan was the unquestioned hegemon over Korea. In 1905, it made Joseon its protectorate, and in 1910, it formally absorbed Korea into its empire. Meanwhile, shortly after Korea's forced opening, Gojong, the King of Joseon, made efforts to reach out to the United States and various European powers via a number of treaties, foreign exchange student programs, and diplomatic missions. But these overtures often went ignored or forgotten, as the powers prioritized their own interests in Japan and China. Koreans requesting assistance from foreign governments and being ignored became a frequent occurrence even until the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945.

Following Joseon's forced opening, Japan continued to open more and more parts of Korea to exclusive Japanese trade, to the chagrin of the citizens of Joseon as well as Joseon and Qing officials. In some areas of Korea and especially near the port of Wonsan, "small roving bands of Koreans" attacked Japanese people who ventured outside at night. In 1882, the Imo Incident occurred, in which general anti foreigner sentiment (especially anti Japanese) amongst the Joseon Army and later the general citizenry led to the killing of both Korean government officials and members of the Japanese legation. In 1894, the Donghak Peasant Rebellion occurred. Like the Imo Incident, this rebellion was also generally anti foreigner, with a focus on Japan. This incident is what sparked the First Sino–Japanese War. In April 1896, Soh Jaipil and others established the Independence Club: the first political organization that advocated for Korean independence. Among other goals, the group advocated for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. While Gojong initially recognized and tolerated the organization, he eventually disbanded it in December 1898. Between 1905 and 1912, a number of volunteer guerrilla armies, called "righteous armies" emerged among the Korean populace to fight the Japanese. Around 20,000 volunteers died in these confrontations, which ultimately did not stop the colonization of Korea.

The period of Japanese colonial rule that ensued was oppressive to a far reaching degree, giving rise to many Korean resistance movements. By 1919 these became nationwide, marked by what became known as the March 1st Movement. Japanese rule was oppressive but changed over time. Initially, there was very harsh repression in the decade following annexation. Japan's rule was markedly different than in its other colony, Formosa. This period is referred to as amhukki (the dark period) in Korean historiography and common parlance in Korea. Tens of thousands of Koreans were arrested by the Japanese colonial administration for political reasons. The harshness of Japanese rule increased support for the Korean independence movement. Many Koreans left the Korean Peninsula for Manchuria and Primorsky Krai in Russia, some of whom formed resistance groups and societies in Manchuria to fight for Korean independence. Koreans also carried out armed struggles against Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea. In 1919 and 1920s, Korean independence army units engaged in resistance activities in Manchuria, which traveled across the Korean Chinese border, using guerrilla warfare to fight against the Japanese army. Some went to Japan, where groups agitated clandestinely. There was a prominent group of Korean Communists in Japan, who were in danger for their political activities. After the Peace Preservation Law of 1925, some freedoms were restricted. Then, in the lead up to the invasion of China and World War II, the harshness of Japanese rule increased again.

Although the Empire of Japan had invaded and occupied northeast China from 1931, the Nationalist Government of China avoided declaring war on Japan until the Empire directly attacked Beijing in 1937, sparking the Second Sino Japanese War. After the United States declared war on Japan in 1941, China became an Ally of World War II, and tried to exercise its influence within the group to support Pan Asian and nationalist movements, which included stipulating a demand of the complete surrender of Japan and immediate independence of Korea afterwards. China tried to promote the legitimacy of the Provisional Government of Korea (KPG), which was established by Korean exiles in China after the suppression of the March 1st Movement in Korea. The KPG was ideologically aligned with the Chinese government of the time, as independence leader Kim Gu had agreed to Chiang Kai shek's suggestion to adopt the Chinese Three Principles of the People program in exchange for financial aid. During the independence movement, the rest of the world viewed what was occurring in Korea as an anti imperialist, anti militarist, and an anti Japanese resistance movement. Koreans, however, saw the movement as a step to free Korea from the Japanese military rule.

The constant infighting within the Yi family, the nobles, the confiscation of royal assets, the disbanding of the royal army by the Japanese, the execution of seniors within Korea by Japan, comprehensive assassinations of Korean royalty by Japanese mercenaries, and surveillance by Japanese authorities led to great difficulties in royal descendants and their family groups in finding anything but a partial leadership within the liberation movement. A good many of the righteous army commanders were linked to the family but these generals and their righteous army groups were largely dead by 1918, and cadet members of the families contributed towards establishing both republics post 1945.