I agree with your comment that Korea-Japan-China would be incredibly powerful. I just don't think that their animosity towards each other is the fault of Americans. Japanese, gone crazy, were killing/enslaving Koreans and killing Chinese before the Americans got involved in WW2.
A while back Koreans made some sort of turtle ship....think it was used to help stop a Japanese invasion or something like that. Koreans are VERY proud of that victory. Another region with a long history of conflict.
The narrative manufactured by the most powerful propaganda arm in the history of human kind ,the US media,is what defines Japanese war efforts in front of the world.The narrative spun against Imperial japan one of the greatest feat of historical white wash and diversion of blame,it helped to frame the korean and chinese propaganda against Japan.
There are historical records of korea's biggest political party demanding Japan to annex korea,Korean gov petitioned Japan to do so,it admired Japan and wanted it to be a part of Japan than be turned into Russian colony under the yoke of oppression by the elite class (yangban).So you can technically argue that, democratically,Korea wanted to join Japan.Korea was already a Japanese protectorate since 1905 and the korean gov upon consensus facilated the annexation . Japan never waged war against korea for occupation. US forced Korea to become independent.Overwhelming no of Koreans never wanted to be independent.
regardless of that,what matters to civilians is ,whether their living standard improved under the Japanese?
And facts prove that the living standard of koreans overwhelminly improved under the Japanese;productivity & population increased multifold.
Japanese, gone crazy, were killing/enslaving Koreans and killing Chinese before the Americans got involved in WW2.
This is totally misrepresentation of historical records sponsored by state propaganda .Before the existence of UN,there was a global governing body called League of Nations , and they had send many missions through out Japanese occupation to access whether any atrocities were happening under the Japanese rule.And they had nothing but praise for the Japanese in all their reports.One such mission was
the Lytton Commission was formed to investigate Japanese actions in Manchuria and Japan.
McCoy, the American representative shared his impressions about the situation in korea in his report.
"Last night I experienced an epiphany, which was perhaps the greatest reward reaped from this long sojourn in the Orient. At the same time, I must confess that I am thoroughly ashamed that I failed to inform myself better about Korea. What I speak of is simply the huge difference between my previous perceptions and the reality. Since Korea is essentially an extension of Manchuria, geographically speaking, we assumed that bandits would be running rampant, that there would be a dearth of industry, and that we would find the people leading idle lives on red clay beneath bald mountains. Yet, when our train crossed the bridge over the Yalu River, we were amazed at the sights that greeted us through the windows: luxuriant expanses of green, farmers busily working in the rice fields or engaged in other forms of agriculture. In Pyongyang and other cities we observed smoke emanating robustly from factory chimneys. The people we observed at train stations were dressed neatly, behaved in an orderly fashion, and seemed content. Public order was well maintained; we had no fears whatsoever.
Korea seemed to be centuries ahead of Manchuria. We were very pleased to observe all these phenomena, which were clear signs that Japan’s colonial policy was effective and that the governors-general had ruled with passion and wisdom. We will surely continue to make drastic adjustments of our perceptions of Korea.
At that point only 21 years had passed since Japan had begun to rule Korea. Japan was in the process of accomplishing the most brilliant economic feat in the world."
This is what former US president herber Hoover himself said about the Japanese occupation of Korea
? The population of the Korean peninsula doubled
? Average life expectancy (24 years) increased by 30 years or more
? Slaves (30% of the population) were freed,class system abolished
? Child prostitution and the buying and selling of children were abolished
? Limits were placed on patriarchal power
? Korean women, previously relegated to the status of livestock, were given names
? Weights and measures were standardized
? The Hangul Korean alphabet was revived; a standard Korean language was established
? A large number of textbooks and other educational materials for Korean language education were produced or imported
? More than 5,200 elementary schools were established
? Nearly three million (2,390,000) Koreans enrolled in schools; the literacy rate rose from 4% to 61%
? Japan established Seoul National University (the very first university in the Korean Peninsula)
Seoul Women's Normal School (the women couldn't receive education during the Joseon period).More than 1,000 teachers’ colleges and high schools were established
Since Korea became part of Japan (not a colony), Japan established higher education institutions
Universities were established for the first time .
? Shamanistic medicine was prohibited and many hospitals were established
? Water-supply and sewer systems were built
? Open sewers were eliminated
? Japanese were subject to conscription, many of them dying in war zones, while Koreans were drafted for only one year just before the war ended, and required only to serve as laborers in Japan proper
? When Korean soldiers who enlisted died in action, they were enshrined as heroes just as the Japanese were
? Korea’s railways, which covered only 100 kilometers prior to annexation, were extended to 6,000 kilometers
? Many ports were opened; electricity became available throughout the peninsula
? Companies were founded; the barter system was replaced by a currency economy
? Residences of two stories or more were built
? Six hundred million trees were transplanted to bald mountains; reservoirs were built
? Half of Korea’s reservoirs were built by the Japanese, the Japanese Build the World’s Second-Largest Dam in Korea
? Roads, rivers and bridges were improved, Many fishing village was transformed into a modern industrial port city like Heungnam.
? Crop yield increased by a factor of 3 when Koreans were taught modern agricultural techniques
? Korean women learned about modesty, and began to cover their breasts(YES they used to flaunt it)
? Before the Koreans knew it, their nation had modernized
Isabella Bird, British writer (Korea and Her Neighbours)1
I thought [Seoul] the foulest city on earth till I saw Peking, and its smells the most odious, till I encountered those of Shao-Shing. For a great city and a capital its meanness is indescribable.
Yet [Seoul] has no objects of art … no public gardens, no displays … and no theatres. It lacks every charm possessed by other cities. Antique, it has no ruins … no literature, and lastly ...
For among the curses of Korea is the existence of this privileged class of yang-bans or nobles, who must not work for their own living, though it is no disgrace to be supported by their relations, and who often live on the clandestine industry of their wives in sewing and laundry work.A yang-ban carries nothing for himself, not even his pipe. Yang-ban students do not even carry their books from their studies to the classroom. His servants browbeat and bully the people and take their fowls and eggs without payment,
the vast mass of the unprivileged, on whose shoulders rests the burden of taxation, are hard pressed by the yang-bans, who not only use their labor without paying for it, but make merciless exactions under the name of loans.As soon as it is rumored or known that a merchant or peasant has laid up a certain amount of cash, a yang-ban or official seeks a loan.Practically it is a levy, for if it is refused the man is either thrown into prison on a false charge and whipped every morning until he or his relations pay the sum demanded, or he is seized and practically imprisoned on low diet in the yaug-baii’s house until the money is forthcoming.
so imagine north koreans hating Japan for annexing the north from kim family and improving their living standard,will average north Korean frown the Japanese without massive propaganda brainwash?
It's no different ..
Koreans in the street of Seoul celebrating Japan's advance in China (1941)
There are nothing but praise and admiration about the Japanese rule of the korean peninsula in historical records,all the criticism are newly manufactured state sponsored propaganda .
Food for thought*
US President Woodrow Wilson:
"Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines came under the rule of another nation (Japan in the case of the first two, and the US the third) at approximately the same time and for the same duration. South Korea and Taiwan became advanced nations, while North Korea and the Philippines are still struggling, developing nations. How do we explain the difference?"
Korea before and after being part of the Japanese empire .
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another 'error'
www.reuters.com
