Introduction
In modern South Korean historiography, in relation to the period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea, the term “the period of forcible occupation by the Japanese Empire” is used. After the annexation of Korea, all power in the country passed to the Japanese governor-general, in whose hands were concentrated legislative, executive power, and control over the judiciary branch. Japanese policy on the Korean Peninsula, especially during the last colonial decade, can be characterized by the term “ethnocide.”
Discussion
Building the Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, within which the Koreans were to play the role of “second-class Japanese,” the occupying authorities pursued a consistent policy of destroying the Korean national identity. To avoid potential problems, Koreans last names were changed to Japanese. At the same time, Korean was replaced with Japanese, taught in schools as native speech. It got to the point that the Japanese spread the Shinto religion in Korea, which only an ethnic Japanese could truly accept. Thus, the period of colonization is regarded as a dark era in Korean history, and there is a significant body of literature on it. Richard E. Kim offers a compelling narrative about the issues Koreans faced every day during the Japanese colonization in his novel Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood (1970). This paper will explore and explain this aspect of the famous novel, delving into the influences Japan’s colonial politics brought.
Richard Kim was born in Kang’s hometown of Hamhung, North Korea in 1932. Kim’s feelings were undoubtedly shaped by the four years he spent immersed in the extraordinary circumstances of the Korean War, which left an indelible mark on millions of Koreans. His third book, Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood, was published in 1970. The name refers to the time when the Japanese demanded from Koreans to adopt new, Japanese names instead of their ancestral ones. In the novel, Kim (1970) a day of his childhood during the Japanese oppression, and how he perceived it as a child.
The period of Korean history during the Japanese colonialization is full of tragedy. During it, the so-called “saber policy” was established – every Japanese authority representative, including even school teachers, wore sables to be able to suppress any signs of potential rebellion. Kim (1970) subtly draws attention to this policy by repeatedly mentioning how the policemen were wearing sabers “clanking against black leather riding boots” (36). It was the saber that became an indispensable attribute of power, hence the name “saber regime,” which adequately reflects the essence of the political system created in colonial Korea. The civilizational mission proclaimed by the Japanese colonialists in fact came down to the suppression of the national statehood and culture of the Koreans. In his narrative, Kim (1970) reflects how distraught and grim was his father and his friends when they had to change their names to Japanese ones, how he was told to “look and remember.”
In the novel, Kim (1970) tells the story of one winter day of his childhood – specifically, the day on which he and other children were forced to finally go and officially change their names. Snow becomes a huge part of the exposition – through it, Kim (1970) shows the hardships of oppression and degradation Koreans had to endure. He describes vividly how he, his father and family friends, after a long walk through blizzard, stand in line with other people who came to change their names. A long line stretches out from the police station to the church – even in the unrelenting snow and harsh wind, Koreans are forced to stand and wait for their turn to discard their heritage. Even the elderly people were not spared from it – Kim (1970) mentions how an old Korean man who did not even understand Japanese was given a new name by the local authorities.
The influence of the Japanese on the spiritual life and public consciousness of the Koreans was carried out through the political and socio-economic reforms performed after the annexation. The colonialists resorted not only to direct suppression and terror, but also to veiled forms of influence on the local population. They propagated the idea of a “new” patriotism, the essence of which was to adopt the official course of the authorities and involve the brightest representatives of the nation in the assimilation policy. This aspect is represented by Kim (1970) in a more religion-related form: he narrates the process of trudging through the snow with other children to pray at a Shinto temple. As he (1970) writes in the end, “years later, when our Liberation comes, we raid the shrine; there, we discover two wooden sticks to which we have been bowing and praying all those years” (40). Kim’s narrative here feels like he is deeply offended by it – by the fact that it was just wooden sticks the Japanese replaced his people’s gods with.
In the most concentrated form, ideological and spiritual oppression was reflected in the educational policy of the colonial authorities. Through the system of primary and secondary educational institutions, the Japanese solved the problem of ideological, political, and ethno-cultural assimilation of the local population. Schools teaching Korean writing, national history and the basics of culture were closed everywhere. Japanese was introduced in primary and secondary schools, while Korean was banned everywhere, and fines were imposed for its use in public places.
As Kim (1970) narrates from the standpoint of a child, he does not go into much detail on the matter. However, he does put a strong emphasis on the description of their teacher – a young Japanese man who is revealed to be deeply ashamed by the actions of his country. Despite the fact that the narrator is a child, Kim’s innate aversion for the teacher is shown prominently, especially in the end of the story. He does not want to be seen with the Japanese, and he is repulsed by the felling of the teacher holding his hand. For the child, the teacher feels like an embodiment of oppression his people face, despite that fact that the Japanese does not support the imperial views of his country.
Conclusion
In the end, no ideological and propaganda tricks of the invaders, persecution, and repression could finally crush the will of the Korean people or break down their cultural tradition that had developed over many centuries. The colonial period in the history of Korea is associated with the expansion of the patriotic movement and the emergence of organized armed resistance. The feudal nationalism that capitulated to the invaders was replaced by representatives of the national liberation movement. The pinnacle of the anti-colonial struggle of the Korean people in the first half of the 20th century resulted in the actions of the partisan detachments “Yiben.” Therefore, in the spring of 1919, a rapid growth of anti-Japanese sentiments began, which led in March-April of the same year to a nationwide uprising that shook all of Korea.
Work Cited
Kim, Richard E. Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood. The Si-Sa-Yong-O-Sa Publishers, 1970.