Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1910-1945일제강점기 1910-1945

From 1910 to 1945, Korea was a colony of the Japanese Empire. After winning wars against China and Russia, Japan made Korea a protectorate in 1905 and formally annexed it in 1910, ending the 500-year Joseon dynasty. For 35 years the peninsula was ruled by a Japanese Governor-General.

Colonial rule went far beyond politics. Especially in later decades, Koreans faced pressure to abandon their own language and names, resources and rice were channeled to Japan, and during World War II many Koreans were mobilized as forced laborers and soldiers. At the same time, Koreans resisted continuously — through armed struggle abroad, a government-in-exile in Shanghai, and mass movements at home. Thousands of independence activists were imprisoned, tortured, or died at places like Seodaemun Prison in Seoul, built in 1908 largely to hold them.

Liberation came on August 15, 1945, with Japan's defeat — a day still celebrated as Gwangbokjeol, 'the return of the light.' But freedom arrived tangled with division into Soviet and American zones, which soon hardened into two Koreas.

This period is not distant history here. It explains why history topics can feel raw, and why memorial sites are visited by school groups every day. Visiting one, quietly and with curiosity, is one of the most meaningful things a traveler can do in Korea.