History assignment report on: Report help on Colonialism

Executive Summary

The report attempts to bring out the concept of colonialism in detail, and that how it circumscribes a nation within its boundaries irrespective of any physical and the emotional considerations. The detailed account of the friction between Japan and Korea has been provided in the paper. In the contemporary context if Korea is willing to join hands with Japan in terms of trade then it can be brave initiative taken up by the Korean minister as it would be a kind of moving forward from the past and the atrocities which the Koreans have suffered through. The aims of the paper is to be bring out the questions which even today have not been answered. The facts throw a light upon the brutalities to which the Koreans had been subjected in the past. The paper is important for it shapes the contemporary perspective of Korea for Japan. Simultaneously it also attempts to sensitise its opponent against the territorial and the political dispute which the two countries have still been contesting over the years. The paper elaborately brings out the role of the military powers in oppressing the Koreans and the physical, sexual and the emotional exploitation that followed other brutalities[1]. The episodes like the Comfort Women and the recent issues like the Dokdo/ Takeshima have been lingered on to present. Though it ahs been brought out that colonialism in Korea also endured positivity in terms of modernisation, the facts have even discussed to bring that  it was again an expansive motive and the intention of the Japanese had always been guided by the colonial motives. Colonialism

Etymologically derived from the Latin ‘colere’, the same means to inhabit, or populate a place which originally belongs to somebody else. In a way colonisation is the advent of some unwanted bodies. This term has direct relation to the migration, that is when the outsiders come and settle at one place and they try to encroach upon the rights of the people who belong to that place. In the contemporary context, the human tendency can be seen as such which tries to encroach upon other territories and tries to impose the new structures of the rules and regulations on them.  It can be exist in the context of settling as a colony in terms of society or trade and this determines the concept of colonialism, which means the exercise of the rule in a secondary place. The same is the case in terms of Korea and Japan, the colonial rule from the year 1910-1945 has shown the worst of it to the Korea. The advent of colonialism had been harsh on Korea as the initial years were completely taking up Korea through military powers.Japanese Military: The oppressive power

The military powers had terribly exploited the nation of Koreas, even in the year 1919 when they protested against the Japanese colonialism the people were denied the right to speech and thus they were put to silence. During the period of the second world war, there was high time unrest in the two countries and thus Japan was exploiting the country at its best. The military were forcefully hiring the Korean population to be sent to the war front. Japanese colonialism has been the worst effect on the psyche of the common Koreans, they were even denied to live under their identity and therefore they were forced to take up the Japanese names[2]. This had led to the millions of the shell-shocked veterans in the war time, other than the exploitation of the lives and the resources, the loss of identity was the one terrible factor that was influencing the other.A major historical issue which was very unfortunate for the country is ‘Comfort Women’ they were those women who had been who used to be sexually exploited for the purpose of the sexual gratification of the men in the Japanese Army. The numbers are almost in lakhs which defines the countless limit of the exploitation. The nature of such an exploitation therefore  was not only physical, but mental and sexual also. the majority of the women were Koran, followed by the Chinese, Phillippines, Thailand and other Asian countries. There were in fact proper comfort colonies which the Japanese had formed for such activities of sexual exploitation. The colonial set up of Japanese during the World war was involved in abduction of the young women and the girls right from their homes[3]. There was continous trapping and the luring that was happening in the nation, the temptations like the promise of the jobs and the work in the factories. When the women got to know about the trappings and they protested they were either threatened to death, raped or were warned at gun-point[4]. To believe the facts the first Japanese comfort station was built in Shanghai, 1932. Initially there were the self-volunteering Japanese prostitutes. as the military was expanding itself , there was an equal increasing need for the sex providers for the soldiers. The shortage was there with the sexual bodies and so were the increasing demands. Thus the trend started where the concept of sexual slavery started off. These women were especially exported from countries like Korea and China. According to the survey by the United States office of War Information, the reports spoke on the behalf of the comfort women only, they said that they were hired in the name of work, great jobs, reputed lifestyle and the prospects for business in Singapore. In fact it is seen that during the war period some Korean agents were also involved in the business of the prostitution and in fact they had licensed this activity with the fear of money.Another recent example that can be added to the historical issues between Japan and Korea is that of the Dokdo or Takeshima. The names goes for the outcrop that is considered to be part of both the territories respectively. The geographical dispute had been there for long that has been acting as a constant spoiler between the Korean and the Japanese relationships. The lawmakers of the Liberal Democratic Party wish to go to Dokdo through South Korea, and on the contrary there has been a response full of warning from the government of Lee Myung Bak that the Japanese politicians should be visiting the place because of the heated response of the place. The territorial dispute marks that the motive of both the nations is to still expand over the other and thus the past is somehow trying to relocate itself in the present. In fact with the political condition in which there has been triggering rivalry between the USA and  China, the hostilities of the Taiwan military system and the nuclear ambitions of Korea, the rivalry based on the small territorial of the Dodko or Takeshima[5] issues should be avoided and the crisis should be attended to. Somehow, in the Korean perspective the expansion plans of Japan are not justified with reference to the issue of the out crop because it is not bigger than what they had actually done in the war years and that how the same has a fresh imprint in the psyche of the Koreans. The loss of identity in the past and the atrocities to which they have been subjected have actually unified the country and so more than any political motives the country has the rightful approach to save everything that comes under the rights of the Koreans. Any political or the geographical designs of the opponent are no unacceptable in the Korean point of view. Guised Development of Korea

The colonial rule of Japan in Korea is believed by most to be positive in some aspects. It is believed generally that modernisation and the technical advancement of Korea can be seen in the footprints of the Japanese as they went by.  The inputs have been there about the settling up of the railway system in Korea that positively affected the trade postings. Many scholars have found the colonialism to have been good for Korea in social and the economical aspects, but it can be easily claimed only as an outsider’s perspective. The Koreans themselves have gone through the thick and thins of the world war crime and the exercise of the power on them that they can actually imagine the real intentions of the Japanese and their motives. It is a usual belief of the common people of Korea that such atrocities that were exercised upon them could anyhow have any kind of a developmental motive towards Korea. Usually the after math of the colonisation of Korea is regarded as positive in the guise of the economic growth, introduction of machinery, the advent of mass media and the related modern technologies. But the same claims forget that such decorative measures were only taken to appraise the self of the Japanese and that how it had been forming good terms with the China and the other Pacific nations. it was not offering the chance to the Koreans to be a part of their economy but only was using them as a labour force to work as puppets for the settlers. It is seen that at the backdrop of the war Korea was developing in a new way, it had been industrialising itself. In fact the North and the South of the Korea had become the hub for trade with the inter-peninsula connectivity and that has only been rendered by the colonial rule of the Japanese. But still the fact remains rhetorical in itself that how can the atrocities of the war time  be forgotten, how can the laymen in Korea move away from the frightening picture of the past, how can the women who had been put to slavery, abducted and killed be compensated back to their families today? The loss of life can be seen as the biggest loss and therefore the development of Korea cannot be credited in Japanese account of the powers which they had exercised on Korea.

Korea: The misconceived Nation

It is also important to reflect that how Korea has been misunderstood as a nation. By the Japanese it has always been taken up as the uncivilised and the barbaric place. The people had been treated as pawns who would act as the Japanese wanted. Before colonising the place it was on the verge of modernisation, but that definitely doesn’t make it backward in any aspect. The nation itself had been putting efforts to rescue itself and did not need any god country to come and recue it. In the end of the nineteenth century itself , the period of isolation for Korea was coming to an end. The obstruction called Taewongun was pulled away from the powerful scene and the isolationist Che Ik-hyon was[6] also removed off, this marked the enmtry of the nation into a changed nation. This is when Korea started to establish itself by signing the meaningful and challenging treaties, and also learned from the mistakes which the other nations had made in the context of politics. In terms of learning something innovative, Korea showed great interest in the countries like Japan, China, US and Russia, it wanted to grow by itself and that it should learn to cooperate with the strict cultural values. This way the cultural facets were being experimented with and the innovations were occurring gradually.

The dominance of Japan over Korea has not been their only in terms of the trade, even education in the country was also highly disputed with the advent of the Japanese as the colonial power. The education ah always been an importance to the people of Korea since the 14^th century, thus it was a hard working nation in the domain of the education also. in the year 1907 it was seen that many missionaries were promoting the education in Korea and thus more than 500 primary schools were built an more than twenty high schools too[7], but with the advent of Japanese, the destruction was massive and the education system also became the central target for them. Their strategy was such that education always opened the door for the better opportunities and encouraged awareness and employment capabilities. Along with putting a stop at the education they were also trying to put a ban on the employment of the Koreans. This prohibition would only lead to the forceful work conditions and the self surrender to the Japanese colonisers. The japanese had a complete new way of teaching the young learners and had all the powers to curb their minds towards them. the complete western thinking was being taught to them and so were the western concepts of thinking and the technical models were being imparted to them. This was also a commercial move of the Japanese to even colonise the minds of the colonised.

ConclusionIf the initiative is being taken by Korea to establish the trade relations with Japan then it can be seen as a bold step that the country can take up. At any stage the picture which the country has experienced cannot be forgotten by the country and the people inhabiting the place. It can be concluded that the actions which Japan has exercised on the country cannot be replaced by any other favour which it could do. The military power had done utter destruction in the geographical space and also the emotional damage is done in the name of the modern education. The questions from the past remain there as they were and could not be answered. The report thus has touched the issues which it could and bring that the history of a time and place always haunt the present and the future of the nations and the people involved in it. The base is that though the historical issues cannot be answered or resolved but the future can be sorted for better. So the enhancement of the trade relations could help the betterment of the relationship between Korea and Japan.

If you want History management Assignment Help studysamples to help you write professional custom essay’s and essay writing help.

Receive assured help from our talented and expert writers! Did you buy assignment and assignment writing services from our experts in a very affordable price.

To get more information, please contact us or visit www.myassignmenthelp.Com