{"id":859,"date":"2021-10-09T17:01:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-09T17:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/?p=859"},"modified":"2021-10-09T17:01:24","modified_gmt":"2021-10-09T17:01:24","slug":"were-the-ilchinhoe-justified-in-their-support-of-the-japanese-1909-1910-a-look-at-collaboration-in-a-colonial-setting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/2021\/10\/were-the-ilchinhoe-justified-in-their-support-of-the-japanese-1909-1910-a-look-at-collaboration-in-a-colonial-setting\/","title":{"rendered":"Were the Ilchinhoe justified in their support of the Japanese, 1909-1910? A look at collaboration in a colonial setting"},"content":{"rendered":"

In December 1909, the Korean organisation the Ilchinhoe proposed a Japanese-Korean \u2018merger\u2019 that they believed would instil new life in Korea as a nation with Japan as its saviour.[1]<\/a> Instead, the merger is attributed to starting the chain of events that led to Korea\u2019s brutal annexation by the Japanese that lasted thirty-five years.<\/p>\n

Yumi Moon\u2019s article \u2018Immoral Rights: Korean Populist Collaborators and the Japanese Colonisation of Korea, 1904-1910\u2019 explores the idea that the Ilchinhoe, who are remembered in Korean history as \u2018notorious collaborators\u2019, need to be considered in a colonial context so that their actions may be explained.[2]<\/a> This blog post will consider if Moon\u2019s article provides justification to the Ilchinhoe\u2019s support of the Japanese in the lead to up the annexation of Korea in 1910.<\/p>\n

To understand why the Ilchinhoe collaborated with the Japanese, Moon urges historians to avoid contemporary moral views as it becomes a \u2018major hindrance\u2019.[3]<\/a> Historians need to consider the setting and conditions of those who are being colonialised so they can grasp why certain groups chose to work with those who are doing the oppressing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>So, for the context of Korea and the Ilchinhoe, Moon places a great emphasis on the point that the Ilchinhoe movement was populist. She quotes Margaret Canovan, writing, \u2018Populists claim legitimacy on the grounds that they speak for the people<\/em>: that is to say, they claim to represent the democratic sovereign\u2019.[4]<\/a> Therefore, the Ilchinhoe were doing what they believed was best for the Korean people. They viewed Korea as a \u2018backwards\u2019 nation while Japan was a \u201ccivilising\u2019 empire\u2019 that could protect Korea\u2019s prosperity.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking at the Ilchinhoe\u2019s view with a contemporary mindset will result in a negative judgement of the group. However, using Moon\u2019s argument that the colonial context must be considered allows for one to see that the Ilchinhoe genuinely believed they were doing what was best for Korea. Their logic was \u2018Independence through dependence\u2019, and that Korea needed to understand what it was and wasn\u2019t capable of so that Japan could guide them as a \u2018friendly ally\u2019.[6]<\/a> The Ilchinhoe always advocated for the rights of Korean people and did not wish for Korea to lose its independence; what they wanted was for Japan to revitalise their government.<\/p>\n

In the end, the Japanese used this to their advantage and were able to annex Korea with \u2018relatively little bloodshed\u2019 thanks to the Ilchinhoe\u2019s collaboration efforts.[7]<\/a> Moon\u2019s final argument urges an understanding that the Ilchinhoe, the colonised, had no agency or control over how the Japanese, the colonisers, acted. Ultimately, the Ilchinhoe may have had good intentions that they believed represented what the Korean population wanted but were misguided in trusting the Japanese. Japan ended up ignoring what was proposed in the merger and used it as proof that Korea was not able to be independent at all which led to the annexation. \u00a0So did Moon\u2019s article justify the Ilchinhoe\u2019s actions and shed a more positive light on their organisation? That depends on how na\u00efve one would believe the Ilchinhoe were in thinking the Japanese wouldn\u2019t take complete control over Korea. However, Moon does provide substantial evidence that suggests their collaboration was in the Korean people\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>Carl Young, \u2018Eastern Learning Divided: The Split in the Tonghak Religion and the Japanese Annexation of Korea, 1904-1910\u2019 in Belief and Practice in Imperial Japan and Colonial Korea <\/em>ed. Emily Anderson (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), p.93<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Yumi Moon, \u2018Immoral Rights: Korean Populist Collaborators and the Japanese Colonisation of Korea, 1904-1910\u2018, The American Historical Review <\/em>113:1 (2013), p.20<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid. <\/em>p.22<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid. <\/em>p.27<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid. <\/em>p.33<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid. <\/em>p.32<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Ibid. <\/em>p.42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In December 1909, the Korean organisation the Ilchinhoe proposed a Japanese-Korean \u2018merger\u2019 that they believed would instil new life in Korea as a nation with Japan as its saviour.[1] Instead, the merger is attributed to starting the chain of events that led to Korea\u2019s brutal annexation by the Japanese that lasted thirty-five years. Yumi Moon\u2019s … Continue reading “Were the Ilchinhoe justified in their support of the Japanese, 1909-1910? A look at collaboration in a colonial setting”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57,133,132,134,25,130],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-20th-century-japan","tag-collaboration","tag-empire","tag-ilchiinhoe","tag-japan","tag-korea"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}