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74-608: In the city government, there are 5 offices, 32 bureaus, and 107 divisions. The headquarters is located in the Seoul City Hall building which is in Taepyeongno , Jung-gu, Seoul . The Government started on September 28, 1946 as the Seoul City Government which became Seoul Metropolitan Government on August 15, 1949. The Seoul Metropolitan Government has one mayor and three vice mayors, with one in charge of political affairs and

148-453: A collection of more than 200,000 books. 37°33′59.06″N 126°58′40.16″E  /  37.5664056°N 126.9778222°E  / 37.5664056; 126.9778222 This article about a South Korean building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Japanese occupation of Korea From 1910 to 1945, Korea was occupied by the Empire of Japan under

222-673: A considerable number of properties were destroyed by Korean residents. Republic of China further alleged the Japanese authorities in Korea did not take adequate steps to protect the lives and property of the Chinese residents, and blamed the authorities for allowing inflammatory accounts to be published. As a result of this riot, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Kijūrō Shidehara , who insisted on Japanese, Chinese, and Korean harmony, lost his position. In 1911,

296-401: A new surname to be used in the family register. The surname could be of their own choosing, including their native clan name, but in practice many Koreans received a Japanese surname. There is controversy over whether or not the adoption of a Japanese surname was effectively mandatory, or merely strongly encouraged. From 1939, labor shortages as a result of conscription of Japanese men for

370-637: A number of irregular civilian militias called "righteous armies" arose. They consisted of tens of thousands of peasants engaged in anti-Japanese armed rebellion. After the Korean army was disbanded in 1907, former soldiers joined the armies and fought the Japanese army at Namdaemun . They were defeated, and largely fled into Manchuria, where they joined the guerrilla resistance movement that persisted until Korea's 1945 liberation. As Korean resistance against Japanese rule intensified, Japanese replaced Korean police system with their military police. Infamous Akashi Motojiro

444-616: A protectorate of China , forced opening of three Korean ports to Japanese trade, granted extraterritorial rights to Japanese citizens, and was an unequal treaty signed under duress ( gunboat diplomacy ) of the Ganghwa Island incident of 1875. The regent Daewongun , who remained opposed to any concessions to Japan or the West, helped organize the Mutiny of 1882, an anti-Japanese outbreak against Queen Min and her allies. Motivated by resentment of

518-419: A representative consultant for Ryohei Uchida , and was used for propaganda with the support of the Japanese government. On 3 December 1909, he and Lee Wan-yong will issue a statement demanding the annexation of Korea. However, the merger took place in the form of Japan's annexation of Korean territory and was disbanded by Terauchi Masatake on 26 September 1910. During the prelude to the 1910 annexation,

592-545: A result, the administrative information of the city is being provided more effectively and substantively. The Information Communication Plaza provides various internal approval request documents of different fields created by the City of Seoul. Especially, in addition to the main office of the City Hall and Business Entities of the city, the users may access the information from the 25 autonomous districts and other organizations funded by

666-670: A total population of over 21 million, less than 3%. By 1939 the Japanese population increased to 651,000, mostly from Japan's western prefectures. During the same period, the population in Chōsen grew faster than that in the naichi . Koreans also migrated to the naichi in large numbers, especially after 1930; by 1939 there were over 981,000 Koreans living in Japan. Challenges which deterred Japanese from migrating into Chōsen included lack of arable land and population density comparable to that of Japan. Japan sent anthropologists to Korea who took photos of

740-547: Is connected to City Hall Station (Seoul) on Seoul Subway Line 1 , with access to Seoul Subway Line 2 from the same station. In front of the current city hall is the old city hall building, now Seoul Metropolitan Library , and Seoul Plaza ( Korean : 서울광장 ). The former city hall of Seoul was built in 1925, during the Japanese occupation of Korea . It is an example of Imperial Crown Style architecture, and served as city hall from Korea's liberation in 1945, until construction of

814-625: Is exemplified in the legacy of Park Chung Hee , South Korea's most influential and controversial president, who collaborated with the Japanese military and continued to praise it even after the colonial period. Until 1964, South Korea and Japan had no functional diplomatic relations, until they signed the Treaty on Basic Relations , which declared "already null and void " the past unequal treaties, especially those of 1905 and 1910. Despite this, relations between Japan and South Korea have oscillated between warmer and colder periods, often due to conflicts over

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888-538: Is very helpful for anyone who wishes to access the status information on the various construction projects executed by the city. Seoul City Hall Seoul City Hall ( Korean :  서울특별시 청사 ) is a governmental building for the Seoul Metropolitan Government in South Korea , in charge of the administrative affairs of Seoul . It is located in Taepyeongno , Jung-gu , at the heart of Seoul. It

962-636: The Donghak Peasant Revolution in 1894 provided a seminal pretext for direct military intervention by Japan in the affairs of Korea. In April 1894, Joseon asked for Chinese assistance in ending the revolt. In response, Japanese leaders, citing a violation of the Convention of Tientsin as a pretext, decided upon military intervention to challenge China. On 3 May 1894, 1,500 Qing forces appeared in Incheon . On 23 July 1894, Japan attacked Seoul in defiance of

1036-622: The Gando Massacre , Kantō Massacre , Jeamni massacre , and Shinano River incident . While the international consensus is that these incidents all occurred, various Japanese scholars and politicians, including Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike , either deny completely, attempt to justify, or downplay incidents such as these. Beginning in 1939 and during World War II , Japan mobilized around 5.4 million Koreans to support its war effort. Many were moved forcefully from their homes, and set to work in generally extremely poor working conditions, although there

1110-584: The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1882 indemnified the families of the Japanese victims, paid reparations to the Japanese government in the amount of 500,000 yen, and allowed a company of Japanese guards to be stationed at the Japanese legation in Seoul. The struggle between the Heungseon Daewongun's followers and those of Queen Min was further complicated by competition from a Korean independence faction known as

1184-547: The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 . The territory was then administered by the Governor-General of Chōsen , based in Keijō (Seoul), until the end of the colonial period. Japan made sweeping changes in Korea. It began a process of Japanization , eventually functionally banning the use of Korean names and the Korean language altogether. Tens of thousands of cultural artifacts were taken to Japan, and hundreds of historic buildings like

1258-544: The Minister of War of Japan , Terauchi Masatake , was given a mission to finalize Japanese control over Korea after the previous treaties (the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1904 and the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907 ) had made Korea a protectorate of Japan and had established Japanese hegemony over Korean domestic politics. On 22 August 1910, Japan effectively annexed Korea with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 signed by Ye Wanyong , Prime Minister of Korea, and Terauchi Masatake, who became

1332-541: The "Japanese empire pressured the outcry of the Korean Empire and people and forced by Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 and full text of a treaty was false and text of the agreement was also false". They also declared the "Process and formality of "Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910" had huge deficiencies and therefore the treaty was null and void. This implied the March First Movement was not an illegal movement. From around

1406-472: The City of Seoul, Wonsoon Park, introduced many policies to promote democracy based on civil participation after his inauguration. As one of his key agenda, he suggested the Governance 2.0, based on the concepts of ‘Communication, Cooperation, and Participation,’ as he established the foundation for promoting citizen participation in the governance of the city and sought to provide all administrative information of

1480-702: The Imperial Palace on 20 September 1905, to seek political support from the United States despite her diplomatic rudeness. However, it was after exchanging opinions through the Taft–Katsura agreement on 27 July 1905, that America and Japan would not interfere with each other on colonial issues. Under the Treaty of Portsmouth , signed in September 1905, Russia acknowledged Japan's "paramount political, military, and economic interest" in Korea. Two months later, Korea

1554-458: The Japanese government took stronger measures. On 19 July 1907, Emperor Gojong was forced to relinquish his imperial authority and appoint the Crown Prince as regent. Japanese officials used this concession to force the accession of the new Emperor Sunjong following abdication, which was never agreed to by Gojong. Neither Gojong nor Sunjong were present at the 'accession' ceremony. Sunjong was to be

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1628-606: The Korean Imperial Museum in 1908 to preserve the treasures in the Gyeongbokgung , was retained under the Japanese administration but renamed Museum of the Yi Dynasty in 1938. The Governor-General instituted a law in 1933 in order to preserve Korea's most important historical artifacts. The system established by this law, retained as the present-day National Treasures of South Korea and National Treasures of North Korea ,

1702-479: The Korean government had been advised by the Japanese government "that hereafter the police matters of Seoul will be controlled by the Japanese gendarmerie" and "that a Japanese police inspector will be placed in each prefecture". A large number of Koreans organized themselves in education and reform movements, but Japanese dominance in Korea had become a reality. In June 1907, the Second Peace Conference

1776-565: The Korean government's demand for withdrawal, and then occupied it and started the Sino-Japanese War. Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War , and China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. Among its many stipulations, the treaty recognized "the full and complete independence and autonomy of Korea", thus ending Joseon's tributary relationship with Qing, leading to the proclamation of the full independence of Joseon in 1895. At

1850-702: The Progressive Party ( Gaehwa-dang ), as well as the Conservative faction. While the former sought Japan's support, the latter sought China's support. On 4 December 1884, the Progressive Party, assisted by the Japanese, attempted the Gapsin Coup , in which they attempted to maintain Gojong but replace the government with a pro-Japanese one. They also wished to liberate Korea from Chinese suzerainty. However, this proved short-lived, as conservative Korean officials requested

1924-497: The United States . The legacy of Japanese colonization was hotly contested even just after its end, and is still extremely controversial. There is a significant range of opinions in both South Korea and Japan, and historical topics regularly cause diplomatic issues. Within South Korea, a particular focus is the role of the numerous ethnic Korean collaborators with Japan , who have been variously punished or left alone. This controversy

1998-536: The altar. Having established economic and military dominance in Korea in October 1904, Japan reported that it had developed 25 reforms which it intended to introduce into Korea by gradual degrees. Among these was the intended acceptance by the Korean Financial Department of a Japanese Superintendent, the replacement of Korean Foreign Ministers and consuls by Japanese and the "union of military arms" in which

2072-534: The amount of land taken over by private Japanese companies. Many former Korean landowners, as well as agricultural workers, became tenant farmers , having lost their entitlements almost overnight because they could not pay for the land reclamation and irrigation improvements forced on them. Compounding the economic stresses imposed on the Korean peasantry, the authorities forced Korean peasants to do long days of compulsory labor to build irrigation works; Japanese imperial officials made peasants pay for these projects in

2146-413: The amount they took to eat dropped precipitously, causing much resentment among them. By 1910 an estimated 7 to 8% of all arable land in Korea had come under Japanese control. This ratio increased steadily; as of the years 1916, 1920, and 1932, the ratio of Japanese land ownership increased from 36.8 to 39.8 to 52.7%. The level of tenancy was similar to that of farmers in Japan itself; however, in Korea,

2220-515: The basis of written proof (deeds, titles, and similar documents). The system denied ownership to those who could not provide such written documentation; these turned out to be mostly high-class and impartial owners who had only traditional verbal cultivator-rights . Japanese landlords included both individuals and corporations (such as the Oriental Development Company ). Because of these developments, Japanese landownership soared, as did

2294-472: The citizens of Seoul "to secure the validity of its various policy researches". Seoul is one of the participating cities of the C40 Cities organisation, whose members share betterment goals for city living, and share targets and projects as well as contributing their own positive stories for others to learn from and study. In 2011, when Government 2.0 was still a new concept to many, the fifth elected mayor of

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2368-484: The city through the Information Communication Plaza. The City of Seoul discloses all of its administrative information except for that information designated as classified in accordance with the law. Through this policy, the city upholds the rights to information of the citizens, enhances transparency in the administration, and promotes accountability. Also, through the Information Communication Plaza of

2442-419: The city, allowing access to detailed information the citizens require. Also, the ‘Council Information’ section provides the information on the meetings organized by the City of Seoul from the schedule of the meetings to the minutes. Also, the ‘Policies of Seoul’ section provides the information on the key projects of the city administration and large projects which involve investments more than 10 billion won. This

2516-473: The city, the metropolitan government gathers up and returns various administrative information to its citizens. In order to implement our Nude Project successfully, the City of Seoul established the document disclosure system and the Information Communication Plaza in an innovative manner to disclose the administrative information automatically, while allowing the citizens to access the administrative information more easily through smartphones and other devices. As

2590-413: The design so I can recall comfortable feelings of old things." In 2012, the new City Hall was opened to the public on 27 August and the city government moved in on 1 September. The project, which took four years and five months to complete, also includes multipurpose halls and cultural facilities for citizens. The old building, registered as a cultural asset, has been converted into a library , and boasts

2664-439: The entire country. Japan was in control of the media, law as well as government by physical power and regulations. In March 2010, 109 Korean intellectuals and 105 Japanese intellectuals met in the 100th anniversary of Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910 and they declared this annexation treaty null and void. They declared these statements in each of their capital cities (Seoul and Tōkyō) with a simultaneous press conference. They announced

2738-460: The far-right nationalist group Nippon Kaigi , of which Fumio Kishida and 57% of his cabinet are members, deny that they were forced to work at all, and claim that even the pubescent girls consented to sex work and were compensated reasonably. After the surrender of Japan at the end of the war, Korea was liberated, although it was immediately divided under the rule of the Soviet Union and of

2812-459: The first Governor-General of Chōsen . The treaty became effective the same day and was published one week later. The treaty stipulated: Both the protectorate and the annexation treaties were declared already void in the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea . This period is also known as Military Police Reign Era (1910–19) in which Police had the authority to rule

2886-399: The form of heavy taxes, impoverishing many of them and causing even more of them lose their land. Although many other subsequent developments placed ever greater strain on Korea's peasants, Japan's rice shortage in 1918 was the greatest catalyst for hardship. During that shortage, Japan looked to Korea for increased rice cultivation; as Korean peasants started producing more for Japan, however,

2960-425: The help of Chinese forces stationed in Korea. The coup was put down by Chinese troops, and a Korean mob killed both Japanese officers and Japanese residents in retaliation. Some leaders of the Progressive Party, including Kim Ok-gyun , fled to Japan, while others were executed. For the next 10 years, Japanese expansion into the Korean economy was approximated only by the efforts of tsarist Russia . The outbreak of

3034-729: The historiography of this era. During the period of Japanese colonial rule, Korea was officially known as Chōsen ( 朝鮮 ) , although the former name continued to be used internationally. In South Korea, the period is usually described as the "Imperial Japanese compulsive occupation period" ( Korean :  일제강점기 ; Hanja :  日帝强占期 ; RR :  Ilje Gangjeomgi ). Other terms, although often considered obsolete, include "Japanese Imperial Period" ( 일제시대 ; 日帝時代 ; Ilje Sidae ), "The dark Japanese Imperial Period" ( 일제암흑기 ; 日帝暗黑期 ; Ilje Amheukgi ), and " Wae (Japanese) administration period" ( 왜정시대 ; 倭政時代 ; Wae-jeong Sidae ). In Japan,

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3108-435: The lack of experts in Korean art at overseas museums and institutions, alterations made to artifacts that obscure their origin, and that moving Korean artifacts within what was previously internationally recognized Japanese territory was lawful at the time. The South Korean government has been continuing its efforts to repatriate Korean artifacts from museums and private collections overseas. The royal palace Gyeongbokgung

3182-563: The landowners were mostly Japanese, while the tenants were all Koreans. As often occurred in Japan itself, tenants had to pay over half their crop in rent. By the 1930s the growth of the urban economy and the exodus of farmers to the cities had gradually weakened the hold of the landlords. With the growth of the wartime economy throughout the Second World War , the government recognized landlordism as an impediment to increased agricultural productivity, and took steps to increase control over

3256-461: The last ruler of the Joseon dynasty, founded in 1392. On 24 July 1907, a treaty was signed under the leadership of Lee Wan-yong and Ito Hirobumi to transfer all rights of Korea to Japan . This led to a large-scale righteous army movement among Koreans, and disbanded troops joined the resistance forces. Japan's response to this was a scorched earth tactic using division-sized troops, which resulted in

3330-495: The military efforts of World War II led to organized official recruitment of Koreans to work in mainland Japan, initially through civilian agents, and later directly, often involving elements of coercion. As the labor shortage increased, by 1942, the Japanese authorities extended the provisions of the National Mobilization Law to include the conscription of Korean workers for factories and mines in Korea, Manchukuo , and

3404-465: The military of Korea would be modeled after the Japanese military. These reforms were forestalled by the prosecution of the Russo-Japanese War from 8 February 1904, to 5 September 1905, which Japan won, thus eliminating Japan's last rival to influence in Korea. Frustrated by this, King Gojong invited Alice Roosevelt Longworth , who was on a tour of Asian countries with William Howard Taft , to

3478-569: The modern building in 2008. It now houses the Seoul Metropolitan Library , in front of the current, modern Seoul City Hall building. Following a competition for a new city hall, the jury awarded the commission to Yoo Kerl of iArc on February 18, 2008. Yoo said, "Major keywords for designing the new building are traditions, citizens, future. I analysed low-rise horizontal elements, curvaceousness, and shades of leaves in our traditional architectural characteristics, and I applied these to

3552-502: The movement of armed resistance organizations in Korea to Manchuria. Amid this confusion, on 26 October 1909, Ahn Jung-geun , a former volunteer soldier, assassinated Ito Hirobumi in Harbin . Meanwhile, pro-Japanese populist groups such as the Iljinhoe helped Japan by being fascinated by Japan's pan-Asianism , thinking that Korea would have autonomy like Austria-Hungary . It was adopted as

3626-570: The name Chōsen ( 朝鮮 ), the Japanese reading of " Joseon ". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea ( Joseon ) and Japan had been under policies of isolationism , with Joseon being a tributary state of Qing China . However, in 1854, Japan was forcefully opened by the United States . It then rapidly modernized under the Meiji Restoration , while Joseon continued to resist foreign attempts to open it up. Japan eventually succeeded in opening Joseon with

3700-666: The north wing of the palace. The Heungseon Daewongun returned to the royal palace the same day. On 11 February 1896, Gojong and the crown prince fled for protection at the Russian legation in Seoul, from which he governed for about a year. In 1896, various Korean activists formed the Independence Club . They advocated a number of societal reforms, including democracy and a constitutional monarchy, and pushed for closer ties to Western countries in order to counterbalance Japanese influence. It went on to be influential in Korean politics for

3774-601: The other two in charge of administrative affairs. Seoul is subdivided into 25 autonomous gu and 522 administrative dong. The Seoul Institute (SI), the think tank for the city, was established in 1992 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. It was formerly known as The Seoul Development Institute (SDI). The SI supports the policy-making processes of the municipal administration by conducting intensive research and cooperating with domestic and foreign research institutes. The SI seeks to collaborate and communicate with

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3848-517: The peninsula, and not to benefit its people. Most of Korea's infrastructure built during this time was destroyed during the 1950–1953 Korean War . These conditions led to the birth of the Korean independence movement , which acted both politically and militantly sometimes within the Japanese Empire, but mostly from outside of it. Koreans were also subjected to a number of mass murders, including

3922-499: The preferential treatment given to newly trained troops, the Daewongun's forces, or "old military", killed a Japanese training cadre, and attacked the Japanese legation . Japanese diplomats, policemen, students, and some Min clan members were also killed during the incident. The Daewongun was briefly restored to power, only to be forcibly taken to China by Chinese troops dispatched to Seoul to prevent further disorder. In August 1882,

3996-670: The proclamation "Matter Concerning the Changing of Korean Names" ( 朝鮮人ノ姓名改称ニ関スル件 ) was issued, barring ethnic Koreans from taking Japanese names and retroactively reverting the names of Koreans who had already registered under Japanese names back to the original Korean ones. By 1939, however, this position was reversed and Japan's focus had shifted towards cultural assimilation of the Korean people; Imperial Decree 19 and 20 on Korean Civil Affairs ( Sōshi-kaimei ) went into effect, whereby ethnic Koreans were forced to surrender their traditional use of clan-based Korean family name system, in favor of

4070-434: The royal palaces Gyeongbokgung and Deoksugung were either partially or completely demolished. Japan also built infrastructure and industry. Railways, ports and roads were constructed, although in numerous cases workers were subjected to extremely poor working circumstances and discriminatory pay. While Korea's economy grew under Japan, many argue that many of the infrastructure projects were designed to extract resources from

4144-528: The rural sector through the formation in Japan in 1943 of the Central Agricultural Association ( 中央農会 , chūō nōkai ) , a compulsory organization under the wartime command economy . The Japanese government had hoped emigration to its colonies would mitigate the population boom in the naichi (内地), but had largely failed to accomplish this by 1936. According to figures from 1934, Japanese in Chōsen numbered approximately 561,000 out of

4218-563: The same time, Japan suppressed the peasant revolt with Korean government forces. The Japanese minister to Korea, Miura Gorō , orchestrated a plot against 43-year-old Queen Min (later given the title of " Empress Myeongseong "), and on 8 October 1895, she was assassinated by Japanese agents. In 2001, Russian reports on the assassination were found in the archives of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation. The documents included

4292-502: The short time that it operated, to the chagrin of Gojong. Gojong eventually forcefully disbanded the organization in 1898. In October 1897, Gojong returned to the palace Deoksugung , and proclaimed the founding of the Korean Empire at the royal altar Hwangudan . This symbolicly asserted Korea's independence from China, especially as Gojong demolished a reception hall that was once used to entertain Chinese ambassadors in order to build

4366-579: The short-lived Korean Empire . Japan then defeated Russia in the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War , making it the sole regional power. It then moved quickly to fully absorb Korea. It first made Korea a protectorate with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 , and then ruled the country indirectly through the Japanese Resident-General of Korea . After forcing the Korean Emperor Gojong to abdicate in 1907, Japan then formally colonized Korea with

4440-617: The small town of Wanpaoshan in Manchuria near Changchun , "violent clashes" broke out between the local Chinese and Korean immigrants on 2 July 1931. The Chosun Ilbo , a major Korean newspaper, misreported that many Koreans had died in the clashes, sparking a Chinese exclusion movement in urban areas of the Korean Peninsula. The worst of the rioting occurred in Pyongyang on 5 July. Approximately 127 Chinese people were killed, 393 wounded, and

4514-491: The term "Chōsen of the Japanese-Governed Period" ( 日本統治時代の朝鮮 , Nippon Tōchi-jidai no Chōsen ) has been used. On 27 February 1876, the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 was signed. It was designed to open up Korea to Japanese trade, and the rights granted to Japan under the treaty were similar to those granted Western powers in Japan following the visit of Commodore Perry in 1854. The treaty ended Korea's status as

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4588-504: The testimony of King Gojong, several witnesses of the assassination, and Karl Ivanovich Weber 's report to Aleksey Lobanov-Rostovsky , the Foreign Minister of Russia, by Park Jonghyo. Weber was the chargé d'affaires at the Russian legation in Seoul at that time. According to a Russian eyewitness, Seredin-Sabatin, an employee of the king, a group of Japanese agents entered Gyeongbokgung , killed Queen Min, and desecrated her body in

4662-495: The time of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, Japanese merchants started settling in towns and cities in Korea seeking economic opportunity. By 1908 the number of Japanese settlers in Korea was somewhere below the figure of 500,000, comprising one of the nikkei communities in the world at the time. Many Japanese settlers showed interest in acquiring agricultural land in Korea even before Japanese land-ownership

4736-596: The traditional state of Korean villages, serving as evidence that Korea was "backwards" and needed to be modernized. In 1925, the Japanese government established the Korean History Compilation Committee , and it was administered by the Governor-General and engaged in collecting Korean historical materials and compiling Korean history. According to the Doosan Encyclopedia , some mythology

4810-425: The unequal Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 . Afterwards, Japan embarked on a decades-long process of defeating its local rivals, securing alliances with Western powers, and asserting its influence in Korea. Japan assassinated the defiant Korean queen and intervened in the Donghak Peasant Revolution . After Japan defeated China in the 1894–1895 First Sino–Japanese War , Joseon became nominally independent and declared

4884-421: Was a range in what people experienced. Some Japanese politicians and scholars, including former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida , deny that Koreans were forced laborers, and instead claim that they were "requisitioned against their will" to work. Women and girls aged 12–17 were controversially forced into sexual slavery by Japan as " comfort women ". A number of modern Japanese scholars and politicians, notably from

4958-559: Was appointed for the commander of Japanese military police forces. Japanese finally replaced Imperial Korean police forces in June 1910, and they combined police forces and military police, firmly establishing the rule of military police. After the annexation, Akashi started to serve as the Chief of Police. These military police officers started to have great authority over Koreans. Not only Japanese but also Koreans served as police officers. In May 1910,

5032-522: Was held in The Hague . Emperor Gojong secretly sent three representatives to bring the problems of Korea to the world's attention. The three envoys, who questioned the legality of the protectorate convention, were refused access to the public debates by the international delegates. One of these representatives was missionary and historian Homer Hulbert . Out of despair, one of the Korean representatives, Yi Tjoune , committed suicide at The Hague. In response,

5106-452: Was incorporated. The committee supported the theory of a Japanese colony on the Korean Peninsula called Mimana , which, according to E. Taylor Atkins, is "among the most disputed issues in East Asian historiography." Japan executed the first modern archaeological excavations in Korea. The Japanese administration also relocated some artifacts; for instance, a stone monument (棕蟬縣神祠碑), which

5180-476: Was intended to preserve Korean historical artifacts, including those not yet unearthed. Japan's 1871 Edict for the Preservation of Antiquities and Old Items could not be automatically applied to Korea due to Japanese law, which required an imperial ordinance to apply the edict in Korea. The 1933 law to protect Korean cultural heritages was based on the Japanese 1871 edict. Due to a waterway construction permit, in

5254-525: Was obliged to become a Japanese protectorate by the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 and the "reforms" were enacted, including the reduction of the Korean Army from 20,000 to 1,000 men by disbanding all garrisons in the provinces, retaining only a single garrison in the precincts of Seoul. On 6 January 1905, Horace Allen, head of the American Legation in Seoul reported to his Secretary of State, John Hay, that

5328-434: Was officially legalized in 1906. Governor-General Terauchi Masatake facilitated settlement through land reform . The Korean land-ownership system featured absentee landlords, only partial owner-tenants and cultivators with traditional (but no legal proof of) ownership. By 1920, 90 percent of Korean land had proper ownership of Koreans. Terauchi's new Land Survey Bureau conducted cadastral surveys that established ownership on

5402-546: Was originally located in the Liaodong Peninsula , then under Japanese control , was taken out of its context and moved to Pyongyang . As of April 2020, 81,889 Korean cultural artifacts are in Japan. According to the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, not all the artifacts were moved illegally. Adding to the challenge of repatriating illegally exported Korean cultural properties is

5476-768: Was partially destroyed beginning in the 1910s, in order to make way for the Japanese General Government Building as well as the colonial Chōsen Industrial Exhibition . Hundreds of historic buildings in Deoksugung were also destroyed to make way for the Yi Royal Family Museum of Fine Art  [ ko ] . The displays in the museum reportedly intentionally contrasted traditional Korean art with examples of modern Japanese art, in order to portray Japan as progressive and legitimize Japanese rule. The National Palace Museum of Korea , originally built as

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