In 2010, it becomes a century when Korea was officially annexed through the Japan-Korea annexation treaty (Gyungsulgukchi) in 1910. If it were a different anniversary, it would be a big celebration of a century. But we would keep this in the heart bec ...
In 2010, it becomes a century when Korea was officially annexed through the Japan-Korea annexation treaty (Gyungsulgukchi) in 1910. If it were a different anniversary, it would be a big celebration of a century. But we would keep this in the heart because it will bring us a pain to recall a lost era of Korea which never likes to be remembered. Coincidently, in the Winter Olympic Games in 2010, Yuna Kim, a Korean figure skater, won a gold medal defeating against Asada Mao of Japan, another championship contender. When the Korean national anthem was played before people from around the world through her achievement, particularly defeating against Japan, most Koreans must be proud to be Korean who is either in patriotic spirit or not. This is deep emotion Koreans can share, that has been inherited in the past history.
When we talk about modernity in Korea, it has been dealt in Japanese colonial exploitation that they will never want to recall. During the period of Japanese rule, Koreans and Japanese had to go together in order to achieve Japanese political and national targets for the world in which they emphasized ‘the nation’ on basis of totalitarianism rather than ‘an individual’. This seemed to play a role of religion. Both Japanese and Koreans were driven to believe in the emperor as a god and love the country he had built. For the purpose of this, people in the modern period of Korea were educated in Japanese education system. Japan put its efforts to integrate Korea into Japan with a long period of preparation of this. While political propaganda and forceful power easily bring people resistance and rejection, culture and customs would do opposite way if it has a nation blurry. While the Korean were furious at the annexation and did not know what to do with this, Japan gradually assimilated Korea in the name of ‘modernization’ by forcing and persuading and at times soothing them. By doing so, one mistake Japan did is that they treated them as a single unit. As a result, a life of individuals in Chosun had been ignored. Their desire for colonization of Chosun with which they presumed how Chosun was and dealt with a mass of people as an object of expansion of Japanese imperialism, blinded them to understand the modern Korean culture correctly in the past.
There is no doubt that at that time Korean Japanese would have floated because they were required to act as a citizen in a country of Japan but not actually treated as the one. That is why Koreans who went through the colonial period had a tendency to call it the ‘age of darkness’ and also interpret cultural products in that time to be disgraceful since they had lost their country. However, our grandparents and grand-grandparents sustained and came through those times in certain ways. Is not that precious reason in terms that a nation, Korea is still in existence There exist cultural inheritances even in the dark age which still hold us in our time. Modernity in Korea came in a form of alteration and reformation. New cultures and customs had been imported by foreigners before Koreans came to think of modernization. The modern civilization of Korea is closely related to Japanese activities that will not be ignored. Many things were installed, modified and improved. Sadly, this is not the way of modernization in which the public inspire themselves to do and reflect. On the contrary, modernity spread throughout the colony fast and progressively by the hegemony. What is proper material to show this kind of modernization at the time This book will present ‘travels’ in which modernization had been practiced at the time.