Posts distort data on post-war repatriation of Japanese from Korea
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on October 10, 2023 at 05:11
- 5 min read
- By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea
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"The reason why there are so many pro-Japanese collaborators," reads a Korean-language graphic shared on Facebook on September 19.
It claims two million Japanese people moved to the Korean peninsula when it was under Tokyo's colonial rule from 1910 to the end of World War II in 1945.
When Japan's surrender ended the war and its rule over the territory, the graphic claims 1.3 million Japanese returned home -- but 700,000 stayed in Korea and "changed their identities".
Japan's rule of Korea left behind a fraught and controversial colonial legacy that continues to hamper good relations between the neighbours (archived link).
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has sought to lay historical disputes with Japan to rest in a bid to mend ties over growing nuclear threats from North Korea. But his policies and comments to that end have been heavily criticised by many South Koreans who feel they present an apologist view of Japan's colonial rule.
The graphic criticises Yoon and calls him "nothing more than a real Japanese".
Facebook posts here, here, here and here have also shared the graphic.
Population figures
The number of Japanese people who moved to the Korean peninsula during Japan's colonial rule never exceeded one million, according to demographic records left by the Japanese colonial government in Korea and the US military government that assumed administration over the southern half of the peninsula in 1945.
Choi Young-ho, a historian and former professor at South Korea's Youngsan University, told AFP on September 25 that "there were a total of 712,583 Japanese civilians in Korea in May 1944, based on the last official colonial government figure before the end of the war," citing academic Yoshio Morita (archived link).
One of the most credible sources on the repatriation comes from Morita, who wrote a book based on his experience as the leading secretary of a civic group called Japanese "Sewakai", Choi said.
"Sewakai", which means a group that looks after people, was formed after Tokyo's surrender to the Allies and played an instrumental role in organising the repatriation of Japanese civilians (archived link).
A full chart of Morita's Japanese population estimates in Korea, taken from censuses conducted by the Japanese colonial government from the late 19th century up to May 1944, can be seen in a study by historian Lee Yeon-shik in 2009 (archived link).
According to the chart, the Japanese population of the Korean peninsula did not exceed one million at any point during Japan's 35-year rule over the territory. It peaked at 758,595 in 1943.
Morita's data is also cited by Lori Watt, an expert in Japanese modern history at Washington University, in her 2009 book titled "When Empire Comes Home: Repatriation and Reintegration in Postwar Japan" (archived links here and here).
Watt also cited the US estimate, writing that "an estimated 720,100 Japanese civilians (285,000 north and 435,000 south of the 38th parallel) and 294,000 Army personnel were on the Korean Peninsula" as of September 1945.
Other studies use different numbers on the size of the Japanese returnee population, including here, here and here, with some estimating it to be as high as 920,000. None of the studies put the figures up to two million (archived links here, here and here).
Repatriation
By January 1946, the US military government ordered all Japanese to return to their home country, except for those needed for the transfer of power on the peninsula (archived link).
Watt of Washington University wrote that the military government "indicated that all Japanese except those stipulated by them must leave Korea as soon as possible" in 1946 and "added that people who remained would be punished."
And efforts by the "Sewakai" and the US military "made for a relatively peaceful transfer" of population, she added.
In contrast, the situation in the Soviet-occupied northern half of the peninsula was less peaceful, with Japanese fleeing to the southern half due to widespread looting of their property by Soviet troops, according to historian Lee.
"By December 1946, when virtually all of North Korea's Japanese population had already left, the Soviets struck a deal with the United States on the repatriation of Japanese people from Soviet-occupied zones," Lee wrote in his study.
Professor Kong Mi-hee, a historian at South Korea's Pukyong University, also agreed no sizable Japanese population was left in Korea as a result of the US-mandated population transfer orders in 1946 (archived link).
Furthermore, a diplomatic paper submitted to the US Secretary of State by the then-acting political adviser in Korea on December 14, 1945, reads that "all Japanese troops" were to be repatriated as the first step in the US military government's policy to effect the Korean independence, as seen in the US State Department archives (archived link).
Both Choi and Kong said the claim that the remaining Japanese pretended to be Korean in order to spread a pro-Japanese agenda "lacks any historical basis."
"Some people may like to believe this to be true, but the rampant anti-Japanese sentiment prevalent among Koreans following liberation makes this extremely unlikely," Choi added.
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