366 Part IV: East Asian Civilization
cent of Koreans had taken Japanese names by 1940 (Kim 2011). Later the
names could be dropped, but universal public education was embraced.
Because the Japanese were building an industrial empire, it was in their
interest to develop Korea as a source of raw materials. In order to get these
resources to Japan, roads, railways, and telephone lines were built from Pusan
(a southern port) to the Yalu River. All trade barriers between Korea and Japan
were removed, creating a single great economic zone. Factories were estab-
lished on the Japanese model of state–corporate partnerships that became the
Korean chaebol in the postwar economy, even though 94 percent of factories
were Japanese owned at the time (Borthwick 2014).Challenges of Modern Korea
The occupation and then colonization of Korea by the Japanese Empire
began in the final years of the nineteenth century and continued until the end
of World War II in 1945. The human toll and the cultural impact on Korea
were profound, with any resistance brutally suppressed. In response, during
these years and in the decades after the Japanese occupation, some Korean
scholars made it their work to study and define Korean culture in a way that
would preserve it from such destruction or replacement.
Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union chal-
lenged each other for influence in regions around the world. This extended
period of imperialism has been euphemistically termed the “Cold War,” since
Moscow and Washington never engaged in direct military confrontation,
which would have possibly led to nuclear war. Dueling for influence, Moscow
and Washington divided Germany into eastern and western portions, and the
two Germanys became their respective client states. With Germany as one of
the vanquished Axis powers, this was perhaps reasonable, since two competing
members of the Allied powers both wanted an equal stake in Germany. But
after the defeat of Japan, Moscow and Washington also decided to divide the
Korean peninsula, which seems less logical in the annals of war and its spoils,
especially in a purportedly postimperial era. Korea’s central location, certainly
as a lynchpin to a grand strategy in the region, led both Washington and Mos-
cow to favor opposing factions in Korean politics, and following Japan’s with-
drawal, the two superpowers decreed that each warring faction would rule one
half of the peninsula. As with Germany, both superpowers again had their
regional client states. By 1950, however, North and South Korea were at war,
and the United States and its allies quickly joined on behalf of South Korea.
While the Soviet Union did not join the war on behalf of North Korea, the
newly established Communist People’s Republic of China did when the Amer-
ican commander, Douglas MacArthur, threatened the border between North
Korea and China. The Korean War lasted three bloody years with millions
dead and displaced, and it ended in a stalemate, with a border between North
and South Korea exactly where it had been at the war’s beginning.