Category: Korean Workers

Korean Workers

80 years ago today, Korean women were making gloves for the Imperial Japanese Army at a factory run by Wakōkyōen, a nonprofit of the Japanese Jōdo Buddhist sect operating in Korea since 1893 and contracting with the colonial regime to rehouse, educate, and employ evicted Seoul slum residents

2022-11-17

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This is a photo of Korean girls and women manufacturing gloves at a factory in Gwansu-dong, Seoul exactly 80 years

Imperial Way

Young Korean men were ‘beaten into shape’ at militaristic farmers’ dōjō (Imperial Japanese training indoctrination camp) to cultivate the next generation of rural Korean leaders who would spread the Imperial Way of farming throughout the Korean countryside (Daejeon, 1943)

2022-07-18

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This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

Uncategorized

Propaganda article contrasting the ‘Bad Korean Retailer’ who is greedy, mean, dishonest, and lawless with the ‘Good Korean Retailer’ who is selfless, kind, honest, law-abiding, and committed to Japanese-Korean unification (Seoul, 1942)

2022-06-29

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This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

Uncategorized

Angry Koreans filed numerous complaints against local Imperial Japanese party officials for abuse of power, only to be told publicly by General Secretary Hada to stop complaining and obey their patriotic group leaders with harmony and gratitude for their leaders’ hard work (Chungcheongnam-do, 1943)

2022-06-05

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This is my translation and transcription of a news article from Keijo Nippo, a propaganda newspaper and mouthpiece of the

Imperial Way

Imperial Japanese penal officials brag about brainwashing Korean ‘ideological criminals’ (a.k.a. independence activists) in ‘Yamato cram schools’ and converting them into enthusiastic collaborators willing to die shouting ‘Banzai to the Emperor!’ (Seoul 1943)

2022-05-23

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These are very interesting articles describing Korean ‘ideological criminals’, many of whom had upper class Yangban backgrounds, and how they

Korean Workers

In 1943, Japanese company bosses discussed how to ‘train’ Korean workers to work even harder – one punished workers who suffered heat exhaustion by making them run, pushed them to work until they collapsed, strictly reprimanded them for consuming a 10-day food supply in only 3 days

2022-04-21

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Notes: It is July 1943. Imperial Japan, including Japan-colonized Korea, has been mobilized in total war against the United

Uncategorized

Imperial Japan called Seoul residents the laziest people in the world when it came to paying their taxes, and unleashed patriotic ‘Tax Collection Assault Units’ to more aggressively collect taxes from ‘delinquent tax collection districts’ (February 1942)

2022-02-28

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Notes: This propaganda article from 1942 claims that 25 out of every 100 taxpayers in Seoul were delinquent in

Uncategorized

In 1943, ethnic Korean school principal says Koreans lack work ethic and can’t handle the slightest hardship, uneducated Korean mothers are reluctant to send their children to the workplace

2021-12-06

414

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), January 10, 1943 Reaction to “Hiring Koreans in the Workplace” As already reported, Governor Koiso’s

Uncategorized

In January 1943, the CEO of a telephone company talks frankly about the problems associated with hiring Koreans in Japan-occupied Korea

2021-11-29

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Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) January 13, 1943 The Growing Response to the “Employment of Koreans in the Workplace” The

Uncategorized

Korean girls in a “women’s volunteer corps” learn Japanese tea etiquette at a naval weaponry factory in Toyama Japan, June 1944

2021-11-22

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So this article shows an example of a Korean “women’s volunteer corps” (joshiteishintai, 女子挺身隊), one of many that were