By Kim Yun-sik
Korea has always been challenged in the shadow of stronger neighbors. Repeated invasions by the Chinese, Mongolians, Japanese and other nations have occurred since 108 B.C. The Korean people have been greatly influenced by those foreign powers.
At the turn of the 19th century, Japan, China and Russia attempted to dominate Korea. All of this relates to the topic at hand, ``Korea under Foreign Domination."
I will elaborate on how these superpowers influenced the Korean Peninsula. We will first explore key influences in Korean culture, and then review additional changes that have occurred within Korea. The influence of both allied and enemy forces finally led to the election of the first president of the Republic of Korea.
I would like to start by talking about the influence of China over the Korean people from a historical perspective. Between 108 B.C. and 313 A.D., the Chinese established early roots in Korea.
Korea had many Chinese cultural elements imposed upon it during this period. Influence was great over the Korean people, due to this long domination of the country.
One example is the history of the traditional Korean writing system. This system is based on Chinese characters and Confucian culture, which still permeates every aspect of Korean life. At the end of the 16th century, when Japan invaded, the Ming Dynasty of China came to the aid of Korea.
As a result, the Korean people accepted Ming's rule. This opened the door to further influence, and domination by China of the Korean people.
In the 17th century, China invaded Korea twice (1627 and 1636). As a result, the king of China perceived Korea as its suzerainty. The Korean king had to send an annual tribute to China as a Chinese vassal state.
The Chinese would frequently intervene in Korean politics, and at one point even took the king's father hostage to China for three years.
Next, let's take a look at how Mongolia has put its historical mark on the Korean people. Korea suffered over 30 years of war with Mongolia, enduring four separate invasions. These occurred in 1231, 1247, 1259 and 1278.
Due to the exposure to Mongolian culture, many upper class Koreans adopted Mongolian style names. The study of Mongolian language grew among officials, and Mongol words were Koreanized.
While the Korean people were changing culturally, various moral issues surrounded these changes. Thousands of young girls were taken to China or Mongolia as part of an annual tribute.
The next major influence we will talk about is that of Japan and the events that came about, changing Korea again. Japan invaded Korea twice (1592 and 1598) in the so-called Imjin War. Many skilled Korean workers were taken to Japan as hostages.
In 1895, the Japanese assassinated Queen Min of Korea. King Gojong, in fear for his own life, allowed himself to be smuggled out of the palace to the Russian Legation.
Then, in 1905, Japan forced the Korean government to agree to the Protectorate Treaty Agreement. Although the Korean king did not sign it, Korea became a Japanese protectorate. The treaty paved the way for Japan's 1910 annexation of Korea.
Japan propagandized its exploitive colonial policy for 35 years. It established the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which was allegedly designed to protect and promote Asian people's welfare and safety against Western invaders.
In 1937, further dominating the Korean culture, Japan's governor general forced the Korean people to speak Japanese, and banned the use of Korean.
In 1938, the colonial government began to enlist Korean male adolescents in the Japanese army as volunteers. In 1943, the Japanese government forced Korean youths to become conscripts (Korean boys had been in military training since childhood).
In 1939, the governor general issued a decree encouraging Koreans to adopt Japanese names. In the 1930s, the police and military forces imposed strict surveillance on all people suspected of subversive inclinations.
Also, during the Pacific War, all Koreans had to serve the Japanese war effort, including young girls taken to Japanese army camps as ``comfort women,'' or sex slaves. If Japanese rule had not ended in 1945, the fate of Korea's indigenous language, culture and religious practices would have been in jeopardy.
After Germany surrendered to the United States, the superpower prepared to invade mainland Japan. The United States had knowledge that the Japanese would fight desperately, to the death, in the bloody defense of their homeland. The effort was projected to cost one million U.S. lives.
Soviet help would be required. In return for this, the United States allowed Stalin to create buffer states. The United States was well aware of the political implications of such an offer to the Soviet, and insisted its participation was crucial to American victory.
Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945, respectively. The Soviets declared war with Japan on Aug. 8. The Soviet troops invaded Manchuria, and rapidly advanced to Korea.
The operation was commanded by Gen. Terentii Shtykov, the commanding general of the 28th Military Group of the Soviet Army, which first arrived in North Korea in late August 1945. The actions of the Allied Forces led to the Japanese Army's unconditional surrender.
The northern portion of Korea was immediately placed under Soviet occupation forces. Kim Il-sung entered North Korea as a captain in a Soviet army uniform, at Wonsan harbor, in September. His welcome rally was held in October. The rally was bolstered by Gen. Shtykov.
The South was under the supervision of the American military government. The 24th Corps of the 10th U.S. Army, commanded by Lt.-Gen. John Hodge, landed in Korea on Sept. 8, 1945.
During this time Korean conservatives favored Syngman Rhee, who for a decade was exiled in the United States. The U.S. War Department granted his return to Korea. He arrived in Seoul on Gen. Douglas MacArthur's plane, on Oct. 16, 1945. Hodge reserved a suite for Syngman Rhee at the Choson Hotel and accompanied him to a press conference.
In Moscow, the allied foreign ministers' conference on the trusteeship of Korea was held in December 1945. The Joint U.S.-Soviet Commission on the Korea Meeting was also held in Seoul to assist the establishment of a unified government in January 1946.
Unfortunately its efforts proved to be futile. It was inevitable that separate governments would have to be formed. The Red Army hastily solidified control of political and economic resources in North Korea. The representatives of the two occupying commands met in Seoul on Jan. 16, 1946, to discuss economic problems caused by closing the border.
On the issue of the exchange of goods, the Soviets insisted that this Soviet-American trade be conducted mainly on the basis of barter. The United States attempted to discuss the question of the economic unification of Korea.
Gen. Shtykov brought the conference to an impasse by insisting that electrical power, coal and manufactured goods from the North, all needed in the American zone, could be delivered to the South only in exchange for rice.
Nevertheless, they did agree on mail service transportation between the two zones, across the border, and on joint control posts. No political solution emerged other than the formation of separate states in Korea.
The writer is a professor at the Asian division, the University of Maryland in Yongsan, Seoul. He can be reached rokmankim@hotmail.com.