The period of Korea under Japanese rule also marks the beginnings of the Japanese colonial policy, which was one of the effects of Japanese modernization. The goal of Japan was to ensure national security, which meant it also wanted to extend its hegemony into foreign land. For Japan, Korea’s location was a strategical advantage, which brought upon the annexation of Korea in 1910. In the beginning, the colonial policy in Korea was centered upon its industrialization. However, due to the dominance of militarists in the Japanese government, who wanted to procure more military force to accommodate their expansionist drive, the colonization policy in Korea turned into a cruel policy of assimilation in 1937 aimed at eradicating the identity of Koreans and at their military mobilization. To promulgate their new policy, the Japanese government needed influential individuals who would promote it in Japan and Korea. For this, one person they chose was Yi Gwang-su, a prominent Korean writer and journalist. Yi Gwang-su was also a Korean nationalist who dedicated most of his life fighting for Korean independence, which made his collaboration with Japan that much more unpredictable. The goal of this paper is to explain how Japan implemented its colonial policy in Korea, and how this affected the Korean people. In addition, the aim is to show how modernization has influenced the development of Korean and Japanese literature. Lastly, the goal is also to show why and how Yi Gwang-su's collaboration came to be through analysis of his life and works.
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