Dr. Lankov takes a look at the colonial Korea’s Japanese settler community. Give it a look, especially if you’re into imperial history:
The first Japanese migrants began to arrive in Korean cities in the early 1880s, but their numbers remained small until 1900. The situation changed when, in 1905, Korea was occupied by the Japanese army. From that time on, Japanese governments began to actively promote migration to Korea. In 1908, the Japanese government decided “to concentrate overseas migration in Manchuria and Korea”.
Japanese newspapers and booklets made it clear that a move to Korea would be different from, say, migration to the United States (a very popular option in the Japan of the early 1900s). Those Japanese who moved to the United States could expect to find only low-level manual jobs. Those who chose Korea were to form the privileged colonial elite. As a book for prospective migrants frankly said: “In Korea one can carry on an independent enterprise with oneself as master, freely able to employ Koreans at low wages and tell them what to do”. A colonizer’s dream, indeed…
In 1900, only 15,000 Japanese resided in Korea. By 1907, their number had reached 125,000. Seoul had 13,000 Japanese residents. The largest Japanese settlement was in Pusan, where they counted 18,000. In Pusan, then as now the major centre of Korean-Japanese trade, the Japanese comprised some 40 percent of the city’s population. Large Japanese communities also existed in Incheon, Mokpo, Wonsan, and other major Korean ports.
Read the rest on your own.
41 Comments
‘they (the japanese) introduced the mass-oriented sex industry into korea…’ dr lankov
but gerry and shakuhachi say that’s untrue; they say korea had a mass sex industry before the japanese arrived. who’s telling the truth here? the one who is a world respected authority on korea or two guys who maintain websites with headings like ‘korean sex’ and ‘finger chopping wacky’? man, this is a hard one!
I think their theses are that the United States military neither introduced nor is responsible for the development of Korea’s mass-oriented sex industry.
My mother who lived through the Japanese occupation says that it is true. The Japanese, money-grabbing merchants with no morals, have introduced sex trade to Korea. If you doubt this, just visit backstreets of Tokyo. There you will see any and all kinds of “sex for sale”. Homos, kids, olds, role-players(high schoolers, monks, housewives, secretaries, kindergardeners?)..The most advanced nation in the world, when it comes to sale and purchasing of sex.
The most degenerate people in the world. Just read about what they did in Nanjing. About forcing daughters and sons to have sex with their parents. Animals!
And, they are still not appologizing. Hypocrates!
Yet, Korea needs Japan right now. So, embrace these money-grabbing degenerate animals. We need them.
i’ve seen a Nan Jing picture where a very elderly woman had her front shirt torn open. She seemed to be immobile, yet those Japanese soldiers even got to an elderly woman. Those racist supremacists of East Asia don’t deserve a good word.
“In Korea one can carry on an independent enterprise with oneself as master, freely able to employ Koreans at low wages and tell them what to do”. A colonizer’s dream, indeed…
That is the quote that I find fascinating that once again goes to what Matt and I have said, Japan wasn’t there to modernize Korea for Korea, it was ALL for Japan and trying to mitigate the disaster by saying they brought modern things to Korea is so much BS.
Has any society moved into capitalism without going through a sex-industry phase? After all, 100 years ago, New York and London were awash in prostitution.
As for Pawakirogi… lay off the personal attacks and stick to the issues. It will make your points much stronger. Truth does not come from browbeating, hysteria, anger or any emotion or coersion.
The Korean “kiseang” was essentially a sex slave until the Japanese freed them in 1895. Anyone who believes that Korea did not have prostitutes before the Japanese came have their eyes and ears closed and sewn shut.
Here is what Wikipedia says about the “kisaeng.“
Haisan: I rekon you’ll find, historically, pretty much any society involving people produces some form of trade in sex, I suggest it has nothing to do with ideology.
Plunge: Has there ever been a nation which has sought to colonise another for the benefit of the other ? Of course Japan was ‘in it for themselves’ - as far as I understand it that’s how colonialism works. Don’t mean to sound like a smart-arse (I’ve read your work - you’re smarter than me) but why the apparent shock ?
Interesting article, doesn’t say how many Japanese live in Korea now though, post colonialism and I’ve got a feeling it is probably more than it ever was.
peace.
Dear all,
The question of early prostitution in Korea every time arises so many questions, so I decided to clarify it a bit. As a matter of fact, I do not have a reputation of a Japanese-basher, but I have good reasons to state that the commercial sex was indeed introduced to Korea by the Japanese. Prior to the 1890s, there were kisaeng, of course, and they could be even described as “sexual slaves” (as gbevers said) in the most literal sense, since they were indeed: a) slaves (legally, I mean, since they were “ch’onmin” or “debased people”, like nobi); b) for sex (not only, but sex was definitely a part of their activity). However, kisaeng were very small in numbers, and only members of the elite could approach them. Kisaeng could serve officials, they could be temporary wives for the senior officers in distant garrisons where the yangbans would not take their families, they could be paid for by those who had enough money. But this was very expensive, beyond the reach of, say, 95% of all males. And of course, kisaeng were largely for another type of intercourse – for witty talk, I mean. There were no place for the average horny male to have quick sex-for-cash. Well, in the text from the late Choson period one can sometimes find references to some kind of cheap harlots, but these were few and far between. A largely agricultural society did not probably have a place for prostitution, and Neo-Confucian notions also helped.
Japan was different, not least because it had so much larger share of urban population and very large urban centers (Tokyo-Edo had one million people when Seoul had merely 180,000), but also because its much more permissive approach to the sexual mores. Hence, they had flourishing prostitution in Japan since times immemorial.
When the Japanese came in the 1870s and 1880s, they immediately introduced prostitution to Pusan, but all prostitutes had to be Japanese women. In one case when a Korean woman was involved, the brothel-keeper was punished in no time. In Incheon in the late 1880s, the Japanese consulate banned the introduction of the Japanese brothels, out of fear that this will offend the sensibilities of the Victorian-era Westerners and damage the Japanese image. Only in the late 1890s, the first Korean women appeared in the brothels, and until the 1920s (!) the Japanese women outnumbered Koreans in the business. It is forgotten now, but around 1900 the overseas prostitution was a major currency-earner for Japan (second or third largest, as I remember), and Japanese girls were working everywhere, from Sydney to Vladivostok. Actually, I should write about this.
Re Haisan’s remark “Has any society moved into capitalism without going through a sex-industry phase?” Sorry for being somewhat ironic, but I cannot understand what does it have do with capitalism. Of course, this shameless, immoral etc. system should be blamed for everything, from the sorry fate of penguins to the frequent cases of domestic violence, but the “golden age” of the European prostitution was in pre-industrial era. The medieval cities of Europe (or China, or Japan) were full of prostitutes, and going to brothel was a very common pastime there. Korea had few cities, hence not many prostitutes. The rule was: if you had a large (above 5,000) city, you’d have a lot of working girls there, capitalism or not.
And another question, asked by Hojuin: “Interesting article, doesn’t say how many Japanese live in Korea now though, post colonialism and I’ve got a feeling it is probably more than it ever was.” Well, not quite. The number of the Japanese in Korea peaked around 1945. The data is not complete, so figures vary from 700,000 to 900,000, or about 3-4% of the total population. Nowadays, the number of officially registered foregners in Korea is 485,000 (the National Stastic Office, 2005). I do not know how many of them are Japanese, but hardly more than 10% (perhaps, less).
Thanks for the insight Mr. Lankov, those are some very interesting arguments you make.
At the risk of getting sidetracked, do the stats you quoted in relation to my (clearly ill-informed) guess as to the number of Japanese in Korea include children born to Korean/Japanese families (e.g. grandchildren of migrant - forced and otherwise - Koreans) ? I know I studied with many such folk in Seoul and they are apparently not considered Japanese under Japan’s law - does Korea class them as Korean ?.
Not that it would make all that much difference to the statistics but I’d be interested to know.
cheers.
Plunge,
I am no Japan-lover either, but I must call it as I see it. Japan did bring modern world to Korea, or at least expedited the change. Sometimes even by use of force.
You and I had this discussion before and you insisted that the Korean Empire would have advanced without the Japanese occupation. I differ. Without Japanese control of Korea, Korea would have followed exactly the same path as the Chinese and would be making $1000 per capita income now.
Sometimes, a bad thing does bring good result.
QUOTE do the stats you quoted in relation to my (clearly ill-informed) guess as to the number of Japanese in Korea include children born to Korean/Japanese families (e.g. grandchildren of migrant - forced and otherwise - Koreans) ? END OF QUOTE
Dear Hojuin: if you mean the colonial era statistics (700-900,000 Japanese around 1944), the number of mixed families was very, very small. Long time ago somewhere I saw firgure, something like one thousand mixed marriages between Korean and Japanese. Unfortuntely, I did not make a note, and now I cannot figure out where I saw this figure. But if it is true, it’s possible to say that such marriages were almost unheard of. This fact alone testifies that alienation between two communities was deep.
Just in case, if you mean the present day statistics (485,000 legal resident), it includes only foreign nationals residing in Korea for more than 90 days legally. According to the NSO, in 2004, 1224 Korean men married Japanese women (about 5%of all marriages between Korean males and foreign females). Same year, 3378 Korean women married Japanese men (far larger percentage, about 35% of all foreigner-married Korean females).
re Koreans in Japan, it’s a really long story. Some of them have North Korean citizenship, some are ROK nationals (both groups have manifold legal problems in Japan), some have become nationalized Japanese. Each group has its own legal and cultural peculiarities, and from the 1970s intermarriage with the Japanese and between those groups is increasingly common.
Almost forgot, about a year ago Chugan Choson weekly had a large article about mixed marriages between the Japanese and Koreans. The same issue is briefly dicussed in the March 2006 issue of Wolgan Tonga (in regard to the Unification Church which is an active promoter of such unions).
To Mr. Lankov and Hojuin: I was not trying to be ideological with my comment. Was merely referring to the relation between development and prostitution.
Sorry baduk, but I think you are completely and totally wrong on this point, and while there is only a short period of history to show this, I think it shows quite well that Korea was on pace to become a modern nation. It had finally ended its isolationist period, it had treaties with all the major nations, it welcomed business, imports and technology from these countries. It had all the makings of a nation on the verge until the machinations of Japan ended it. The one area where they failed misirably was in swiftly and strongly ugrading their military. And even that is understandable as they were trying not to provoke the nations around them.
Hojuin, it isn’t shock, it just plays against certain arguments those espousing the pro-Japan side use. They try and say it was for the good of Korea. That has got to be one of the more demeaning and hypocritical statements that they all seem to make.
It’s an interesting question to think that what if Korea did not get colonized by Japan, and did not follow Japan’s industrial model, instead followed the Western model. How would the country look today?
Lankov
“Prior to the 1890s, there were kisaeng, of course, and they could be even described as “sexual slaves” (as gbevers said) in the most literal sense, since they were indeed: a) slaves (legally, I mean, since they were “ch’onmin” or “debased people”, like nobi); b) for sex (not only, but sex was definitely a part of their activity). However, kisaeng were very small in numbers, and only members of the elite could approach them”
You mitht be interested in the following articles.
http://www.sungshin.ac.kr/~kowoin/e_3g.htm
http://www.icasinc.org/2000/2000s/2000scss.html
http://www.sungshin.ac.kr/~kowoin/e_3g.htm
According to this article ,Kaesen’s pupulation was 0.5% of the whole population.
Do you think it is small in numbers?
Lankov is right. 0.5% is one out of two hundred people. A very small number.
And, they only saw Yangbans as customers. Even the middle class(중인) may not see a certain type of Kisaeng. Some Kisaengs were exclusively for high class (crem de crem of Yangban) only. These high class people don’t want to dirty themselves by putting their dicks into commoners’ holes. Some Kisaengs had an exclusive engagement to one of the clients if he paid enough.
The Japanese changed all that. No class hierarchy. Just pay enough money. Even a Ssangnom can s**** an expensive girl as long as he can afford her. In this sense, the Japanese brought in democracy and capitalism into Korea breaking the class boundaries. I think that was a good thing.
Even Communists will agree to the breaking of class boundaries.
Dear Sky: Thank you for the references, esp. the first one (to the summary of 권태연’s thesis). I should read her entire paper. It is the first time when I see an estimate of the kisaeng numbers, and it is indeed higher than I thought. Ms.권태연 seems to be challenging what the summary of the paper describes the “[over]-positive image of kisaeng” and states that famous dancers, entertainers etc. were a fraction among them. Perhaps she is right, a better look at her work is necessary. However, it seems that she agrees that kisaeng were for the elite, for the yangbans (that is, 5% to 25% of the population, depending on time and place).
yup, I never heard of non Yang ban’s being able to have a ki saeng.
Here is what the Marmot thinks of Korean prostitution. No mention of the Japanese there.
Ah, I golden oldy…
Shaku,
You ASSume too much. Some i-yong-wons are just barbershops. And, some coffee delivery girls are just plain coffee delivery girls.
Take your over-sexed libido somewhere else. You don’t know Korean society well enough to make that type of assessment on Korean society. Learn to read/speak/write Korean language and have some real Korean friends(not working girl variety) before you say anything about Korea.
You are like an oriental yahoo who went to Paris first time and commented “all females in Paris will sell their bodies if you pay enough”. Learn the culture before generalizing.
Baduk,
Sakuhachi was quoting The Marmot, who seems to know what he is talking about when it comes to Korean prostitution. As far as barber shops go, it is much harder to find the 6,000-won barber shops than it is to find the 60,000-won ones.
Baduk–first of all, he was quoting me. And yes, some iyongwon are just iyongwon. And some coffee delivery girls are just plain coffee delivery girls. Just like some vibrators are actually nothing more than “body massagers.” But you know as well as I do that prostitution is pretty rampant. Heck, even most Koreans would admit as much.
I don’t think Korea have more prostitution than Taiwan or Japan. More than China(growing) but less than Thailand.
All these countries have Buddhism in one form or another. Christianity prohibits prostitution but Buddihism does not. I believe Buddhists think selling body is cool as long as proper amount of monetary compensation is given. Prostitutes are recognized as a part of a society. Just ask any Thai.
Don’t set the bar too high there, Baduk.
Or any Korean, irrespective of creed. And it doesn’t surprise me you’d pin this one on Buddhism. Like Christian nations don’t have a long and illustrious history of prostitution. Hey, but while we’re at it, not only does Christianity prohibit prostitution, but it also prohibits heading out to the stables and raping your African slaves, but that didn’t seem to stop anybody.
So, the Christians do it with guilt, and the Buddhists don’t feel any, eh?
Who woulda thunk baduk would talk spunk from a monk?
I don’t know. I always wondered about Japan. Just the ubiquitous openness of sexual material in Japan always made me wonder why they would do that. After all, I grew during the dominion of Jun Doo Hwan-Roh Tae Woo, when tv news would show men getting busted by cops for mass producing porn video tapes. The news footage would show something like a little hidden room, where there were literally about 50 vcr’s running. And as Korean news goes, the dude would cover his face with his shirt. I’m talking of an era when actresses ended their careers when they were caught sleeping around. A new era in Korea now, though. Racing girls didn’t exist, nudes by Koreans for the public was a no-no. I don’t think anyone would refute that these were imported from Japan, more or less. From my American friend who visited Japan, I think Love Hotels were brought over from a long standing Japanese practice to the current Korean practice (starting maybe 1998? with Kim Dae Jung). There are Korean people who think that Japan’s sexual culture is a negative for Korea. That said, sex being sex, it sells very well.
it’s estimated that prostitution accounts for somewhere between 5 and 10% of the GDP in the rok. that’s quite a bit no matter your religious beliefs.
love hotels were here long before 1998, although more in the form of yeogwans (ryokans) and yeoinsuk that provided entertainment for men.
but what would vibrators be used for other than body massagers???…
yeah, they were yeogwans, but not these blatant signs saying “make love here”. That’s Japanese, man. Japanese people are unashamed of their vices. Koreans are different.
plus, I believe I stayed at a yeogwan, yeoinsuk with my family several times on a road trip. Because outwardly, it’s just a motel. But we all knew what it meant when a man said he was taking a girl to a yeogwan, even when I was young.
Imagine a family on a road trip staying at a love hotel. Just imagine. What do you tell your kids? People have sex here? There might be condoms lying around?
See, that’s the Japanese influence.
I hear from my age Koreans these days, though, they use love hotels for cheap stays, like one would use a motel.
Imagine also a building or bridge built in Korea that does not fall down or collapse when the wind blows. Imagine a car produced in Korea that does not break apart within the first 100 miles driven. Also, recently, amazingly enough, Koreans are actually understanding the concept of forming a queue and waiting their turn instead of the traditional Korean “me first” attitude. Also, lately it seems that people who work with their hands, such as skilled artisans, cooks, and craftsmen are actually being extolled for their virtues as professionals.
See, that’s the Japanese influence.
If there were no influence from Japan, people in these occupations would be treated according to the traditional Korean spiteful way…as subhuman trash.
Gotta love that Korean system of values.
Surely, you must be joking.
> See, that’s the Japanese influence.
Uh, last I checked, one of the big scandals rocking Japan was the builders who cheated the earthquake safety standards.
Anyhow, as prevalent as prostitution may be these days in Korea, wasn’t it moreso in the 1970s? The stories I get from my older soldier friends make Korea back then sound like the Philippines or Thailand. After all, it was not long ago when the haircut and hummer was $6, not $60. And I don’t hear Korean women talking about getting kidnapped from discos anymore (which was something I still heard about less than 10 years ago, in the boonies, at least).
Chonko, you must not like the Korean world that much. For all you’ve mentioned, it might as well have been American/European influence.
True, even during my time, my parents told me not to grow up to be in certain occupations, because society looks down on them.
Thankfully, society is changing for the better from the Chosun era’s system of class, status, values, etc, some of which are unreasonable and evil. Promoting people who read books and not apply it for any meaningful use, putting down people who invent, make things, engage in commerce, etc.
Don’t you all find it weird though that these values have not disappeared at all from our POSITIVE Japanese colonial occupation of 30 plus years, which is enough time to change society? What a great influence those blood suckers had… We couldn’t even form an honest line in public places, after 30 plus years of Japanese teaching. Ha ha ha. We couldn’t even appreciate craftsmen are artists, but put them down as lower class people, even when Japan promoted these people back then. I find it real hard to believe nor accept that Japan meant for any good in Korea. Korea actually accepts these values from American/Western influence, in my opinion.
“craftsmen are actually being extolled for their virtues as professionals”
The Japanese appreciated Korean potters so much in the 16th century that they kidnapped them and took them back to Japan. So that must be the Korean influence on the Japanese influence.
unfortunately, there are still some artisans who work with their hands whose craftsmanship is not extolled by society in korea. however, as haisan mentioned, their prices have gone up from $6 to $60.