ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the changes in the nature of Japanese colonial rule in Korea that occurred as ultra-nationalists gained control of the Japanese government and intensified their drive to gain economic and strategic control of Manchuria and northern China. This development emphasized the strategic value of Korea, and Japan began to intensify its exploitation of the colony's resources, both material and human, with far-reaching consequences. Korean émigré resistance had no impact on the march of these events, and so the story of Korea during 1931–1945 is primarily the story of what the Japanese did in Korea itself. This in turn is very much the story of the submersion of Korea in the Japanese war economy. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the economic and social legacy of this era post-1945.
