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The Northeast Asian History Foundation’s was designed to systematically research and compile the history of Japanese imperialism’s invasion and colonization of the Korean Peninsula, and publish it as a series. It is composed of the data collection, research collection, and liberal arts collection, and is divided into political, economic, social, and cultural fields. Experts in the academic field are participating in the writing process. In the , we introduce one of the published volumes from the total compilation of Japanese invasion history.

The Adoption of Japanese Meiji Agricultural Methods in Korea

After 1900, Japanese individuals extensively investigated agriculture in Korea, and based on this, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce dispatched Japanese officials and a professor of agriculture from the Tokyo Imperial University to systematically investigate the agricultural conditions in the eight provinces of Joseon. As a result, they published a comprehensive report titled 『Korean Land and Agricultural Survey Report』(1906). Furthermore, Resident-General Ito Hirobumi blocked the establishment of agricultural testing grounds planned by the Korean Empire for the modernization of agriculture. Instead, he set up an Exemplary Model Farm Center, staffed with Japanese officials and guards. Initially, it was handed over to the Korean Empire but later reclaimed by Japan with the intention of conducting experiments using Japanese Meiji agricultural methods and applying them to Joseon.

Reorganization into a Colonial Agricultural Structure in the 1910s

In 1910, Japan annexed Joseon with the aim of transforming it into a strategic supply base for food raw materials and facilitating the development of Japanese capitalism. In the 1910s, the Japanese Government-General of Korea allocated 30-40% of its budget for the maintenance of the military police force, while 30-40% was spent on social indirect capital, leaving only 20-30% available for industrial development. Therefore, in order to achieve results with limited resources, the agricultural sector focused on the improvement of rice, cotton, and silkworm seeds. In rice farming, the focus was on expanding the proportion of Japanese rice varieties. As a result, the proportion of Japanese rice varieties, which was only 2.8% in 1912, reached 61.8% in 1921. In the case of cotton, there was an attempt to replace it with upland cotton, and in silkworm farming, efforts were made to improve it with Japanese mulberry and silkworm varieties, aiming to supply raw materials for Japanese capitalists.

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The implementation of the rice production increase plan and the poverty of farmers’ lives in the 1920s

In the 1920s, the Japanese Government-General of Korean implemented the rice production increase plan. At that time, Japan had chronically been an importer of rice due to its growing population, and in 1918, the 'Rice Riots' broke out in Japan. To address this issue, a specific policy was implemented to increase rice production in the colonies, including Joseon and Taiwan, and ship it to Japan. In the 1920s, the rice production increase plan drastically changed the agricultural structure of Joseon. The expansion of irrigation facilities resulted in a significant increase in farmland area, benefiting from irrigation, and the area planted with Japanese superior varieties increased significantly. As the amount of manuring increased, yields per unit area also increased.

  On the other hand, as the agricultural system focused on paddy farming, traditional farming methods and local varieties in Joseon have been diminished or eliminated. Most of the increased rice production was exported to Japan at low prices. The labor intensity for farmers in Joseon increased with the implementation of the rice production increase plan. However, the rise in utility bills such as irrigation association fees, taxes, and other public charges resulted in most Korean farmers, except for landowners and a few farmers, operating at a deficit and accumulating debts. Rural society as a whole was devastated, and most Joseon’s farmers fell into decline. In the late 1920s,

amidst the general decline of the farming community, the farmers’ consciousness grew, and the number of farm tenancy disputes exploded.

The suspension of the rice production increase plan and the ‘Tenant Farming Improvement and Increase Plan’

  The Great Depression of 1929 brought a major crisis to the capitalist economic system. Japanese capitalism also faced a major crisis as agricultural prices plummeted. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Japan, along with Japanese landowners, viewed the import of rice from Joseon and Taiwan as a factor that would further depress rice prices in Japan. When the Japanese government cut off funding to Joseon, citing the potential significant drop in Japanese rice prices if they imported rice from Joseon, due to the substantial rice harvest in Japan and Korea in 1933, the Japanese Government-General of Korea discontinued the rice production increase plan. Instead, efforts were made to stabilize the deteriorating rural economy through diversification of agricultural management, with the implementation of the “Tenant Farming Improvement and Increase Plan.” At the same time, the farmers’ economic balance deteriorated and their debts accumulated, and the farm tenancy disputes intensified from the late 1920s. As a result, the Japanese Government-General of Korea was faced with a situation where it had no choice but to carry out a rural regeneration movement by promoting initiatives such as the ‘Farmhouse Revitalization Plan’ or ‘Rural Development Movement’.

The Implementation of the Plan for Increasing Rice Grain and the Transition to a Wartime in the 1940s

  In 1937, the Empire of Japan entered a full-scale war with an attack on mainland China. With the invasion of Southeast Asia in 1940 and the attack on Hawaii in 1941, the Empire of Japan became one of the Axis powers in World War II and reorganized Japan and Joseon into a total mobilization system to wage war, expanding its war effort. The Japanese government-general of Korea established the ‘Plan for Increasing Rice Grain in Joseon’ in 1940 to secure military provisions for the war effort. In 1941, the outbreak of the Pacific War made it even more urgent to increase food production, and in 1942, the ‘Renewal Plan for Increasing Rice Grain in Joseon’ was established and implemented. However, under the wartime system, there was a severe shortage of rural labor, materials, and fertilizers, and the rice harvest amounted to only 70 percent of the normal yield due to the great drought. Consequently, the lives of Joseon’ farmers became even more miserable.