Koreans and the Politics of Nationality and Race During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945 ...

297 Pages·2011·2.14 MB·English

by  Simon Nantais

Koreans and the Politics of Nationality and Race
During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952

by
Simon Nantais
M.A., University of Ottawa, 2004
B.A., University of Ottawa, 1998

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in the Department of History

©Simon Nantais, 2011
University of Victoria

All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying
or other means, without the permission of the author.
ii

Koreans and the Politics of Nationality and Race
During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952

by
Simon Nantais
M.A., University of Ottawa, 2004
B.A., University of Ottawa, 1998

Supervisory Committee
Dr. John Price, Supervisor
(Department of History)

Dr. Greg Blue, Departmental Member
(Department of History)

Dr. Patricia E. Roy, Departmental Member
(Department of History)

Dr. Cody Poulton, Outside Member
(Department of Pacific and Asian Studies)
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Supervisory Committee
Dr. John Price, Supervisor
(Department of History)

Dr. Greg Blue, Departmental Member
(Department of History)

Dr. Patricia E. Roy, Departmental Member
(Department of History)

Dr. Cody Poulton, Outside Member
(Department of Pacific and Asian Studies)

ABSTRACT
Koreans resident during the Allied Occupation of Japan (1945-1952) were in a complex
position. They remained Japanese nationals until a sovereign Japan and ―Korea,‖ which was
divided into two ideologically opposed states, negotiated their nationality status. Though most
Koreans in Japan held family registers in South Korea, both North and South Korea claimed
them as nationals, and most Koreans in Japan came to support Kim Il-sung‘s North Korea.
Moreover, racists in the Allied and Japanese governments used the Koreans as convenient
scapegoats. Race, nationality, and ideology thus converged to create a difficult situation for all
parties concerned. The hardships Koreans faced during the Occupation have often been blamed
on Japanese and American racism. Though race played a significant part in their treatment, this
dissertation argues that the mixing of race and nationality as categories of analysis, as well as the
mixing of Western legal facts with Japanese ones, has misconstrued the history of Koreans in
Occupied Japan. For a fuller understanding of this complex period, this dissertation uses
nationality as a lens through which to examine the origins and the growth of the Korean
community in Japan in their own words and to analyze the meaning and use of race and
nationality as they were employed during the Occupation; and incorporate the American,
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Japanese, and South Korean point of view by placing the Korean experience in Japan in a wider
geographical and political context of the early Cold War. All parties in Japan, including Koreans
in Japan, pursued their political goals by employing the concept of nationality in their own ways.
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Table of Contents

Supervisory Committee .................................................................................................................. ii
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii
Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. ix
Glossary ......................................................................................................................................... xi
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xiii

Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1
Historiography ............................................................................................................................. 4
Nationality and Koreans in Japan.............................................................................................. 25
Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 33
Terminology .............................................................................................................................. 37
Korea and Japan .....................................................................................................................37
Koreans and Japanese .............................................................................................................40
Race and minzoku ..................................................................................................................41
Nationals, citizens, subjects ....................................................................................................43
Outline of Chapters ................................................................................................................... 44

Chapter 2: Koreans in Japan’s Prefectures, 1910-1952 .......................................................... 49
Migration and Settlement from Korea to Japan ........................................................................ 54
To Stay or Not to Stay: Liberation and the Choice of Home .................................................... 69
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 92

Chapter 3: The Two Koreas and the Dissolution of Choren, September 1949 ..................... 94
Formation and Growth of Choren and Mindan ......................................................................... 96
Jurisdictional Issues during the Allied Occupation ................................................................. 102
vi

Relationship between GHQ, the Japanese Government, and Koreans in Japan, 1945-1948 .. 108
Creation of the ―Korean Problem‖ in the Spring and Summer of 1948 .................................. 118
The Dissolution of Choren, 1948-1949 ................................................................................... 122
Opinions on Choren‘s Dissolution ......................................................................................... 135
Koreans in Japan, Post-Dissolution ......................................................................................... 138

Chapter 4: Attempts to Deport Koreans in Japan to the Republic of Korea, 1948-1951 .. 149
Communism and Koreans in Japan, 1945-1948...................................................................... 150
Richard Finn‘s ―Staff Study on Koreans‖ ............................................................................... 152
Plans for Forcibly Repatriating Koreans, 1948-1949 (1) ........................................................ 163
Plans for Forcibly Repatriating Koreans, 1950-1951 (2) ........................................................ 168

Chapter 5: Koreans and the Loss of Japanese Nationality, April 1952 ............................... 187
Regarding the Nationality of Koreans in Japan ...................................................................... 189
Nationality Conference, October 1951-April 1952 ................................................................. 199
Explaining the Outcome of the 1951 Nationality Conference ................................................ 210
Explaining Alternatives to the Loss of Nationality ................................................................. 218
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 224

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 226
Nationality in Japan: Revising Conceptual Origins ................................................................ 235

Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 243
Primary sources ....................................................................................................................... 243
Secondary sources ................................................................................................................... 246

Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 260
Appendix 1: Japan‘s Nationality Law, 1899 ........................................................................... 260
Appendix 2: Japan‘s Nationality Law, 1950 ........................................................................... 265
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Appendix 3: Concerning the Disposition of Nationality and Family Registers, 19 April 1952
................................................................................................................................................. 271
Appendix 4: Basic Initial Post Surrender Directive to Supreme Commander for the Allied
Powers for the Occupation of Japan and Control of Japan (JCS 1380/15) ............................. 273
Appendix 5: Potsdam Declaration, 26 July 1945 .................................................................... 278
Appendix 6: San Francisco Peace Treaty, 8 September 1951 (selected portions) .................. 280
viii

List of Tables

Table 1: Reasons for Leaving Korea, 1910-1945 ............................................................. 66
Table 2: Number of Illegal Entrants Arrested in Japan, 1946-1952 ................................. 74
Table 3: Number of Koreans Deported to Korea South of the 38th Parallel, 1946-1950 .. 74
ix

Abbreviations
AGO Attorney General‘s Office (Japan)
ARO Alien Registration Ordinance (1947)
ARL Alien Registration Law (1951; effective 28 April 1952)
CAS Civil Affairs Section (GHQ)
CCD Civil Censorship Detachment (GHQ)
Chongryon Zainihon Chōsenjin Sōrengokai
(General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, 1955-present)
Choren Zainihon Chōsenjin Renmei
(The League of Koreans Residing in Japan, 1945-1949)
CICo Central Industrial Company
CIC Counter-Intelligence Corps (GHQ)
CI&E Civil Information and Education (GHQ)
CIS Civil Intelligence Section (GHQ)
CPC Office of the Civil Property Custodian (GHQ)
DPRK Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
DS Diplomatic Section (GHQ)
ESB Economic Stabilization Board (GHQ)
ESS Economic and Scientific Section (GHQ)
FIB Foreign Investment Board (GHQ)
GGC Government-General in Chosen (Japan)
GHQ General Headquarters
GS Government Section (GHQ)
G-1 Planning, Personnel, and General Affairs (GHQ)
G-2 Intelligence Section, General Military Staff (GHQ)
G-3 Military Operations, Law Enforcement, and Repatriation (GHQ)
JCP Japan Communist Party
JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff
KDM South Korean Diplomatic Mission to SCAP
LS Legal Section (GHQ)
MG Military Government
MGT Military Government Teams
Mindan Zainihon Daikan Minkoku Dantai
(Korean Residents‘ Union in Japan, 1946- present)
Minsei Zainihon Chōsen Minshu Seinen Dōmei
(Korean Democratic Youth League in Japan, 1947-1949)
MOFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)
NDL National Diet Library (Japan)
NPR National Police Reserve (Japan)
OSS Office of Strategic Services (US)
PH&W Public Health and Welfare (GHQ)
POLAD Office of the Political Advisor (GHQ)
POW Prisoner-of-war
PRC People‘s Republic of China
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PSD Public Safety Division (GHQ)
ROC Republic of China
ROK Republic of Korea (South Korea)
SCAP Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (Douglas MacArthur, 1945-1951;
Matthew Ridgway, 1951-1952)
SCAPIN SCAP Index
SIB Special Investigation Bureau (Japan)
SPR Special Permanent Resident (Japan)
UN United Nations
UNDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights
USAMGIK US Army Military Government in Korea
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics