Government General of Korea - Chosen Sou Kokufu

With the annexation of Korea in 1910 (Meiji 43), this was the Japanese governing body for Korea that was established by remodeling the Resident-General of Korea and was promulgated on September 30th of the same year (implemented on October 1st). Korea was ruled for 36 years from then until August 1945 (Showa 20). The head of the government, the Governor-General of Korea (the first one, Terauchi Masatake), was a personally appointed military officer who held the three branches of power - legislative, judicial and executive - in one hand, and also had military power.

The Government-General consisted of five departments: General Affairs, Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry, and nine bureaus were placed under them. In addition, the Inspector General of Police and the Provisional Land Survey Bureau were also established. Among them, the most powerful was the Military Police. This unique security organization, in which the military police also served as the regular police, was spread throughout Korea and had wide-ranging authority, from "suppressing rioters" to spreading the Japanese language, and freedom of speech, publication, and association was completely taken away. Furthermore, the basic policy of rule was an assimilation policy, and assimilation education to turn Koreans into Japanese was emphasized. Under this strong authority, Korea was reorganized into a supplier of raw materials and food to Japan, and a market for selling goods. In response to this, in 1919, Koreans launched the March 1st Independence Movement and resisted as a nation. As a result, Japan was forced to change its ruling policy. The appointment of civilian governors-general was permitted, and the military police was changed to regular police, but this only resulted in an increase in police power, a strengthening of assimilation policies, and the pursuit of a policy of ethnic division. As the country entered the Fifteen Year War, all Koreans were conscripted as "human resources," and all materials were requisitioned to increase military strength. As a result, the Industrial and Agricultural Affairs Bureau was abolished, and the Mining, Manufacturing, and Agriculture and Commerce Bureau was established (December 1943), and the structure of the Governor-General's Office was also changed to accommodate wartime mobilization, but it was abolished in 1945.

[Setsuko Miyata]

"Government-General of Korea: 25 Years of Administration" (1935) ▽ "Korea under Japanese Rule" by Yamabe Kentaro (Iwanami Shinsho) ▽ "Japanese Imperialism's Rule over Korea" by Park Kyung-sik (1973, Aoki Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1910年（明治43）の韓国併合とともに、韓国統監府を改変して同年9月30日公布（施行は10月1日）、設置された日本の朝鮮統治機関。以後1945年（昭和20）8月までの36年間にわたって朝鮮を支配した。長官の朝鮮総督（初代寺内正毅(てらうちまさたけ)）は親任の武官で、立法、司法、行政の三権を一手に掌握し、そのうえ軍事権までもっていた。

　総督府は総務、内務、度支、農商工、司法の五部からなり、その下に九局が置かれた。さらにこのほかに警務総監部、臨時土地調査局などが設けられた。このなかで猛威を振るったのは憲兵警察であった。軍事警察である憲兵が普通警察を兼ねるこの特殊な治安機構は、朝鮮全土に張り巡らされ、「暴徒ノ討伐」から日本語の普及にまで及ぶ広範な権限をもち、言論、出版、結社の自由は完全に奪われた。さらに支配の基本方針として同化政策がとられ、朝鮮人を日本人化する同化教育が重視された。この強権の下で、朝鮮は日本の原料・食糧供給地、商品販売市場へと再編成されていった。これに対し1919年、朝鮮人は三・一独立運動を展開、民族をあげて抵抗した。そのため日本は支配政策の転換を迫られた。文官総督任用も可とし、憲兵警察を普通警察に改めたが、かえって警察力は増強され、同化政策は強化され、民族分裂政策が追求された。十五年戦争下に入ると、すべての朝鮮人は「人的資源」として徴用され、あらゆる物資は戦力増強のために徴発された。そのため殖産・農林局が廃止され、鉱工・農商局が新設（1943年12月）されるなど、戦時動員体制に対応するように総督府の機構も改変されたが、45年に廃止された。

［宮田節子］

『朝鮮総督府『施政二十五年史』（1935）』▽『山辺健太郎著『日本統治下の朝鮮』（岩波新書）』▽『朴慶植著『日本帝国主義の朝鮮支配』上下（1973・青木書店）』

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