Some time ago I read that Koreans were enlisted in the Japanese Imperial Army and were grouped in divions levied locally , these Koreans divisions were reputed to be not at par with the regular Japanese divisions and were considered second class , mostly were used for garrison duties and as guards at POW camps . And soon they gained a reputation for brutality .
Instead regarding Taiwaneses , when I was in Taiwan was told that only few individuals were selected to join the JIA and were inserted in regular IJA units and not grouped in ethnic units like Koreans
I was told that Taiwanese were only allowed in the ranks and could not reach Officer or even NCO status .
How about the Koreans ? Could they become officers ? Which was the highest rank reached by Koreans .
Could anyone help and give infos about Koreans and Taiwanese fighting willingly or not on the Japanes side .
Yours
GLADIVM
Koreans & Taiwanese in the Imperial Army
I was reading a Chinese magazine about the Japanese occupation of Taiwan from 1895-1945. Some old people who had endured the occupation said that the Japanese were actually courteous to them. But as far as I know, my wife (Korean) said the Japanese were very harsh to them.
So I guess you might be able to tell how each were treated if these two groups were in the Japanese military.
So I guess you might be able to tell how each were treated if these two groups were in the Japanese military.
Re: Koreans & Taiwaneses in the Imperial Army
Could anyone help and give infos about Koreans and Taiwanese fighting willingly or not on the Japanes side .
Yours
GLADIVM[/quote]
Greetings,
Japanese naval infantry regiment on Tarawa had several hundred Korean laborers attatched to it. One source I read implied maybe 33% of total force on island was Korean in origin.
Only several dozen Koreans were captured and this appears to indicate that Koreans were forced to fight by the Japanese and then were killed by US marines.
Yours
GLADIVM[/quote]
Greetings,
Japanese naval infantry regiment on Tarawa had several hundred Korean laborers attatched to it. One source I read implied maybe 33% of total force on island was Korean in origin.
Only several dozen Koreans were captured and this appears to indicate that Koreans were forced to fight by the Japanese and then were killed by US marines.
As far as I know, the majority of Koreans and Formosans, (What Taiwan was called during the Japanese occupation) didn't like the Japanese whatsoever and were pretty much forced to join the Imperial Army. Not all of course, there's always going to be some collaboraters.
A large number of them went into the Kempetai to help the Japanese keep watch on their own people, and another large group became Prison camp guards. I remember one American POW saying that the Japanese treated the Koreans so bad, as if they were barely human, that the Koreans would take out their frustrations and anger on the POWs. Hope this helped. Regards.
A large number of them went into the Kempetai to help the Japanese keep watch on their own people, and another large group became Prison camp guards. I remember one American POW saying that the Japanese treated the Koreans so bad, as if they were barely human, that the Koreans would take out their frustrations and anger on the POWs. Hope this helped. Regards.
The Japanese conscripted Koreans for military duties but used them in manual labour units and as camp guards. The officers in such units were Japanese who viewed their position as some form of punishment, almost a disgrace. These officers tended to take out their anger on the Koreans under their control.
The Allied invasions of Pacific islands sometimes caught Korean labourers but the Japanese consistently refused to form Korean fighting units. Of the c 41500 Japanese POW, 75% were in fact Korean.
c 70,000 Koreans died as a result of air raids and service in the Japanese armed forces/ merchant fleet.
Formosan conscripts served strictly in a rear echelon capacity although they did sometimes find themselves involved in fights against Chinese guerrillas and Allied invasions or air/sea bombardments.
In 1945 the Japanese allowed Formosans to volunteer for combat duties but few did so.
Both Korea and Formosa were occupied territories. Overall the Koreans and Formosans did not support the Japanese and the Japanese realised this. In some cases the Japanese killed their Koreans and Formosans "allies" before commiting suicide themselves. The number of Koreans who surrendered given the oppurtunity shows this lack of commitment to the Japanese cause.
The Allied invasions of Pacific islands sometimes caught Korean labourers but the Japanese consistently refused to form Korean fighting units. Of the c 41500 Japanese POW, 75% were in fact Korean.
c 70,000 Koreans died as a result of air raids and service in the Japanese armed forces/ merchant fleet.
Formosan conscripts served strictly in a rear echelon capacity although they did sometimes find themselves involved in fights against Chinese guerrillas and Allied invasions or air/sea bombardments.
In 1945 the Japanese allowed Formosans to volunteer for combat duties but few did so.
Both Korea and Formosa were occupied territories. Overall the Koreans and Formosans did not support the Japanese and the Japanese realised this. In some cases the Japanese killed their Koreans and Formosans "allies" before commiting suicide themselves. The number of Koreans who surrendered given the oppurtunity shows this lack of commitment to the Japanese cause.
Japan at the time had a deeply racist society and all gaijin or foreigners were treated as inferior to the lowest Japanese.
Korea had been a dependency from 1910 and Japn had avoided using Korean manpower. However as the war dragged on Japan was force to re-look at this isue. Japan examined nearly 1/4 million Koreans for service and drafted some 130,000. As stated earlier they served in construction & labour units of around 1000 men with a Japanese CO and a light armed infantry company in support (100men)
In addition some 150,000 Koreans served as militarised civilians, and served the armed directly, and they had there own uniforms and rank structures.
Some Koreans did volunteer for service with Japan, and they were usually employed in backwater postings or as POW guards
Andy
Korea had been a dependency from 1910 and Japn had avoided using Korean manpower. However as the war dragged on Japan was force to re-look at this isue. Japan examined nearly 1/4 million Koreans for service and drafted some 130,000. As stated earlier they served in construction & labour units of around 1000 men with a Japanese CO and a light armed infantry company in support (100men)
In addition some 150,000 Koreans served as militarised civilians, and served the armed directly, and they had there own uniforms and rank structures.
Some Koreans did volunteer for service with Japan, and they were usually employed in backwater postings or as POW guards
Andy
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ballsoneballywho
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Re: Koreans & Taiwaneses in the Imperial Army
Both countries had officers for Japanese imperial troops.GLADIVM wrote:Some time ago I read that Koreans were enlisted in the Japanese Imperial Army and were grouped in divions levied locally , these Koreans divisions were reputed to be not at par with the regular Japanese divisions and were considered second class , mostly were used for garrison duties and as guards at POW camps . And soon they gained a reputation for brutality .
Instead regarding Taiwaneses , when I was in Taiwan was told that only few individuals were selected to join the JIA and were inserted in regular IJA units and not grouped in ethnic units like Koreans
I was told that Taiwanese were only allowed in the ranks and could not reach Officer or even NCO status .
How about the Koreans ? Could they become officers ? Which was the highest rank reached by Koreans .
Could anyone help and give infos about Koreans and Taiwanese fighting willingly or not on the Japanes side .
Yours
GLADIVM
good examples:Former PM of Taiwan ,Lee tung hui and the last S.Korean president Park,they both graduated from Janese military academy and worked on the battle front line in Manchu and Pacific islands.
However it was relatively very difficult for Taiwanese and Koreans to become officer member compared to Japanese volunteers.
After the war,both of Taiwan and S.Korea kept on adopting official bureaucratits who worked under Japanese reign for economic growth.
Hope it will help.
Cheers.
The highest rank a Korean acquired in Japanese army may be lieutenant general. The man was Rhee Jin, prince of Changdeokkung (Chang Deok Palace). He was the former crownprince of Korean Empire before Korea was annexed in 1910.
When Korea was annexed, the royal family and Korean nobleman became Japanese noble. The emperor (Rhee Jin's elder brother, died 1926) became prince of Changdeokkung, his father (the former emperor, dethroned by Japanese military governor in 1907) became prince of Deoksukung, and the other Korean princes became Japanese dukes, marquises and counts. Rhee Jin was brought to Japan in 1907 as a hostage, when he was 10 years old. He was educated and brought up as a Japanese noble. He joined Japanese army in 1917, and married a Japanese princess in 1920.
When Korea was annexed, the royal family and Korean nobleman became Japanese noble. The emperor (Rhee Jin's elder brother, died 1926) became prince of Changdeokkung, his father (the former emperor, dethroned by Japanese military governor in 1907) became prince of Deoksukung, and the other Korean princes became Japanese dukes, marquises and counts. Rhee Jin was brought to Japan in 1907 as a hostage, when he was 10 years old. He was educated and brought up as a Japanese noble. He joined Japanese army in 1917, and married a Japanese princess in 1920.
Well, by the order of GHQ, 12 families of Japanese royal princes were degraded and became civilian in an imperial conference on Nov 29th 1945, except 3 younger brothers of Emperor Hirohito. Among these 12 princes there was Changdeokkong Rhee Jin (also spelled Yi Jin). Some Korean royalists want Rhee Jin to be the king of a independent Korean nation, but more Korean regarded him as a collaborationist and a traitor of the Korean people. So he must stay at Japan. After the new constitution of Japan was issued in 1947, Rhee Jin lost most of his property in Japan by the high property tax. All property of the former royal family in Korea were confiscated in 1948, after ROK and DPRK established. Rhee Jin's Korean nationality was also disfranchised by the order of Rhee Syngman, president of ROK. So Rhee Jin and his wife living poorly in Japan. In 1959, Rhee Jin falled ill. After Park Chung Hee's coup 1961, they received Korean alms and Park give Korean nationality back to Rhee Jin and his wife Princess Yoshiko. Rhee Jin went back to his homeland in Nov 1963, on a stretcher. He and his wife living in a small courtyard in the Chang Deok Palace, and Rhee Jin died in 1970, at the age of 72. But he got a State funeral as the former crown prince of Korean Empire. His wife Yoshiko died in 1989.
Scenes of Chang Deok Palace
http://www.koreatips.net/english/cultur ... gdeok.html
Scenes of Chang Deok Palace
http://www.koreatips.net/english/cultur ... gdeok.html
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Last edited by Windward on 04 Aug 2003, 10:54, edited 2 times in total.
Besides Rhee Jin and some collaborative nobles, most members of the Korean royal family in South Korea were not discriminated. Considering the number of Rhee family (heirs of former kings of the Chosun Dynasty) was nearly 200,000, it's not advisable to discriminate them. Even president Rhee Syngman was a cousin several times removed of royal family too. Rhee Jin's elder brother Rhee Kang, son of an aulic lady, was respected by Koreans for his anti-Japanese attitude. He died 1958 in ROK.
Rhee Jin's only son Rhee Kew (graduated from MIT) is the leader of royal Rhee family now. They perform great religious ceremony for their royal ancestors in the Seoul Chongmyo (royal shrine) every year.
Rhee Jin's only son Rhee Kew (graduated from MIT) is the leader of royal Rhee family now. They perform great religious ceremony for their royal ancestors in the Seoul Chongmyo (royal shrine) every year.
Thanks Winward ,
for your comprehensive reply , it seems that was an habit of the Japanese
to marry the heir to the throne of a satellite country (ManchiuKuo) or a conquered one (Korea ) to a Japanese noblewoman in order to assure that any eventual heir to these thrones would be at least partly Japanese .
They did the same with the Brother of the ex Emperor of China ( or Emperor of Manchiukuo ) as Pu Yi (the Emperor) was already married and his sexuality very much in doubt , they married his brother to a Japanes princess who gave birth to a boy who would have the heir to the Dragon's throne .
Unfortunately the boy and his mother disappeared after falling into the hands of the Soviets troops which overrun Machiukuo in the summer of 1945 and nothing more has been heard of them .
Probably both sides of China warring factions did not wish to be burdened by the additional headache of an half japanese pretender to the throne .
My source of this information is " Twilight form the Forbidden City " written by the scottish tutor of Pu Yi during his youth in Peking .
During one visit to Seoul , I went to see the Musuem an the Gardens of the Imperial Palace and found the gardens very pleasant & peaceful .
The Building housing the musuem I believe was the seat of the Japanese Administration and his good example of japanese architecture in the early 900's .
Please if you have any information about the fate of the heir to Chinese throne , share it with us .
Yours
GLADIVM
for your comprehensive reply , it seems that was an habit of the Japanese
to marry the heir to the throne of a satellite country (ManchiuKuo) or a conquered one (Korea ) to a Japanese noblewoman in order to assure that any eventual heir to these thrones would be at least partly Japanese .
They did the same with the Brother of the ex Emperor of China ( or Emperor of Manchiukuo ) as Pu Yi (the Emperor) was already married and his sexuality very much in doubt , they married his brother to a Japanes princess who gave birth to a boy who would have the heir to the Dragon's throne .
Unfortunately the boy and his mother disappeared after falling into the hands of the Soviets troops which overrun Machiukuo in the summer of 1945 and nothing more has been heard of them .
Probably both sides of China warring factions did not wish to be burdened by the additional headache of an half japanese pretender to the throne .
My source of this information is " Twilight form the Forbidden City " written by the scottish tutor of Pu Yi during his youth in Peking .
During one visit to Seoul , I went to see the Musuem an the Gardens of the Imperial Palace and found the gardens very pleasant & peaceful .
The Building housing the musuem I believe was the seat of the Japanese Administration and his good example of japanese architecture in the early 900's .
Please if you have any information about the fate of the heir to Chinese throne , share it with us .
Yours
GLADIVM
Well, the illegitimate child was a girl as some former servents in Manchurian palace said, and her father was an adulterer of empress Wan Rong. The child died three days after her birth and burned in a cremator. Henry Puyi became homosexual, when he was a teenager, lured by some comely young eunuches, and loss his eroticism with female. Both his parents and other royal nobles knew this, though they asked him for a marriage in 1922. Japanese politicians knew this in the late 1920s. His scottish tutor Reginard Johnston was a homosexual too (but few men knew this). Puyi wrote these things during the period he was impounded in Russia, after WW2. So Chinese communists knew these too, including premier Zhou who held Puyi's third marriage in 1962. Zhou hoped a miracle that Puyi might had a child, for political reason mostly. But his attempt failed too.