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JapanKorea Treaty of 1910

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The JapanKorea Treaty of 1910, also known as the

JapanKorea Annexation Treaty, was made by
representatives of the Empire of Japan and the Korean
Empire on August 22, 1910. In this treaty, Japan formally
annexed Korea following the JapanKorea Treaty of
1905 by which Korea became the protectorate of Japan
and JapanKorea Treaty of 1907 by which Korea was
deprived of the administration of internal affairs.

JapanKorea Annexation Treaty

JapanKorea Annexation Treaty of 1910

Japanese commentators predicted that Koreans would

easily assimilate into the Japanese Empire.[1]
In 1965 the Treaty of Basic Relations between South
Korea and Japan confirmed this treaty is "already null
and void".[2]

Contents
1 History
1.1 Role of the British government
2 Legality
2.1 Conference to discuss legality of the
treaty
3 Activism
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

General power of attorney to Lee Wan-yong signed and

sealed by the last emperor, Sunjong of the Korean
Empire (Lee Cheok, ). The last emperor's first
name '' used as signature.
Type

Annexation treaty

Context

Annexation of the Korean Empire by the

Empire of Japan

Sealed

August 22, 1910

Effective

August 29, 1910

Expiration June 22, 1965, de facto September 2, 1945

June 22, 1965

Expiry
Signatories

Lee Wan-yong
(Prime Minister of the Korean
Empire)
Count Terauchi Masatake
(Resident General of Korea; Empire
of Japan)

History
The treaty was proclaimed to the public (and became
effective) on August 29, 1910, officially starting the
period of Japanese rule in Korea. The treaty had eight
articles, the first being: "His Majesty the Emperor of
Korea makes the complete and permanent cession to His
Majesty the Emperor of Japan of all rights of sovereignty
over the whole of Korea".
Gojong of the Korean Empire later called the treaty a
"neugyak ( )."[3] The alternative term used in lieu
of "joyak ( )" implies the treaty was coerced to

Parties

Empire of Japan
Korean Empire

Ratifiers

Empire of Japan
Korean Empire

Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty

Japanese name
Kanji

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Koreans by Japanese. "Gyeongsul Gukchi (

)" and "Gukchi-il ( )" are alternative terms
for the year and date the treaty was signed, respectively.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JapanKorea_Treaty_of_1910

Hiragana

Transcriptions
Romanization

Role of the British government

Britain had already acquiesced to the annexation, via their
connection to Japan via the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902.

Legality

Nikkan Heig Jyaku

Korean name

Hangul

(, )

Hanja

(, )

Transcriptions

The legality of the Treaty was disputed by the exiled

Revised
Hanil Byeonghap Joyak
Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea as well as
Romanization
(Hanil Hapbang Joyak, Hanil
the South Korean government. While the treaty was affixed
Hapbang Neugyak)
with the national seal of the Korean Empire, Emperor
Sunjong of Korea refused to sign the treaty as required under
Korean law. The treaty was instead signed by Prime Minister Lee Wan-yong of the Korean Empire, and
Resident General Count Terauchi Masatake of the Empire of Japan.
This issue caused considerable difficulty in negotiating the establishment of basic diplomatic relations between
the countries. Korea insisted to include a chapter stipulating "The treaty was null and void". A compromise was
reached in language of Article II of the 1965 Treaty on Basic Relations:
"It is confirmed that all treaties or agreements concluded between the Empire of Japan and the Empire of Korea
on or before August 22, 1910 are already null and void."[5]

Conference to discuss legality of the treaty

In 2001, an academic research of the legality for Korea's annexation by Japan from 1910 to 1945 which was
titled A reconsideration of Japanese Annexation of Korea from the Historical and International Law
Perspectives was held at Harvard University with a support of Korea Foundation.[6] The conference was held 3
times, namely on January, April and November and related scholars of history and international law participated
from the South Korea, North Korea, Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.
Anthony Carty, a Professor of the University of Derby stated "During the height of the imperialism, it is
difficult to find an international law sufficient to determine the legality/illegality of a particular treaty."[7] In his
book on International Law, "Carty prefers seeing the relationship between Japan and Korea at the time with
reference to the reality of the then international community dominated by Western powers, rather than viewing
it in terms of treaty law as argued by Korean scholars."[8]
Alexis Dudden, a Professor of University of Connecticut discussed about the Nitobe Inaz's science of colonial
policy. She is known as an author of a book "Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power" in which
she discusses how Japanese policymakers carefully studied and then invoked international law to annex Korea
legally.[7][9]
According to Kan Kimura, the bottom line of this conference is that the Korean claim "The annexation was
illegal" was totally unaccepted by the participated Western scholars, among others by those specialized in
international law.[7]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JapanKorea_Treaty_of_1910

Activism
On August 28, 2007, regarding the General Power of Attorney by Sunjong, Korean news paper Dong-a Ilbo
reported that Korean monarchs did not sign in the official documents with their real names traditionally. But, the
Korean Emperor was forced by Japan to follow a new custom to sign with his real name, which originated from
the western hemisphere. It mentioned Sunjong's signature may be compulsory.[10]
On June 23, 2010, 75 South Korean congressmen suggested the legal nullification of the JapanKorea
Annexation Treaty to the Prime Minister Naoto Kan.[11]
On July 6, 2010, Korean and Japanese progressive Christian groups gathered in Tokyo's Korean YMCA chapter
and jointly declared that the JapanKorea Annexation Treaty was unjustified.[12]
On July 28, 2010, approximately 1000 intellectuals in Korea and Japan issued a Joint Statement that the
JapanKorea Annexation Treaty was never valid in the first place. [13]

See also
Annexation
Japan-Korea Treaty of 1905
JapanKorea Treaty of 1907
Taft-Katsura Agreement
Root-Takahira Agreement
Treaty of Portsmouth
Anglo-Japanese Alliance
Unequal treaty

Wikisource has original

text related to this article:
Japan-Korea
Annexation Treaty

History of JapanKorea relations

Korea under Japanese rule
Index of Korea-related articles
List of territories occupied by Imperial Japan

Notes
1. Caprio, Mark (2009). Japanese Assimilation Policies in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945 (http://books.google.com
/books?id=oj_IhRConN8C&pg=PA82). University of Washington Press. pp. 8283.
2. Hook, Glenn D. (2001). Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics, and Security, p. 491. "It is confirmed
that all treaties or agreements concluded between the Empire of Japan and the Empire of Korea on or before August
22, 1910 are already null and void." (https://books.google.com/books?id=HZYARCHyP_AC&pg=PA491), p. 491, at
Google Books
3. Kim, Chasu (17 October 1995). " " (http://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer
/index.nhn?articleId=1995101700209102003&edtNo=45&printCount=1&publishDate=1995-10-17&
officeId=00020&pageNo=2&printNo=22999&publishType=00010). The Dong-a Ilbo. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
4. Choi, Soyoung (29 August 1997). " '' 87 ' ' "
(http://newslibrary.naver.com/viewer/index.nhn?articleId=1997082900329125001&edtNo=45&printCount=1&
publishDate=1997-08-29&officeId=00032&pageNo=25&printNo=16201&publishType=00010). Kyunghyang
Shinmun. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
5. Tg, Kazuhiko (2010). Japan's Foreign Policy, 1945-2009: The Quest for a Proactive Policy
(http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=RVOri6moo8cC&pg=PA159&hl=en&

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JapanKorea_Treaty_of_1910

sa=X&ei=vsQBUpO_BZDIlQWW1oCoDw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false). BRILL. p. 159.

ISBN 9004185011.
6. "A Reconsideration of the Japanese Annexation of Korea, Conference at Harvard University" (http://www.kf.or.kr
/eng/01_sks/sks_not_view.asp?BIZBASE=ALL&SearchText=&SearchValue=&Page=&BBS_NO=147). Korea
Foundation.
7. Kimura, Kan (June 2002). "3 : " [Final Conference of "A
Reconsideration of the Annexation of Korea": Transcend the "Legality / Illegality"] (http://www.lib.kobe-u.ac.jp
/repository/90000398.pdf#search=%27%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2%E7%9A%84%E5%9B%BD%E9%9A%9B
%E6%B3%95%E7%9A%84%E8%A6%B3%E7%82%B9%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%AE%E6%97%A5
%E6%9C%AC%E3%81%AE%E9%9F%93%E5%9B%BD%E4%BD%B5%E5%90%88%E5%86%8D%E6
%A4%9C%E8%A8%8E%27) (PDF).
8. Bing Bing Jia (March 2006). "Asian Yearbook of International Law, Volume 10 (20012002)"
(http://chinesejil.oxfordjournals.org/content/5/1/249.full). Chinese Journal of International Law 5 (1): 249250.
9. Dudden, Alexis (2006). Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power (http://books.google.co.jp
/books?id=wisqvipZ2bcC&printsec=frontcover&hl=en&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&
q&f=false). University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 082483139X.
10. " " (http://news.naver.com/photo/read.php?mode=LTD&office_id=020&article_id=0000422739&
section_id=103&view=all). Naver.
11. (Kim), (Seung-uk) (2010-06-23). " " "..75, ("JapanKorea
Annexation Treaty Is Invalid".. Suggesting To The Japanese PM By 75 Congressmen)"
(http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/politics/2010/06/23/0502000000AKR20100623068200001.HTML). Yonhap News (in
Korean). Retrieved 2010-06-23.
12. (Lee), (Chung-weon) (2010-07-06). ". " " (Korean and Japanese
Progressive Christians "Annexing Korea Was Unjustified")" (http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/international/2010/07
/06/0601010100AKR20100706222300073.HTML). Yonhap News (in Korean). Retrieved 2010-07-13.
13. (Lee), (Chung-weon) (2010-07-28). " 1 " " (1000 Korean and
Japanese Scholars "JapanKorea Annexation Treaty Is Originally Invalid")" (http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr
/international/2010/07/28/0601010100AKR20100728001800073.HTML). Yonhap News (in Korean). Retrieved
2010-08-02.

References
Beasley, W.G. (1991). Japanese Imperialism 1894-1945. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-822168-1.
Duus, Peter (1998). The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910.
University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-21361-0.
Korean Mission to the Conference on the Limitation of Armament, Washington, D.C., 1921-1922. (1922).
Korea's Appeal to the Conference on Limitation of Armament. Washington: U.S. Government Printing
Office. OCLC 12923609 (http://www.worldcat.org/title/koreas-appeal-to-the-conference-on-limitationof-armament/oclc/12923609)
United States. Dept. of State. (1919). Catalogue of treaties: 1814-1918. Washington: Government
Printing Office. OCLC 3830508 (http://www.worldcat.org/title/catalogue-of-treaties-1814-1918
/oclc/3830508)

External links
Japan Korea Annexation Treaty of 1910 from Wikisource
Wikimedia Commons has
"The annexation of Korea" (editorial) Japan Times, August 29,
media related to
2010 (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20100829a1.html)
JapanKorea Annexation
"Historic declaration by Japanese and Korean intellectuals is a
Treaty.
step towards reconciliation" (http://www.asianews.it/newsen/Historic-declaration-by-Japanese-and-Korean-intellectuals-is-a-step-towards-reconciliation8/4/2015 9:17 PM

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JapanKorea_Treaty_of_1910

18456.html) Asia News, May 20, 2010

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