1930년대 일제의 지배정책 변화와 친일정치운동의 ‘제도적’ 편입과정

Changes in the Colonial Ruling Policy of the Japanese Imperialism in the 1930’s and the Process of the “Systematic” Incorporation of the Pro-Japanese Political Movement

In the early 1930’s, Japanese Imperialism began to change the direction of colonial ruling policy, following the Manchurian Incident, the secondary revision of the local administrative system, and the rural development movement. While “cultural rule” in the 1920’s was the strategy through which to integrate Choseon society by means of suffrage and autonomous rights, the new ruling strategy aimed to incorporate the political desires of the upper class of Choseon society into the Japanese colonial system by giving the local advisory organizations “a measure of practical suffrage,” such as budget voting rights. With the expansion of Japanese colonization over the Asian continent. Japan extended its direct and in-depth rule over Choseon society. The conversion of the colonial ruling policy of Japanese Imperialism verified that it was impossible to allow Choseon to have autonomous rights or suffrage, which had been considered as a possible policy in the 1920’s. On the other hand, as the colonial ruling policy was evolving, the pro-Japanese political movement began to decline since the movements in the 1920’s, which had aimed at securing the suffrage of the Choseon people, including autonomous rights and suffrage by making them loyal subjects of the Japanese Empire. The decline was because the upper class of Choseon society, which had been the political and social bases of the movement, withdrew from the organization as they paid more attention to the expanded ruling organizations, such as local councils, in order to secure their substantial benefit. It was ironic that the pro-Japanese political movement, which had been active in the 1920’s as a result of the prominence of the ethnic movement, lost its momentum in the 1930’s when Japanese colonial rule had intensified. However, this was an unavoidable outcome that depended on the structural conditions of the pro-Japanese political movement. The movement by the colonized people to acquire suffrage was a political activity that was essential for the ruling powers to cover up political complaints when the ruling system was in disturbance. However, when the complaints became passive and all resources had to be mobilized, the political movements of the colonized people were useless. It was also a spontaneous outcome in such a circumstance that the upper class of Choseon society, which was sensitive to the trends of the colonial ruling policy, had more interest in obtaining visible, immediate benefits than in the movement to acquire suffrage that struggled to be realized. The power of the pro-Japanese political movement was the political power that existed in between the colonial ruling power, which utilized suffrage and autonomy as the mechanism to politically embrace the colonized people, and the desire of the upper class of Choseon society to strengthen their position as the dominant group by acquiring suffrage. Hence, the power of the pro-Japanese political movement lost its place as a political power when the mechanism for political control disappeared. It was eventually incorporated with colonial power as a government-fabricated organization for propaganda after the Sino-Japanese War. The process by which the power of the pro-Japanese political movement declined politically and was incorporated with the colonial system in the 1930’s demonstrated how the contradicting characteristics of the colonial ruling logic of Japanese Imperialism were realized. Japanese Imperialism tried to completely absorb Choseon society through the colonial ruling principle of “assimilation,” making it different from the colonial rule of Western countries. However, the “assimilation” appeared to suggest “national integration” and triggered the realistic problem that Japanese Imperialism was never able to accept the political equalization between the Empire and the colony.