한인의 동부내몽골 이주를 통해 본 일제의 滿蒙政策(1931∼1945)

A Study of the Japanese Empire’s Manmeng Policy through the immigration of the Korean people to East Inner Mongolia(1931~1945)

From early on, Japan paid attention to Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, and promoted a policy of invading the main land. This policy was called, “Manmeng Policy.” The core of Manmeng Policy was the policy of moving Koreans to Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. In 1915, Japan submitted the “Demand for 21 Articles” to Yan Shikai, and by accepting this demand, Chinese actually and officially approved the special benefits of Japanese in South Manchuria and East Inner Mongolia. Since the demand was also applied to Koreans, many of them also moved to East Inner Mongolia. Most Koreans worked as tenant farmers for the Chinese and Mongolian landowners. However, as the landowners lacked knowledge on paddy fields, most of them failed developing paddy fields. Japan which was planning to advance into East Inner Mongolia took this as an opportunity and supported the development of paddy fields. After the Japanese Empire invaded Manchuria in 1931, Koreans started moving to East Inner Mongolia region under the name, “Manmeng Development Group.” The dispatch of the group was made in full scale after the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Most of the Koreans who moved as members of Manmeng Development Group were moved forcibly. Even Koreans who moved voluntarily were mostly those who applied for the Development Group to avoid the military draft of the Japanese Empire. Manmeng Development Group was dispatched to East Inner Mongolia to work on supplying foods during war and constructing rear bases. As the number of troops became short due to the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan started to continuously draft settlers and sent them to the battlefield. This led to the shortage of settlers, which made Japan focus on youth immigration. Under the name of “Korean Youth Volunteer Corps,” Koreans were also sent to the border areas of China and Soviet Union. There, they had to fulfill two duties of supplying foods during war and defending against Soviet Union.