Ito Hirobumi is in the center of the picture above. He believed that eventually Korea would fall under complete control of Japan in all affairs and therefore, after the Eulsa Treaty in 1905, a forcible formal annexation wasn't necessary. By controlling all access to the palace and who could gain an audience with the King, Resident General Ito, separated King Gojong from the independence movement. Under the pretext of protecting the royal family he placed them under his surveillance at all times. On the far left is Katsura Taro, prime minister of Japan who made an agreement with the US in 1905 acknowledging Japan's hegemony over Korea. Second from the far right is Kisi Nobusukae, Abe's maternal grandfather, war criminal during WW II. Kisi was released from confinement and rehabilitated by the US. He became Prime Minister of post WW II Japan. Abe appears on the far right.
Katsura Taro, Japanese prime minister ultimately removed Hirobumi as Resident General of the protectorate of Korea June 14, 1909. He installed as the successor Resident General and later after the 1910 annexation of Korea, the first Japanese governor of the Korean colony, second from left, Tarauchi Masatakae. In July 1907, after Ito had forced King Gojong to abdicate, Japan disbanded the Korean army, and took over internal control of Korea, abandoning all pretense of Korean autonomy. The primary thesis of the program is that there is a continuous historical tradition shared by all the characters shown in the picture above which emphasizes the power of a greater Japan based upon industrialized militarism and a view of neighboring Asian countries as inferiors. The tradition was in essence a learned behavior adopted from the western imperial powers such as the Great Britain, Germany, and the US.
Ito had visited London and studied there for several months. He learned about English control over Egypt and later used that British colonial rule as a model for his imperialism in Korea. He even used the pretext of modernizing and civilizing Korea as a justification for the protectorate. (England controlled Egypt from 1884 to 1954, the so called Cromer model, named after the Evelyn Baring, Earl of Cromer, consul general of Egypt). Ito was removed as Resident General because his policy of gradual assimilation of Korea rather than forced assimilation, failed to effectively prevent or deal with the emergence of an armed resistance by the Korean independence movement. According to the History Journal historians, there is historical evidence that Ito was preparing Korea for forced annexation, and is therefore regarded as having a two faced policy toward Korea. Eventually he agreed with the proposals by Katsura for forced annexation.
(Source- KBS 1 History Journal, ep. 199) Yoshida Shoin, Political educator and thinker. Spiritual leader of the Meiji Restoration. Ito lived near Shoin's Shoka school and studied there for two years. Shoin was executed in 1859 for his rebellion against the Shogunate. In 1869 Ito Hirobumi tried to burn down the British legation in Japan.
An interesting footnote to the program, was the role of a former US diplomat, Durham Stevens who was employed as an adviser to the Japanese government, and installed by them as an adviser to King Gojong in Korea. Stevens approved of Japanese dominance of Korea. Stevens was assassinated by two Koreans in San Francisco, on March 23, 1908.
For anyone who thinks these considerations of history are not material, the sequelae of the Shoin legacy and the Japanese imperial excesses are still alive and at work. The story on the opening of a small museum commemorating Ahn Jung-geun in Harbin was circulated worldwide and had adverse impact on Japanese relations with China and Korea.
The South Korean foreign ministry praised the museum, saying that it would “set the path for genuine peace and co-operation based on correct historical awareness.”
The memorial was criticized by the government of Japan, where Hirobumi Ito is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the country. Chief Cabinet Secretary and government spokesperson, Yoshihide Suga described the opening as “regrettable” during a regular press conference.
“The Japanese opinion of Ahn Jung-geun is that he is a terrorist who was sentenced to death for murdering Ito Hirobumi, our first prime minister,” he stated.
https://thediplomat.com/2014/01/china-opens-memorial-honoring-korean-independence-activist/
Also from the same The Diplomat article:
Japan’s relations with South Korea and China have soured since the Abe administration entered government in late 2012. The Japanese prime minister’s recent visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine was met with protests from its neighbors and even a statement from the U.S. embassy that said that it was “disappointed.”
Generic news reporting routinely dates the Japanese colonization of Korea to annexation in 1910, but Japanese subjugation of Korea more accurately might be said to have begun with the Sino-Japanese War which began in July 1894, and was basically a conflict over who would dominate Korea. The Japanese assassination of Queen Myeongseong in October 1895, and the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905, were just further steps in consolidation of undisputed control of Korea by Japan.
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