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Abstract
This article examines how different German newspaper reported on the Japanese colonization of Korea, as well as their diverse perspective on the colonization. In opposition to the stereotypical notion that the Western media abounded with reports on orientalism and colonialism, this article argues that German journalists and newspapers were sufficiently diverse to provide divergent perspectives on the Japanese colonization of Korea. Furthermore, a careful analysis of the German newspaper reports reveals the existence of the strong editorial frame, which seems to predetermine the direction of these news reports. The newspapers that clearly supported the Japanese could be identified and they did ignore the situation of the Korean peoples on which the other newspapers did not fail to report. This diversity doesn't allow simple and easy explanation, but can be used as a strong evidence to refute the omnipresence of the colonial discourse.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Jung, “Japan's Annexation of Korea and Foreign Policy of Great Powers 1895–1910,” 138f.
2 Jung, ibid., 143f.
3 Indeed, it was not until the outbreak of WWI that the German government gave up its consular jurisdiction in Korea. A Korean scholar, Sangsu Jung, interpreted this act as a refusal of the German government to accept the dominance of Japan in Korea and argued that Germany did not want Japan to become a single hegemonial power in Asia. He presented this view because the British naval force, in that case, could have focused on Europe. Jung, “Japan's Annexation of Korea and Foreign Policy of Great Powers 1895–1910,” 145. However, according to Alexis Dudden, “Diplomats from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium formally abolished extraterritoriality in Korea and reverted all their official property to the Japanese Governor General.” Dudden, Japan's Colonization of Korea, 127.
4 Potter, “Jingoism, Public Opinion, and the New Imperialism,” 34–50.
5 Immediately following its establishment, this association succeeded in mobilizing one-third of the representatives of the Reichstag. It covered 600 local organizations, and the central office in Berlin employed 350 workers. Ullmann, “Die Mobilisierung Agrarischer Interessen,” 89.
6 It was initially founded in 1893 as the Bund der Landwirte (Landlord and Farmers’ Union), to serve the interests of the agricultural sector. It was necessary to maintain close relations between agriculturalists and members of the parliament, not only to efficiently represent the interests of German farmers within parliament but also because there continued to be conflicts of interest between the industrial and agricultural sectors. Often, politicians attempted to promote industrial development at the expense of the interests of the agricultural sector. Indeed, among the 397 parliamentarians in the Reichstag, 138 (in 1907) and 78 (in 1912) had close connections with the “Reichslandbund.” Meyer, “Das Presse-Archiv des Bundes der Landwirte,” 1121.
7 The Reichslandbund published its own newspapers such as Deutsche Tageszeitung and Berliner Blatt. Ullmann, “Die Mobilisierung Agrarischer Interessen,” 90.
8 The press archive of Bund der Landwirte collected 10,000 volumes between 1893 and 1933, while the archive of Deutsche Reichsbank gathered 6100 volumes between 1876 and 1945. Metschies, Presseausschnittsammlungen im Zentralen Staatsarchiv, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, 1975, 88–91. Metschies, “Presseausschnittsammlungen im Zentralen Staatsarchiv,” 88–91.
9 Meyer, “Das Presse-Archiv des Bundes der Landwirte,” 1122.
10 Vorwärts is already digitized and available on the website http://fes.imageware.de/fes/web/.
11 During the early period of Nazi control, these comprehensive materials, which covered details on 72 countries, were entrusted initially to the Reichsnährstand (Reich Food Estate), and then to the Dokumentarchiv (Document Archive) after 1937, and eventually to the Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive) in Berlin. This single file band pertaining to Korea in this Press Archive is unique in that not even the German Foreign Ministry's archive has a comparable collection of articles.
12 Dussel, Deutsche Tagespresse, 89.
13 Deutsche Tageszeitung, Kreuz-Zeitung, and Post were the representative conservative newspapers; Koelnische Zeitung, Frankfurter Zeitung, Vossische Zetiung, Berliner Vokszeitung, and Berliner Tageblatt were the liberal newspapers.
14 Berliner Lokal Anzeiger made the highest profits. Koszyk, Deutsche Presse, 273.
15 Frankfurter Zeitung, Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, and Berliner Tageblatt belonged to the third group. Puerer and Raabe, Presse in Deutschland, 65–6.
16 Vossische Zeitung, November 13, 1910.
17 “Der Staatstreich in Söul in Koreanischer Beleuchtung,” Vossische Zeitung, February 10, 1906.
18 “Zur Einverleibung Koreas,” Vossische Zeitung, November 6, 1910.
19 Heffe-Wartegg, “Korea unter japanischer Herrschaft,” Vossische Zeitung, August 4, 1907.
20 Heffe-Wartegg, “Der Kaiser von Korea und sein Hof,” Koelnische Volkszeitung, July 24, 1907.
21 Brunhuber, “Koreas Beziehung zu Deutschland,” Berliner Tageblatt, July 20, 1907.
22 Brunhuber, “Korea und Deutschland,” Frankfurter Zeitung, July 20, 1907.
23 “Zum Thronewechsel in Korea,” Post, July 7, 1907.
24 “Dom Kaiser Yi-Hong,” Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, July 20, 1907.
25 “Vom Kaiser von Korea,” Germania, July 21, 1907.
26 In the case of Vorwärts, we can find a named article; however, its author is a Korean scholar named “Han” who most likely did not have any contact with the other 11 German authors. Therefore, he was ruled out. His article was published on January 19, 1932. Fenkong, “Koreanische Attentate,” Vorwärts, January 19, 1932.
27 Vianden, Die Einfuehrung der Deutschen Medizin, 134–7.
28 Pustau, ed., Japan und Deutschland. Introduction.
29 Albrecht Wirth was an active member of the Pan-German League and extended many efforts toward linking the German empire to the Ottoman empire. Kaiser, Imperialism, Racism, and Development Theories, 17f.
30 His racist view of the world based on anti-Semitism made him an ally of Hitler and Rudolf Hess. Only the titles of his books well represent his political stance as an imperialist and racist. These are Geschichte Asiens und Osteuropas; Was muss Deutchland an Kolonien haben?; Die gelbe und die slawische Gefahr; and Rasse und Volk.
31 Wirth, Ostasien in der Weltgeschichte, 29.
32 Wirth, “Die Knebelung Koreas,” Tag, November 13, 1908.
33 Salzmann, Gelb gegen Weiss, 6.
34 Boetticher, “Japans Politik in Korea,” Reichsbote, September 22, 1910.
35 Graf zu Reventlow, “Das Ende Koreas,” Deutsche Tageszeitung, August 24, 1910.
36 Verbrannte und Verbrannte, http://verbrannte-und-verbannte.de/person/278. He also had expertise in social democracy as well as in journalism; he even published a book titled “Die heutige Sozialdemokratie” (The Present-Day Social Democracy).
37 This problem was noted by Thomas Millard, who, as an American expert on China, published a series of articles in newspapers such as The New York Times and The Daily Mail. According to Millard, following the Russo-Japanese War, news on Korea was mainly reported from Tokyo. Millard, The New Far East, 80.
38 Akami, Japan's News Propaganda, 55.
39 “Japan und Korea,” Vossische Zeitung, May 13, 1908. Seoul Press and Korea Daily News were the only two English newspapers which were published in the years between 1896 and 1910. Five newspapers were published in the Korean language: Whang-Sung-Sin-Mun, Jae-Guk-Shin-Mun, Dae-Han-Il-Bo, and Dae-Han-Mae-Il-Shin-Bo. All these newspapers existed under a two-fold system of censorship. After the official Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, only one Korean newspaper remained, which was published by the Japanese Governor-General. Hong et al., Hankuk Yeongeo Sinmunsa, 14.
40 “Korea,” Vossische Zeitung, June 23, 1908.
41 Untitled, Frankfurter Zeitung, August 24, 1910.
42 “Japans Politik in Korea,” Reichsbote, September 22, 1910.
43 “Frankfurt, 24. August,” Frankfurter Zeitung, August 24, 1910.
44 “Reformen in Korea,” Berliner Boersen Zeitung, August 28, 1909.
45 R.P. Anand, a renowned scholar of third world approaches to international law, asserted that under Japanese rule, Korea was used as a “provider of food ingredients, [a] manufacturing market, and the base for expansion into the mainland” for thirty years. Such a highly predictable reality was never mentioned in the articles published by the newspapers that supported Japanese colonialism. This type of prediction was only reported in those newspapers that criticized Japan's actions. Anand, Studies in International Law, 62.
46 “Der Hand Koreas,” Deutsche Volkszeitung, August 26, 1910.
47 Dudden, Japan's Colonization of Korea, 25.
48 “Japanische Herren und koreanische Knechte,” Hamburger Correspondenz, October 21, 1906.
49 “Eine liebenswuerdige Aufforderung Japans an Korea,” Deutsche Tageszeitung, May 19, 1908.
50 “Korea,” Koelnische Zeitung, October 3, 1907.
51 Wirth, “Die Knebelung Koreas,” Der Tag, November 13, 1908.
52 “Korea,” Vorwarts, August 25, 1910.
53 Yoon, “Reconfiguring Orientalism.”
54 Johnson, Early American Perceptions of Korea, 117.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
S.H. Mun
S.H. Mun, History Hanyang University, Hanyang University Humanities Bldg. 429, Seongdong-gu 04763, The Republic of Korea; E-mail: [email protected]