Koreans and the Politics of Nationality and Race During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952 by Simon Nantais M.A., University of Ottawa, 2004 B.A., University of Ottawa, 1998 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History ©Simon Nantais, 2011 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Koreans and the Politics of Nationality and Race During the Allied Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952 by Simon Nantais M.A., University of Ottawa, 2004 B.A., University of Ottawa, 1998 Supervisory Committee Dr. John Price, Supervisor (Department of History) Dr. Greg Blue, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. Patricia E. Roy, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. Cody Poulton, Outside Member (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) iii Supervisory Committee Dr. John Price, Supervisor (Department of History) Dr. Greg Blue, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. Patricia E. Roy, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. Cody Poulton, Outside Member (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) ABSTRACT Koreans resident during the Allied Occupation of Japan (1945-1952) were in a complex position. They remained Japanese nationals until a sovereign Japan and ―Korea,‖ which was divided into two ideologically opposed states, negotiated their nationality status. Though most Koreans in Japan held family registers in South Korea, both North and South Korea claimed them as nationals, and most Koreans in Japan came to support Kim Il-sung‘s North Korea. Moreover, racists in the Allied and Japanese governments used the Koreans as convenient scapegoats. Race, nationality, and ideology thus converged to create a difficult situation for all parties concerned. The hardships Koreans faced during the Occupation have often been blamed on Japanese and American racism. Though race played a significant part in their treatment, this dissertation argues that the mixing of race and nationality as categories of analysis, as well as the mixing of Western legal facts with Japanese ones, has misconstrued the history of Koreans in Occupied Japan. For a fuller understanding of this complex period, this dissertation uses nationality as a lens through which to examine the origins and the growth of the Korean community in Japan in their own words and to analyze the meaning and use of race and nationality as they were employed during the Occupation; and incorporate the American, iv Japanese, and South Korean point of view by placing the Korean experience in Japan in a wider geographical and political context of the early Cold War. All parties in Japan, including Koreans in Japan, pursued their political goals by employing the concept of nationality in their own ways. v Table of Contents Supervisory Committee .................................................................................................................. ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. ix Glossary ......................................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Historiography ............................................................................................................................. 4 Nationality and Koreans in Japan.............................................................................................. 25 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 33 Terminology .............................................................................................................................. 37 Korea and Japan .....................................................................................................................37 Koreans and Japanese .............................................................................................................40 Race and minzoku ..................................................................................................................41 Nationals, citizens, subjects ....................................................................................................43 Outline of Chapters ................................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 2: Koreans in Japan’s Prefectures, 1910-1952 .......................................................... 49 Migration and Settlement from Korea to Japan ........................................................................ 54 To Stay or Not to Stay: Liberation and the Choice of Home .................................................... 69 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 92 Chapter 3: The Two Koreas and the Dissolution of Choren, September 1949 ..................... 94 Formation and Growth of Choren and Mindan ......................................................................... 96 Jurisdictional Issues during the Allied Occupation ................................................................. 102 vi Relationship between GHQ, the Japanese Government, and Koreans in Japan, 1945-1948 .. 108 Creation of the ―Korean Problem‖ in the Spring and Summer of 1948 .................................. 118 The Dissolution of Choren, 1948-1949 ................................................................................... 122 Opinions on Choren‘s Dissolution ......................................................................................... 135 Koreans in Japan, Post-Dissolution ......................................................................................... 138 Chapter 4: Attempts to Deport Koreans in Japan to the Republic of Korea, 1948-1951 .. 149 Communism and Koreans in Japan, 1945-1948...................................................................... 150 Richard Finn‘s ―Staff Study on Koreans‖ ............................................................................... 152 Plans for Forcibly Repatriating Koreans, 1948-1949 (1) ........................................................ 163 Plans for Forcibly Repatriating Koreans, 1950-1951 (2) ........................................................ 168 Chapter 5: Koreans and the Loss of Japanese Nationality, April 1952 ............................... 187 Regarding the Nationality of Koreans in Japan ...................................................................... 189 Nationality Conference, October 1951-April 1952 ................................................................. 199 Explaining the Outcome of the 1951 Nationality Conference ................................................ 210 Explaining Alternatives to the Loss of Nationality ................................................................. 218 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 224 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 226 Nationality in Japan: Revising Conceptual Origins ................................................................ 235 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 243 Primary sources ....................................................................................................................... 243 Secondary sources ................................................................................................................... 246 Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 260 Appendix 1: Japan‘s Nationality Law, 1899 ........................................................................... 260 Appendix 2: Japan‘s Nationality Law, 1950 ........................................................................... 265 vii Appendix 3: Concerning the Disposition of Nationality and Family Registers, 19 April 1952 ................................................................................................................................................. 271 Appendix 4: Basic Initial Post Surrender Directive to Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers for the Occupation of Japan and Control of Japan (JCS 1380/15) ............................. 273 Appendix 5: Potsdam Declaration, 26 July 1945 ...................................................................