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@article{ART002320072},
author={Joung An-Ki},
title={The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death},
journal={Journal of Japanese Culture},
issn={1226-3605},
year={2018},
number={76},
pages={159-189},
doi={10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159}

TY - JOUR
AU - Joung An-Ki
TI - The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death
JO - Journal of Japanese Culture
PY - 2018
VL - null
IS - 76
PB - The Japanese Culture Association Of Korea (Jcak)
SP - 159
EP - 189
SN - 1226-3605
AB - The army special volunteer system of colonial Korea has been characterized as an “embarrassing dilemma and mystery” in studies of modern Korean history. This study attempts to reconstruct and reinterpret the death of Corporal Lee In-Seok—the first army special volunteer soldier killed in action—in the context of colonial political history. To do so, it regards the volunteer system as a historical prism for analyzing the political dependence and interactions between colonial authorities and colonized communities. In the 1940s, Corporal Lee was hailed not only as a loyal spirit of the Korean people and a war hero of their troubled nation but also as a symbol of honorable, patriotic sacrifice. He was the first Korean soldier to be killed in battle during the Sino-Japanese War, in which he was engaged under the army special volunteer system. He is known to have died in June 1939, with a shout of “Hurrah for His Majesty the Emperor.” Contrary to popular belief, however, the death of Corporal Lee was neither so glorious nor heroic as to demonstrate his loyalty to the imperial spirit of Japan. Colonial authorities and Korean political forces that were in pursuit of different political ends hailed and idealized him as a Korean war hero fully motivated by imperial Japanese spirit, rather than by Korean national spirit. As a result, Corporal Lee In-Seok, who had lived his life as a humble individual from a remote mountain village in Okcheon, Chungnam Province, was reborn through the politics of death as a symbol for propaganda driving the institutional completion of naeseon ilche—or the “Korea and Japan are one entity” policy—in the 1940s (including conscription, political rights and compulsory education) or as an icon of the J apanization ideology that stimulated the national pride of Korean society.
KW - The army special volunteer system;Corporal Lee Inseok;Hurrah for His Majesty the Emperor;Colonial authorities;Colonial authorities;Imperial Japanese spirit;t​he Politics of Death
DO - 10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159
ER -

Joung An-Ki. (2018). The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death. Journal of Japanese Culture, 76, 159-189.

Joung An-Ki. 2018, "The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death", Journal of Japanese Culture, no.76, pp.159-189. Available from: doi:10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159

Joung An-Ki "The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death" Journal of Japanese Culture 76 pp.159-189 (2018) : 159.

Joung An-Ki. The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death. 2018; 76 : 159-189. Available from: doi:10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159

Joung An-Ki. "The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death" Journal of Japanese Culture no.76(2018) : 159-189.doi: 10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159

Joung An-Ki. The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death. Journal of Japanese Culture, 76, 159-189. doi: 10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159

Joung An-Ki. The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death. Journal of Japanese Culture. 2018; 76 159-189. doi: 10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159

Joung An-Ki. The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death. 2018; 76 : 159-189. Available from: doi:10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159

Joung An-Ki. "The Death of Corporal Lee In-Seok and the Politics of Death" Journal of Japanese Culture no.76(2018) : 159-189.doi: 10.21481/jbunka..76.201802.159