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A studyonKoreans’hostileview ofJapanduringthe JoseonPeriod -WiththefocusontheperiodbetweentheJapaneseinvasioninthe late16thcenturyandtheendoftheJoseonPeriod-

KyubaeLee 1

1제주국제대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Variousstudieshavebeen madeofKoreans’view ofJapan during the JoseonPeriod.However,thenumberofsuchstudiespalesincomparisonto thenumberofstudiesofJapanesepeople’sview ofKorea;and,notably,thenumberofstudiesfocusingon Koreans’hostileview ofJapan iseven smaller. Korean hostility towards Japan has long been regarded as a natural and ‘objective’ fact, but few studies examining the concrete backgroundtosuchhostilityexist. This study attempts to shed lighton the reality ofKorean hostility towardsJapan aftertheJapaneseinvasion ofKorea(1592-1598)duringthe Joseon Period, which remains relatively unexplored. There was some consistency in Koreans’view ofJapan,particularly with regard to their hostility,duringtheJoseon Period.From the17th centuryon,theKoreans regarded theJapaneseasenemy,contrastingsomewhatwith theirview of Japan in the preceding period, which was characterized by feelings of contempttowards such ‘barbarians’.The newly formed hostility towards Japan wascloselylinkedtothecollectivememoryofJapaneseinvasion at theendofthe16thcentury.Thismaybedescribedin thefollowingterms:“The memory of the Japanese invasion in the late 16th century” =“Hostility toward Japan”= “The collective view ofJapan as an enemy.”Such amindsetwasevidenteven amonglatergenerationsofKoreans.The hostilityfelttowardsJapan,which formed in thewakeoftheseven-year warin thelate16th century,persistedin themindsofmostKoreansuntil theearly20thcentury,whenJapanannexedKoreaasacolony. Atthatpoint,thescarcelyforgettablememoryofJapan’sinvasion inthe 16th centuryhadbeen inseparablylinked toKoreans’deep-seated hostility towardstheJapaneseformorethan threecenturies.AsChoeIk-hyeon(崔益鉉),who led a voluntary militia againstJapanese colonistsin thelate 19th century,putitresolutely,Koreansregarded theJapaneseas“enemy barbarians”and as people with whom Koreans “could notbear to live under the same sky.” In this sense, the impact which the Japanese invasion inthelate16th centuryhadontheKorean peoplethroughoutthe restoftheJoseonperiodcanbesaidtohavebeendecisive

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