@article{ART003388325},
author={LeeMinseong},
title={Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society},
journal={military history},
issn={1598-317X},
year={2026},
number={140},
pages={395-438}
TY - JOUR
AU - LeeMinseong
TI - Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society
JO - military history
PY - 2026
VL - null
IS - 140
PB - Military History Institute, MND
SP - 395
EP - 438
SN - 1598-317X
AB - This article examines how the Japanese Army stationed in Colonial Korea managed its military land under two institutional frameworks—the Agreement on the Reorganization of Military Land (1915) and the Regulations on the Lease of Military Land (1916)—and how the various classes of local society responded.
Although these frameworks placed legal ownership of military land with the Government-General of Chosŏn, they granted the Army the rights of use, management, and revenue, along with a mechanism for exchanging land assets. The Army thus encountered local society at two points of contact: the purchase of land and the relationship of lease. The purchase itself, however, was executed and funded by the Government-General at the Army’s request.
In acquiring military training grounds, the framework did not operate uniformly even for the Army itself. While Yŏŭido and Changnyŏng exceeded their targets, Pʼyŏnggang, Koksan, and Chŏngpʼyŏng fell short of theirs, with Koksan securing less than a quarter of its planned area. The Government-General invoked the Land Expropriation Ordinance against ordinary landlords while withholding it from a resident Japanese capitalist. The Army was constrained by budget, land prices, and the terms of asset exchange.
Across the three phases of access, management, and disposal, the same framework produced different outcomes according to class. Authority was divided among institutions at every phase: expropriation lay with the Government- General, use and revenue with the Army, and rent collection with township officials. Access to information and legal protection was distributed unequally along positions where ethnicity and class overlapped. Japanese officials and capital within the colonial power secured information in advance and reaped profits; Korean landlords stood at the threshold of risky negotiations mediated by Japanese brokers; and tenant farmers and the lower strata were pushed beyond that threshold, losing their means of livelihood.
The management of military land in Colonial Korea was at once a process of building the spatial foundation of military colonial rule and a process of dividing local society along lines of class upon that foundation.
KW - Japanese Army stationed in Colonial Korea; military land; military training ground;class; tenancy disputes; land expropriation
DO -
UR -
ER -
LeeMinseong. (2026). Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society. military history, 140, 395-438.
LeeMinseong. 2026, "Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society", military history, no.140, pp.395-438.
LeeMinseong "Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society" military history 140 pp.395-438 (2026) : 395.
LeeMinseong. Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society. 2026; 140 : 395-438.
LeeMinseong. "Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society" military history no.140(2026) : 395-438.
LeeMinseong. Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society. military history, 140, 395-438.
LeeMinseong. Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society. military history. 2026; 140 395-438.
LeeMinseong. Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society. 2026; 140 : 395-438.
LeeMinseong. "Military Land Management of the Japanese Army Stationed in Colonial Korea and the Class-based Responses of Local Society" military history no.140(2026) : 395-438.
