Manchuriaoftheearly20thcenturywastheBalkanPeninsulaoftheEast Asia.TakingadvantageoftheweakenedChina,Russiathecontinentalpower andJapanthemaritimeforcecameintoconflictoverManchuria.Sincethe Russo-JapaneseWar,thetwocountrieshaddividedtheirdominanceintheregionbysouthandnorth,andblockedtheinterventionoftheUnitedStates.
Thissituation,however,changedwhentheRussianRevolutionweakenedthe controlofRussiaovertheterritory,increasingtheinfluenceoftheU.S.instead,andtherisingnationalismamongtheChinesethreatenedthevestedrightsofthe Japanese.AsthecentralChinesegovernment,havingsucceededinthe‘North Extension(orUnification),’triedtoextenditspowertoManchuria,Japanstaged the‘Manchurianincident’andsetup‘Manchuguo.’Japaneseoccupationofthe regionresultedintherisingstatusfortheKoreanslivingthere,whohadbeen harshlytreatedbytheChinesegovernmentontheaccountthattheywerethe toolsofJapanandRussia.FortheKoreansweretheJapaneseunderthelaw.
SincetheJapanesedidnotrecognizetheKorean’srenunciationofnationality,theycouldstillconsiderthoseKoreanswhohadacquiredChinesenationalityas Japanese.ThismadetheKoreansseen,totheeyesoftheChinese,astheadvanceguardortoolsoftheJapan’sinvasionofManchuria;thiswas‘theproblem oftheKoreans.’Thisproblem twistedwiththeemergenceofManchuguo;theproblem was solvedasfortheKoreans,buttheChinesecouldnotacceptit.Legallyspeaking,Manchuguowasastatenotacolony,hencetheChineseasitspeoplecou hardlyembracethefactthattheywereputintheinferiorstatustotheKoreans whowereundertheJapanesecolonialrule.Thiscausedconflictsoverthestatus oftheKoreansinManchuriabetweentheGwandongArmyandtheJapanese Government-generalofKorea.Yet,astheKoreansofManchuguolikethosein theKoreaPeninsulahadbecomethesubjectofthedraft,theywerelessregulatedbythe‘onenessofManchuriaandJapan’orthe‘onenessofManchuria andKorea’policies(Nationalharmony)thanthe‘onenessofKoreaandJapan’policy.Asaresult,theKoreansintheregioncouldenjoythestatussimilarto thatoftheJapanese(‘thesecond-classcitizen’or‘thesecondJapanese’).This showsthatthekoreandiasporainManchuriaincluded‘colonial’elementas‘the problem oftheKoreans’wasinfluencedbythegeopoliticalfactorofManchuria (‘theproblem ofManchuria’).