본문 바로가기
  • Home

A Study on the Regional Survey and Border awareness of Joseon Government-General in the 1910's and 1920's

  • Journal of Manchurian Studies
  • Abbr : 만주연구
  • 2021, (32), pp.135~168
  • DOI : 10.22888/mcsa..32.202110.135
  • Publisher : The Manchurian Studies Association
  • Research Area : Social Science > Area Studies > East Asia > China
  • Received : September 27, 2021
  • Accepted : October 15, 2021
  • Published : October 31, 2021

Sungjoon Bae 1

1한경대학교 백두산연구센터

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This paper examines Joseon Government-General's perception of border issues around the Amnok and the Duman rivers with an analysis of survey of the border region and on border meetings with China and Russia. When the Joseon Government-General launched surveys of the waterways and sand bars at the mouth of the Amrok river, the border issues emerged as a part of the colonial authority agenda in the early 1910's. The Joseon Government-General prepared for island disputes based on data obtained through the surveys of the islands and sand bars in the Amnok and the Duman rivers. The surveys presented situation and trends in the border region and provided information on Korean migrates on the opposite side of the river. The Joseon Government-General also surveyed, controlled, and utilized national forests of the Amnok and the Duman rivers and invesigated the possibilities of adopting hydroelectric power and establishing a hydroelectric enterprise. Based on those surveys, the Joseon Government-General launched policy guidelines on the border issues and prepared for border meetings with China and Russia. Japan and China defined territorial boundaries using the middle of the railroad bridge in the Amrok river as a midpoint in 1911. However, this delimiting pertained only to the railroad bridge. The Joseon Government-General also set policies that demarcated navigable waterways between Chosen and China. He accorded sovereignty according to the history and present conditions of the islands and sand bars. The border meetings with China in the early 1920's produced guidelines of demarcation and new negotiations. They agreed to waterway improvements but disagreed on the demarcation of the deepest waterway. They eventually demarcated the right bank in the Amrok river and the left bank in the Duman river. Response to the sovereignty of the islands and sand bars prompted this change in the guideline. However, the Joseon Government-General proposed a new agreement with Russia to set the demarcation through the deepest waterway in 1911. These vastly differing responses between China and Russia reflected the relations and power dynamics between the two countries in the interstate system in East Asia.

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.