Recognizing Anew the Records of Colonial Domination, the Occupied Territories, and the “Post-war Compensation”

Focusing on the Colonial Rule of Korea, Top-down Style Decision-making Structures, and Original Source Approval

Abstract

This article aims to inquire into the decision­making system and original document sources of Imperial Japan, the colonial Chosun, the GHQ, and occupied Japan in terms of the postwar treatment of compensation for Japanese colonialism. This article deals with these institutions from 1910 to 1952 from the perspective of history and archivistics. The records have been dispersed in Korea, Japan, and the United States, mainly due to the complicated decision­making process among the Governor­General of the Chosun, the Japanese Imperial government, and the GHQ; it was a top­-down style, dual decision-­making system.

As a result, the records documenting the entire process of domination have been preserved dispersedly throughout Japan and its colonies. This article attempts to establish a foundation on which the perception of these documents made under Imperial Japan, its colonies, and its occupied territory would be widened by juxtaposing colonial rules and compensation with them in a continuous timeline.