Research on the Process of Forming the Idea of Assimilating the Korean People into Japanese by Means of Japanese Language Education

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The purpose of this research is to reveal the process of forming the idea of Japanizing the Korean people by means of Japanese language education, and to reveal the reasons for this idea among Japanese educators in the Meiji era.The results are as follows :(1) At the time of the Sino-Japan War (1894-1895), the Japanese language was thought by educators to be "the spiritual blood" of the Japanese people and so it could never become the mother tongue of another nation. However, they also thought that it was the most suitable foreign language for modernizing the Korean people.(2) During the period after the Sino-Japanese War before Korea became a protectorate of Japan (1895-1905), these educators proposed that Japanese language education would really help the Korean people communicating with the Japanese people and help them get jobs, in addition to giving them greater awareness about modern life.(3) During the period of Japanese protectorate (1905-1910), the idea of assimilating the Korean people through Japanese language education began to appear, though the chief purpose of Japanese language education was quite practical : the Japanese wanted to modernize Korean society.(4) After the Annexation of Korea by Japan, almost all of the Japanese educators insisted that Japanese language education was the principle means for assimilating the Korean people ; if Japanese were to become the national language of Korea, it would also become its unifying principle. This opinion was based on the idea that the Japanese and Koreans stemmed from the same race, and that since the Japanese language was the national language of both people, was a potential means of assimilating the Koreans. Some other factors involved in this situation were the fact that the Japanese assimilated the Ainus and Ryukyus, revered the Emperor and really despised the Koreans.