Gaikin Viktor A.,
Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far-East of the Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Korean Guerilla Against Japanese Aggression in Manchuria (1931–1937)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2020-4-8
The version of the beginning of the Second world war on September 1, 1939 is a reflection of the Eurocentric view of history and world politics. According to Chinese historians, the global conflict began with the Japanese aggression against China in July 1937. In Japanese historical science, the period since 1931 (the invasion of Manchuria) to 1945 is usually called the military fifteen, in this context, according to the Japanese version, the Second world war in the far East began in 1931. The author describes the armed anti-Japanese resistance in Manchuria during the period between these two significant years (1931–1937) in the history of the Far East. One of the heroic pages of this period was a Korean guerrilla resistance in the regions of Manchuria bordering Korea, populated mostly with the Korean immigrants (1 million in 1937). In 1932 Korean insurgent Kim Sung joo, who later took the name of Kim Il sung, began to fight against Japanese. He was the commander of a small detachment established in Antu County, Jilin province. Korean detachments under the auspices of the CPC overcame the difficulties of surviving under the difficult conditions of the blockade of the Japanese regular army: 1. they relied on the poor peasantry and peasants – tenants, which made up more than 60 % of the Korean Diaspora; 2. they had strong allies – the CPC and the USSR, which provided assistance to armed patriots through the Comintern. The base of influence of the Korean nationalists was less. The majority of rich Korean peasants became collaborators, cooperating with the Japanese authorities, helping them to conduct punitive expeditions against the insurgents. Many nationalists realizing the impasse of the situation joined the coalition of partisans under the auspices of the CPC. The remnants of the broken detachments joined the Communist formations. The war that was started in 1937 by Japan against China gave a new impetus to the anti-Japanese movement of Korean rebels, for whom it was also a struggle for the liberation of Korea from the colonial yoke.
Publishing: 29/08/2020
How to cite: Gaikin V.A. Korean Guerilla Against Japanese Aggression in Manchuria (1931–1937) // Historical Courier, 2020, No. 4 (12), pp. 111–119. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2020/ISTKURIER-2020-4-08.pdf
Links: Issue 4 2020
Keywords: Manchuria; World War II; Korean partisans; Japanese aggression; resistance movement