THE MAIN TEMPORAL background of this research is the age of imperialism, two world wars and an early phase of a germinating “Cold War.” In East Asia, the traditional Chinese world order had been in the process of decline, and was finally destroyed by China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. A new era was ushered in by the imposition of the Western/British informal empire, in which Western powers, together with Japan, maintained a sort of balance-ofpower system among themselves, while uninterruptedly encroaching on China and neighboring countries. Korea was a helpless prey and was, in these circumstances, absorbed by Japan. It is an intrinsic aspect of international politics that the great powers take the lead in formulating and regulating the norms and nature of inter-state relations, which then naturally became tinged with the current thoughts and views of these few great powers. In the past, China's views had dominated the international relations of the region; now, Western norms replaced them. Thus, the powers’ reactions to Japan's rule over Korea, as well as their ultimate “Korea policies,” can only be accurately understood within the framework of their attitudes and perceptions, and, above all, their value systems, insofar as they related to Korea's external relations and Japan's colonial rule in the peninsula. This chapter will briefly examine the issues that will help provide the general frameworks for this research.

JAPAN AND KOREA

It is very demanding for any Korean, whose country was once a prey of Japanese imperialism, to make strictly objective judgments on Japan's policy in the Korean peninsula during the colonial period. It is easy enough to condemn and criticize the entire process and reality of Japan's occupation. While Japan's policies afflicted residents in all the target areas of Japanese expansion, Japan's ways of dealing with the Korean people, either on a national or an individual level, or in the name of enlightenment or civilization, trampled on Korea's national pride and inflicted severe material and mental agonies.