Primary Sources w/DBQs • "The Old People and the New Government," by Komatsu Midori [PDF] [Asia for Educators]
In order to understand Japanese colonial rule in Korea, and the reactions of Koreans, it is useful to see the ways in which Japanese officials sought to justify the takeover to Koreans, to themselves, and to the rest of the world. The article excerpted here is a transcript of a talk given by an official of the Japanese foreign ministry, Komatsu Midori, to resident foreign members (mostly British and American) of Seoul’s Royal Asiatic Society shortly after annexation. Both history and civilization are called into service.

Primary Sources w/DBQs • Declaration of Independence (March 1, 1919) [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

Lesson Plan • Famous Koreans: Six Portraits: Yu Kwan-Sun (1904-1920) [PDF] [Education About Asia, Association for Asian Studies]
Lesson plan designed "to provide an opportunity for students to learn about famous Koreans through readings and/or dramatizations." Brief overviews of the lives of six nodiv figures in Korea's history, including Yu Kwan-Sun (1904-1920), a student organizer in the March First Independence Movement. Each overview is imagined as a first-person narrative written by the historical figure.

Primary Source w/DBQs • Manifesto of the Korean Communist Party in Shanghai (1921) [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

Lesson Plan • Famous Koreans: Six Portraits: Kim Il-Sung (1912-1994) [Education About Asia, Association for Asian Studies]
Lesson plan designed "to provide an opportunity for students to learn about famous Koreans through readings and/or dramatizations." Brief overviews of the lives of six nodiv figures in Korea's history, including Kim Il-Sung (1912-1994), the leader of North Korea from 1948 until his death. Each overview is imagined as a first-person narrative written by the historical figure.

Primary Sources w/DBQs • Oral Histories of the Colonial Era [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

Primary Sources w/DBQs • Oral Histories of the "Comfort Women" [PDF] [Asia for Educators]

• History as Literature, Literature as History: Lost Names, Scenes from a Korean Boyhood [Education About Asia, Association for Asian Studies]
"Lost Names is a useful, rare, and wonderful book for several reasons. The book’s title reflects the Japanese Pacific War policy of forcing Koreans to replace their own names with Japanese ones. Lost Names is the story, as recounted by a young boy, of one Korean family’s experience during the war years." Featuring an interview of the author, Richard E. Kim, as well as essays by a junior high, senior high school, and university instructor on how they have used Lost Names as a highly effective teaching tool. Download PDF on page.

Lesson Plan • Famous Koreans: Six Portraits: Yu Kwan-Sun (1904-1920) [PDF] [Education About Asia, Association for Asian Studies]
Lesson plan designed "to provide an opportunity for students to learn about famous Koreans through readings and/or dramatizations." Brief overviews of the lives of six nodiv figures in Korea's history, including Yu Kwan-Sun (1904-1920), a student organizer in the March First Independence Movement. Each overview is imagined as a first-person narrative written by the historical figure.

• Comfort Women Education: Curriculum and Resources [Comfort Women Justice Coalition]
Lesson plan designed "to provide an opportunity for students to learn about famous Koreans through readings and/or dramatizations." Brief overviews of the lives of six nodiv figures in Korea's history, including Yu Kwan-Sun (1904-1920), a student organizer in the March First Independence Movement. Each overview is imagined as a first-person narrative written by the historical figure. A resource guide for high school teachers jointly created by Korean American Forum of California and Comfort Women Justice Coalition. The site also offers individual lesson plans.

• Teaching about Comfort Women During WW II and the Use of Personal Stories of the Victims [Education About Asia]
“Comfort women” refers to the system of sexual slavery created and controlled by the Imperial Japanese government between 1932 and 1945...A majority of the women who were forced into sexual slavery came from Korea and China, although many women from Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Việt Nam, Thailand, East Timor, and the Dutch East Indies, as well as European women in Japanese-occupied territories, were forced into sexual slavery. Download PDF on page.

Note to Teachers • Grass
Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (Drawn and Quarterly, 2019 )is a powerful antiwar graphic novel, suitable for high school students. It tells the life story of a Korean girl named Okseon Lee who was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. Grass has been used by teachers to open discussion of sex trafficking today and as a weapon of war.

• Colonial Korea in Historical Perspective [SPICE/Stanford]
This is a high school level curriculum unit, sold by SPICE, that focuses on the experience of the Korean peninsula under Japanese colonial rule from 1910 to 1945 - an important part of global history, especially considering the extent to which colonial legacies continue to shape current relations in East Asia and beyond....After an introduction to the concepts of imperialism and colonialism, students examine Japan’s initial colonization of the Korean peninsula in 1910, exploring why Japan colonized Korea, how this act was justified by the colonizers, and what the empire did in order to sustain and strengthen its colonial rule.

Primary Sources w/DBQs • Oral Histories of the "Comfort Women" [PDF] [Asia for Educators]