English Language Education in Korea Under Japanese Colonial Rule

Abstract

The Korean government introduced English language education to the country when it opened an English school for interpreters in 1883; it supported the growth of English language education for the next twenty-two years. In 1905, when Korea became a Japanese protectorate, this development was interrupted. This paper examines the colonial government’s language policies, its efforts to replace Korean by Japanese as a national language, and the effect of various policies on the decline of English language education and its virtual ending between 1938 and 1945. As Japan became engaged in war, the government declared English an enemy language and suppressed its use and teaching. Japan’s mobilization of the entire colony for the war effort, which by 1945 stopped all education in Korea, also ended opportunities for English language education.