history

Last century the Japanese imperialists plundered large quantities of marine resources in Korea.

After the Sino-Japanese war in 1894 and 1895, the Japanese imperialists spurred Japanese fishermen to seize fishing grounds in Korea in order to pillage its marine resources on a large scale.

Because it was far more economical to plunder its marine resources than to conduct trawl and deep sea fishing in their country since such fishing required high technique and much money. Their other aims were to intensify the marine resources plunder by sending lots of impoverished fishermen of Japan to Korea and secure the foothold for reducing Korea to their colony in the future.

Accordingly, Japan dispatched to Korea in June 1899 Maki Bokuma, fisheries department director of its ministry of agriculture and commerce, in order to spy on the situation of offshore fishing.

Back home, Maki Bokuma convened a meeting of officials in charge of fisheries and representatives of 13 prefectures and counties related to fishing in Korean fishing grounds. The meeting aimed at plundering marine resources of Korea decided to get each prefecture and county to set up a guild for fishing on the seas of Korea.

Later in May 1900, Japan formed an association of those guilds. Its mission was to keep informed about and control fishing in Korean seas by each Japanese prefecture and county and encourage them to plunder larger quantities of marine resources there.

It took a step to annually offer two hundred thousand won of state subsidy to the association for five years from 1902.

And with an eye to switching the marine resources plunder in Korea from the stage of going out fishing to that of settled fishing, it proclaimed the law on fishing guild in foreign waters in March 1902 and reorganized the association into the fishing guild in Korean seas.

After militarily occupying Korea in 1910, Japan cooked up and promulgated the law on fisheries in June 1911 and plundered Korea’s marine resources on a large scale.

Japan’s plunder caused grave consequences to the development of the Korean fishing industry.

It is only part of crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists in Korea.

The Korean people will never forget their crimes.