A Korean Critique of Settler-Colonialism: League Against Imperialism (1927)
Part of "big sky/넓은 하늘" (December 2025)
From 1911 to 2025, perpetrators of mass aerial bombardment have been surprised and dismayed at the practice's inability to end resistance to colonial projects. Their surprise is understandable. Bombing is a horrifically violent and destructive act. From a colonizer's perspective, aerial bombing should be an adequate deterrent against virtually any type of resistance. What is it about colonization that exposes the logic of deterrence through force as a myth?
One possible answer appears in a 1927 pamphlet by Korean delegates to the first International Congress against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism in Brussels. In their pamphlet, the delegates articulate what may, from some perspectives, be viewed as a critique of settler-colonialism - a process where colonizers seek to permanently supplant and replace local peoples, in addition to seizing their lands. The Korean delegates wrote: "We shall in the future do all we can to recover our freedom...Either Japan must evacuate Korea or we are doomed to disgrace[,] misery, hunger and death."
This pamphlet is a reminder of one reason why the logic of deterrence through force breaks down in colonial and settler-colonial settings. People will resist annihilation no matter the odds. Although colonization may be a matter of domination and enrichment, resisting colonization is a matter of life and death. It is also a reminder of the reach of settler-colonialism. This process exists beyond the four former British colonies of the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is happening in Palestine. Some argue that traces of this process might have existed in Korea. Lastly, this pamphlet is a reminder of the need for critique and global solidarity. The Korean delegates denied assertions that "Korea is a land whose population is not yet sufficiently civilized, living like the wild men of the interior of Africa, Australia, etc." It is possible that this text was intended to be sarcastic, critiquing the dehumanization of Korean people by rejecting similarly racist caricatures of people from Africa and Australia. However, it is also possible that this text was sincere - that the writers accepted the view that people from Africa and Australia were less than human and simply disputed the comparison between them and Koreans. If this sentence was sincerely meant, it was absolutely in error. We cannot get free by participating in the dehumanization of others. There is no hierarchy of civilization that can withstand the gaze of the people it intends to subjugate.
This zine is comprised of materials from the 1927 Congress, alongside photos of the Korean delegates who attended this event. By featuring these materials, this zine seeks to uplift and critique histories of resistance and inspire global solidarity with those resisting aerial bombardment and settler-colonialism today.
Segment 1:
"Invitation to the International Congress against Colonial Oppression and Imperialism..."
"...till at last the Japanese, who had learnt enough of the modern European methods of warfare, ended the war which had continuously lasted for thousands of years, and Korea with an area of 200,000 sq.km. and 20,000,000 inhabitants became the property of the Japanese.
This happened on the 29th of August, 1910.
The Great Powers of the period, with the United States at their head, vied with each other to recognize this annexation.
We knew that that meant for the Koreans: loss of our fatherland, loss of liberty and the prospect of unspeakable misery which has not yet reached its lowest depths.
In order to show what the Japanese have achieved by force of arms in Korea since the annexation, that is in 17 years, we shall mention here a few facts from..."
"Landed property of Japanese and Koreans in the capital in proportion to their population Propriété foncière des Japonais et des Coréens dans la capitale par rapport à leur population Grundbesitz der Japaner und Koreaner in der Haupstadt im Verhältmis zur Einwohnerzahl
IMAGE: Graphics showing Japanese immigration into Korea during the colonial period, overlaid on the cover page of the pamphlet entitled "The Korean Problem" and a photograph of Korean delegates to the 1927 Congress of the League Against Imperialism (황우일/Hwang Woo-Il, 김법린/Kim Beop-Lin, 이미륵/Lee Mi-Reuk, 이극로/Lee Geuk-Ro).
"The exploiting Japanese know how to conceal their criminal activities in Korea from outsiders. According to their allegations, Korea is a land whose population is not yet sufficiently civilized, living like the wild men of the interior of Africa, Australia, etc.; at the best, the Koreans belong to those races that possessed a high culture in the past, but are at present without the strength to complete with other Powers or to defend themselves against foreign invasions. They, therefore, need the cultural and economical guidance and military protection of the Japanese. In order to create evidence in support of their allegations, all the parasitical Japanese in Korea devote themselves to describing and generalizing the worst customs of the Koreans and the faults of isolated individuals. All improvements are put down to the credit of the Japanese. Thus an entirely false picture of Korean life has been conveyed to foreign countries..."
"Those who are misled by Japanese diplomacy believe that the Koreans are satisfied with the Japanese policy. They are wrong. The Koreans have always been enemies of Japanese rule...
Every activity directed against the policy of the Japanese was answered by the latter in such a brutal manner that we do not hesitate in calling the tools of Japanese Imperialism the wildest savages on earth..."
"Neither with force nor with treachery can the Japanese oppress us further. We are clearly conscious that our fight against Japan is the last and only way that will lead us to a life of freedom.
Either Japan must evacuate Korea or we are doomed to disgrace, misery, hunger and death."