The Forgotten Plague Analysis

In the The Forgotten Plague: Opium and Narcotics in Korea under Japanese Rule, 1910-1945, John M. Jennings argues that opium and narcotics trafficking played a significant part in Korea under Japanese colonial rule from 1910-1944, and that the subject of opium in Korea under Japanese colonial rule is not fully examined by historians. Jennings bases this connection between the opium and narcotics trade and the Japanese on three factors: the spread of drug addiction in Korea during Japanese colonial rule, Korea's rise in production and exportation of narcotics throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and the political immunity of Korean drug traffickers in China.

In the first part of the article, Jennings emphasizes how Korea was forced to deal with a major domestic drug addiction problem under Japanese colonial rule. The article highlights how opium first arrived in Korea from China, and that opium smoking has long been a widespread habit in Korean society. By I905 there were so many opium addicts in Korea that the Japanese Residency General had to force the Korean Government to stop the problem. This resulted in harsh laws condemning opium smoking, the importation and sale, as well as opium paraphernalia (Jennings 797). The article does a good job of emphasizing to the reader that these new laws were ineffective because opium smoking endured throughout the early stages of the Japanese colonial period. Jennings references how in 1912 the Japanese government was required to enforce a new law in which Korean opium smokers were punished under the same level of severity as if under Japanese law to discourage the widespread usage of opium (Jennings 797).

According to Jennings, Korean addicts were only permitted to continue smoking if the end...

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...elf states many times in the article that he wishes to shed much needed light on an ignored aspect of imperial Japan's actions in Korea. This article contributes to the wider literature because it introduces the reader to the effects of Japanese colonialism in Korea through the analysis of primary source documents, first hand experiences, and expert opinion. My experience has shown that little is mentioned in textbooks and resources to cover the topic of Korea under Japanese colonialism other than the dates of annexation and the date of emancipation. This is a very good article for readers and scholars to compare with Western imperialism material. Furthermore, the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 went through several overlapping phases, this article touches on many of those political, social, and economic changes occurring in Korea during this period.