This study speculates tenancy dispute of tenant farmers in Jaeundo, Muan-gun, Jeonnam under the sway of Japanese imperialism. Jaeundo is an island of the west coast in Muan-gun. At that time, much of the Korean land was owned by Dongyang Chucksik Comp...
This study speculates tenancy dispute of tenant farmers in Jaeundo, Muan-gun, Jeonnam under the sway of Japanese imperialism. Jaeundo is an island of the west coast in Muan-gun. At that time, much of the Korean land was owned by Dongyang Chucksik Company which regarded itself as an advance guard point of the Japanese invasion, Japanese landlords moving from Japan and some of Korean landlords. Most of the farmers had to moan under poor surroundings. Therefore, the tenant farmers resisted against their plundering actively. The most representative method to resist was a tenancy dispute.
In particular, the tenancy dispute in Jaeundo, Muan-gun was very large in the number of farmers who participated in resistance and confined farmers. However, it was sorry it was not elucidated exactly because of overpower of tenancy disputes in Haouido or Amtaedo. And its meaning was not specifically identified due to poor records and indifference. It has been overlooked that the tenancy dispute has its peculiar characteristic though it was raised in a small island.
It lasted for two month from December 1925 to January of net year, but it was a very powerful resistance against strong oppression of Japanese sway and landlords and they were very determined not to step back. It means that the tenant farmers in Jaeundo stood together against Japan and landlords on poor reality and merciless tenant conditions.
In this respect, this study focused on the following facts in respect to a study on tenancy dispute in Janeundo : First, it intended to reorganize the conditions at that time by renewing the decision dealing with the trial against tenant farmers. And it sought to identify activities of each individual who participated in the dispute because it was inevitable to understand the urgent conditions that were not reported at that time and identify the violent resistance of the farmers.
Second, the Janeundo dispute was originated from resistance against poor economic conditions and collection of strict tenancy fee, but it revealed resistant mind to recover national identity. In addition, it emphasized that the dispute was derived from a peculiar reality of tenancy of the island people. At that time, the island people were having extreme difficulty because the ratio of patches was far higher than that of rice paddies.
This study was to speculate the reason of frequent disputes in island regions and their connection with the dispute in Janeundo.
Third, the Jaeundo dispute was resolved not because farmers surrendered by violent oppression by Japanese officers but because Japanese landlords withered by conciliation policy of Japan connected with the rice products increase policy and strong resistance of farmers. Finally, Japanese imperialism and landlords could not help seeking for a conciliation.
Fourth, Jaeundo dispute was different from Amtaedo dispute in that Amtado decided to punish tenant farmers by prosecution of landlords. However, Japanese police applied " sedition and unlawful interference for the resistance of Jaeundo farmers. It means that Japan considered its resistance as a threat to its public power. So the Japanese police decided far more extreme punishment to Jaeundo people than Amtaedo people.
Finally, this study was to identify the difference in economic aspect between Jaeundo dispute and other disputes. At that time, a landlord named Moon Jae-chol had the most of the land in Jaeundo and most of the people relied on farming. Such reality was a reason of the most extreme resistance.
In conclusion, this study has a great meaning to identify that Jaeundo tenancy dispute incapacitated illegal agreement of Japanese landlords through union of farmers with high resistant mind and induced conciliatory attitude in the tenancy dispute.