Public Security Laws and Their Enactment Background during the Japanese Colonial Period

This paper, as part of a study examining the history of the Public Safety Preservation Act, examines the problems of public safety laws (mainly laws on the crackdown on associations and group actions) in Joseon before the enactment of the Public Safety Preservation Act, the enactment of the Public Safety Preservation Act, and examines how colonial issues were considered in the enactment of the Public Safety Preservation Act. In particular, the movement to enact new public safety laws attempted by the Japanese Government-General of Korea before the enactment of the Public Safety Preservation Act examines the relationship between colonial Joseon and the Public Safety Preservation Act. First of all, the view that connects it to the General Election Act, as sharply criticized by Koreans at the time, does not apply to the case of Joseon. The problem of colonial Joseon did not have a large weight in the enactment of the Public Security Preservation Act. However, at least the Government-General did not consider the General Election Act at all. The recognition of the public security situation of the Government-General of Joseon itself requires the Public Security Preservation Act in Joseon as well, and this can be sufficiently understood in the speech of Governor-General Saito introduced in this paper. Second, it should be noted that the conclusion of the Basic Treaty between Japan and the (former) Soviet Union was perceived as being more easily influenced by the Korean side than by the Japanese ‘mainland’. Geographically, they bordered each other, and there were about 200,000 Koreans living in the (former) Soviet Union, who strongly advocated for the independence of Korea, and during the civil war, they supported the revolutionaries and organized guerrillas. Even after the end of the civil war, many Koreans joined the Communist Party and were active, but the Government-General felt a strong sense of crisis that this would spread and affect all of Korea. (52) As shown in the instructions of the Government Commissioner at the Governors’ Meeting, it can be easily inferred that the Government-General’s position of trying to prevent such movements from spreading in advance due to the conclusion of the treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union also influenced the government’s work to enact the Public Security Preservation Act. Even if we cannot say that the security situation in Joseon and the Governor-General's perception of it were significant factors in the enactment of the Public Peace Preservation Act, if we look at the movements of the Japanese government, the Governor-General's authorities were taking a proactive stance toward the enactment and implementation of the Public Peace Preservation Act. It can be said that they exerted pressure on the government to pass the Public Peace Preservation Act while indicating their intention to promulgate the ordinance only for Joseon if the bill was not passed.