In this talk, Ji Yeon Hong explores the formation and legacy of colonial bureaucracy in Korea. Upon colonization through military dominance, many imperial governments struggled to build effective colonial bureaucracies. While skilled bureaucrats in the colonizer’s central government were reluctant to relocate, local elites were often unqualified or unwilling to serve.

Hong has examined the recruitment of Koreans into Japanese colonial bureaucracy using original data from colonial personnel records. Assessing their ranks, she investigates how the colonial regime utilized local elites while minimizing disloyalty. She also traces bureaucratic continuity from the Korean Empire to post-independence South Korea.