During the final phase of Imperial Japan’s rule over Korea, conscription orders came printed on different colors of paper, each color denoting a different type of mobilization. Red (akagami, 赤紙) and pink (kōgami, 紅紙) summonses were for active military service, while blue (aogami, 青紙) papers called civilians to short-term homeland defense duties, such as air-raid response. White (hakushi, 白紙) papers, however, were used for “educational conscription” (教育召集), “training mobilization” (演習召集), and “roll-call inspections” (簡閲点呼). Both the Army and Navy could issue white-paper summonses, which often sent young Korean men to factories, farms, and construction sites under the guise of patriotic training. In practice, this became a form of compulsory labor, with almost no way to refuse once a summons arrived.
This post focuses on the white-paper conscription system and why many Koreans experienced it as forced labor. As wartime shortages deepened, evasion became nearly impossible, and some resorted to bribing local officials to escape service. The articles, translated below from the Keijō Nippo newspaper published in February and June 1945, reveal both the desperation and the risks.
The February 1945 report describes a wide-scale bribery scandal in which over a hundred people paid bribes to more than twenty ward-office employees in Seoul to avoid being conscripted, only to be caught and threatened with "severe punishment." The June 1945 story is more personal: it recounts how one man, Urushibara, pleaded for exemption, citing the hardship his absence would cause his family. When that failed, he tried to obtain leniency from his neighborhood cell leader by bribing him with food and drink, but they were exposed by a mobilized student, Yang Ryang (양량, 梁亮), celebrated in the article as a model patriotic Korean youth.
A related news story from the same period told of another conscript who had no choice but to leave his wife and children behind for labor duty, forcing his family into poverty until a sympathetic police officer stepped in to care for them. Together, these stories illustrate how devastating such labor summonses were for Korean households, and how difficult it was to receive exemptions or deferments for them.
TL;DR: Imperial forced labor summons were very hard for Korean men to evade. If you tried bribing your way out, you ran the risk of getting caught by informants turning you in.
[Translation]
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) February 9, 1945
What Is This? Evading Labor Conscription by Bribery
Corruption of Government Officials: Both Parties to Be Severely Punished
On February 8th, Prosecutor Shizunaga of the Economic Division of the Seoul District Public Prosecutor’s Office met with reporters and commented on the corruption case involving employees of the Labor Sections of the Jung Ward and Jongno Ward offices of Seoul. He ordered those involved in conscription and candidate selection matters to pay attention, and warned that hereafter those who attempt to evade labor conscription will be met with severe punishment. His remarks are as follows:
"There has never been a time as today when the responsibility of government officials is so highly emphasized. In that sense, the corruption case involving the Labor Section employees of Jung Ward and Jongno Ward is very regrettable and should not be regarded merely as a small incident. This matter is currently being handled by the provincial police department. I do not know the detailed figures, but there are over twenty persons on the bribe-taking side and over one hundred persons who paid bribes.
Why is it that Korean youth and their parents, who respond to military conscription with joy and eagerness, on the other hand detest labor conscription? Of course, the principal reason must be a lack of understanding about labor conscription, but might not the cause also lie in the existence of loopholes such as those revealed by this corruption case? That seems to allow some of the lower-level government officials to further enable the bad attitude of evading labor conscription.
I am by no means pessimistic about labor mobilization on the Korean peninsula. I believe that people are responding more readily than might be supposed. If hereafter the public understanding of the value of labor and the measures to support labor improve, still better results should be achieved. In that context, the fact that some negligent lower-level government officials exist and exert harmful influence is, I believe, a grave problem for the completion of the sacred task of strengthening our war potential. From this standpoint, I intend to take a stern stance toward such incidents.
Furthermore, the general public must properly recognize labor conscription and should take the lead in responding to this honorable mobilization. If anyone attempts henceforth to evade labor conscription by various means, the policy will be to arrest and prosecute them without mercy."
Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) June 27, 1945
Conquering Labor Conscription Evasion
There has been an admirable and upright act in which a mobilized student, rising resolutely to dedicate himself and fight courageously in his field of duty, splendidly conquered the tendency to evade labor conscription.
Yang Ryang (양량, 梁亮), a 22-year-old third-year student at the Takushoku College of Economics (present-day Korea University), has since the end of March been mobilized to serve in the Labor Section of the Seongdong Ward Office. Without a single day of absence, he has fought courageously day after day. On June 22nd, when he issued a labor conscription order to one Urushibara Tokuhō of Sageun-dong within his jurisdiction, Urushibara pleaded the hardship of his family’s livelihood and refused to accept the order. Yang, explaining patiently, sought to rescue him from the sin that springs from ignorance, by earnestly preaching the national demand and honorable nature of labor conscription.
However, despite the pure sincerity and kindness of this young student Yang, Urushibara tried to go into hiding in an attempt to evade labor conscription. Yang then went to visit Urushibara's patriotic group (neighborhood cell) leader, Kang Sun-bong (강선봉, 康先奉), to seek his cooperation regarding Urushibara. Before long, however, the two—Urushibara and Kang—secretly conspired. Urushibara arranged a drinking party, and tried to bargain for an exemption by treating Kang to food and liquor.
Enraged by the shamelessness of these two men, Yang resolutely rejected their shameful behavior and, with the fervor of one spitting fire, admonished them, saying that their actions were doubly and triply unforgivable, unpatriotic conduct. Unable to endure the reproach of their own consciences, the two were moved to tears, repented all their past wrongdoing, and swore to devote themselves courageously as honorable men answering the call of labor conscription.
[Transcription]
京城日報 1945年2月9日
何事ぞ、贈賄で徴用逃れ
官公吏の涜職：両者とも断乎厳罰
京城地方法院検事局経済係静永検事は八日記者団と会見。京城府中区鐘路区両区役所勤労課職員の涜職事件に言及つぎの如く：徴用銓衡関係者の注意を喚起すると同時に以後徴用を忌避する者に対しては厳罰をもって臨むと警告した。
今日ほど官公吏の責任が重要視されるときはない。その意味で中区、鐘路区勤労課職員の涜職事件は非常に遺憾なことで単に一小事件としてみるべきではないと思う。この事件はいま道警察部が行っていて詳細な数字は知らないが、収賄側が二十余名、贈賄した者は百名余である。
徴兵に対しては喜び勇んで応ずる半島青年層およびその親達がこれと反対に徴用を忌み嫌うのはどういう理由に基くか。勿論徴用に対する認識の乏しさから来るのが大一に挙げられるべき点だが、涜職事件で現れたようにこうした抜け道があるところにもその原因が潜んではいないか。これでは一部の末端官公吏が徴用忌避の悪い精神を更に助長さすようなものだ。
私は半島の労務動員に対して決して悲観視しない。みなが案外素直に応じているものと思う。これから勤労観の認識と勤労援護がよくなればもっと好成績をみせるだろう。このとき一部不心得の末端官公吏がいて悪影響を及ぼすことは戦力増強聖戦完遂上に由由しき問題だと思う。この観点からこういう事件に対しては峻厳な態度で臨むつもりだ。
また一般も徴用をよく認識して率先光栄ある動員に応じなければならない。なお以後徴用を忌避して種々手段を弄する事があれば、容赦なく検挙する方針だ。
京城日報 1945年6月27日
徴用忌避を征服
蹶然と立ち上って職域に挺身敢闘する勤労動員学徒が徴用忌避を見事に征服した頼もしい廉潔行為がある。拓殖経済専門学校三年生梁亮君（二二）は三月末から城東区役所勤労課に動員学徒として一日の欠勤もせず、連日敢闘しているが、二十二日管内沙斤町漆原徳奉に徴用令書を交付したところ、漆原は家族の生活困難を愬え、受理を拒絶するので、梁君は徴用の国家的要請と名誉たる所以を諄々と説き、無智なるが故の罪から救い上げようとした。
若き学徒、梁君のこの純真な厚意と親切にも拘わらず漆原は姿を晦まして徴用の忌避を企てようとするので、梁君は班長康先奉さんを訪れ、漆原の協力方を求めたところ、何時の間にか二人は相謀って酒の席を設け、饗応をもって免除を交渉してきた。恥を知らない二人のあさましい行為に憤激した梁君は断乎とこれを拒絶し、二人の行為は二重三重に許すべからざる非国民的行為であると火を吐くが如き純情をこめて説諭。二人も良心の苛責に堪えず感涙に咽びながら過去の一切の非を改め、誉れの応徴士として挺身敢闘を誓った。
Source: National Library of Korea, Digital Newspaper Archive
See also:
- Bilingual Japanese-Korean wartime propaganda poster celebrating "White Paper Conscription" (October 7, 1944) (link)
- ‘Selfless’ Imperial Japanese policeman visits pregnant Korean mother daily and delivers her baby after forcing her husband into Imperial war service: a 1945 ‘heartwarming’ propaganda tale (link)
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