총력전체제기 육군특별지원병제의 실상과 군사원호－황국신민화의 관점에서－

Abstract

Japan’s total war system was built around two pillars: wartime economy and military support system based on the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement and the National Mobilization Law. In particular, psychological and financial support for the ever-increasing number of fallen soldiers and their bereaved families due to mobilization became even more emphasized under the military support system. The establishment of this total war system in Joseon under Japan’s colonial rule started from the Army Special Volunteer System adopted to raise ‘loyal and honest soldiers for the Emperor’ to the National Spiritual Mobilization Movement under the slogans of ‘Japan and Korea as One’ and the ‘Emperor’s Subjects’, providing ‘full supply’ for the Army Special Volunteer System. In this regard, this study aims at examining how military support for the Army Special Volunteer System was provided in Joseon under Japan’s colonial rule without a conscription system unlike ‘mainland’ Japan. The army special volunteers were recruited, in fact, using forceful measures such as ‘solicitation’ and ‘mediation’ in the name of ‘volunteering’ completely opposite to its very high competition rate for selection. Moreover, even though the Military Assistance Law had already been enforced in Joseon under Japan’s colonial rule, the law started to be applied to provide military support for army special volunteers and their bereaved families only after the first wounded volunteer was reported. This indicates that military support for the army special volunteers who were wounded or killed in war was provided under the policy of the Emperor’s Subjects, and that the purpose of financial and psychological support for their bereaved families lay in the policy that aimed to mobilize the people of Joseon for war. As such, this study reviewed the Army Special Volunteer System that the Empire of Japan adopted to establish its total war system in Joseon, and based on the discussion, it suggested that the policy of the Emperor’s Subjects was implemented through the forced recruitment of army special volunteers and financial and psychological military support for them and their bereaved families.