만주국의 패망 전후 일제 식민당국의 동태와 사회 분위기

Abstract

This article is intended to vividly shed light on the movements of Japanese and Manchukuo authorities and the atmosphere of Manchukuo society around the time before and after the collapse of Manchukuo through the war memories of the officials and local experienced people in Manchukuo. On August 9, 1945, with the vacuum of the Soviet army, the ruling system of the Manchukuo government was rapidly disintegrated. Government facilities and munitions depots were looted and anarchy ensued. The leadership of the Kwantung Army and the government of Manchukuo retreated to the Tonghua(通化) area in dismay. On August 17, the abdication ceremony of the emperor of Manchukuo was held in Linjiang(臨江) County, Tonghwa Province. By the end of August, the Kwantung Army, the Japanese forces stationed in Manchukuo and northern Korea had all been disarmed. About 600,000 people, including Emperor Puyi(溥儀) of Manchukuo, government officials, soldiers of the Kwantung Army, and executives of Japanese companies, were taken to Siberia. They were forced to work or were held captive, and 60,000 people died in the process. During the colonial rule, Japan propagated Manchukuo as ‘the independent state of ‘WangdaoLetian’(王道樂土). However, when the Japanese emperor surrendered unconditionally and the Kwantung Army in Manchukuo was destroyed by the Soviet Army, Manchukuo immediately collapsed. This shows that Manchukuo, as a member of the Japanese Empire, was a puppet state that responded to Japan's imperialist aggression. At the same time, it suggests that the collapse of Manchukuo acted as a catalyst in the process of change in the modern East Asian international order.