중일전쟁시기 『韓國靑年』(1940~1941)의 정세인식과 대응

Abstract

This paper is to grasp Korean media’s recognitions of and responses to the reality during Sino-Japanese War through articles in Korean Youths which was Korean Youths War Zone Guerrilla’s own periodical. The main readers of Korean Youths published in Xi-an of China were Chinese people, and the periodical concentrated on perturbing the enemy’s rear, recruiting soldiers, and propagating against Japan. Its main contents were of emphasizing Korean-Chinese alliance and of announcing the guerrilla’s anti-Japanese tasks and activities. Also, in the periodical, articles explaining international affairs and Japan’s war situations were not few; those of anti-Japanese independent movements in Japanese colonies and in northeastern region of China were sometimes published; the translations of foreign journals’s articles and of foreign literatures were included. The tone of Korean Youths focused on the role of ‘East Asian balancer’ in the international relations based on Korean peninsula’s geo-political location and on Korea’s historical, cultural, and political status. Korean-Chinese alliance depending on the traditional good-neighborliness pointed out the practical role-sharing, and, based on it, sought for the present and the future through the joint resistance. Especially, the musical Arirang that the personnels of Korean Youths War Zone Guerrilla themselves performed was highly evaluated as a best artistic example for anti-Japanese Korean-Chinese alliance by Chinese media. Also, anti-Japanese propagations and cultural activities in Huabei region in which 200,000 some Koreans resided were importantly treated. As Sino-Japanese war became a full-scale protracted war, Japan’s economy was ruined. Japanese empire, in order to resolve the situation, attempted southward oceanic expedition. Korean Youths paid much attention to the situation, and foresaw that collision between Japanese empire and the interests of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United Sates would be unavoidable. The periodical discerned that China’s long-term resistance and the US’s participation in the war would be the key-point to win the anti-Japanese war and would bring a good chance for Korea’s independence, and asserted active responses. Before not so long, Asian- Pacific War occurred, and the joint resistance within Korean-Chinese alliance went on in earnest.