Research Article
Veterinary Medicine of Empire and Livestock Animals of Colony: Epizootic Control during the Japanese Colonial Period
Seoul National University
Published: April 2022 · Vol. 44 No. 1 · pp. 171-192
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36092/KJHS.2022.44.1.171
Full Text
Abstract
The Japanese Government General of Korea used colonial Korea as food and military resource for Japan and as a barrier to the livestock infectious diseases from China. Therefore the colonial livestock sanitary policies focused on quarantine-based disease prevention. Unlike colonies in India, Africa, and America, where the European powers formed colonies the Korean Peninsula was close to Japan. The epizootics in Korea created an invisible boundary between the empire and the colony. Colonial livestock animals were considered inferior beings at risk of infection and contamination that needed improvement. Humans in the colony were passively incorporated into the livestock quarantine system. Korean Peninsula served as a test site for new systems such as the double quarantine system and rinderpest immune zone, and technologies developed in Japan, such as the immune serum and vaccines. Japan forcibly transplanted livestock sanitary regulations on the Korean Peninsula but the benefits were limited in enhancing the colony's capabilities in preventing livestock infectious diseases. Colonial Korea could not secure the necessary veterinarians according to its own needs, nor could it get an opportunity to cultivate related professionals. Therefore, colonial veterinary medicine and livestock sanitary policy were established with limited success in preventing epizootics during the colonial period.