Joined to the Empire, 1910–31 The consolidation of colonial power – The March First Movement –

As European imperialism in East Asia reached a new peak in the 1890s, Japan’s leaders decided that the country’s strategic defence perimeter should expand to include Korea. Tokyo therefore began a new phase of involvement and interference in Korean affairs, aimed at the elimination of influence from the only other two powers influential in Korea – China and Russia. Chinese influence effectively ceased following its defeat in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), and Russian influence likewise ceased after the RussoJapanese War (1905).