ABSTRACT
Accurate demographic data can, of course, be an important source of insight into the structure of a national community. Koreans who had taken residence in Manchuria, in Japan, in China, and elsewhere for a mixture of reasons greeted the Japanese surrender as the signal to return home. According to Korean taxation records during the monarchy, the population actually decreased between 1717 and 1904, while in the thirty-five year period after annexation it increased by perhaps more than 70 per cent. The infiltration of Western material culture could be expected in time to make telling assaults upon the high Korean birth rate, despite the strong “primitive” emphasis upon fertility. An interesting characteristic of the Korean population was its relative homogeneity. Anti-foreign feeling, however, has been more an expression of resentment against threatened foreign domination than an expression of racism. If Korea were to become more industrialized, the former geographical distribution of the population might be materially changed.
