The Review of Korean Studies
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ISSN : 1229-0076
Korean Living Standards under Japanese Colonial Rule: A Critical Review of the Longitudinal Trajectory of Stature
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Abstract
Stature has been a widely used measure in the recent debate on Korean living standards under Japanese colonial rule. Past studies tended to focus on presenting novel data or calculation methods and insufficiently accounted for the divergence of arguments in the literature. This paper attempts the task of critically reviewing past research on Korean height during the colonial period and suggesting a reasonable interpretation with regard to living standards. A careful review supports the previously influential claim that average height decreased from the birth cohorts of the 1920s until around 1950. Other indicators of living standards closely related to the biological living standards of the general populace such as unskilled wage, food consumption, and inequality are consistent with height trends from the 1920s onwards, lending plausibility to the traditionally prevalent thesis that Koreans experienced a decrease in living standards as the colonial economic system took root in earnest. Recent revisionist claims that the colonial period was a boon for Korean well-being must be reconsidered.
- keywords
- economic history, living standards, stature, anthropometrics, Korea, Japanese colonialism
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