A/HRC/25/CRP.1 regards adherence to strict hierarchies as important to social harmony and personal fulfilment. Five key relationships set out these hierarchies: sovereign and subject, husband and wife, parent and child, elder brother and younger brother, and friend and friend. The most important of those is the parent and child relationship. In fact, respect for elders and social hierarchy based on age remain key features of Korean culture both in the North and South today. Likewise, the position of women remains adversely affected by traditional attitudes of inequality.16 B. Japanese colonial occupation (1910 to 1945) 90. The Japanese colonial occupation of Korea was preceded by centuries of encounters between Korea and the outside world, through invasions by, and relationships with, the Chinese, Japanese, Mongols, Manchus, and, in later years, the Russians, French and Americans. In 1876, Korea signed an unfavourable treaty with Japan, although foreign influence inside Korea was not restricted to the Japanese. Factions allied with Chinese, Russian and United States interests, as well as native Korean reformers, jockeyed for position in the court of King Kojong. Korea was contested by each of the powers seeking to expand their spheres of influence in Asia. The Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) resulted in Japan ending Korea’s tributary relationship with China by formally declaring Korea to be independent, a status which allowed Japan to increase its influence on the peninsula. The Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) saw the Japanese defeat the Russian fleet at Port Arthur (in Dalian, China). This led to a peace treaty brokered by United States President Theodore Roosevelt in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, that recognized Korea as a protectorate of Japan. In 1910, Japan formally declared Korea to be a colony, ending its monarchy and requiring the allegiance of the Korean people to the Emperor of Japan. 91. Japan imposed various modernizing reforms, including in matters of social, administrative and economic organization. Nevertheless, Koreans have overwhelmingly viewed the colonial experience as negative and brutal. Koreans were subject to racial discrimination laws in their own country. They were prohibited from speaking the Korean language and made to adopt Japanese names. Japan sent around 700,000 nationals to fill roles in government service as all top administrative positions were filled by Japanese.17 Transportation, communications, industry and even agriculture were expanded for the benefit of the colonial power rather than the Korean people. The results of Japan’s modernization drive on the peninsula were characterized by patterns of development and underdevelopment. The question of whether Japan ultimately assisted Korea in its development remains highly contested both politically and in academia.18 92. The March First Independence Movement of 1919 prompted protests by students and other Koreans against Japanese rule in several Korean cities, including Seoul and 16 17 18 20 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in its concluding observations on the Republic of Korea in July 2011 remained concerned about “the persistence of patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes regarding the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in the society” (CEDAW/C/KOR/CO/7). Similarly, in July 2005, the Committee had urged the DPRK “to address stereotypical attitudes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men, including the hidden patterns that perpetuate direct and indirect discrimination against women and girls in the areas of education and employment and in all other areas of their lives” (CEDAW/C/PRK/CO/1). Andrea Matles Savada, ed., North Korea: A Country Study, Library of Congress, 1993, Available from http://countrystudies.us/north-korea/12.htm. For example, see Daqing Yang, “Japanese Colonial Infrastructure in Northeast Asia”, in Korea at the Center: Dynamics of Regionalism in Northeast Asia, Charles K. Armstrong and others, eds. (New York, M.E. Sharpe, 2006).