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Rare 1944 Korean-Japanese Bilingual Propaganda Poster Promoting Forced Labor Conscription

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Rare 1944 Korean-Japanese Bilingual Propaganda Poster Promoting Forced Labor Conscription

This is a very rare Korean–Japanese bilingual wartime propaganda poster, published in Keijo Nippo (Gyeongseong Ilbo) on October 7, 1944. Keijo Nippo was the official propaganda mouthpiece of the Imperial Japanese colonial regime that ruled Korea from 1905 to 1945.

In the four years that I have been reading and archiving articles from this newspaper, this is the only bilingual poster I have ever encountered. The poster features the bilingual lyrics of a song praising “conscripted workers (応徴士),” referring to young Koreans who were being forcibly mobilized for military labor under the so-called White Paper Conscription (白紙召集) system.

I originally posted about this poster about two years ago, when the only copies available were grainy microfiche scans from the Internet Archive and the National Library of Korea. Since then, the Digital Newspaper Archive at the National Library of Korea has released high-resolution digital scans of Keijo Nippo, allowing a much clearer view of this poster. The Hangul text is now much more legible, so I am updating this post to share this improved copy and to revisit its historical significance with a clearer image.

The White Paper summons was used for various forms of “educational conscription” and training-related mobilization, such as 教育召集 (educational conscription), 演習召集 (training mobilization), and 簡閲点呼 (roll-call inspection). Both the Imperial Army and Navy could issue these white-paper orders, which in practice became a form of compulsory labor service for Korean men.

According to the article, the poster was distributed across all of Korea to raise “home-front morale.” Yet the context makes it chilling. Just months earlier, in April–May 1944, the colonial regime had launched a campaign to “Drive Hangul out of the streets!”, removing Korean-language signs from public view. This makes the poster especially striking—it was one of the very few instances of Hangul text that was officially sanctioned and publicly displayed by the colonial authorities.

For ordinary Koreans, however, the poster’s cheerful and “forward-looking” tone would have felt deeply insulting. They knew from bitter experience what conscription meant: fathers and sons torn away from their families for grueling labor in mines, factories, and construction sites, leaving wives and children destitute. Even though women were not officially subject to the White Paper summons, many feared being swept up into the system—so much so that some rushed into marriage to avoid possible mobilization or being coerced into military sex work under the Imperial forces.

The following are the original lyrics with English translations, as well as the Korean text (uncertain portions in double brackets):

おうちょう（應徵）戦士 Conscription Soldier
お父さん 萬歳 Father, may you live long!
兄ちゃん 萬歳 Elder brother, may you live long!
うれしいな 白紙應召 How joyful it is, White Paper Conscription!
大進撃 勝って下さい Please win the great offensive!
送れ 送れ Send them, send them!
がっちり しっかり Firmly, steadfastly,
憎い米英 やっつける Defeat the hated Britain and America!

응증전사
증응에 나가신
우리 아버지 만세
우리 형님 만세
참말노 기쁜 증응
[[작고]] 만히보내라
다가치 힘을 합하야
[[원수]]에미국 을때려부시라

[Translation of accompanying explanatory text]

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo) October 7, 1944
“Wall Newspaper Praising Labor Conscripts”

The labor conscripts advance. Believing that it is an honor second only to that of a soldier, the labor conscripts hurry to factories and mines. Their fathers, mothers, and children who see them off cry out energetically, “Do your best! We will take care of the rest!”

The League of Mobilization in Korea distributed this scene throughout all of Korea in order to boost morale on the home front. [Photo: Wall Newspaper]

[Transcription of accompanying explanatory text]

京城日報 1944年10月7日
応徴士讃う壁新聞

応徴士は進む。兵隊さんに次ぐ名誉だと応徴士は工場に鉱山に急いでいる。送る父や母や子供は元気で”頑張れ、あとは引受けた”と力強く叫ぶ。国民総力聯盟はこの風景を全鮮に配布して銃後の士気を昂揚した。【写真＝壁新聞】

See also:

  • Koreans tried to bribe their way out of Imperial Japan’s forced labor conscription, but patriotic student informants turned them in (June 1945) (link)
  • Terrified by rumors of forced labor conscription under the Imperial Army, young Korean women rushed into marriages to escape, prompting officials to hold April 1944 press conference to deny and deflect (link)
  • In 1944, Imperial Japan launched an “all-out campaign” to erase Hangul from public life, mobilizing teachers and Korean youth to destroy Korean signs, books, and even phonograph records (link)
  • Previous post about the bilingual poster based on blurry microfiche copies (link)

Credit to u/wiseau7 for providing the Korean transcription of this song.

submitted by /u/tpjv86b
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