Anti-Cholera Measures by the Japanese Colonial Government and the Reaction of Koreans in the Early 1920s

The Japanese colonial government used its police power to prevent the spread of cholera. However, although police activities were effective in locating suspected patients and isolating them from others, the Korean population resisted these efforts because they were regarded as coercive. Moreover, the measures clashed with Korea's medical traditions as well as Korean nationalist sentiment. One of the worst aspects of the anti-cholera measures in the early 1920s was the poor state of conditions at Sunhwawon, a government isolation hospital. By attempting to build a substitute medical institute, the Korean population challenged the monopoly of Japanese rule in terms of health. They insisted that their proposed hospital use Oriental medicine in the treatment of Korean patients, and in this sense, the idea may be seen as a protest against Japanese rule. Although it was not realized, if Koreans, affected by the March 1st movement, had established a hospital using Oriental medicine for themselves, this institution could have played an active role for the future independence of Korea.