Seoul

Between 1910 and 1945, the Korean peninsula was occupied by the japanese empire and called Joseon. Korea was ruled by a governor who was appointed by the leadership of Tokyo and accountable to the emperor. The governor’s headquarters were in Seoul and he was in charge of the administrative rule of Korea, such as infrastructure, culture, judiciary, censorship and suppression of any form of Korean nationalism that opposed Japanese supremacy. At his disposal, the governor had a police organization that persecuted political opponents. Many of those arrested ended up in Seodaemun prison in Seoul where they were subjected to interrogation, often under beatings and torture to force disclosure and confessions. When Japan lost the war in September 1945 the Korean governornate was dissolved.