Kuniaki Koiso

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Kuniaki Koiso
小磯國昭
Governor General of Korea
In office
15 June 1942 – 22 July 1944
MonarchHirohito
Preceded byJirō Minami
Succeeded byNobuyuki Abe
Minister of Colonial Affairs
In office
16 January 1940 – 22 July 1940
Prime MinisterMitsumasa Yonai
Preceded byTsuneo Kanemitsu
Succeeded byYōsuke Matsuoka
In office
7 April 1939 – 30 August 1939
Prime MinisterKiichirō Hiranuma
Preceded byYoshiaki Hatta
Succeeded byTsuneo Kanemitsu
Personal details
Born(1880-03-22)22 March 1880
General
Commands

Kuniaki Koiso (

governor-general of Korea
from 1942 to 1944.

After Japan's surrender in World War II, he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in prison in 1950.

Early life

Koiso was born on March 22, 1880, in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, the first son of chief inspector of police and shizoku (former samurai) Koiso Susumu.[1] He attended eight different schools, graduating from Yamagata Middle School (today Yamagata Prefectural Yamagata East High School). He was accepted as an officer candidate in 1898.

Military career

Koiso graduated from the

captain
in June 1905.

In November 1910, Koiso graduated from the Army Staff College, 33rd in a class of 55, and returned to the Imperial Japanese Army Academy as an instructor in December 1910.

Reassigned to the

IJA 51st Division in August 1923. Returning to the Army General Staff in May 1925, he was promoted to major general in December 1926 and lieutenant general
in August 1931.

During the 1920s Koiso joined the relatively moderate

Kōdōha (Action Faction) under Sadao Araki
.

In February 1932, Koiso became

general
in November 1937, he joined the Army General Staff in July 1938.

Colonial affairs and Korea

See also: Korea under Japanese rule
Kuniaki Koiso as the Governor General of Korea

Koiso left active duty in July 1938. From April to August 1939, he served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Hiranuma Kiichirō as Minister of Colonial Affairs. He returned to the same post again from January to July 1940 under the Yonai administration.

Koiso was appointed

military conscription on Koreans, which forced them to fight for the Japanese, on August 1, 1943.[3]

When news of Korean independence reached him after the war, Koiso scoffed "the dream of Korean independence is as foolish as trying to plot the independence of Kyushu or Hokkaido."[citation needed]

Prime Minister

After the Allied landing in Normandy (June 6) and the successful capture of Saipan (9 July), Hideki Tojo resigned and a new cabinet was formed. In selecting a new Prime Minister, the elder statesmen narrowed the candidates down to three: Hisaichi Terauchi (commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group), Shunroku Hata (commander of the China Expeditionary Army), and Koiso.

The Army strongly favored General

Privy Council meetings. Koiso was supported by two former prime ministers, Mitsumasa Yonai and Hiranuma Kiichirō, and as no consensus could be reached on a more suitable alternative, their arguments prevailed.[4] Moreover, Mitsumasa Yonai
was appointed vice-Prime Minister as a way of dealing with strong objections to Koiso.

Kuniaki Koiso (third from left on front row) with his cabinet after being named Prime Minister
Koiso giving his administrative policy speech at the 86th Imperial Diet in January 1945.

Koiso attempted to end army-navy rivalry by creating a Supreme Chief of Staff (最高幕僚長), but this was structured to favor the army, thus bitter opposition from the navy doomed the plan. Instead, a Supreme War Guidance Council (最高戦争指導会議) was created (August 4, 1944 – August 22, 1945). Koiso was not taken seriously at Council meetings, where he was openly contradicted by Hata Hikosaburo. Within the top levels of the Imperial Army, rumors circulated that the Koiso Cabinet would only last two months (it lasted nine months).

Koiso's strategy for ending the war was to strike a hard blow against the American Army in the Philippines, forcing negotiations. However, the general entrusted with the defense of the Philippines, Tomoyuki Yamashita, disagreed with the planners in the Southern Expeditionary Army. As such, the Army and Navy could not agree on a coordinated plan.[5] Nevertheless, the defenders were prepared to make considerable sacrifices when Douglas MacArthur invaded Leyte on October 17, with the first kamikaze attack carried out on October 21, and the Japanese Navy losing four aircraft carriers and three battleships during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Although the strategy had failed, Koiso did not change his way of thinking. Late in 1944, Koiso still planned to send Prince Fumimaro Konoe on a peace mission to neutral countries, Switzerland and Sweden, but it came to nothing.

During the remainder of Koiso's premiership in office, Japanese forces continued to suffer a string of defeats on all fronts at the hands of the

Reorganized National Government of China in northern China. For a time, Koiso considered making peace, but he could not find a solution that would appease both the Japanese military and the Allies. Left with little choice but to continue the war effort, Koiso tried to extend his power over the army by attempting to assume the position of War Minister concurrently with that of Prime Minister, but was unable to legally do so as he was on the reserve list. Koiso resigned in April 1945 when American forces invaded Okinawa and his demands to be included in military decisions were rejected, the same date the Imperial Japanese Navy flagship Yamato was sunk by American aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.[6]

Later career

Koiso was an ardent supporter of

Preliminary Misogi Rite
".

After the end of World War II, Koiso was arrested by the

Class-A war criminal on counts 1, 27, 29, 31, 32 and 55, he was given a sentence of life imprisonment.[7] The Tribunal specifically cited Koiso's decisive role in starting the wars against China and the Allies. "Furthermore, despite the fact that Kuniaki Koiso was not directly responsible for the war crimes committed by the Japanese Army, he took no measures to prevent them or to punish the perpetrators when, as Prime Minister, it was within his power to do so."[8] Koiso died of esophageal cancer in Sugamo Prison in 1950. His grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery
in central Tokyo.

Honors

From the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia

References

Books

  • ISBN 0-14-100146-1
    .
  • Maga, Timothy P. (2001). Judgment at Tokyo: The Japanese War Crimes Trials. University Press of Kentucky.
    ISBN 0-8131-2177-9
    .
  • Pratt, Keith (2007). Everlasting Flower: A History of Korea. Reaktion Books.
    ISBN 978-1-86189-335-2
    .
  • ISBN 0-8129-6858-1
    .

Sources

  1. OCLC 500498531
    .
  2. The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945
    , page 529
  3. ^ Pratt, Everlasting Flower
  4. ISBN 4167198037
    .
  5. ^ 『昭和天皇独白録』p.117
  6. ^ Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
  7. ^ Maga, Judgement at Tokyo
  8. ^ "Bedat". Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2007.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kuniaki Koiso.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Colonial Affairs
1939 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Colonial Affairs
1940 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Governor General of Korea

1942–1944 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Hideki Tōjō
 Prime Minister of Japan
1944–1945 		Succeeded by
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