Education, Exams, and Social Mobility in Colonial Korea Underjapan’s Rule: Analysis on the Successful Candidates of the Colonial Korea Bar Examination (1922-1940)

By addressing how ethnicity and socio-economic background differently worked for social class mobility in colonial Korea under Japan’s rule, this research explicates structured social paths in which Korean and Japanese practicing lawyers were produced. Separated from the examinations to produce lawyers in metropole Japan, the Colonial Korea Bar Examination (Chōsen bengoshi shiken) provided many practicing lawyers in colonial Korea where systematic education of law remained limited until the end of Japan’s rule. As passing the examination was enough to be qualified as a practicing lawyer, both Japanese and Koreans with various socio-economic backgrounds endeavored to pass it. From the archives including the official gazette, classified attorney registration documents, and newspapers, I collected the candidates’ age, ethnicity, family income, and education level, and constructed a profile of them. Two findings are significant. While it was similar that most candidates were the court-clerks of the colonial judiciary, Korean candidates were more educated and younger than their Japanese counterparts. Whereas candidates from a well-off family were the majority and tended to complete formal education, those from a relatively poor family came through various exams equivalent to a certain level of education in colonial Korea.