The Colonial authorities sought to transform Korea in accordance with Japanese imperial needs. Controlled involvement of lower classes – peasants and workers – was essential for the success of this project and both the colonial state and the propertied classes collaborated to ensure their compliance. While historical studies of lower classes in colonial Korea are meager – and as they become available, may well be led to change our minds – the scattered evidence that is available suggests that both peasants and workers leave highly constrained lives, deriving few benefits from Korea’s rapid economic transformation. These outcomes, moreover, were part of a deliberate plan that served important political and economic interest. Since repression and exclusion of the lower classes integral to the colonial political economy , and since the critical components of this “model” especially the harsh political control of the working class, continued well into the future, it is important to analyze the structure and the dynamic of the labor-repressive strategy.