After the victory of the Japanese in Russo-Japanese war of 1904 marked the emergence of Japan as the regional power, a power that had been rising steadily since the Meji restoration in the 1860s. Japanese motives in Korea, is like the motives of all imperial powers, were mixed; they sought to control it politically and to exploit it for their own economic advantage. Japanese colonial strategy was deeply informed by their own successful domestic efforts following the Meji restoration; and of all the colonizing nations, Japan stands out as nearly the only one with a successful record of deliberate, state-led political and economic transformation. Their first state intervention is the agricultural development; second rapid industrial growth; and production of a disciplined, obedient, and educated work force. It was this model of deliberate development, with its emphasis on state building and on the use of state power to facilitate socio-economic change. It is not surprising that the earliest Japanese efforts in Korea were focused on destroying the old Choson state and replacing it with a modern colonial state; both political control and economic exploitation depended on it.