<Tr> <Th> Revised Romanization </Th> <Td> Ilje gangjeomgi </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> McCune--Reischauer </Th> <Td> Ilche kangjŏmgi </Td> </Tr> <P> Korea under Japanese rule began with the end of the short - lived Korean Empire in 1910 and ended at the conclusion of World War II in 1945 . Japanese rule over Korea was the outcome of a process that began with the Japan--Korea Treaty of 1876, whereby a complex coalition of the Meiji government, military, and business officials sought to integrate Korea both politically and economically into the Empire of Japan . A major stepping - stone towards the Japanese occupation of Korea was the Japan--Korea Treaty of 1905, in which the then - Korean Empire was declared a protectorate of Japan . The annexation of Korea by Japan was set up in the Japan--Korea Treaty of 1910, which was never actually signed by the Korean Regent, Gojong . </P> <P> Japanese rule over Korea ended in 1945, when U.S. and Soviet forces captured the peninsula . In 1965 the unequal treaties between Joseon - ruled Korea and Imperial Japan, especially those of 1905 and 1910, were declared "already null and void" at the time of their promulgation (i.e. "dead on arrival", implicitly a declaration of their illegality) by the Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea . </P>

When did korea became a colony of japan