The Koreans rose up in the March 1st Movement to protest the Japanese policies in their colonial possession of Korea, and the Imperial Japanese Army responded with haste. They struck at the leaders of this movement, and with their removal as well as the dispersing of the protesters there was quickly little standing in the way of the continued Japanese occupation. However, Prime Minister Hara Takashi knew that the undercurrents that lead to the uprising would not change simply because the IJA was effective in their crushing of the revolt. Furthermore, the IJA had been in control of the Governor-Generalship of Korea in the first place under General Hasegawa Yoshimichi, and they had been attempting a heavy handed approach since 1916.

Hara Takashi, following the same strategy as he did with the administrative changes in Taiwan, would appoint Saito Makoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy to the Governor-Generalship, another ideological ally of Takashi. Saito would bring about a series of reforms as he received the position, along with more that would come as his time in the position solidified. They would be a re-introduction of Korean into schools alongside with the primary language of Japanese, and a limited teaching of native Korean history. The Japanese administration would slowly but methodically be replaced with civilians rather than the military, and would ensure major positions would be held by political moderates. However, while these changes were implemented, the Japanese control of Korea would be maintained. The administrative and judicial positions would be limited to those of Japanese descent, and government policies that maintained Japanese economic control such as those that helped ethnic Japanese own land and arable farmland would be kept. This would be especially important as rice imports from Korea grew in importance for the feeding of the Japanese throughout the Empire.