An empire invites local collaborators in the making and sustenance of its colonies. Between 1896 and 1910, Japan's project to colonize Korea was deeply intertwined with the movements of reform-minded Koreans to solve the crisis of the Choson dynasty (1392-1910). Among those reformers, it was the Ilchinhoe (Advance in Unity Society)--a unique group of reformers from various social origins--that most ardently embraced Japan's discourse of -civilizing Korea- and saw Japan's colonization as an opportunity to advance its own -populist agendas.- The Ilchinhoe members called themselves...