Chapter One:
The Historical Position of Twentieth Century Korea
The Aim of this Chapter
Ham's outlook was influenced and formulated not only by the social and political turmoil of his time but also by the history of Korea. In this chapter, I will examine the period from the beginning of the Choson Dynasty (1392) until the beginning of the Sixth Republic (1988). In particular, I will assess the characteristics of the Choson Dynasty, especially the last phase of the dynasty (1850-1897). The nineteenth century was a turning point in Korean history due to Korea's inability to retain its status of a 'hermit kingdom' due to the mounting pressure of Western and Japanese imperialism. The "everlasting special relationship" with China was officially terminated, leaving Korea to decide her own destiny. However, the impact of Chinese thought, in particular Confucianism has continued in Korea's outlook and sub-consciousness.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Korean peninsula was in a state of constant turmoil, with clashes between foreign colonialism and Korean nationalism, and conflicts between Korean traditionalists and modernisers. In this respect, I intend to review the legacy of the Choson dynasty, especially neo-Confucianism, along with the characteristics of Japanese colonialism and the influence of Western Christianity. I will also look at the effects of post Second World War regimes in Korea, such as Syngman Rhee (Yi Sungman: 1875-1965), Park Chunghee (Pak Chonghui: 1917-1979) and Chun Doohwan (Chon Tuhwan: 1931- ). As the political environment was the crucial factor in the shaping of the post-Second World War history of Korea, I will concentrate particularly on analysing the political history of Korea along with a brief socio-economic history.
1.1. The Legacy of the Choson Dynasty:
Confucianism and Authoritarianism
General Yi Songgye (1335-1408) took power by a military coup in 1392, and from the outset he longed for strong external support from Ming China. Thus after his coup, his immediate concern was to obtain from China recognition of his legitimacy and to secure support for his authority. Hence as a 'polite' gesture towards China, Yi requested the Ming emperor's authorisation of Yi's right to govern Korea.
Neo-Confucianism was the state ideology of the Choson dynasty (1392-1910) from its outset. Politically and intellectually, the foundation of the Choson dynasty was the result of a coalition based on an alliance between the military and a group of reform-inclined Confucian scholars. Yi as the founder and new king of Choson, abandoned Buddhism, the state religion of the previous Koryo dynasty, which had become severely corrupt. Yi adopted instead Chu Hsi's neo-Confucian philosophy as the state ideology and proceeded to consolidate his socio-political power.
In implementing neo-Confucian ideas, the Choson dynasty was extremely dogmatic and restricted. For example, the broadly-based variety of Confucian schools in China was not permitted in Choson, only the most orthodox form of Confucianism, that is the Chu Hsi school of neo-Confucianism. Thus Chu Hsi's tenets became, in time, even more rigidly adhered to during the Choson dynasty than they were in China proper. The Confucian-style civil service examination of China was taken up by Choson, but not its egalitarian principles. Confucian views on kinship were adopted into the dynasty but Confucian social structures came to be much more strictly observed than those in China. In Choson only men of the yangban class (the hereditary nobility or aristocracy), might sit for the examinations, although the yangban accounted for less than 10% of Choson's population.
In terms of the socio-economic structure, the ruling class became authoritative landowners who possessed the majority of the land, whereas the overwhelming bulk of the populace remained serfs. Therefore, the fundamental characteristic of centralised feudalism became more consolidated, namely, the centralisation of power under authoritarian kingship. Such centralisation of power involves monopolisation by the ruling class of the whole nation-wide economy, including the handicraft sector, and trading.
Compared with feudal Japan and medieval Europe, the Choson dynasty was always a centralised state. Therefore, the king was capable of improving the lot of the populace. Whereas when Japan was a feudal society, the Japanese enjoyed certain advantages of decentralisation with leaders developing in regional areas. There, as in medieval Europe, feudalism trained and educated the populace, at least to the concept of contracts.
Yi came from northern Korea, a region whose people were seen as militant trouble-makers, revolutionaries and rebels (like Yi himself). Thus, Yi deliberately avoided hiring government officials from this region. It was at this time that the northern part of Korea began to be seen as the land of exiles. A later example is the Hong Kyongnae (1780-1812) Rebellion in 1811. Hong, a fallen yangban from P'yongan province, was frustrated by the fact that southern Korean yangban officials blocked his passing of the civil examinations and so his participation in an official career. Thus Hong conspired with others in P'yongan province, such as U Kunch'ik and Kim Sayong, who shared his discontent. Declaring that discrimination against the people of P'yongan province must stop, they planned an insurrection. Subsequently, Hong and his associate conspirators met and drilled their force and rose in open revolt. But Hong himself was killed in the final clash against government forces and his uprising was suppressed.
In contrast, Seoul was the political, economic, and cultural centre of Korea. Hence government officials from southern Korea virtually monopolised all influential posts in the Choson court. However, within the southern Korean elite in the government, there was strong factionalism, each faction aiming to expand its hegemony against the others. Factionalism was the prevalent political activity throughout the Choson dynasty. Consequently, the Choson Confucian elites who dominated the society and politics at the end of the dynasty 'stultified' themselves, being inadequately prepared to cope with the new dynamics of imperialism.
In the meantime, Choson's ambassadors to China in the 17th century brought back with them a world atlas, scientific documents and tools made by Roman Catholic missionaries and information on the Western religion - Catholicism. Due to the influence of Catholicism and Western scientific ideas, in the 18th century some of the scholar-administrator group began to examine Choson society and its problems, measuring it against the conservative Confucian ideology. This is known as the Sirhak (Practical Learning) movement.
In this regard from the end of the eighteenth century the conflict between Catholicism and Confucianism continued. The two viewpoints could not find a middle ground on the principal significance of Confucianism's devotion to the ancestor memorial ritual, chesa, which Catholicism rejected as idolatry. It is ironic that during the Japanese colonial period, Catholicism accepted Shinto shrine worship as 'cultural ritual'. One wonders why Shinto shrine worship was regarded as a cultural ritual when Catholicism did not accept chesa. Unsurprisingly the Choson dynasty began to oppress Catholicism, believing that it opposed the fundamental ethical teachings of Confucianism. During the persecutions in 1801, 1839, and 1866, converts were either executed or compelled to renounce their religious beliefs.
King Kojong ascended the throne in 1864, but as he was too young to govern, his father, Yi Ha'ung (1821-1898) became the Prince Regent (Taewon'gun). For a decade the Prince Regent governed in the name of his son. While the Prince Regent made a positive contribution to internal policy through various reform measures, his foreign policy was one of rigid seclusion and isolation. Noting the defeat of China in the Opium War (1839-1842) and its subsequent exploitation by the West, the Prince Regent had determined to strictly enforce a 'closed door' policy. However, during his regency Western gunboats appeared in pursuit of commerce and 'good will'. As a result, the arrival of Western vessels in Choson and the growing Western pressure to open up the country added to an already unstable Choson society.
As the entire machinery of government required renovation, the Prince Regent brought in a series of reforms. He appointed people to government posts without regard to factional alignment. Conscious of the abuses that had evolved under the Andong Kim clan, the Prince Regent arranged for his son to take a Queen from a member of the Yonghung Min lineage, a group that lacked influential political links. Notwithstanding, the young Kojong, who was weak-willed and easily controlled, fell under the sway of the Min faction's political power.
Following the Regent's demise, Queen Min's supporters took control of the state, repealing many of the Prince Regent's reforms. Korea now succumbed to the rising pressure from abroad including Japan, France and the United States. The first Western-style treaty was signed with Japan, the unequal Kangwha Treaty of 1876. This led to the end of the Regent's isolationist policy and the opening of Choson to Japan and the rest of the world. During the next two decades Choson lay inert in the face of vigorous foreign competition and geo-political machinations, in particular between China, Russia and Japan. These three powers viewed Korea as the boundary of their defence lines. This period of Korea's history could be epitomised in a well-known Korean proverb: Korae Ssawume Saewudung T'ojinda which is "When whales are fighting, a shrimp's backbone gets broken."
Meanwhile in 1894 a series of populist rebellions swept Korea. They were above all anti-Japanese, due to fury not only at Japan's increasing political domination over Korea but also at the bounding wealth of Japanese tradesmen, who were abruptly arrogating most of Korea's business. In this regard, the Tonghak (Eastern Learning) rebellion resembled the Taiping Rebellion in China during the 1850s.
The Tonghak movement, founded by Ch'oe Cheu (1824-1864) and organised by Chon Pongjun (1854-1895), exploded as a revolutionary peasant uprising employing military actions on a nation-wide scale in 1894. In alarm the government, hurried and confused, appealed to China for military support. Immediately sizeable Chinese forces landed at Asan Bay. Japan, however, also sent armed troops to Korea. Therefore, the Sino-Japanese rivalry on the Korean peninsula led to the War of 1894 between China and Japan, which ended in a swift triumph for Japan. Subsequently Japan increased her influence over Korea and was left in a position of strong domination over the court. Moreover the Tonghak army was vanquished in a series of clashes with a Japanese army especially dispatched to crush them. Chon Pongjun, the Tonghak rebellion leader was captured and put to death.
On a civil level, So Chaep'il (Philip Jaisohn: 1863-1951) published a daily newspaper called The Independent (Tongnip Sinmun) as a means of drawing to the people's attention the significance of sovereign power and civil rights. The Independent was a bilingual paper printed in Korean (using the Han'gul alphabet) and in English. The progressively inclined nationalists, some educated in American missionary schools, set up the Independence Club and strove to stir the nation to recognise the increasing uncertainty of the country's fate.
Furthermore, the Club introduced a democratic people's rights movement in order to extend public participation in the political process. Emphasising the right of individuals to the protection of their person and property, the right of unfettered speech and assembly, the complete equality of the whole populace, and the principle of popular sovereignty, the Club urged the rights of the governed to partake in their governance. For the first time in Korean history, the Club therefore straight-forwardly began to advocate political democracy within the setting of a constitutional monarchy. However, in 1898 the King, feeling threatened by its new political role, abolished the Club. Its leaders were either arrested or exiled.
During the period 1900 to 1904, Russian and Japanese animosity and competition grew. The Korean nation was insecure, and its nickname, Land of the Morning Calm, was no longer true. The antagonism between the two countries climaxed in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The United Kingdom and the United States, were primarily concerned with Russian expansion into the Far East and into the Pacific area, and with Russia's threat to China. Therefore, to some extent, Japanese domination of Korea was considered to be fundamental in blocking Russian expansionism. In particular, the Anglo-Japan Alliance in 1902 and 1905 was fundamentally aimed at restraining Russian expansion in East Asia.
In this regard, during the Russo-Japanese war, two-thirds of Japan's war expenses were funded by the British and American governments. Inasmuch as the United Kingdom and United States were afraid of the domination of the Russian Empire in the East Asia regions, President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) considered that "realistic politics demanded the sacrifice of Korean independence, and that a Korea controlled by Japan was preferable to a Korea controlled by Russia". Japan again triumphed, enabling it to destroy any signs of Korean independence at will. What is more, the Taft-Katsura Agreement with the United States in 1905 and the Portsmouth Treaty with Russia in 1905 consolidated Japanese hegemony in the Pacific region.
Accordingly Japan deprived Korea of diplomatic rights through the Protectorate Treaty of 1905, which was followed by the formal annexation of Korea in 1910. Under Japanese pressure, Emperor Kojong abdicated in favour of his young son, Sunjong, and the Imperial Korean Army was dissolved in 1907. But a section of the Korean Army, led by dismissed officials and Confucian scholars, had opposed the Japanese after the 1905 Japanese victory over Russia. For five years this 'righteous army' harassed the Japanese occupation forces, particularly during 1908 and 1909. After 1910 Korean resistance groups were driven into Manchuria. In this period, tens of thousands of Koreans left their mother country moving to Manchuria, Siberia, Shanghai, Hawaii and even Tokyo, where they formed various resistance organisations.
To sum up, from the beginning, the Choson dynasty strongly maintained tributary relations with the 'middle kingdom' China. Along with the adaptation of the most rigid and dogmatic form of Confucianism as its state ideology, the Choson dynasty also left an influential legacy of authoritarianism to modern Korea. The Choson court also broke up into various factions, therefore factional conflicts consumed all its energy and strength in internal struggles, causing it to take an apathetic pose towards emerging outside pressures. By doing so, the Choson court was totally defenceless in the face of twentieth century Western and Japanese imperialism. Therefore, the harsh period of Japanese colonialism began with the fall of the 'hermit kingdom'.