2.2. In the March First Movement as a Christian Youth (1919-1921)
The March First Movement (MFM) of 1919 was the most significant turning point in young Ham's life. If this Movement had not taken place, Ham would have trodden a totally different path for his future life, living as a submissive bureaucrat or a quiet medical doctor under the Japanese colonial regime.
Ham, as a young 18 years old Christian student, was active in the MFM. It was his cousin Ham Sogun, the second son of Ham Irhyong, who changed the comfortable path of Ham Sokhon. As an active Christian and school teacher, Ham Sogun, was one of the key organisers of the MFM in the P'yongyang region. At this time Christian groups alone had an organisational capacity on a nation-wide scale. All political and social organisations had been broken at the outset of Japanese domination. The commercial sector in Korea was still in its infancy, hence there was practically no organised labour force, either in the city or the countryside. Therefore the sole workable organisations on a national scale were of a religious character. Practically the whole of the rank and file of the Protestant churches were mobilised, putting to good use all their facilities for the Movement.
Ham Sogun, as Chairman of P'yongan Province Preparing Committee of the MFM, asked for Ham's help for the groundwork of the Movement. Ham Sogun also taught Ham about the international political situation and introduced him to Woodrow Wilson's speech on the Self-Determination of Nations. No record of the precise date or circumstances is available, but sometime after the MFM of 1919, Ham Sogun was exiled to Manchuria, where he organised the Taehan Ch'ongnyon-dan [the Korean Youth Association] and published a nationalistic magazine. In May 1920, he was shot and nearly captured by Japanese soldiers. Later he was arrested by the Japanese in Manchuria and subsequently served a prison term of three years in Seoul. Due to his exemplary activities as a nationalist during Japanese colonialism, in 1963 he was posthumously awarded with the honour of the Kon'guk Hun'jang Kungmin-jang [Order of Merit for National Foundation]. There is no record available as to how and where Ham Sogun died. His associates think that he may have died during the Korean War.
Under the supervision of Ham Sogun, Ham Sokhon became directly involved with the preparing of the MFM. Ham carved the shape of the Korean flag in wood and printed, as well as distributed to other Koreans, copies of the "Declaration of Independence". On the day of the MFM, Ham was an active participant together with other Christian youths. From dawn till dusk, Ham marched in P'yongyang streets with his hand-made flags. Overcome with emotion he shouted with all his strength, "Long live the Independence of Korea", even as he came into conflict with the Japanese police. Ham even circulated copies of the "Declaration of Independence" and his hand-made flags in front of the P'yongyang Police Station. Later on, Ham, when reminded of his actions said: "I could not understand myself. I used to always be a timid and shy boy, but in the March First Movement I did not feel the slightest fear even in front of the Japanese bayonets and swords."
Out of a student population of 133,557 there were 11,333 who took part in the MFM including Ham. Immediately after the Movement ended all schools were closed for several weeks. 715 private houses, 47 churches, and 2 mission school buildings were destroyed and burnt by the Japanese army. The Japanese understood well enough that Korean Christians were leaders of the insurrection. This was to be the climax of the political rousing of Korean Christians as a whole.
According to the Japanese police report on the religious classification of those who were arrested in the Movement, 3,373 were Christians, 2,283 members of the Ch'ondogyo religion (the indigenous Korean religion), 346 Confucians and 229 Buddhists. Among the 33 national leaders of the Movement,16 were Christians, 15 followers of the Ch'ondogyo religion, and 2 Buddhists. Of those arrested overall, Protestant Christians consisted the highest percentage among all religious groups: 21.89% (of these Presbyterian 15.91% and Methodist 4.83%).
The largest and fiercest protests were in P'yongyang. This is hardly surprising as P'yongan Province was known as Korea's land of exile which also held strong anti-Japanese sentiments and was the new centre of education. Hence this area had new intellectual groups which were much more liberal and modern than those of Seoul. Consequently the people of P'yongyang suffered the highest casualties. In the case of the P'yongyang area four of the five Protestant ministers were arrested and indicted, the fifth one was detained and only released after interrogation and torture. The Japanese authorities regarded the Movement as being principally motivated by Christians.
More significantly, it was the Christians' decision on non-violence which presented the extemporaneous rebellion with its particular character. It is not surprising that the Japanese reacted so harshly to Christians. There were several examples of churches being destroyed and burned by the Japanese gendarmerie, the putting to death of many Christians, and on one striking occasion the herding of villagers into the provincial church near Suwon, south of Seoul which was then set on fire. Missionaries were the first group to smuggle out accounts concerning these atrocities, and it was the mission boards at home who brought pressure on Western governments to reproach Japanese cruelty. Unlike the case with other Christian groups in Asia, incidents including those mentioned above indicated that the Korean church was not a tool of Western imperialism, but had taken on a central role for both the Japanese and Koreans with regard to Korean nationalism.
As I have pointed out, when Protestant Christianity first entered Korea, at the end of the nineteenth century, the Christian faith helped fuel Korean nationalism. But gradually the problems inherent in such a combination became more and more apparent. In spite of the MFM, as Japan consolidated its hold over Korea, the Japanese began a regime of 'benevolent' and 'cultural' propaganda. Correspondingly, former Korean Christian nationalists began to accept these policies, accommodating themselves to the Japanese authorities and thereby becoming compromised.
A particular outcome of the suppression of the Movement was the polarisation of the two divisions of Protestant Christianity, one which was both more theologically progressive and more socially active, and another which was both theologically more conservative and more interested in purely 'religious matters'. Around 1920 the more conservative church group began to assume control of the Korean churches. The national leaders of Korea also began to sharply divide into two factions, the rightists and the Communists. Many Christian leaders became advocates of the Japanese expansion policy and they justified this as a means of "survival" for the future of the Korean church from Japanese persecution. Hitherto the nationalist movement had concentrated on the activities of exiles and on hidden alliances. It had relied on education movements or religious activities.
Through his first-hand experience of the Movement, Ham began to acquire a degree of self-awareness. Ham became very suspicious of the value of the prestigious education at P'yongyang State High School. This is hardly surprising considering that the Japanese had attempted to strengthen their standing through an extensive schedule of demoralisation of Korean nationalism since the annexation of Korea, and that the main instrument the Japanese picked for creating a colonial-oriented world outlook was the state school.
In order to return to P'yongyang State High School, Ham was required to apologise to his Japanese tutor, about his activities during the Movement. But Ham did not want to apologise for what he had done during the Movement. As mentioned before, P'yongyang State High School was established by the Japanese authorities, and the graduates of this school were supposed to obtain relatively good and prosperous jobs as junior-bureaucrats in the Japanese colonial regime. But Ham left this prestigious state school permanently and returned to his native village. Ham's direct experience with the Movement became the momentous turning point in cementing and formulating his new life and thought. Indeed through the Movement Ham began, for the first time, to achieve a deep sense of self-awareness. Even forty years later, Ham acknowledged the indelible influence of the Movement on his future path: "Without the March First Movement, my life today would be totally different. If the Movement had not taken place, I would have graduated from the P'yongyang State High School and worked either as an official or as a collaborator for the Japanese Government."
Ham's recollection is no exaggeration, considering that most of Ham's school-fellows in the P'yongyang State High School, after their graduations, became junior-ranking officials for the Japanese colonial regime. Apparently through the Movement, Ham felt a strong and deep sense of national spirit, patriotism and of the problems of Korea as a colony of the Japanese empire.
Future prospects looked uncertain and grim for anti-Japanese young Koreans. When young Ham returned to his native village, he held no clear idea or vision of his future. Thus, young Ham 'wasted away' in mental distress and melancholy. This period of despair lasted for two years, until 1921. At this time many other Koreans were disgruntled with the failure of the Movement. Having an inner agony and a sense of melancholy, Ham diligently attended church. But he gained little inner peace or enlightenment from church worship.
After 1919, more and more Korean Christian nationalists and foreign missionaries aspired to the policy of non-involvement in political matters. They were prepared to go with the tide and adapt themselves to Japanese policies rather than confront them. The time of de-politicisation had begun in the Korean church. At last, even the Korean leftist camp began to criticise Korean Christian nationalists seeing them as mere tools of Western imperialism and capitalism. The leftists considered most Christian nationalists to be docile and submissive to Japanese authority and thus discouraging an independent spirit. This was coupled with a lack of understanding of a scientific view of the world. In this respect, the Japanese methods were dextrous. While adopting an intense hard-line toward the leftists, the Japanese allowed the Christian nationalists enough space to prevent them from shifting leftward. Under this situation, increasing cracks between the leftists camp and Christian nationalists were inescapable.
From his childhood up to 1919, in his own words, Ham "was a simple Christian in a Presbyterian Church". But after 1919, influenced by various responses to the ambiguous attitude of the Korean Church toward the Japanese authorities, Ham began to feel some uncertainty about the Presbyterian Church. As this uncertainty developed Ham's inner turmoil was exacerbated.
Ham was not alone in these thoughts. There were several Christians who turned to socialism and even Communism: notably Yi Tonghwi (1873-1935), founder of the Koryo Kongsan-dang (the first Korean Communist Party) in 1920, and Yo Unhyong (1885-1947), later Head of the Kullo Inmindang [Working People's Party]. Both of them once studied at P'yongyang Presbyterian Seminary as ardent Christians and worked as preachers (chondo-sa). But they began to feel a strong sense of aversion for the conservative Korean church after 1919. In return, the Korean church took the line of anti-Communism and anti-socialism and ostracised leftist Christians rather than embracing their views. During this period, Ham described his complicated inner conflict between Christianity and his nation's future:
"When Christianity first entered Korea, the amalgamation of faith and nationalism possessed a certain strength and was welcomed, but gradually the defects of such a mixture became more and more evident. When the hope of liberation was very much alive, the Church spread remarkably fast. But when the rule of Japan began to appear to be permanent and when the Japanese consequently began to apply more 'generous' and 'humane' policies, at least superficially, former Korean patriots began to compromise with the Japanese authority, and religion became nothing more than hardened credalism far removed from reality. I disliked this intensely, and began to be critical of the church."
Ham was concerned with the Korean churches' increasing lack of a sense of social responsibility and political awareness. Subsequently, in 1921, in the midst of his inner turmoil, Ham came to Seoul to meet his cousin, Rev. Ham Sokkyu, who was the eldest son of Ham Irhyong. Rev. Ham gave various pieces of advice to him and recommended that Ham study at the Osan School. Despite its material inferiority compared with P'yongyang State High School, Osan School was known as a sanctuary of Korean nationalism.
If a human being is a product of his environment, Ham's environment played a very important part in the shaping of him and his later life. Ham was, to a large degree, a product of the Christian democratic climate of his time.
"Gentleness" cannot be achieved unless it is accompanied by the determination to be right. Ham confessed that he was a 'gentle' youngster by nature, but he cultivated the spirit of resistance. Without courage and the spirit of resistance, how can one remain both gentle and right? Taking heart, taking his courage in both hands, in the spring of 1921, Ham decided to leave his village, where he had grown up, to go to what was known as the Mecca of Korean nationalism, the Osan School.