National Identity and the Thought of Sin Ch'aeho: Sadaejuŭi and Chuch'e in History and Politics

National Identity and the Thought of Sin Ch'aeho: Sadaejuúi and Chuch'e in History and Politics MICHAEL ROBINSON INTRODUCTION Until recently the writings of Sin Ch'aeho (1880-1936) have been interpreted only within the context of the early twentieth-century movement by Korean intellectuals to revise the Confucian historiography of the Koryö and Yi dynasties. Indeed, the bulk of Sin's collected works is comprised of his historical essays and research. In the last decade, however, Sin's writing has assumed increased prominence because the themes treated in his work continue to have relevance in contemporary Korean politics and social thought. In addition, Sin's single-minded focus on the issues of national identity , spirit, patriotism, and national autonomy combined with his rather ambiguous political orientation has encouraged contemporary Koreans to interpret Sin's work from highly disparate political viewpoints. Sin is more widely read now, perhaps, than he ever was in his lifetime. This phenomenon demands a careful study of Sin's work to reveal its essential political message, and, concurrently, to show why his message remains valid in contemporary Korea. Sin was truly a transitional Korean intellectual and political activist who in many ways never broke away from his original classiResearch for this paper was supported in part by an International Cultural Society of Korea Summer Fellowship, Seoul, June-August 1982. 121 122Journal of Korean Studies cal education. He devoted a lifetime to historical studies of ancient and early medieval Korea, but his historiography was not motivated in the slightest by classical East Asian scholasticism. On the contrary, his work was a product of the intellectual ferment in turn-of-thecentury Korea; it was motivated by and directed toward the intellectual agenda of the Korean self-strengthening movement and the political furor of the enlightenment movement after 1905. Thus, as others have indicated, Sin's work should be considered political writing in the purest sense.1 Examination of Sin's work from this point of view yields rich rewards. His concerns, revealed in editorials, stories, historical treatises, and political essays, were interests common to reformers, early nationalists, and later exiled independence activists. An obsession with the nation and its core spirit motivated Sin's writing. In asking the central question of "who we are," Sin grappled with the issue of Korean identity and the problem of mobilizing mass identification with the nationalist movement. He raised the specter of the historical, political, and cultural dependence on China of the Korean state since unified Siila. He saw the crisis of the impending collapse of the Korean state between 1905 and 1910 as much a result of spiritual malaise as it was a product oftraditional Korean government ineptitude, Japanese imperialist avarice, or international political intrigue. Clearly, Koreans had lost themselves, and without a revival ofpatriotism and identification on the part ofthe masses with the plight of the nation, the cause was lost. This spiritual malaise became Sin's cause célèbre. The spiritual flabbiness that inhibited concerted action to reverse the course of national collapse was, to Sin, a product of centuries of dependence, a dependence that had engendered a slavish mentality in the Korean people. Sin asked how could the masses of the Korean people be asked for support in the cause of national defense when the masses themselves had no sense of identification or feelings of patriotism toward the state, or worse yet, the national community itself.2 Thus Sin threw himself into the task of exhuming a national past, a history of the true Korea. He was convinced that only through 1.Major secondary sources on Sin Ch'aeho consulted for this study include: An Pyöngjik, "Sin Ch'aeho üi minjokchuüi" in Han'guk kündae sawn, vol. 3 (Seoul: Chisik sanöpsa, 1978); Hong I-söp, "Sin Ch'aeho maemol toen yöksa üi palgulcha," Han'guk ingansang (Seoul: Sinpyöng munhwasa, 1965); Sin Ilch'öl, Sin Ch'aeho üi yöksa sasang yön'gu (hereafter, SCYSY) (Seoul: Koryö taehakyo, 1981); Kajimura Hideki, "Shin Che-ho no keimo shisö," Sansenri (Feb. 1977); Kan Cheon [Kang chaeön] Chosen kindaishi kenkyü (Tokyo: Nihon hyöronsha, 1970). 2.SCYSY, pp. 27...