Protestantism and Politics in Korea

4. The Protestant Church and Early Nationalist Politics, 1880–1919

4 / The Protestant Church and Early Nationalist Politics, 1880–1919 I n the late nineteenth century, a desire for reform and modernization on the part of some Koreans coincided with the arrival of Protestant evangelism , and Protestantism and the progressive nationalist forces were brought together under these unique historical circumstances. The rapid growth of Protestantism at the time, therefore, meant not just an increasing number of converts and churches, but also an organizational and ideological expansion of Korean progressive and nationalist forces. When Korea was made a Japanese protectorate in 1905 and a Japanese colony in 1910, Koreans realized the value of nationhood. What little national consciousness had been felt before was sharpened by the annexation . Throughout the Japanese colonial period from 1905 to 1945, a period in which tension and conflict was inevitable between the colony and the colonial power, Koreans constantly tried to free themselves from foreign rule. Particularly during the early colonial period, from 1905 to 1919, when they were not allowed any political organization and action, Koreans cleverly used religious communities and ceremonies for their social and political activities.1 The Protestant church came to serve as a place for solace, a political forum, a communication network, and an organizational base for Korean nationalist activities. As the largest organized Korean community , the Protestant church exerted great political influence; church leaders emerged as national leaders; and the Western religion continued to grow rapidly as a Korean one during this period. Examination of the social and political link between the religious community and the progressive and early nationalist forces is therefore critical to an adequate understanding of Korean reform activities in late Confucian Korea and of the independence movement during the early Japanese colonial period. Nevertheless, those who have studied these subjects have developed their interpretations without connecting events with the Protestant 117 church community. They have failed to consider the social and political linkage between Protestantism and progressive reform politics and, later, early Korean nationalism. Consequently, historians have described what happened, and what reform activists or nationalists said, but they have not been able to explain how those social and political movements occurred, who initiated them, what social and political bases the reform activists and nationalists relied on, and so forth.2 The Protestant church was a leading ideological and organizational base for Korea’s early nationalist movements. Therefore, an examination of the general historical context under which Protestant Christianity and social and political movements were connected will help to explain why and how the specific social, organizational, and even ideological linkages were formed between the religious community and the progressive sociopolitical movement in late Confucian Korea and anti-Japanese nationalist movements in early colonial Korea. This chapter will look closely at the Protestant church and politics between the 1880s and 1919. progressive reform politics, 1880s–1905 The Decaying Choson Dynasty: Conservative and Progressive Responses Already before the arrival of Protestantism, the Confucian monarchy of Choson Korea was well on the road to decay and was beset with more problems than it could solve. The powerful yangban elite were fragmented into factions drawn along family and regional lines. Eventually, a small number of yangban families dominated the factional struggle, monopolized political power, and alienated most of the Confucian elite from the government. The majority of the elite retired in the countryside as “fallen yangban” and began to criticize the Confucian establishment. This serious schism within the ruling elite was accompanied by disorder and corruption in the central and local governments. One result was that the peasantry, the backbone of the agrarian Korean society, became a mere target of exploitation, heavy taxation, and social harassment by the Confucian government and the elite. Most peasants became tenants with precarious means of survival or landless wanderers who could easily join bandit groups. A series of natural disasters , including drought, struck the country in late Confucian times. This added to the hardship experienced by the rural communities. A rash of popular revolts broke out. In 1862 alone, there were some seventy uprisings. 118 Chapter 4 Along with these internal conflicts, foreign powers attacked the small East Asian country in powerful waves. British, American, French, and Japanese merchant ships appeared off the coast frequently. They even briefly seized Kanghwa Island in 1866 and in 1871. Japan, however, opened Korea to outsiders in 1876. Afterwards, unprepared Korea was forced to sign a series of unequal treaties with Western powers, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and...