58 to achieve their own ends For example, the Hong Kyong-nae

Rebellion (P'yongan Province in the north west) in 1811, which inspired many small-scale outbreaks that "...continued almost uninterruptedly throughout the whole country"20, was a typical illustration of the people's struggle against the corrupt system. The Chinju Uprising (in the south east) in 1862 was also similar in nature and "the most serious of these."21

Minjung historians also argue that the evil of the system

extended beyond the characteristics of Korean social structure to to the minds of the Korean people because it dictated social and cultural ethics as well as the aspirations of society. Built entirely on the moral principles of the Confucian Five

Relationships, the system monitored the interpersonal

relationships of the people according to the "symbols of the patriarchal hierarchy that were used to define relationships within the kinship villages or within society as a whole...."22 Hence, the relationship between the people were arbitrarily

structured, and bound to result in many forms of interpersonal han, such as that of son towards father, wife towards husband, sisters towards brothers, youth towards elders and friends

towards friends. Under these circumstances, it was only natural to perceive the images of the dynasty as the 'womb of the

people's han ' and of Korea's han-culture.

So Nam-dong interpretes the nature of han as follows:

"1. Koreans have suffered numerous invasions by surrounding powerful nations so that the very existence of the Korean nation has come to be understood as han. 2. Koreans have continually suffered the tyranny of the rulers so that they

think of their existence as paeksong. 3. Also, under Confucianism's strict imposition of laws and customs

discriminating against women, the existence of women was han itself. 4. At a certain point in Korean history, about half of the population was registered as hereditary slaves, and were treated as property rather than as people of the nation. These thought of their lives as han. These four may be called the 'fourfold han of Korean people'. Indeed, as the poet Ko Eun exclaims, "We Koreans were born from the womb of han and brought up in the womb of han."23

2. The Nationalist Reaction To Japanese Interference And Late Control, 1876-1945

Overview

From the min jung perspective, Korean nationalism and the people's consciousness of themselves as possessing a distinct socio­

political identity were not only born out of their han against the oppression imposed on them by the Confucian feudal system, but also out of opposition to the role of foreign powers (and Particularly Japan) in Korea. Nationalism in this context may be defined as "a consciousness, on the part of individuals or

groups, of membership in a nation, or a desire to forward the strength, liberty, or prosperity of a nation...."24

In 1876, Korea failed to control Japanese violation of its

territorial waters, and was compelled to open her ports to Japan by concluding the 'Treaty of Kanghwa'. The opening of ports had conflicting significance in Korean history: on the one hand,

Korea officially entered into the international political system and its intellectual, technological and cultural milieu; on the

other hand, she was left wide open to external influence and to intervention from Japan and the W e s t .

Similarly, spreading social discontent motivated the Korean people to turn to religion. The creed of egalitarian ethics in Catholicism, most of all, attracted many people, especially the Southerner bureaucratic faction (Namin), which had been excluded from the political domain for many decades by the royal in-law families and which had followed the teachings of Sirhak

(Practical Learning) since the seventeenth century. According to C h 'on Kwan-u, Korea had already developed a national

consciousness or self-realization as a nation during the latter phases of the Sirhak movement under the reigns of Kings Yongjo

(1724-1776) and Chongjo (1776-1800).25 However, Yi Chong-sik, points out that "Modern nationalism in Korea was to begin as a movement against the regime rather than in defense of it"26, because elitism amongst Korean royalty and nobility persisted to provide a source of national division.

Han Pae-ho, Professor of Political Science at Koryo University, argued that the development of a Korean nationalist movement, or nationalist ideals, consisted of three distinct phases: the

first, the Period of Enlightenment” (kaehwa sidae) from when the West and Japan demanded the opening of the ports to the March First Movement (1876- 1919); the second, the colonial period from the March First Movement to liberation (1919-1945); and the

third, the 'divided period' of Korea from the partition of the Korean peninsula to the present (which will be examined, in this work, under the separate heading of the 'Opposition Movement During the Authoritarian Politics, 1948-1987'.)27 The

the nation's sovereignty in the Great Han Empire [kaehwa sidae], to recover sovereignty in the colonial period, and to establish one unified nation following the partition of the Korean

peninsula."28

The First Phase : Early Nationalist Ideals, 1876-1919.

The characteristics of the people during the reform period were best represented by two distinct social groups. The first of these social groups comprised the instigators of the Peasant

Tonghak Rebellion of 1894-1895 (Tonghang'nan) , which started as a xenophobic movement and focused on rejecting foreign powers, emphasising 'Eastern Learning (Tonghak) ' to guard national

sovereignty. The second group was the Independence Club (Tcngnip Hyophoe) of the elite, "the only progressive movement in Korea under the old regime... (and) the first of the reformist

nationalist type"29, inspired by foreign ideas or Western

Learning (Sohak) which in turn had been inspired by Catholicism. Western liberalism was the dominant ideology of the Independence Club and its leaders.

Eastern Learning (Tonghak)

Tonghak (Eastern Learning) was initially a religious movement which opposed the decadence of the mismanaged Choson kingdom, and the increasing influence of foreign powers. Founded by Ch'oe

Che-u in 1860, Tonghak contained, from the beginning, an element of political dynamism which gradually generated a nation-wide rebellion of the peasants (1894) and became a real threat to the long surviving Yi dynasty (1392-1910). The main doctrine of the Tonghak religion was human equality, based on a fundamental belief that man and God are one being (In nae c h ’on) .30 Tonghak

62 of Western influence, and to establish an independent national spiritual identity, based on Korea's cultural tradition. Hence, the name Tonghak referred to the teaching of 'the heavenly way'

(Ch ’on-dogyo) and was essentially different to Western Learning (Sohak), mainly Catholicism. The Tonghak formula appealed

immensely to low class Korean peasants, mainly farmers, because it was seen in magical terms, promising c h ’on'guk (heaven on earth, or utopia) and freedom from all suffering and oppression for all its followers. Tonghak was perceived as the only road to salvation and provided immediate hope and a vision for a new social system.

The Tonghak movement reached its climax in the Rebellion of 1894. Led by Chon Pong-jun in Kobu, Cholla Province, the rebels

demanded that the King rectify the national situation by

destroying the yangban class, the centre of official corruption. The Revolt, with enormous support and response from the rank and file, grew too strong for the government to control with its own army. Eventually, the government saw it necessary to invite a force from Japan with which the revolt was eventually overcome in November 1894.

Despite the revolt's failure in military terms, and the

elimination of its leaders who were all captured and executed, the government's decision to seek foreign intervention trapped it in an untenable position. The entry of Chinese and Japanese troops into the peninsula, at the request of the Choson

government, provided the pretext for Japan's ambition over Choson and, as Japan triumphed in the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) this ambition was confirmed. Finally, it led Japan to establish a

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