A Minjung Hermeneutics of the March First Independence Movement
- HISTORICAL TRANSFORMATION, PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT AND MESSIANIC KOINONIA: A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHRISTIAN AND DONGHAK RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES TO THE MARCH FIRST INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT IN KOREA
by Kim Yong-Bock
Edit. The Whole Peace
Printing press. The Whole Peace
<Preface>
Peace Should Be Made By the People’s Self-determination
This year is the centennial of the March First Independence Movement. I have decided to publish my dissertation, completed in 1975 in the Graduate Program of Princeton Theological Seminary, for my Ph.D. degree in 1976.
The context of my writing was the intellectual history of East Asia, as a pivotal point for geopolitical hegemony as sought by the four biggest military powers: US, USSR, China and (potentially) Japan. The dissertation was a product of interdisciplinary study: Christian theology and East Asian intellectual history in modern times, through an inter-institutional program at Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University (East Asian Studies Program).
The dissertation was written in the midst of the Korean people’s movement for human rights, social justice and democracy, thus the subject matter was timely. The March First Independence Movement of 1919 was a people’s movement for historical transformation against the colonial empire of Japan.
This year the centennial of that event is being celebrated by the Korean people to revitalize the peace movement, based on self-determination. What was the nature of Japanese colonial rule over Korea? Certain characteristics of that despotic rule lingered on under the political regime of Park Chung Hee. What guided Japanese imperial power as it advanced in East Asia and colonized Korea? These questions are important for the Korean people and the Japanese people as well. It is clear that Japanese colonial imperialism arose in East Asia as a unique power complex aimed at hegemonic domination. Of course, the Japanese elites of that empire tried to learn some things from the West.
The political regime of Japan’s colonial empire, however, was a unique root in that nation’s history, and a grave anomaly in its people's history. Put simply, the formation of the modern nation state of Japan was triggered by the shock presented by the West’s modernization of its military, trade and cultural spheres. This Western impact generated the dynamics of the Meiji Restoration, which was characterized by reorganization of the Tokugawa feudalistic domains into a “modern state” along with restoration of the ancient traditional saga of the Heavenly Emperor. But the Meiji government turned into a despotic imperial regime with elements of Shinto-based ultranationalism. Korea’s colonization began with the treaty of 1876 (Kanghwa Treaty), and proceeded with the 1895 Treaty of Korea and Japan (after the victory of Japan in the war with China), and finally the 1905 Treaty of Korea and Japan and the annexation of Korea to the Empire of Japan. Japan robbed Korea of its political sovereignty, took over military and police control, and exercised virtually complete economic domination.
What streams converged in the March 1st people’s resistance? The March 1st Independence Movement was the Korean people’s resistance against the Japanese colonial regime. This resistance surged throughout the Korean peninsula and among the Korean diaspora in Japan, China, and later in the United States. With the official organs of the Korean royal regime completely dismantled, the resistance was carried out entirely by the people’s movement.
How was this possible? And what evidence do we have of the resistance? The most decisive evidence is the March First Independence Declaration.
There are some historical records of this event, though a full account of it has not yet been written. What is certain is that there were at least eight different streams of movement constituting the March 1st resistance, especially its “spiritual” dynamics, as found in the Declaration of Independence. They were:
1. The Confucian reformers (Silhak School of Confucianism and Kaehwa Reform Groups), who began modifying Confucian political and social thinking to transform Korean traditional society, and who sometimes were open to Western liberal ideas.
2. The Confucian Righteous “Army,” a widespread resistance movement of young Confucian scholars after 1905, who directly resisted the colonial rule of Japan.
3. The Donghak/Cheondogyo Religious Movement and the Donghak Peasant Movement, which was suppressed by the Japanese military.
Donghak, in the form of the Cheondo religion, was the most popular movement for social transformation.
4. The Buddhist Minjung Movement (led by Monk Han Yong-Un), a minjung (grassroots) Buddhist movement centered around the Maitreya Buddha that was widespread in the provinces.
5. The Christian Messianic Movement (Protestant Christian leaders), which took the form of a movement that revitalized many believers as Christian nationalists looking forward to the messianic reign.
6. The Korean National Religious Movement based on the Tangun foundation saga, a religious-cultural tradition that had arisen in resistance to the Mongolian invasion, and was easily translated into a religion against the Japanese empire.
7. The Western liberal idea of self-determination, influenced by Christian mission and especially embraced after U.S. President Wilson’s proposal for national self-determination at the League of Nations (1918).
8. The Russian Bolshevik Revolution (its influence has not yet been studied in detail), which inspired Korean independence fighters in the Russian Far East and China as well as in Japan.
These streams of movement among the Korean people, both in the peninsula and overseas, converged in the Declaration of Independence; and the movement lasted for several months. It is important to note that 1) it was the people’s resistance movement; and 2) there was a clear convergence of the various streams of the movement.
How can we read the March 1st event for today? The March First
Independence Declaration of 1919 is relevant for us in several ways. It had some revolutionary characteristics, and it advocated self-determination of the people. Yet the movement was different from the 1894 Donghak Peasant Revolutionary Movement and the 1850s T’aiping Peasant Revolution in China.
In a comprehensive sense, we may call the Korean movement a people’s movement for historical transformation.
We are told that the March First Independence Movement was carried out by the people in a nonviolent manner, according to the conscious decision of its leadership. Another very important aspect was that it envisioned “Peace in East Asia” and throughout the world. The Chinese May 4th Movement was greatly influenced by the March First Independence Movement. The Korean movement sought self-determination by the people, not political hegemony; and it was an authentic peace movement. Thus, it was the people’s movement of self-determination for peace in East Asia.
What does all this suggest for the future of the Korean peninsula, and for wisdom-seekers at the present time? We may consider the following:
1) The modern nation states have failed at peacemaking. The empty promises made by the League of Nations and the United Nations to create a world without war are testimony to that failure. Now there is even the potential risk of a third world war, which would be omnicidal.
2) Peace is the business of the people, and the people are the primary agents of peacemaking. Peace cannot be made by military means or by political power.
3) Peace in the ultimate sense means the universe as a household for the conviviality of all living beings.
4) The direct opposite of peace is exemplified by the current global
geopolitical regime of military and political hegemony.
5) The people’s peacemaking role has been demonstrated throughout the history of the Korean peninsula, with the March First Independence Movement as a prime example that can be regenerated in East Asia.
6) These observations point to certain directions for the world, especially for those of us who are celebrating the centennial of the March First Independence Movement.
The Korean people can converge to form a pivot around which peace movements worldwide can gather for the self-determination of peoples everywhere. The March 1st Independence Movement centennial can be an occasion for the Korean people of North, South, and around the world to affirm our spirit of self-determination as we work together for global peace.
I believe this dissertation contains useful perspectives for today, as it explains the legacy of the March First Independence movement; and I hope it will provide inspiration for those seeking to build peace in Korea and East Asia, where the four big powers are involved in geopolitical and military struggles for hegemony. The stance of the Korean people should be that of free, autonomous, self-determining peacemakers on the Korean peninsula and in East Asia as a whole.
February 2019
#김용복
