朝鮮民族運動 槪觀

In Introducing A Survey of the Korean Nationalist Movement

A nationalist movement may be seen as the eruption of an awakened national spirit or an assertion of national identity. For descriptive purposes the Koren Nationalist Movement is usually divided into two periods, one marked by the struggle to free Korea from China’s influences in the latter part of the 19th century, and the other characterized by a more modern and better organized effort against both Japan’s colonial policy and her direct rule. In considering the Korean movement, three of its major features deserve full attention‘ First, the Movement did not take place as an isolated case but more or less as part of a worldwide trend toward asserting national self-determination and nationhood against foreign domination. Underlying the Movement was an incipient process of acculturation to ward Western ways and thought. Second, the Movement served to bring out into the open certain potentially democratic qualities and practices which had hitherto been submerged under the preponderant influences of Chinese culture. Third, the Movement was in no way limited to removing alien rule; it showed its positive aspect. Beyond the effort to resist, the Movement was concerned with a wide range of educational endeavors-inspiring patriotism, drawing attention to traditional values, and encouraging adult education and foreign studies. The author wishes to invite attention to an article “A Survey of the Korean Nationalist Movement by Li Hsien-min in the Tungfang Tsachih (東方雜誌) No. 20, Vol. 26, Shanghai, which he has recently come across. The article is amply documented with statistics. Although the author does not hold with certain viewpoints given in it, the article is pertinent for the fact that it was published in China in the twenties, when there were not many such publications. So far as can be determined this article is not known to Korean scholars specializing in the field.