安潚의 현실인식과 자정 순국

Ahn-Suk’s Perception of Periodical Situation and Patriotic Suicide

This is about Ahn-suk’s(1863-1910) statecraft theory, based on his collection 『Widangmungo(韋堂遺稿)』 and his life, who sacrificed his life for his country when Japan had the power, governing Korea. In ‘Widangmungo’ he had appealed his statecraft theory. He was from upper-middle class. His family would be very rich, owning a lot of land of the area in Dun-yul, Goesan in Chungbuk. He passed some national exam and used to be professor for the national university, Seonggyungwan for a while. However, he never had a historic success of his lifetime. He left quite a few works, among that many of prose and statecraft. He showed his idea about the statecraft in his books like 『Munhyeong(問形)』, 『Biyujamundab (非有子問答)』, 『Yosan(要山)』 and 『Jemin-josan制民要算』. Among the works, some had the attention, in which he and Lee Sang-seol had left to each other. Although it is not sure who was his academic instructor, his relationship with friends presumably said that he used to be related to Ganghwahakpa(江華學派) and Yangmyeonghakpa(陽明學) in Jincheon. He was an authentic confucian. He supported for the Enlightenment, based on Practical Thought. He stood for Donghag’s idea of that everybody is equal, however, he was pretty pessimistic about Donghag. After the murder of Empress Myengseong, who was assassinated by Japanese killers and the Protectorate Treaty between Korea und Japan in 1905, he was sharply critical of the Japanese aggression. The point of his statecraft is that the own country should have prosperity and military power itself. He had dreamed of new world in his theory, some idea was very progressive. This is probably from so-called ‘dongdoseogi(東道西器)’, a theory that it should be kept guard over the traditional system and ideas, whereas the Western’s technology can be adopted for the Enlightenment. Even though he appeared to be progressive, he never forgot himself as Confucian. His statecraft is still remarkable though, it is a pity that his thought was not for the time. He sacrificed his life for his country as Korea had been colonized by Japan. His idea was that Scholar should have responsibility for the country’s humiliation as well as politician. He believed that they deserve to die for his country.