Over the period of five thousand years of Korean history, foreign powers continually invaded Korean peninsula because of its geopolitically strategic location for international trade.1 Surrounded by seawater on three of its sides, Korea struggled as a powerless pawn shuffled between Mongolia, China, Japan, and Russia.2 And during the last dynasty of Korea, Joseon suffered the most from Japan.
For five hundred years, Kingdom of Joseon was small and tenuous with prevalent political, economic, and educational problems. First, Emperor Gojong of Korea was overly dependent on foreign powers, aside from China, such as United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, and the United States. Without them, Joseon lacked a capability to defend itself or maintain its sovereignty.3 Politically, Joseon was in its tumultuous time when China became the central power of East Asia, but, as Western countries exerted influence to China from late nineteenth century, China's predominance over Joseon decreased. Russia and Japan had preponderant interests in Korea after First Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. During First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Sino-Japanese War, Russia wanted to conquer Manchuria, or Korea, to secure a warm-water port by attrition and bribery.4 Japanese annexation of Korea made Joseon nearly impossible to achieve further development not only economically but also politically.
1 Rhee, The Spirit of Independence, trans. Han-Kyo Kim, 44-5.
2 Ibid.,123-4 3 Ibid.,123-4 4 Ibid., 133
2
Japan’s continued imperialism resulted in its full control over Joseon for 35 years, leaving Koreans suffer.
With multiple shifts in suzerainty, Koreans struggled with preserving their sovereignty, history, and language. Under Japanese rule, educational system was intended to fulfil the
purposes of the colonial power. Doing so, Koreans were forced to give up their native language.
Japanese wanted to eradicate their national spirit. Korean students were forbidden from speaking or writing in their mother tongue and were forced to adopt Japanese. Japanese language was used at schools, and curricula were distorted to sustain its rule. As a result, 78 percent of Koreans were illiterate of Hangul, Korean alphabet.5 Also, school enrollments, especially at higher levels, consisted of a disproportionate number of its students.6
In the middle of the two most turbulent centuries -- Joseon dynasty and Japanese
colonialism -- the first president of Republic of Korea, Syngman Rhee (이승만; April 18, 1875 - July 19, 1965) played an important role in Korean history because he lived in a period when Korea was undergoing revolutionary changes.7 While the national spirit of Joseon was declining, Rhee devised Christian-nation building theory in order to construct a strong and independent Korean nation. While he was imprisoned because of his leading role as a nationalist leader between 1905 and 1948,8 he wrote a book called The Spirit of Independence: A Primer of
5 C. Sorensen, Success and Education in South Korea, 16
6 See Han Young Rim, "Development of Higher Education in Korea During the Japanese Occupation, 1010-1946.
7 Chong-Sik Lee, The Prison Years of a Young Radical, xvii 8 Ibid., xvi
3
Korean Modernization and Reform (독립정신), his outlined his Christian-nation building theory, incorporating biblical values and principles in general education curriculum to awaken the
traditional and nationalistic values of Joseon. The main purpose of his theory was to transform Korean into a Christian nation.9 As a beneficiary of modern education and a Christian, he believed that the foundation of every state was Christian belief and education of its youth.
1.1 Research Purpose
Today R.O.K. is renowned as a 10th strongest nation in the world, the second largest missionary sending country in the world, and strong education system remains as the world best.
As a beneficiary of Christian education, Rhee understood that Christianity and education are the most effective ways to build strong regime like, America. Instead of joining in an independence army, as a pacifist, Rhee pursued and retained his political moves as non-violence. Rhee selected Christianity as his foreign relations strategy to move America. Particularly, he vigilantly awaited an opportunity to gain support from the U.S. church community for the educational
reconstruction. During his presidency, he worked hard to develop the educational system of R.O.K. to prepare the next generation to accomplish the reunification of Korea in future. The White House aided the rebuilding of Korea by offering the U.S.- ROK alliance, which is a solid relationship purposed U.S. to aid dominant Christian ethics and educational assistants.
Majority of Koreans, however, remember Rhee as the one who provoked the civil war for his political favor in order to gain popularity to continue his presidency. After Rhee, another
9 Rhee, The Spirit of Independence, trans. Han-Kyo Kim, 133
4
beneficiary of free religion and free compulsory education must cast a new light on his contributions on Korean regime and the way he adopted a healthy Christian spirit embodying characteristics, and accomplish the unification of Korea he had dreamt, rather than just focus on the mistakes that he made. This research paper investigates and examines Rhee's political strategies and tools and discuss why Rhee deserves a lot more credit from the people of Korea through his phenomenal achievements.
1.2 Explicit Research Questions
1. Was his Christian-nation building theory all about Christianity and education? And was it successful?
2. How did Rhee’s Christian faith affect Korean education policy?
3. Was Rhee’s education policy successful or not?
1.3 Methodology
This paper reviews documented data such as Syngman Rhee’s diary and historical testimonies of his closest colleagues, then seeks to provide a fresh and accurate evaluation on him. In particular, this paper will examine the overseas academic journals published by Korean scholars to provide an objective evaluation. Such vivid historical testimonies of his closest colleagues and diplomatic document written from the third person point of view will set a point of agreement between the large differences in the historical evaluations of Rhee published in Korea and overseas. This paper will also look at the materials published by local and foreign
5
press, as well as books and journals published by Rhee to review his political ambitions. Lastly, this paper considers the historical context of Rhee’s attempts to reunify Korea and promote nationalistic sentiments in order to understand the limitations and effectiveness of his policies.
1.4 Limitations
As this paper looks at reports released by both Korean and foreign press, it will be tackling completely different perspectives on Syngman Rhee, so individual sources may be biased. The evaluative reports from foreign press generally admired Rhee’s political, economic, and social achievements as the founding father of the Republic of Korea. This paper assumes that Christianity became prevalent since Rhee’s rule. His political motives has been controversial for more than 60 years after the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
6