Chapter 3. Rhee and His Political Career
3.5 Rhee for the White House
During the time Rhee represented Korean Independency in United States, he did not get along with fellow American counterparts. Not all of the U.S. decision makers supported him in spite of his positive impression. When they found out that Koreans wanted to nominate Rhee as their president, the State Department refused to issue his passport and approve his exit permit, preventing him from returning to Korea. Only when the commander of the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK), General John Reed Hodge urgently requested Rhee come back to deal the pending Korean issue, Rhee was able to leave the U.S.
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From the day Rhee landed in Korea, he became the target of an assassination plot of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).50 America’s dislike for him intensified during Korean War.
He did not want the U.N. force to continue with the ceasefire. He believed that South Korea should have the right to choose its own fate. Rhee took an independent action and moved forward to North without the UN’s permission. When Rhee’s troops continued to move north, the U.S. thought that it was necessary to have a contingency plan against Rhee. As a result, Americans planned to remove Rhee from his presidency.
On May 4th, Maxwell Davenport Taylor (Aug 26,1901 - Apr 19. 1987), the commander of the Eighth United States Army, planned an operation to detain the civic leaders and build an interim government under UN-supervision. This operation was named Operation Plan Everready.
It was an operation conducted in profound secrecy, as instructed by the U.S. Government.
General Clark, who was behind this operation, had planned the assassination of the obstinate President Syngman Rhee. He wanted to establish a new provisional government in Korea.
VI. April 26–June 8, 1953: Progress at Panmunjom and the offer to negotiate a mutual security pact with the Republic of Korea:
- Communist and UNC Proposals at Panmunjom
- Rhee’s Desire for a Mutual Security Pact and his Opposition to an Armistice - NSC consideration of NSC 147
- Dulles–Nehru Discussions on Korea - The FINAL UNC Proposal
- Consideration of Operation Plan EVERREADY
50 Jeon, Wrath of Syngman Rhee, 217
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- Decision not to Implement EVERREADY in Favor of a Mutual Security Pact - Agreement on the Pow Question at Panmunjom
[United States Department of State / Foreign relations of the United States, 1952-1954. Korea (1952-1954)]
The United Nations, under the command of the White House attempted to support Chang Myon, Cho Pyong-ok, and Shin Ik-hui to lead a military coup d’état against Rhee. Chang Myon (장면; August 28, 1899 - June 4, 1966) was an ambassador of the United States and was the most popular South Korean politician among American politicians.51 Chang was a modernist with a fluency in English. “Chang Myon’s winning the election held by the National Assembly is probably our best hope,” said by the White House. (FRUS 1952-1954)
Rhee then challenged his opponents in the U.S. mission by ordering his Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Lee Chong-chan, to remove two divisions from the Eighth Army operational control to enforce Martial Law under the military police… American diplomats then encouraged General Lee--who was an ally to Chang Myon, Cho Pyong-ok and Shin Ik-hui--to consider a coup. Not pleased with the possibility of the South Korean army fighting some of its own units, Van Fleet had his staff draft Operation Plan Everready, a set of contingency plans that assumed a second civil war between Rhee’s royalists and opponents. American diplomats wanted the plan to include removing Rhee, something neither the Truman administration nor United Nations Command was ready to risk.
The Operation Plan Eveready was not successful because the U.S. government failed to find a capable leader next to Rhee.The political capability of Chang Myon, Pyong-ok Cho (조병옥), and Ik-hui Shin (신익희) was rather dim compared with that of Rhee. As Rhee had the
51 Jeon, Wrath of Syngman Rhee, 213-8
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strong support of the Korean people, the U.S. had no other option but to continue supporting Rhee and his plans. They could not risk offending the people of Korea.
After the outbreak of Korean War, the UN and Communists continued to discuss the war armistice agreement that lasted for a long time with the most complicated issue being the
exchange of 35,400 Korean and Chinese anti-communist war prisoners.52 Next to it was the signing of the R.O.K.-U.S. Mutual Defense Pact. The two sides heavily debated whether to release the prisoners to where they were originally from, or where they wished to go. In June 1953, the U.S. and Soviet Union decided to send prisoners back to their country -- President Rhee was not even allowed to be a part of the truce negotiations because they were afraid that he would instead prolong the war in the name of reunification.53
Under the instructions of General Francis Townsend Dodd (October 5, 1899 – 5 March 1973), the anti-communist war prisoners were sent to cities like Busan, Gwangju, Masan, and Daegu. Those war prisoners had organized a group named ‘Korean Young Men's
Anti-Communism Association.’ They had written letters and sent dozens of letters to South Korean government and the United Nations Command. Rhee contended that the anti-communist prisoners must be repatriated to R.O.K. all at once. On June 18th, 1953, Rhee commanded his army to compromise the U.S. soldiers and release all the POWs. In total, 27,000 men were rescued. It was Rhee’s decision to act alone, and the decision was against the Agreed Framework between the U.S. and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. There were two specific
52 Lee, God’s Miracle, the Establishment of the Republic of Korea II, 100-1
53 Jeon, Wrath of Syngman Rhee, 208-13
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reasons why Rhee had broken the truce.54 Firstly, the identities of those prisoners had already been exposed to the North. It was certain that death was waiting for them. Those POWs (Prisoners of War) in the North would be sentenced to death and killed brutally by using hammers. Rhee argued that sending prisoners to return to communism was an act of murder.
Also, North Koreans would force POWs to remain detained in North and make them serve in their army.
Dwight D. Eisenhower remembered that night as he penned down his thoughts in his book, The White House Years: Mandate for Change; “On the 17th of June, Rhee sent me a letter… This ink on this letter was barely dry when a bombshell exploded.” Rhee firmly believed that his decision was necessary in order to save his fellow countrymen that only history can judge him.55 Francesca D. Rhee, Rhee’s wife, recorded which aspect of Rhee’s mindset led to such actions in her memoirs.
Some of the pro-Japanese politicians within the allied forces who had never known the sadness of a nation that has lost its country or been on the receiving end of contemptuous treatment at the hands of others, had once mocked Present Rhee for being ‘an old kook crazy about
independence.’ I have heard that there are still some leaders of the allied nations that refer to the President as a ‘unification nut’ or ‘Sickman Rhee.’ I cannot but be pained at the thought that the Korean policy of these allied nations is being handled by such people. However, we have no choice but to deal with them wisely. The President has pledged that we will achieve unification regardless of any hardships or sacrifices we may encounter.56
54 Lee, God’s Miracle, the Establishment of the Republic of Korea II, 103-8
55 Ibid., 104-8
56 Donner Rhee, The Korean War and Syngman Rhee: Francesca’s War Diary, 424
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Chapter 4. Rhee’s Christian Faith
4.1 Rhee Converts to Christianity
Syngman was imprisoned for five years and seven months (1898-1904). At first, he was sentenced to death, but, upon retrial, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment because American missionaries constantly petitioned the Joseon government on his behalf.57 He was sent to the most notorious prison in Joseon called Hanseong prison infamous for imposing
excessively harsh punishment. Within a few weeks, he attempted to escape, but was recaptured within hours and sentenced to an even harsher penalty. His life term then began with months of torture, leaving permanent scars on his body. During interrogation, he was brutally tortured using thirteen different techniques including a cangue (a kind of pillory worn around the neck) and manacles on his hands and feet. In his autobiography, he briefly described the daily indignities of his imprisonment, “For seven months I wore around my neck the cangue, a wooden collar
weighing about 20 pounds, and to add to my agony, I sat with my feet locked in the stocks and both hands handcuffed.”58
In order to endure the hardships of prison, he focused on reading. The foreign
missionaries who had already recognized enormous potential of Rhee as a future leader of Korea smuggled in a large number of books so that he could continue to study even in jail. New
Testament was one of the books that he read over and over. As he continued to read the Bible, he felt consoled by suffering of Jesus Christ. It was a kind of spiritual dynamism he had never
57 Jeon, Wrath of Syngman Rhee, 45
58 Lee, Syngman Rhee, 10
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experienced prior to the degrading prison conditions. He confessed in his book that God was helping him endure his hard time in jail.
It is a religion which emanates from the thoughts of men and which plays a decisive role in forming their mindset. The religion of Anglo-Saxons, Christianity, boasts a teaching system that places great value on the struggle for freedom. Unlike the traditional religions of Joseon, and in particular Confucianism, Christianity is rooted in the principle that all men are equal under God, and reveals how men can become truly free by doing away with evil customs, foolish habits, and sin. The Confucian teaching system is based on the belief that a king should rule the state in a virtuous manner. Meanwhile, the people have no choice but to wait for providence in cases where the ruler rules in a manner that is devoid of virtue.59
Presumably in the late January of 1899, Rhee converted to Christianity. His religious rebirth seems to have given him more than just a spiritual comfort, for the incarcerated reformer took on a new sense of mission with remarkable zeal.60 As he wrote later in an unpublished autobiography, he remembered a sentence from a sermon he had heard in Pai Chai chapel: “If you repent your sins, God will forgive you even now.”61 In a moment of clarity, he prayed, “Oh God, save my country and save my soul.”62 He was to proclaim later in life, “I can never forget how thankful I was in that prison and I shall ever remain thankful for all the blessings which I received during the six and a years of my imprisonment.”63 It is not surprising that he and the other Christian converts among cellmates chose to call Hansong Prison a “house of blessing.”64 Consequently, Christianity became a foundation of concrete and powerful foundation and a true
59 Rhee, Persecution of the Korean church, 78
60 Ibid.
61 Lew, The Making of the First Korean President, 13
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid., 17
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religion to Rhee. He understood and was rooted in the ‘change of heart’ and in the practice of
‘neighborly love’ that was made possible by this ‘change of heart.’65
Those people who study the Bible, and in particular the New Testament, unconsciously begin to develop revolutionary thought. This is because the Bible teaches the truth and the truth is what sets a person’s mind free.66
Including Rhee, most of the prisoners in Hanseong prison were pro-Western patriots.
They were considered the most vicious national felons, since they supported the revolutionary mass movement against the regent Gojong and his conservative government. Rhee conducted a patriotic club and Bible classes to preach gospel to prisoners and officials in jail. All in all, Rhee’s considerable efforts converted some forty prison officials and educated inmates of the yang-ban class, including Yi Sang-jae (이상재; 1850-1929), Yu Song-jun (유성준; 1860-1934),
and Kim Chong-sik (김종식; 1862-1937) -- an unprecedented feat in the history of Protestant proselytism in Korea until that time.67 The vice-chief of the prison named Jungjin Lee (이중진;
1855-1918) was one of the converters, and he later became one of the supporters of Rhee’s national movement. He paid Rhee’s traveling expenses to America. Jungjin’s younger brother, Howard Leigh (이중혁), who greatly supported Rhee’s Korean independence movement in America also accompanied Rhee to the U.S. to support his Korean independence movement.
4.2 Theory of Christian-Nation Building
65 Lee, Syngman Rhee’s Vision and Reality, 35
66 Rhee, Persecution of the Korean church, 78
67 Lew, The Making of the First Korean President, 14
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Even under his life sentence, he dreamed of free Joseon and planned the future of his nation by studying other developed countries. He had selected America as a role model that Joseon should follow.68 In prison, he concluded that the United States was a perfect example of a country that was part of the wave of great Christian revival, modernization, and prosperity.
While he indicated the problem of Neo-Confucianism in the Joseon Dynasty, he pointed out how the stronghold of Christianity, America, had established the forward march of civilization by accepting the Christian faith.
Unlike the traditional religions of Joseon, and in particular Confucianism, Christianity is rooted in the principle that all men are equal under God, and reveals how men can become truly free by doing away with evil customs, foolish habits, and sin.69
In order to encourage Koreans to accept Christianity and the open-door policy, at the age of 24, Syngman concentrated on writing his first book entitled “The Spirit of Independence”
(Tongnip chongsin; 독립정신), in the context of Christianity and nationalism. Rhee passionately stressed that Korea’s salvation lied in Christianity as the foundation for a new Korea -- he named it Theory of Christian-Nation Building.70 Like the U.S., Rhee believed that Christian faith could transform Korea into a strong and civilized country too. He wanted to learn and adopt the Christian principles, which had deeply taken place as the foundation of American society.
Those civilizations of the world who adopted Christianity as the foundation of their societies have seen a high level of morality be achieved even amongst their common classes. Our country is currently trying to rise up from its ashes and to sprout buds from rotten soil. However, even if we
68 The United States of America had established the fundamental basis of the country in the form of the separation of powers, popular sovereignty, and a constitutional government, was a good example for other states to follow. (Lee 2011:36)
69 Rhee, Persecution of the Korean church, 178
70 Rhee, The Spirit of Independence, 274-5
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interact with the entire world, we will never be able to achieve such goals if we do not adopt Christianity as the foundation of our society. As such, we should accept Christianity as the foundation for everything, and seek to become persons who work for others, rather than
ourselves, and who strive to promote the common good of our country. We should do our best to raise our country to the level of the United States and Great Britain. (Rhee [1904] 1993:199)
Rhee wanted to learn the practice of Christian principles by observing American churches. He saw that Christian faith made people diligent, honorable, and relaxed in an expansive mood -- unlike the populous of Joseon at the time.71 He also noticed that American government was responsible and sincerely serving its own people, which was very different from the Emperor of Joseon.72 According to the Bible, laziness is a temptation for man and is
considered sin. It also teaches that God could redeem not only men's souls, but also their daily lives from laziness. God ordained work for man to provide for his own family’s needs through his labors -- “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” (Ephesians 4:28; KJV)73 The Bible also warned people to avoid idleness, which could lead to poverty -- “Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So, shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.” (Proverbs 24:33-34, KJV)74 Even Jesus was a carpenter before he began his ministry. He said, “My Father is always working, and so am I”
(John 5:17).
71 Rhee, Persecution of the Korean Church, 150-4
72 Ibid., 147-9
73 All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, King James version unless otherwise noted, Brown Books Publishing, 2004.
74 Ibid.
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4.3 The Persecution of Christians in Korea
From 1910, as Japan formally annexed the Empire of Joseon, Japanese government began to threaten the sovereignty of Korea. While Korea was struggling for its existence, Korean Churches carried out an independence movement against Japanese coercion.75 At that time, less than two percent of Korean population was Christian, an estimated 200,000 Christians out of thirteen million Koreans.76 Although Christians were a minority, they built an extensive network for the independence movement. Also, missionaries like Homer Bezaleel Hulbert (January 26, 1863 – August 5, 1949), Henry Gerhard Appenzeller (February 6, 1858 – June 11, 1902), and George Heber Jones (14 August 1867 – 11 May 1919) impassionately supported and
demonstrated the independence movement. With the aid of the missionaries, a wide network of insurgency developed across Korea with churches and Korean pastors as the centerpiece of the movement.77 They also condemned Japanese rule over Korea by stoking the flames of patriotism among the youths -- particularly, they provided nationalistic education to Korean students in mission schools. Their influence alarmed the Japanese who were aware of the potential damage to their rule over Korea with the masses ready to strike on command.78
As part of Japan’s effort to contain Joseon, Japanese government seized missionaries and Korean church leaders. In spite of such acts of political discrimination and religious persecution imposed by Japanese government, the faith of Korean Christians continued to grow.79 Historian
75 Rhee, Persecution of the Korean Church, 201-3
76 Yu, American Missionaries and the Korean Independence Movement in the Early 20th Century, 180
77 Ibid., 183
78 Ibid., 176
79 Rhee, Persecution of the Korean Church, 215
35 Donald Clark in Christianity in Modern Korea writes:
Whereas Christian missions and churches in other colonies were seen as part of the imperialist presence, in Korea the church was associated with a new nationalism. Christian leaders were prominent in societies organized to awaken Korean resistance to colonization.
The church itself was seen by many as a refuge from Japanese rule. Its organization and networks posed political problems for the Japanese. Foreign missionaries wrote letters home with frank reports about Japanese oppression. They also taught about freedom and democracy. Thus, from the start, the Japanese were apprehensive about Christianity in Korea. They set out to neutralize the church and to co-opt the missionaries.
In Korea, unlike Japan, Christianity became the vehicle for preservation of national hopes in reaction against Japanese domination. Here was a situation where the Christian missions were independent of the colonizing power. The church was associated with a new
nationalism. Hence, in Korea the fundamental conflict between the claims of Japanese Shinto nationalism and Christianity were naturally more serious than in Japan.
nationalism. Hence, in Korea the fundamental conflict between the claims of Japanese Shinto nationalism and Christianity were naturally more serious than in Japan.