Cho Man-sik
| Cho Man-sik | |
 | |
| Korean name | |
|---|---|
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 조만식 |
| Hancha | |
| Revised Romanization | Jo Man-sik |
| McCune–Reischauer | Cho Man-sik |
| Art name | |
| Chosŏn'gŭl | 고당 |
| Hancha | |
| Revised Romanization | Godang |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kodang |
Cho Man-sik (Korean: 조만식, pen-name Kodang) (1 February 1883 – October? 1950) was an activist in Korea's independence movement. He became involved in the power struggle that enveloped Korea in the months following the Japanese surrender after World War II, but was eventually forced from power by the Soviet-backed communists in the north. Placed under house arrest in 1946, he later disappeared into the North Korean prison system, where he is generally believed to have been executed.
Independence movement
Cho was born in Kangsŏ-gun, South P'yŏngan Province, now in North Korea. In his youth he was an activist within Korea's Christian community,[1] but after Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910 he became increasingly involved with his country's independence movement. His participation in the 1919 Sam-Il protest marches led to his arrest and detention, along with tens of thousands of other Koreans. After his release, he dedicated himself to non-violent resistance to the occupation, a stance which earned him the epithet "The Gandhi of Korea".[2] He advocated a principle of self-sufficiency for the nation, and formed a number of commercial enterprises intended to encourage Koreans to buy home-produced goods and so instil a sense of nationalism.[3]
Activism post World War II
In August 1945, with Japanese surrender imminent, Cho was approached by the Japanese governor of Pyongyang and asked to organise a committee to maintain stability in the power vacuum that would inevitably follow.[1] He agreed to co-operate, and formed governing councils throughout the north; they generally being composed of right-wing nationalists opposed to communism.[4] The Soviet Union arrived in Pyongyang in the days following the Japanese surrender, bringing with them the Korean communist Kim Il-sung, who had trained in the Soviet army for ten years, rising to the rank of captain. Under Soviet pressure, Cho was obliged to reorganise his party, and accept more communists onto the councils.[5] Unsurprisingly, the opposing ideologies of Kim and Cho led to a clash between the two men, and the forced power-sharing failed to sit well with either of them.
The 1945 Moscow Conference between the victorious Allied powers discussed the statehood of Korea, proposing a four-power trusteeship for a period of five years, after which Korea would become an independent state. For Cho, this would result in excessive foreign, and particularly communist, influence over his country, and he refused to co-operate.[6] A final straw came in January 1946 when he and other council members were ordered to sign an expression of support for the trusteeship, and he refused to do so.[7] On 8 February 1946 he was forced to resign from his position of Chairman of the Provisional People's Committee for the Five Provinces, and was placed under house arrest by the Soviets.[8] For some time he was kept under comfortable conditions at the Koryo Hotel, from which position he continued to vocally oppose the communists. He stood in the 1948 vice-presidency election, but was unsuccessful, receiving only 10 votes from the National Assembly. Cho was later transferred to a prison in Pyongyang, where confirmed reports of him end.[3] He is generally believed to been executed along with other political prisoners during the early days of the Korean War,[3] possibly in October 1950.[7] Cho's removal opened the way for Kim Il-sung to consolidate his power in the north, a position he was able to hold for 48 years until his death in 1994.
Legacy
In 1970, Cho's deeds gained posthumous recognition when he was awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation by the South Korean government.
The taekwondo form Ko-Dang was named in honour of Cho Man-sik.
References
- ^ a b Kim, The History of Korea, p142
- ^ "Not Slave, Not Free", Time, 1945-10-08
{{citation}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ a b c Post & Armstrong, The North Korean Revolution, pp55-56
- ^ Lee, The Partition of Korea, p133
- ^ Lee, The Partition of Korea, p135
- ^ Lee, The Partition of Korea, p145
- ^ a b Lankov, From Stalin to Kim Il Song, pp22-24
- ^ Oliver, Leadership in Asia, p219
Bibliography
- Armstrong, Charles; Post, Jerrold (2004), The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0801489148
- Kim, Chun-gil (2005), The History of Korea, London: Greenwood, ISBN 0-3133-3296-7
- Lankov, Andrey (2002), From Stalin to Kim Il Song, Hurst & Co, ISBN 1850655634
- Lee, Jong-soo (2006), The Partition of Korea after World War II, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 1-4039-6982-5
- Oliver, Robert (1989), Leadership in Asia: Persuasive Communication in the Making of Nations, 1850-1950, University of Delaware Press, ISBN 087413353X