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Nationalism in Korea

	As discussed above, Confucianism and Buddhism have played the most conspicuous roles among those conservative forces opposed to Westernization. However, Korean nationalism is just as important as a strong conservative force of the modern era. In general, nationalism has appeared in the guise of either religious or intellectual movements. Religious Movements: Following Ch'oe Su-un's Tonghak movement in 1860, countless new religions appeared in Korea. Tonghak means "Eastern Learning" and as the name implies, it was an Eastern religion embodying the Korean spirit, in opposition to Christianity which had come from the West. Tonghak's central teaching was embodied in its Kaebyok (Opening) ideology. Kaebyok was a cosmic chronology which claimed that a new era was beginning. In the West, cosmic changes typically signaled a conclusion, but in the East, they represented a new creation or "iKaebyok." According to Tonghak, Kaebyok heralded the advent of a new utopia which would be centered around the Korean Peninsula and its people.
	Tonghak ideology thus fostered a nationalistic faith that culminated in the Tonghak Rebellion-a defining event in Korea's modernization. Moreover, Tonghak played a pivotal role in maintaining this nationalistic consciousness, leading up to the March First Independence Movement of 1919. Tonghak's Kaebyok ideology later became the philosophical model for Korea's new indigenous religions, such as Chungsan-gyo and Won Buddhism. During the 1930s, these religions were already referring to themselves as "Korean Folk Religions," and they continue to do so even today.

After Korea was colonized by Japan in 1910, Korea's ancient culture and national identity reappeared in the guise of these nationalistic religious movements. These became the central forces in the struggle against the occupation. The Tonghak religion, which had by then been renamed Ch'londo-gyo, headed the March First Independence Movement, and thus became the fundamental domestic force behind the anti-Japanese struggle. Another new religion by the name of Taejonggyo moved its headquarters to Manchuria where it became the main procurer of recruits and funds for anti-Japanese guerrilla forces. In fact, Taejonggyo coordinated the famous Ch'ongsan-ri attack in south-east Manchuria in which resistance fighters crushed a vastly superior Japanese force. It was also the leading organization in Korea's provisional government in Shanghai.

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In his Kaebyok teachings concerning the advent of a new cosmic order, Kang Chung-san had predicted the eventual downfall of the Japanese. His followers, having faith in his religious prophecies, were thus able to find courage in the face of Japanese tyranny. In this way, Chungsan-gyo, through its religious mysticism, gave Koreans a sense of pride. Even today, devotees of more than two-hundred traditional religions can be found at famous mountains across the nation. There, they devote their entire lives to religious practice in preparation for the utopian society which will be brought on by Kaebyok. The devotees who support these religious hermits are convinced that a healthy Korean society must be based on a sense of independence as a people. As long as these religious hermits and believers exist, Korea's folk religions will continue to perform an important function to curb the general historical trend towards Westernization.

Intellectual Movements: Academic circles, centered around so-called Korean studies (i.e. Korean history and language), traditional arts and mass media, formed the second force behind Korean nationalism. By the late-Choson period, a national enlightenment movement, which combined nationalist ideologies and faiths, had already formed outside the scope of Confucianism. This movement first manifested itself as a religious movement, but then appeared as a diverse intellectual movement promoting awareness of Korean culture's unique identity. Key spokesmen for this movement were Shin Cha'e-ho (1880-1936), who promoted an enlightened, nationalistic perspective within historical studies, and Chu Shi-gyong, who promoted Korean language studies.

The central objective of the nationalist movement was not so much a rejection of Westernization, but the advancement of national identity. Hence, its primary objective was to achieve independence from Japan. Yet the movement knew that in order to obtain political autonomy, it first had to promote Korea's cultural independence. For this reason, the nationalist movement demanded, before anything else, the preservation and restoration of Korea's traditional culture. Within this context, the religious movement, which emphasized the sacred character of Korean culture, and the intellectual movement, which sought to advance Korean studies, formed a complementary relationship. Thus, theories of ancient Korean history as exposed by nationalist historians became the philosophical foundation of the indigenous religious movements of the early twentieth century.

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