Year of 2019 is the 100th anniversary of the 3.1 movement in Republic of Korea. Currently, many people from various groups have showed a lot of interest in this history. The purpose of this study is to understand the 3.1 movement in the context of a l...
Year of 2019 is the 100th anniversary of the 3.1 movement in Republic of Korea. Currently, many people from various groups have showed a lot of interest in this history. The purpose of this study is to understand the 3.1 movement in the context of a local history and microhistory. To that end, I paid attention to the Shindong church in Gilcheonmyeon, Chilgokgun. One of the church members was a participant in the 3.1 movement. That person is called Taegeun Shin.
In 1919, Taegeun Shin organized the men’s mission group in the Shindong Church and participated in the 3.1 campaign in Daegu, on March 8th. According to records of the trial against Taegeun Shin, his residence was in Jilchonmyeon, Chilgokgun, teaching local students in a village school at that time. In addition, it has been proved that Taegeun Shin was a Presbyterian.
Although the 3.1 movement in Daegu · Gyungbuk started later than the other regions in Korea, the movement in Daegu·Gyungbuk continued for a long time. In Daegu, despite hesitation towards the movements shown among the churches and christians at the first time, people prepared the movement together and conducted a peaceful protest, revealing their unity. Their preparation for the movement in Daegu among christians could be introduced to the local church, passing it to the neighboring areas. One of the regions close to Daegu, Shindong, learned the preparation for the 3.1 movement in Daegu. Among the church members in Shindong church, the person called Bokgeon Lee, who studied at Daegu Bible School, spreaded the movement in Daegu to Shindong Church. Accordingly, Taegeun Shin, who was the same church member, could have learned the movement and became one of the participants for the 3.1 movement in Shindong.
The participation in the movement of Taegeun Shin, can be evaluated in terms of national faith. He was a 50-year-old figure who was a village school teacher, specifically classified as a Confucian scholar. However, he mentioned that he was impressed by crying out for the Independence from the students in the same denomination, and that triggered him to join the protest. In one words, Taegeun Shin’s participation for the protest on 8th March was his voluntary action, which was deeply rooted in the belief of the nation and the people.