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영어

In March 1919, when Korea was under the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism, protests rallied for national independence. For about two months beginning from March 1, protests took place abroad as well as in Korea. The number of demonstrations in Korea alone exceeded fifteen hundred. At that time the Korean population was about 16 million, and more than 2 million people - over 10% of the total population - participated in the demonstrations. There were about 290,000 Protestant Christians at the time, consisting 1.8% of the population. Meanwhile, about 30% of protesters were Protestant Christians. The protests for national independence proceeded thoroughly in a nonviolent and peaceful way. However, Japanese imperialism suppressed protesting Koreans with brutal violence. About 20% of those arrested and imprisoned due to the protesting were Protestant Christians. How Presbyterian churches in South Korean, North Korea, and Manchuria, participated in the protests was recorded in the form of a report in the minutes of the 8th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) in 1919. This is a great cultural heritage of the Presbyterian Church of Korea. An analysis of this report shows that the decisive forces that led the protesters in the Presbyterian Church came from those teachers and students who belonged to twenty one church�governed middle schools scattered across the country. They secretly distributed to protesters copies of the Declaration of Independence and produced national flags. They read the Declaration of Independence at the demonstration sites and marched ahead of all others. Japanese soldiers and police crushed and killed protesters with swords and guns. Several missionaries gathered and recorded various testimonies nationwide about the brutal repression by Japan. Those testimonies, written in English, were kept by the missionary William L. Swalllen. In 2012 they were translated into Korean and published as a monograph. Why did the middle school teachers and students from the Presbyterian Church of Korea join wholeheartedly in protests for national independence? My conclusion is that the democratic ideal, which was taught and trained in those schools, was the motivating power for their protests. For the spirit of democracy rooted in the Korean Presbyterian Church was in conflict with Japanese imperialism.

한국어

1919년 3.1운동이 3월 1일부터 약 2개월 동안 국내외에서 일어났다. 전국의 장로교회가 ‘독립만세시위’에 참여했는데, 이것이 총회(제8회, 1919)의 회록에 상세하게 수록되었다. 이것은 한국장로교회의 위대한 ‘기록문화유산’이다. 이 보고서에 따르면, 장로교회 독립만세시위의 주도세력은 전국 21개 중학교의 교사와 학생들이었다. 이들이 독립선언서를 시위대에게 은밀히 나누어주고 태극기를 제작했으며 또 시위현장에서 이들이 독립선언서를 낭독하고 앞장서서 거리를 행진했다. 일제의 군인과 경찰은 시위현장을 야만적으로 진압했다. 그 시위현장의 다양한 증언들을 전국의 선교사들이 구술 채집했고, 이 증언기록들을 선교사 소안론(William L. Swalllen)이 보관했다(영어). 이것이 2012년 한국어로 번역되어 단행본으로 출판되었다