Choe Nam-seon

Choe Nam-seon
Hangul	최남선
Hanja	崔南善
Revised Romanization	Choe Nam-seon
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'oe Namsŏn
Pen name
Hangul	육당
Hanja	六堂
Revised Romanization	Yukdang
McCune–Reischauer	Yuktang
Courtesy name
Hangul	공륙
Hanja	公六
Revised Romanization	Gongnyuk
McCune–Reischauer	Kongnyuk

This is a Korean name; the family name is Choe.

Not to be confused with Choi Nam-son.

Choe Nam-seon (April 26, 1890- October 10, 1957) was a Korean historian and independence activist. He was born into a jungin (middle class) family in Seoul, Korea, under the late Joseon Dynasty, and educated in Seoul in the classical Chinese manner.^{[citation needed]} He was sent to Japan on a government scholarship in 1904, where he enrolled at the First Tokyo Middle School (now Hibiya High School); however, he was expelled from the school in 1905 for a protest he organised among the Korean students there over the signing of the Eulsa Treaty.^[1] After his expulsion, he returned to Korea, but went to Tokyo again in 1906 to study at Waseda University.^[2] While in Japan, he was converted to the Japanese style of modernization, and sought to pattern Korea's modernization after the Japanese approach. He participated in the Patriotic Enlightenment Movement, publishing the first successful Korean modern magazine, Sonyeon (Youth), and pioneered new styles of Korean poetry.

Choe contributed to cement ties between Cheondogyo and Christian leaders with Kim Do-tae^[3] and drafted the Declaration of Independence for the March 1st Movement in 1919. Though he wrote the Declaration of Independence, he refused to sign it, fearing reprisals by the Japanese leadership in control at the time. He was arrested by authorities and imprisoned until 1921. He then joined an organization, the Korean History Compilation Committee established by the Japanese Governor-General commissioned to compile the history of Korea. He wrote many pro-Japanese speeches and articles from 1937 until the liberation of Korea in 1945.

In 1949, Syngman Rhee’s government arrested Choe for collaboration with the Japanese during the colonial period, but he was released due to illness. During the Korean War, Choe served on the Naval History Committee; after the war, he served on the Seoul City History Committee. He also advised the Government of South Korea for the rationalization of the Syngman Rhee line and the sovereignty of Dokdo.^[4] He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in October 1957.

Choe's reputation as a Korean historian is controversial due to his early studies on the traditional founder of Korea, Dangun, and his later contributions which were heavily influenced by Japanese views. His historical works are characterized by his complex, intricately detailed, and voluminous writing style.

Political ideas

Choe's writings were influenced by Liang Qichao (whose works were translated into Korean by Shin Chaeho), particularly his ideas on Social Darwinism, and Liang's writings on the Wars of Italian Independence.^[5] His ideas on Social Darwinism were explained as such:

The modern age is an age of power in which the powerful survive while the weak perish. This competition continues even until death. But why? Because the struggle to be a victor and a survivor never ends. But how? It is a competition of intelligence, physical fitness, material power, economic power, the power of idea and confidence, and organizational power. Everywhere this competition is underway daily.

—Choe Nam-seon, 1917

He believed by these struggles, Korea could eventually be strengthened into the ranks of a world power, and the Koreans elevated to the status of a world-historical people (a term used by Liang Qichao), culminating in Korean world domination. These ideas were stated as early as 1906:^[5]

How long will it take us to accomplish the goal of flying our sacred national flag above the world and having peoples of the five continents kneeling down before it? Exert yourselves, our youth!

—Choe Nam-seon, 1906

However, the 1910 Japanese annexation of Korea greatly destroyed his hopes, as according to his political ideals, Korea had lost a struggle to another people, the Japanese, whom Choe did not consider to be a "world-historical people", and he was greatly disillusioned by the Korean state of affairs at the time:^[5]

Although it is true that we have some [educational facilities], can we say that [they] are adequate for a country with five thousand years of history? Our conscience is not numb enough to claim that the 'Ch'unhyangjŏn and Simch'ǒngjŏn are as great as Faust, Hamlet, Les Miserables, and The Divine Comedy. . . We should know that we have no place in the intellectual world. . . We have made not made any contribution to the world civilizations or to the development of mankind. We have no Nobel Prize winners. . . Compare our country with Germany, the United States, Great Britain, and France. Compare our situation with the days of our ancestors, such as the times of Koguryŏ, Silla, and Parhae dynasties. Remember! Feel ashamed.

—Choe Nam-seon, 1917

With his disillusionment with the state of affairs, Choe instead to choose to seek evidence of glory in Korea's past, that he might use it to elevate Koreans to the status of a "world-historical people". As a nationalist historian, he did not feel that historical studies needed to be free of bias:^[5]

History cannot and should not be regarded as a science with no heart because it is learning for the sake of the people. Historical studies should have purpose and emotion behind them.

—Choe Nam-seon, 1930s

Choe sought a re-examination of Korean history. He believed that the historical record, Samguk Sagi, was too Confucian and sino-centric, and instead chose to draw his history from the Samguk Yusa, a collection of folktales, stories, and legends, previously disregarded by historians because of its numerous supernatural and Buddhist stories.^[5] By analyzing the mythological story of Dangun's birth from a she-bear, he argued the legend originated from an ancient culture with shamanistic roots.^[5]

From the account of Hwan'un ascending Taebaek Mountains, he came to claim that the character baek (白,백), also present in other Korean placenames, had a special meaning, symbolizing sun, heaven, and/or god in ancient Korean and was pronounced părk in ancient times.^[5] He expounded on a description of an ancient religion based on părk, based on worship of heaven and the sun, called the "Way of Părk", reinterpreted historical Buddhist Korean practices and Confucian shrines to Chinese deities as practices originating from the "Way of Părk", and called for the revival of this religion.^[5]

He also argued that the "Way of Părk" had spread throughout most of the rest of Eurasia in ancient times.^[5] He concluded that Japanese toponyms containing furu, fuka, hara, and hiko, were all variants of the Korean părk, and he claimed dozens of Japanese placenames were descended from the Korean idea.^[5] He extended this throughout much of Eurasia and came to the conclusion that some mountains in Mongolia, the Tian Shan mountains, Kunlun Mountains, Lake Baikal, Lake Balkash, Fergana, Bukhara, Bactria, Lake Barkol, Baku (in Azerbaijan), Varna and Burgas (in Bulgaria), the Balkan Mountains, Prague (in the Czech Republic), Belgrade (in Serbia), Bucharest (in Romania), Balikesir (in Turkey), Tripoli, Baghdad (in Iraq), and many other placenames were derived from părk.^[5] He regarded this vast expanse of Eurasia to be a cultural sphere originating from and centering on Korea, and concluded that Părk was one of the three major cultures of world history, which he ranked aside Indo-European culture and Chinese culture.^[5]

Choe speculated that even beyond the northern Eurasian sphere he envisioned, the equivalents of Părk appeared in the gods of many other cultures: Brahman in Hinduism, Baal of the Semites, Apollo of Greek mythology, Vulcan of Roman mythology, Frigg in Germanic mythology, and even deities in Mesoamerica, and in other placenames: Pars (Persia), Phoenicia, Parthia, Beersheva, Philistia, Phrygia, Pergamon, Baalbek, and Mount Parnassus (the list of these, and other names he listed, is not exhaustive).^[5] In terms of culture, he argued that the Japanese royal family, worship of Mount Taishan, the Chinese terms for Tian and Son of Heaven, and the Shinto religion to be descended from the original Părk culture.^[5] Choe argued that Korea's central place in world history had long been neglected.^[5]

One of the reasons why Părk culture, one of the biggest forces of human development, has been hidden for so long is because Korea, the greatest reservoir of this culture, held the secret key hidden in the dark. In my view, Korea is the great historical benchmark in the Părk culture. She achieved the high point in the long history of that culture. She abundantly manifested the most significant traits of that culture.

—Choe Nam-seon, 1922-1923

References

1. ^ Soh, Young-ah (2005-12-30). "Scholar Studies 1904 Student Expulsions". Donga Ilbo. http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2005123044858. Retrieved 2007-04-11. 
2. ^ Choi Jae-mok (PDF). The Influence of Modern Japanese Yangming Study on Choi Nam-seon's The Boy. Yeungnam University. http://www.sal.tohoku.ac.jp/~kirihara/public_html/cgi-bin/shibusawa/Choi_Jae-mok.pdf. Retrieved 2007-04-12. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Modern History - Colonial Period, March 1st Independence Movement, Office of the Prime Ministry of South Korea.
4. ^ (Japanese) "－韓国が竹島を自国領とした根拠は。 　「後の日韓国交正常化交渉の第五次の韓国側代表を務めた兪鎮午によると、著名な歴史学者である崔南善を訪れ、竹島が日韓両国のどちらに属すか、歴史的な根拠を尋ねたという。その結果『確信できる程度の説明』を受けたと言っている」", 発信竹島　～真の日韓親善に向けて～ : 第３部「過去の清算」－昭和から平成へ－（２）巻き返し, San-in Chuo Shimpo, 2005/09/25. "－李承晩ラインを宣言する際、そのお墨付きを求めた韓国政府に対し、歴史学者の崔南善が示した歴史認識とは。「崔は一九五四年夏、ソウル新聞紙上で『鬱陵島と独島』と題し、二十五回にわたる連載を執筆している。そこで展開された説によると、鬱陵島の属島である独島は新羅時代から朝鮮領で、その起源は五一二年にまでさかのぼれるとした。さらに『粛宗実録』（一七二八年刊行）にある『江戸幕府と交渉し、鬱陵島と独島を朝鮮領と認めさせた』という安龍福の証言を基に、現在の独島は韓国領と結論づけている」", 発信竹島　～真の日韓親善に向けて～ : 第３部「過去の清算」－昭和から平成へ－（５）矛盾, San-in Chuo Shimpo, 2005/09/28.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o} Allen, Chizuko T. (November 1990). "Northeast Asia Centered Around Korea: Ch'oe Namson's View of History". The Journal of Asian Studies (Association for Asian Studies) 49 (4): 787–806. doi:10.2307/2058236. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2058236. Retrieved 2009-09-04. 

Persondata
Name	Choe, Nam-seon
Alternative names	최남선, 崔南善, Choi Namsun
Short description	Historian of Korea
Date of birth	1890-04-26
Place of birth	Seoul, Korea
Date of death	1957-10-10
Place of death	Seoul, South Korea