3․1운동 이후 일제의 서북지방 기독교 통제와 ‘선천사건’

Abstract

This thesis examines the Sŏn-ch'ŏn Incident, a Christian-related episode which happened in Sŏn-ch'ŏn, North P'yŏng-an province during the Japanese occupation. The Sŏn-ch'ŏn Incident was triggered by the bombing of a police station in September 1920 and led to the oppression of Christians in the region, especially it is a representative case of the Japanese policies of oppression against Christians in the north-west region. After the oppression of the 1919 Independence Movement by military means, the Japanese colonial government tried to advocate cultural rule and displayed also a conciliatory gesture to Christians who had been watched closely until then. But, since the 1919 Independence Movement, a system called Yŏn-t'ong in the north-west region which is a secret network of communication created by the Korean provisional government centering the Christian organizations. And in the mean time, armed liberation movements followed one after another, which also intensified Japanese oppression. The bombing of a police station happened in Sŏn-ch'ŏn in september 1920 when the Japanese oppression to the north-west region was being reinforced. The incident was carried out as a part of activities of an independence movement, and it was coincided with the visit of members of American parliament to Korea in August that year, awaited by General Camp of the Korean Independence Army. Finding a Christian called Park Ch'i-ŭi from Sŏn-ch'ŏn among the masterminds of the incident, the Japanese rulers enlarged the bombing incident into a terrorist act, and accused the Sŏn-ch'ŏn's Christians of being systematically involved. In the reason of this Sŏn-ch'ŏn Incident, the history of Sŏn-ch'ŏn’s Christian propensity and their anti-Japanese movement played an important role. Among the relatively strong Christian communities in the north-west region, Sŏn-ch'ŏn had particularly strong Christian community. And because Christians of Sŏn-ch'ŏn had been involved in the 1919 Independence Movement as well as other incidents including the Incident of 105 people, they had become the main target of the Japanese rule. Therefore, the Japanese colonial government plotted to oppress the Christians in Sŏn-ch'ŏn to rule out the Christianity in the north-west region, setting the Incident as an example and tried to oppress the anti-Japanese movement altogether. So those who were involved with Sŏn-ch'ŏn incident were mostly representative Christians in Sŏn-ch'ŏn. Also to be noted was that most of them had a history of participating in the 1919 Independence Movement as well as being involved in other anti-Japanese movements. The police, through many false accusations, thoroughly related many of Sŏn-ch'ŏn’s Christians with the bombing incident. And in the court, based on the result of police investigation, those people were sentenced to a heavy penalty indeed. This court rule towards the people involved in Sŏn-ch'ŏn Incident caused a big sensation in the society and was definitely regarded as a cruel punishment compared to similar Incidents in other areas including P'yŏng-yang. After the Sŏn-ch'ŏn Incident, despite the continuing growth of Christianity in the region, the anti-Japanese movement did get shrunken. That is, the trend of Christians leading the anti-Japanese movements disappeared since 1920’s in the region. It is also clear that the in activeness of Sŏn-ch'ŏn’s Christians caused by the Japanese oppression influenced the general social aspects of Sŏn-ch'ŏn which had been renowned as a strong Christian community.