일제강점기 광주의 지역유지 연구 - ‘광주번영회’ 한국인을 중심으로 -

Abstract

This study examines a group of Korean community leaders in Gwangju during the Japanese Colonial rule in order to understand the formation and characteristics of the group, their community leading activities, their pro-Japanese labor, and the forms of rewards they received for the labor. In the beginning, with regards to the Japanese annexation of Korea, great landowners, or men of renown, who had been officials in the late period of Joseon, were called out through government offices by the Japanese Empire. In the early 1920s, a new group of Korean community leaders emerged. They served as a mediation group between the Japanese authorities and Koreans, and played an essential role in reducing Koreans’ protest against the Japanese rule. Based on their “wealth” and “academic backgrounds” (They received modern higher education, including studying in Japan), they grew as community leaders as they went into politics through local councils, formed networks with Japanese community leaders, and gained “trust from the Japanese Empire.” They also secured “social human networks,” by performing various community leading activities (charity and donation, resolving community complaints, etc.). In doing so, they sometimes cooperated with Japanese community leaders, while at other times protested against the Japanese in the interests of Koreans. Yet a majority of Korean community leaders were involved in pro-Japanese labor, whether to obtain rights to benefits, or to protect their power and wealth, and for that they gained some reward. We need to consider two aspects in order to properly understand the group of Korean community leaders during that period. First, they were positioned along the competing boundaries between the “Korean people” and “pro-Japanese activities” and between “social human networks” and “trust from the Japanese Empire.” An understanding of their dual position is necessary to avoid a linear evaluation. Second, the group of Japanese community leaders, when it came to areas directly related to their interests, never allowed the group of Korean community leaders to be directly involved. This means a majority of Korean community leaders had quite limited rights to benefits and favors, with the exception of a few Koreans with immense power. In this sense, we need to understand that several intricate layers of entanglement surrounded most of them, and as such they should not be judged as one group.