1926년 민족주의세력의 정세 인식과 ‘민족적 중심단체’ 결성 모색 -‘연정회 부활’ 계획에 대한 재해석-

Abstract

This research aims to explain what type of nationalist context affected the establishment of the Sin'ganhoe by examining nationalist groups' understanding of the political situation and their activities in the 1920s, which were directly connected to the formation of the Sin'ganhoe. When the socialist camp founded a movement for a national united front in the 1926, the nationalist camp also began to take actions for the establishment of a national leading organization and national political body. The nationalist groups expected changes in the Japanese political circle and colonial policies toward Korea following the enforcement of universal suffrage in Japan. In the meantime, the Kuomintang government of China embarked on the Northern Expedition in July of 1926, which was encouraging to all nationalist groups. The nationalist groups' attempt to establish a political organization, which appeared in the so-called “revival plan of the Yônjônghoe”, was not a self-government movement propagated by Japan. It was the product of the encouraged nationalist groups' concrete activities starting in late 1925 for the establishment of a national leading organization and national political body. The leading figures of the activities were Song Chin-Woo and the Dong-A Daily Newspaper group, but there were also diverse people from the Korean Communist Party as well as Ch'ôndogyo and Christian groups. In the course of their political movement, problems appeared when Ch'oe Rin, who raised suspicion of promoting a self-government movement by contacting Abe, Governor- General Saito's political councilor and secret agent, began to participate in their political movement, as well as when the old lines of the Sôul group started a campaign against Kim Chun-Yôn and Han Wi-Gôn, who had joined the Korean Communist Party. The movement for the establishment of a national organization ended in a rupture due to such internal conflicts in the nationalist camp and in socialist groups. For the Dong-A Daily Newspaper group, the self-awakening and solidarity of the Chosôn people was insufficient, and it was impossible for this to lead to the creation of an army for national independence. Thus, the political organization of a national movement meant a preparatory body for cultivating the actual ability of people's political “consciousness” and “national discipline”, providing for changes in the international political situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula. However, their dependence on action within the legal confines exposed the danger of reformism and compromise with Japanese imperialism especially when it was not considered to agree to a shared ideology and movement among the key organizations and members. The Dong-A Daily Newspaper group's movement to establish a national leading organization was suspended as Song Chin-Woo was arrested in November of 1926, and the Sin'ganhoe was finally established by other groups.