해방 직후 미국 북장로교 한국선교부 재건

Abstract

This article deals with the problems which took place in the process of the re-settlement of Korea Mission by the Foreign Mission Board of the PCUSA during the Occupation of the United States Military Government in Korea. Directly after the collapse of Japan in August 1945, the Board hastened to rebuild Korea Mission which had been forced to close by the Japanese authorities in 1941. However, there were two main problems to be solved for the rehabilitation of the Mission. First of all, the Mission properties were almost sold by action to the Japanese,classified as enemy ownership, after the Mission withdrew. In many cases, furthermore,they were swooped by the Koreans after the Japanese residents left for Japan, in a way of retaliation against Japan. In this circumstance, the Occupation also wanted some of them for military purposes. The Board made an One-Yen lease contract for one year on them with the Occupation, in the condition that the Army would amend them without the financial engagement of the Board. The Occupation also supplied food,accommodation and military utilities for anticipating missionaries. In June 1948, this contract terminalized at the same time that the Occupation withdrew from the South. The other stumbling-block to the rehabilitation of the Mission aroused from the economic disorder in the South. After the liberation, the prices in the South were sharply rising, making the economic situation worse. The Occupation was worried about a steep inflation so that they adopted a tight exchange rate policy between Yen and US dollar. 1 to 15 was a legal rate of exchanging dollar for yen in which the value of dollar was extremely underestimated. This resulted in the delay of the Restoration Fund's transaction from the Board to the Interim Executive Committee in the South. In Spring 1948, an exchange bank was established in the South which made possible for the Committee to exchange dollar into Yen at a much higher rate, 1:450. After Spring 1948, the Board began to transact the Restoration Fund of Korea to the Committee. The missionaries were all accustomed as to Korea itself in a practical sense so that the military leadership could not but rely upon them in executing its polices in the American zone, which resulted in enhancing their influence in the Occupation. Under the auspices of the Occupation, the Board was able to avoid confusions in recovering the right of the Mission properties and also reduce the expenditure for repairs by renting them to the Occupation.