여순항쟁의 왜곡과 반공문화 - ‘반란실정 문인조사반’을 중심으로 -

Abstract

On October 19, 1948, the Yeosu-stationed 14th regiment refused to obey the suppression order of the Jeju 4·3 Resistance. This was called the ‘Yeosun Resistance’. The Yeosun Resistance that broke out only two months after the establishment of the Republic of Korea was a big shock for the Syngman Rhee government. It was also a chance to change the flow of the political situation. After the Yeosun Resistance the Syngman Rhee government persecuted opponents and monitored the nation at all times in the name of combating the leftists. That is, this was a transition to a dichotomous social structure and Anti-communism that was internalized for the nation’s morale. It was disguised as ‘Security’ or an‘Anti-Communist’ stance. However, there was a limit to using law or institutional arrangements in forming an anti-communism culture and a dichotomous social structure. The government needed strategic measures to build national consensus and public opinion by mobilizing an important intellectual, cultural, artistic or religious figure in the society. Therefore, the government promoted on-site visits by forming a ‘Writer-investigation party (문인조사반)’ into the center of a cultural artist of the time. The force of the Writer-investigation party’s written style contributed to the stability of Rhee’s governmental system and had helped to reorganize the social structure in its entirety. This also contributed to the spread of the anti-communism culture, systematizing national consensus and public opinion. The Writer-investigation party distorted and fabricated the Yeosun Resistance without verifying the facts. They did this by using information from soldiers and civil servants and by adding their characteristic imagination. In the process of consolidating the Yeosun Resistance as a negative image, as the communist ‘Bbalgangi’, ‘revolt’. The Writer investigation party played a significant role in the Yeosun Resistance.