呂運亨의 활동을 통해 본 上海 지역 초기 한인공산주의 조직의 형성과 변천에 대한 재해석, 1919~1921

Abstract

This paper intends to present a broad international perspective of early Korean Communist organizations in Shanghai with a focus on the activities of Yeo Un-hyeong (呂運亨) from 1919 to 1921. First of all, the author analyzes and clarifies the background and reasons behind Yeo Un-hyeong’s appointment as a member of the secret diplomatic mission to the Soviet Government―along with other two members, An Gong-geun and Han Hyeong-gwon—and why he was not able to go to Moscow. In this paper, the author concludes that Yi Dong-hwi’s opposition to Yeo Un-hyeong’s trip to Moscow resulted from Yi’s negative evaluation about Yeo’s trip to the Russian Maritime Province early 1919 and to Tokyo at the end of 1919. Without knowledge of the fact that Yi Dong-hwi had already sent Han Hyeong-gwon to Moscow, Yeo Un-hyeong visited Chen Jiongming (陳炯明) to South China in early May, 1920 with Gim Bok, a Korean revolutionary and Aleksei Potapov, a former general of Tsarist army and pro-Bolshevik figure who was returning through China to Russia. They were said to agree to pursue a tripartite collaborative military plan among the Soviet government and revolutionary forces of China and Korea. The author contends that Yeo Un-hyeong travelled to South China while considering himself as a member of the KPG’s secret delegation to Moscow. Before and after the March First Movement, Yeo Un-hyeong focused his diplomatic efforts toward the Western Powers including the U.S. Later, however, he began to shift his efforts towards obtaining financial and military assistance from Soviet Russia, particularly after he met and made an appeal to U.S. Congressmen who were visiting East Asia (China, Japan and colonial Korea) in August, 1920. Yeo-Un-hyeong had met the U.S. Congressmen as a member of the welcoming commission organized by the KPG. Both in Shanghai and Beijing, Yeo met the U.S. Congressmen and appealed them to help Korea restore their independence from Japan. Soon afterwards in September, he joined the ‘Korean Communist Group’. This group included other active Korean revolutionaries in Shanghai such as An Byeong-chan, Jo Dong-ho, Choe Chang-sik, Gim Du-bong and Sin Chae-ho. The Korean Communist Group was first organized in May, 1920 by the initiative of Gim Man-gyeom who had arrived in Shanghai from Vladivostok as a deputy to Grigorii Voitinskii, a Russian Bolshevik. Voitinskii, Gim Man-gyeom and Yang Mingchai (楊明齎), a Chinese Bolshevik, were sent to China by Vilenskii (Sibiriakov) in Vladivostok, the Far Eastern Affairs plenipotentiary of the Soviet government and the head of the Vladivostok branch of the Russian Communist Party Far Eastern Bureau with the mission of establishing systematic relations with Chinese, Korean and Japanese revolutionaries. With the guidance of Voitinskii and funds from the Russian Communist Party, Gim Man-gyeom was able to organize the Korean Communist Group with Yi Dong-hwi, the premier of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) and Gim Rip, the chief-secretary to the Cabinet of the KPG. They were also joined by four members of the Korean Socialist Party (Hanin Sahoedang) in Shanghai. That the Korean Communist Group changed its name to the ‘Korean Communist Party’ (Hanin Gongsandang) reflected the organization’s strengthened influence due to increased membership and funds received from the Comintern (the Third Communist International) which was brought to Shanghai from Moscow by Yi Han-yeong. By his own account Yeo Un-hyeong has said that he decided to participate in the Korean Communist Group after he met Voitinskii through Gim Man-gyeom soon after his meetings with the U.S. Congress delegation. Considering that there are some conflicts and discrepancies among Yeo Un-hyeong’s recollections in the interrogation of Yeo by the Japanese police and prosecutors, the author attempts to compare and scrutinize what Yeo told the Japanese with the activities of other Korean revolutionaries in Shanghai. In this paper, the author traces and analyzes the background and context related to the formation and transformation of the Korean Communist organizations in Shanghai and concludes that ‘the Korean Communist Group (Hanin Gongsanjueuija Greup)’ in May 1920, the Korean Communist Party (Hanin Gongsandang) in September 15, 1920 and the split of the Party into the two factions of the Korean Communist Party (Koryeo Gongsandang) -Shanghai Group and Irkutsk Group in May, 1921. This paper attempts to offer new interpretations that may resolve the controversial issues surrounding the establishment and the transformation of these Korean Communist organizations in Shanghai in 1920 and 1921.