국민 탄생의 역사와 안중근

Abstract

In all the calligraphic works Ahn Jung-geun produced in prison, he clearly recorded the time, place, and author of his calligraphic works. In other words, he added to all his calligraphic works the sentence "In February (or March) of the gyeongja year (1910), Ahn Jung-geun, a national of Great Korea, wrote in the Lushun prison." Although adding such a sentence is unparalleled in the history of Korean calligraphy, no study has been devoted to examining this fact. The mention of "a national of Great Korea (Daehanguk in)" has merely been regarded as an indication of his fervent patriotism. Ahn Jung-geun was born in 1879. In 1894-95, when he was 15 and 16 years of age, Joseon underwent the First Sino-Japanese War on its own soil. In order to overcome this tragedy, the making of a modern nation was set in motion. The Education Decree, issued on February 2, 1895, put forward the cultivation of three areas-cultivation of virtue (deokyang), cultivation of physical body (cheyang), and cultivation of intellect (jiyang)-as the main principle of education. In the Decree, the Korean monarch stated that only the subjects (sinmin) could resist the enemy of the state, prevent humiliation to the state, and carry on the political system of the state and that providing educational opportunities for the subjects was critical to strengthening the country. All the policy measures aimed at creating a modern nation were written in a script that used both Korean letters and Chinese characters. Tongnip Sinmun, a Korean-only newspaper, was founded in 1896 with government support, and this was also in line with this direction. Ahn Jung-geun's autobiography, History of Ahn Eung-chil, also demonstrates the trend of this era. He possessed a strong sense of identity and duty as a Korean national, to the extent that he may be regarded as a supreme example in the making of a modern nation pursued by the monarch Gojong. He engaged in the education movement in Jinnampo and was in charge of the Pyongyang area during the 1907 National Debt Redemption Movement, a nationwide movement driven by an intense sense of national duty. It was this strong sense of national identity that enabled him to enlist in the Vladivostok-based Korean Righteous Army and carry out the execution of Ito Hirobumi, the chief culprit in Japan's usurpation of Korea's national sovereignty. Of fifty-odd calligraphic works he produced in prison, Ahn Jung-geun also left three calligraphic writings as farewell notes to Gwangmu Emperor Gojong, the head of the Korean Empire.