Korea's intellectual father, Park Eun-sik

Park Eun-sik was a Korean independence activist and an intellectual father of the Korean nation. His contributions are not frequently talked up outside of history and philosophy classes, perhaps. Still, this unassuming patriot was a brother in the struggle to throw off the chains of Japanese colonialism and claim a nation for Koreans by Koreans.

Born in the mid-19th century, Park lived in Hwanghae in what is now North Korea until the 1880s, when he went to Seoul. As a person with a conservative mind, his goal as a young man was to foster a deeper understanding of the values of neo-Confucianism as a guide to living and to reforming the Korean Empire.

In time, these inclinations would lead him to join independence activities, serving as editor and author of publications that are now considered classics of Korean literature, philosophy and nationalism. His idea was to unify theory and practice and to place value on living out the doctrines of Confucianism, not just studying them. These ideas were derived from his studies of the writings of the Confucian scholar Wang Yangming.

Park’s ideas moved the center of Confucianism away from living through the monarch or king to the idea that all people have abilities and need to live out Confucian values. His work exemplifies the living potential of Confucian thought to be adapted for social progress and change. This didn’t prevent his ideas from being labeled as a passive orientation to the world, though Park’s meaning is anything but reserved.

Park would relocate to Manchuria and support the Korean independence movement through his writing and work with other resistance leaders. In 1913, he and other activists started Bakdal Academy in Shanghai, uniting his efforts with those of the Korean Provisional Government. Park would go on to lead an independence newspaper and became the second leader of the Korean Provisional Government.

Park was self-effacing, quite different from the mentality of what we today would call a “strong president.” At times, he was mistaken for a peasant or a regular guy due to his humble manner of dress. His humanity shined above the clouds and through to the earth’s center.

While he valued Korea’s intellectual roots, some of them derived from Chinese Confucianism, Park was no romantic. He warned his fellow countrymen that China must be watched, seeing in the speeches of Sun Yat-sen a not-so-distant desire to return Korea to its vassal state status.

Park is credited by some for creating the idea of Korea as a nation with a soul. This began with his valuation of the legend of Dangun and promoting the origin myth. These ideas led him to the minor religion of Daejonggyeo, which still has adherents today.

What I find most instructive about Park is similar to what I found in learning more about Dosan, born Ahn Chang-ho, another important independence activist. The idea is one of Korea for Koreans: For Korea to exist, each and every Korean person must take responsibility for their own destiny. This means any person, lowborn or highborn, is like a king in some sense as they seek to build the Korean nation. This also means there is no king or emperor; such concepts are melded into the nation.

Park viewed the Confucian classics — long the province of philosophers, academics and scholarship — as existing for all individuals. The value of the doctrines of mutual self-development, taking responsibility and honoring relationships between people of all ranks is a technology of thinking and living for all persons.

While Korean independence did not rely on a disembodied “life of the mind” and required the use of power and force, Park’s contribution was to provide the movement with an appeal to humanity, with legitimacy and bases of authority that endure to this day. Park’s thought anticipates what one might call the democratic potential of the Korean people in both liberal and conservative forms.

Park turned these ideas to a politics and ethics that support the throwing off the chains of Japanese occupation, the building of the Korean nation and a spirit of nationalism for all Korean people, not just nobles or elites. Park’s own life journey masks the greatness of his example and the enduring value of his legacy.

Bernard Rowan (browan10@yahoo.com) is associate provost for contract administration and academic services and professor of political science at Chicago State University. He is a past fellow of the Korea Foundation and former visiting professor at Hanyang University.