Byeongin Persecution

Background

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Joseon court felt a growing sense of crisis as Western powers drew near. In 1864 and 1865, Russians appeared at Gyeongheung in Hamgyeong Province and demanded trade. In response, the Catholic Hong Bong-ju, the royal secretary Nam Jong-sam, and others proposed to the Heungseon Daewongun a Bangachaek (防俄策, "strategy for checking Russia"), under which Joseon would ally with Western powers through the French missionaries in order to hold Russia back. The believers hoped that if the plan succeeded, they might also gain religious freedom. The Daewongun is reported to have considered at one point meeting Bishop Berneux, the fourth Vicar Apostolic of Korea (the bishop appointed by the Holy See to oversee a mission territory).

However, the Russian threat came to be seen as less serious than first thought, and news arrived that the persecution of Catholics was spreading in Qing China as well. When public sentiment for cheoksa (斥邪, "rejecting heterodoxy"), which condemned Catholicism as sahak (邪學, "false teaching"), was added to these factors, the Daewongun reversed his position and ordered the arrest of believers.

Course of Events

• Spring 1866: The persecution began in earnest with the arrest of Bishop Berneux on February 23. Nam Jong-sam and Hong Bong-ju were executed outside Seosomun Gate on March 7. Of the twelve French missionaries in Joseon, nine, including Bishops Berneux and Daveluy, were executed; only three, Fathers Ridel, Féron, and Calais, survived.
• Autumn 1866 to the following year: Father Ridel escaped from Joseon to China, where he reported the persecution to Admiral Roze, commander of the French Far East Squadron. Citing the persecution as grounds, Roze led his fleet against Joseon twice that autumn (the French campaign against Korea, known in Korea as Byeongin Yangyo). After the French fleet had advanced as far as the Yanghwajin area on the Han River and then withdrawn, the Daewongun set up an execution ground at Jamdubong, beside Yanghwa Ferry, and executed believers there. As a result, the site came to be called Jeoldusan ("Beheading Mountain").
• 1868: The persecution intensified again following the grave-robbing incident at the tomb of Prince Namyeon at Deoksan (the Deoksan tomb-robbing incident). This phase is sometimes referred to separately as the Mujin Persecution.
• After 1871: The persecution intensified once more following the incursion of an American fleet, known as Sinmi Yangyo (the United States expedition to Korea).

The persecution is generally considered to have lasted until the Daewongun's fall from power in 1873. No official order ending it was ever issued, however, and believers were still being arrested or executed in 1877–1879.

Results and Impact

The number of Catholics executed is estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000, most of them anonymous martyrs whose names have not survived. Having lost most of its priests, the Catholic Church in Joseon suffered a severe blow. Coinciding with the French and American incursions, the persecution led the Joseon court to harden its isolationist policy of blocking contact with the West. Of the martyrs whose names are known, twenty-four were later included among the 103 Korean Martyr Saints canonized (officially declared saints) by the Catholic Church. Jeoldusan and other sites of arrest, execution, and burial throughout the country have been developed as martyrs' shrines.

Assessment

The Catholic Church honors this event as a history of martyrdom in defense of the faith and continues to develop shrines and to promote the commemoration of the martyrs (honoring their witness and making it widely known). Causes cited for the persecution include the Neo-Confucian tradition of repelling heterodoxy and the cheoksa mentality, the conflict between Catholic doctrine and Confucian social ethics, and the believers' attitudes toward foreign powers together with the ruling class's reaction to them. There is also a political interpretation holding that the Daewongun, amid a sense of crisis over Western powers, sought to avoid criticism from his political rivals and to protect his hold on power. The fact that France used the persecution as a pretext for armed invasion is also taken into account in assessing the event. Along with the earlier Sinyu Persecution and Gihae Persecution, it is regarded as one of the major episodes in the persecution of Catholics in Joseon.