Ilhan New, Soldier for the Modern Nation
Recovering a Protestant Martial Alternative to Korean Hegemonic Masculinity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.v33i2.209Keywords:
Protestant, Protestantism, Catholic, Christian, masculinity, gender, hegemonic, Korea, Ilhan New, Yuhan, ethics, martial, crisis, violence, Confucianism, nation, nationalism, state, Sin Ch’aeho, Kim Dae Jung, Sŏ Chaep’il, Korean-AmericanAbstract
Twentieth century Korean hegemonic masculinity has validated the right to employ violence for the benefit of the nation unchecked by any higher ethical concerns. This arose in the early twentieth century in reaction to a crisis of Korean masculinity, identified by the first Korean nationalists. The supposed pernicious effects of Confucianism created the crisis by making men effete. This in turn “led” Korea to lose its independence. While scholars have recognized alternative Korean masculinities arising since the 1990s, including Catholic masculinities, they have overlooked a Protestant martial masculinity personified by Ilhan New [1895–1971]. New was a much-lauded business pioneer, but his military career has not been analyzed in terms of its place in the history of masculinity. Mentored by a leading Protestant nationalist, New personified in mid-century an alternative Protestant martial masculinity, which created soldiers fighting for the nation under the discipline of a conventional military, bound by Protestant norms.
References
Armstrong, Charles. 2013. “The Role and Influence of Ideology.” In North Korea in Transition: Politics, Economy, and Society, edited by Kyung-Ae Park and Scott Snyder, 3–18. Plymouth: Rowman and Littlefield.
Chandra, Vipan. 1988. Imperialism, Resistance, and Reform in Late Nineteenth Century Korea: Enlightenment and the Independence Club. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cho, Song-ki. 2005. Yu Il-Han p’yongjon [A critical biography of Yu Il-Han] Seoul: Bobosbook.
Choi, Hak Joo. 2012. Yuktang Ch’oe Namson and Korean Modernity. Seoul: YBM.
Connell, R.W. 2005. Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity.
Dunch, Ryan. 2001. Fuzhou Protestants and the Making of a Modern China: 1857–1927. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Elliott, Duong Van Mae. 2010. RAND in South-East Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era. Santa Monica: RAND.
Em, Henry H. 2013. The Great Enterprise: Sovereignty and Historiography in Modern Korea. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/9780822395928
Gilmore, David D. 1990. Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Hayashi, Brian Masaru. 2012. “Loyalty’s Janus Face: the Office of Strategic Services and Asian Americans during World War II,” Departmental Bulletin Paper, International Institute of American Studies, Doshisha University, March 19.
Hwang, Myong-su. 1994. “Yu ilhanui saengaewa kyongje inyom” [Ilhan New’s legacy and management philosophy]. In Kyongyongsa hakhwe, (T’ ukchip) Yu ilhan yongu, (Kyongyong sahak che 9-chip) [(Special) report on Ilhan New, (management history 9th special report)], 11–46. Seoul: Kyongyongsa Hakhwe.
Jager, Sheila Miyoshi. 2003. Narratives of Nation Building in Korea: A Genealogy of Patriotism. Armonk: East Gate.
Jaisohn, Philip M.D. [So Chaep’il]. 1999. My Days in Korea and Other Essays. Seoul: Yonsei University Press.
Jeong, Kelly Y. 2011. Crisis of Gender and the Nation in Korean Literature and Cinema: Modernity Arrives Again. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Jung, Sun. 2011. Korean Masculinities and Transcultural Consumption: Yonsama, Rain, Oldboy, K-Pop Idols. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Kim, Hyung-A. 2004. Korea’s Development under Park Chung Hee: Rapid Industrialization, 1961–1979. London: RoutledgeCurzon.
Kim, Jongdeok. 2007. “Hanguk TV kwanggoe nat’anan namsongsong yongu” [The representation of masculinity in Korean TV commercials]. Kwanggohak yongu. 18(1), (March 30): 215–243.
Korean Congress, 1919. First Korean Congress, Held in the Little Theatre, 17th and Delancey Streets, April 14, 15, 16. Philadelphia, PA: Korean Congress.
Lee, Chong Sik. 1984. So Chae-p’il: miguk mangmyong sijol (Philip Jaihson in the United States). Seoul: Chongumsa.
Lee, Hyun-hee. 1995. Yu Il-han ui tongnip undong yongu: A study on NEW Il Han’s Independent Movement in U.S.A. Seoul: Orient, 1995.
Lee, Jin-kyung. 2010. Service Economies: Militarism, Sex Work, and Migrant Labor in South Korea. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
“Letter from Lieut. Colonel Carroll T. Harris to Colonel M. Preston Goodfellow, Oct. 14, 1942.” Copy of Original from Yuhan Corporation.
Min, Kyoung Bae. 2005. A History of Christian Churches in Korea. Seoul: Yonsei University Press.
Moon, Seungsook. 2002. “The Production and Subversion of Hegemonic Masculinity: Reconfiguring Gender Hierarchy in Contemporary South Korea.” In Under Construction: The Gendering of Modernity, Class, and Consumption in the Republic of Korea, edited by Laurel Kendall, 79–114. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/9780822387312
——–––. 2005. Militarized Modernity and Gendered Citizenship in South Korea. Durham: Duke University Press.
Nara sarangui ch’am kiopin: Yu Il-han [A truly patriotic businessman: Ilhan New]. 1995. Seoul: Yuhan Yanghaeng.
New, Ilhan. 1943. Korea and the Pacific War. U.S.: United Korean Committee in America Planning and Research Board.
——–––. 1944. “For White Trade Only.” Asia and the Americas. 44(1), (January): 30–31.
Oh, In-Cheol. 2005. A Study on Korean Immigration and Independence Movements in Hawaii: Relating to Korean Churches and Picture-Bride, 1903–2003. Seoul: Sung Moon Dang.
Oh, Seiwoong. 2001. “Ilhan New (1895–1971).” In Asian American Autobiographers: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook, edited by Guiyou Huang, 281–285. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Osia, N.H. [So Chae-p’il]. 1922. Hansu’s Journey: A Korean Story. Philadelphia, PA: Philip Jaisohn & Company.
Park, Chung-Shin. 2003. Protestantism and Politics in Korea. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Park, Jin-Hyung. 2008. “Representation, Politics, Ethics: Rethinking Homosexuality in Contemporary Korean Cinema and Discourses.” In AsiapacifiQUEER: Rethinking Genders and Sexualities, edited by Fran Martin, Peter A. Jackson, Mark McLelland, and Audry Yue, 197–216. Urbana, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Putney, Clifford. 2001. Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880–1920. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Robinson, Michael Edson. 1988. Cultural Nationalism in Colonial Korea, 1920–1925. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Rutt, Richard. 1983. James Scarth Gale and His History of the Korean People. Seoul: Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch.
Schmid, Andre. 2002. Korea Between Empires: 1895–1919. New York: Columbia University.
Snyder, Scott. 1999. Negotiating on the Edge: North Korean Negotiating Behavior. Washington: United States Institute of Peace.
So, Hwa-dong. 2004. “Yu Il-Han, Yuhan yanghaeng ch’angopcha” [Ilhan New, founder of Yuhan]. In Hanguk chabonchuui kaech’ okchatuul [Pioneers of Korean capitalism], edited by Tong-song Cho, 23–54. Seoul: Wolkan Choson.
Tikhonov, Vladimir. 2010. Social Darwinism and Nationalism in Korea: The Beginnings (1880s–1910s): “Survival” as an Ideology of Korean Modernity. Leiden: Brill.
Wells, Kenneth M. 1990. New God, New Nation: Protestants and Self-Reconstruction Nationalism in Korea, 1896–1937. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Yu, Gyu-Chang and Chris Rowley. 2009. “The Changing Face of Korean Human Resource Management.” In The Changing Face of Korean Management, edited by Chris Rowley and Yongsun Paik, 29–51. London: Routledge.
