Donghak Peasant Revolution

By the 1890s, Donghak believers began a petition to overturn the 1863 Choe Je-u's execution charges. The religion was split by this time into the 'Northern Jeob' and the 'Southern Jeob.' Seo Inju, leader of the Southern Jeob, asked Choe Sihyeong, the Gyoju, for a petition. Choe did not answer the request, presumably remembering the effects of Yi Pil-je's Revolt on Donghak in Gyeongsang.^[17] Seo Inju and the Southern Jeob independently held a petition to free imprisoned Donghak believers and to restore the honor of Choe Je-u, which was not easily granted. In November 1892, Jeon Bong-jun led the Samrye Petition, petitioning for:


In December, there was another petition in the market of Boeun. Many Southern Jeob believers thought they should march into Seoul and petition before the king, but Choe Sihyeong finally quelled the Boeun petition, instead penning a letter to King Gojong:^[19]


In response, Gojong ordered the Northern messengers to "go to your homes. If you do, I may grant your plea". Meanwhile, Seo Inju and the Southern Jeob were threatening Westerners and Japanese with bodily harm, saying, "If you do not flee by March the seventh, we shall all kill you. You are causing injustice in a foreign land." This was attached to American, French, and Japanese legations, Christian churches and schools, and districts with a large number of foreigners taking residence.^[21]


Jeon Bong-jun, meanwhile, led his followers into Boeun, which became the most violent and revolutionary petition in the Gyojo Shinwon Movement. His followers all wore blue clothes with red gloves. About 80,000 believers, with the flags "Expel Westerners and Japanese," gathered in the market and built an earthen fortress. Revolutionary thoughts include, "In other countries, the people hold councils and decide upon the government. This petition is like that. Why suppress it?"^[22] formed. The petition was also more extreme. The requests were:


Northern Jeob leaders, such as Choe Sihyeong and Son Byong-hi, feared that the government would execute Donghak believers and stopped the petition within three days. Jeon Bong-jun returned to Gobu.^[24]

The rebellion's immediate cause was the conduct of Jo Byeong-gap, the ruling official of Gobu. After his capture, Jeon gave a detailed account of Jo's misdeeds:


Of these, the construction of the Manseokbo reservoir caused the most fury. Yedeung Reservoir had caused the Baedeul fields to not suffer from starvation ever since Yedeung was built. However, the construction of the new reservoir blocked creeks in the region, causing widespread damage through flooding.^[27]


Donghak believers and angered peasants began forming a rebel army. They used the Sabal Tongmun, whose names were written around a circular cone to form a circle. The Sabal Tongmun made the leader of the writers unclear (because it was impossible to know who had signed their name first). On 10 January 1894, a thousand rebels gathered in an abandoned horse ranch. Splitting into two armies, they destroyed three of the four gates of Gobu and occupied the government office. Jo fled Gobu to Jeonju (he was exiled after the war ended and returned from his exile to become a judge).^[28]


For a week, the rebels destroyed prisons and freed innocent prisoners, armed themselves with weapons from the local armory, punished corrupt officials who had been captured, returned taxed and fined property to original owners, and destroyed Manseokbo Reservoir.^[29] However, the crisis ended when Jo was replaced by Park Won-myeong, who convinced the rebels to disband.^[30]

Although Jeon Bong-jun officially disbanded the rebel army after the Battle of Taein, many other commanders did not disband their respective armies until December. On 1 December, Son Hwa-jung and Choe Gyeong-seon disbanded their rebel armies in Gwangju and went into hiding. The same day, the great rebel leader Kim Gae-nam was captured. Kim had been betrayed by a friend named Yim Byeongchan and captured by 80 governmental soldiers who surrounded the house of Kim's brother-in-law. Kim was dragged to Naju. On 13 December, he was put to death by beheading, and his corpse was ripped apart in five. The magistrate of Naju ate Kim's intestines and liver.


On 2 December, Jeon Bong-jun was also captured in a village called Pinori in modern Sunchang (see left), betrayed by his lieutenant Kim Gyeongcheon. Jeon suspected Kim had betrayed him and leaped out of the two-story house holding his musket. However, the house was surrounded by governmental soldiers, and he was hit many times with large sticks, causing him to break his legs. Jeon was imprisoned and taken to Seoul. Kim Gyeongcheon went into hiding because he feared that the rebels would kill him. Trials were not held because the government wanted to immediately put Jeon, Son Hwa-jung, Choe Gyeong-Seon, and Kim Deokmyeong on trial. (these four, along with Kim Gae-Nam, are known as the Five Donghak Generals)


Also, by December, the Anti-Japanese Frontier had been pushed down to the southern coast of Korea. On 7 December, the Japanese finally killed Kim Inbae, the Great Jeobju of Geumgu, who had aided the Jinju rebels in the Battle of Gwangyang Fortress. Kim Inbae's head was tied to a pole and displayed in Gwangyang. However, in Jangheung, the rebel leader Yi Bangeon captured Gangjin on 7 December. On 11 December, Son Hwa-jung was also arrested.


Meanwhile, the Japanese were attacking Yi Bangeon and the Jangheung rebels, forming the region's last organized rebel army. On 15 December, the final major battle in Jeolla Province, the Battle of the Seokdae Fields, was fought between Yi Bangeon's rebels and the Japanese. This battlefield is now one of the Four Battlefields of the Donghak Revolution. Thirty thousand rebels were present, and 2,000 were killed. As the 800 Japanese soldiers moved through Yeongam, Gangjin, Haenam, and Jindo Island, they engaged in a scorched-earth strategy, killing 600 civilians and burning villages and sacks of rice. Yi Bangeon was finally captured in Christmas 1894 and beheaded with his son in Seoul.^[71][72] With the death of Yi Bangeon, the rebels had been completely exterminated, except for 30 rebels who hid in Mount Daedun.


Sometime in December, Choe Gyeong-seon was also captured. On 1 January 1895, the last rebel leader, Kim Deokmyeong, was captured in Wonpyeong. The four leaders were put on trial, and Jeon Bong-jun's testimony during the trials formed the Testimony of Jeon Bong-jun. In his testimony, Jeon emphasized that Donghak believers formed only a small fragment of the rebels, the majority being peasants seeking vengeance. However, he also explained the theology of Donghak to the court. He also denied connections with the Great Regent Heungseon.^[73]


On 29 March, the four leaders were hanged for treason. Later, Confucian scholars stole the bodies, beheaded them, and displayed the heads in public. Only Choe Gyeong-seon's body has been identified, and the locations of the other three are unknown.


The last battle in the Donghak Revolution was the Battle of Mount Daedun on 17 February. The 30 rebels held the mountain for three days until a Japanese battalion attacked them by climbing up the rocky cliffs. Only a young child survived. However, rebels were still killed in 1895 in various ways. Those included:


Meanwhile, the Northern leaders Choe Sihyeong and Son Byong-hi had fled after the defeat at Jonggok. In January 1898, Choe and Son escaped arrest because Kim Yeonguk had been misidentified for Choe Sihyeong. In April 1898, however, Choe was captured and put on trial. Because the government wished to execute Choe before he died of disease, the trials were speedily done. Son Byong-hi and a group of other believers attempted to free Choe by bribing the judges with land, but Choe was executed after a month. He was buried in the cemetery with a small marker saying 'Donghak Ringleader Choe Sihyeong.' That night, Son and the others secretly entered the cemetery and took Choe's body. Choe was reburied in Gwangju.