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Colonialism, Imperialism, and Relations with Local Powers in Korea, 1876–1950

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The Palgrave Handbook of the Catholic Church in East Asia

Abstract

Korea, like China and Japan, would feel the pressure Western imperialism brought to East Asia. And like those two countries, it would seek to reform, but unlike them, it would be annexed, becoming a colony of Japan in 1910. Thus, the Catholic Church in Korea was in an incredibly complex situation. Korean Catholics and the foreign missionaries who dominated the leadership of their church would first have to deal with a hostile and then relatively indifferent, declining Korean state, a rising Japanese colonial government that sought to institute sophisticated means of control, a desire by a significant portion of Korean Catholics to resist Japan’s colonization and after annexation to struggle for independence, international ecclesial politics, and the liberation and division of their country following Japan’s defeat in World War Two. This was all in addition to having to sustain and develop a Catholic community that had been decimated by persecution for nearly a century. This chapter will trace the complex relationships among Catholics in Korea, local powers, and imperialism while revealing how despite the serious difficulties faced by the Catholic Church during this time, important developments would occur that would allow it to play an important role in the Republic of Korea following Liberation in 1945.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lander University, Greenwood, SC, USA

    Franklin Rausch

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  1. Franklin Rausch
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Correspondence to Franklin Rausch .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Cindy Yik-yi Chu

  2. Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Beatrice Leung

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Rausch, F. (2021). Colonialism, Imperialism, and Relations with Local Powers in Korea, 1876–1950. In: Chu, C.Yy., Leung, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Catholic Church in East Asia . Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9365-9_26-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9365-9_26-1

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