Joseon’s Movers and Shakers in Gwangju-Jeonnam – February 2025

By Park Nahm-Sheik

Throughout Korean history, numerous patriots have been forced into exile both at home and abroad. Highlighted here are those who were banished by the throne to the Gwangju-Jeonnam area, geographically distant from the seat of power. Jo Gwang-jo (조광조, 1482–1519), for one, was banished to Neungju Township of Hwasun County. In less than a month into his confinement there, he was condemned to the ultimate penalty by poison bestowed from the throne. This has left a tragic legacy behind, in the form of a gazebo known as Yeongbyeok-jeong sitting on the Jiseok River at the foot of Mount Yeonji on the outskirts of Neungju. Growing up in Hancheon Township, not far from Yeongbyeok- jeong, I was fairly familiar with the killer view that the pavilion commands of its surroundings. How ironic it is that this pavilion must have been meant to be a quiet place of rest and meditation for the condemned!

For another, Yun Seon-do (윤선도, 1587–1671) was exiled to Haenam, where he spent the rest of his life as a pastoral poet-philosopher. Up to this day and age, he is fondly remembered in learned circles for his poetic masterpieces. Of his great works of poetry, An Ode to My Five Dearest Friends (오우가) and A Fisherman’s Song of the Four Seasons (어부사시사) stand out, striking a chord in our collective hearts and souls. Most of those who went to high school in the countryside back in the 1950s, as I did, must be familiar with those nostalgic works of poetry. The Green Rain House (녹우당) in Haenam is a museum dedicated to the memory of Yun Seon-do. It houses a collection of numerous memorabilia celebrating the great poet-thinker-philosopher.

Jeong Yak-yong (정약용, 1762–1836) was another historical personage who spent much of his life as an exile away from home and hearth on the southern shore of Jeonnam Province. Among the earliest Korean adopters of the Catholic faith, he was persecuted and banished to Gangjin, an out-of-the-way locality on Korea’s southwestern tip. It is to be noted here that Jeong Yak-yong was a blood relation to Yoon Sun-do, his mother having been of the Haenam Yoon family heritage. Getting baptized into Catholicism back then was regarded as an act of treason against the time- honored Confucian mode of life.

Jeong Yak-yong is better known by his pen name, Dasan (다산, “tea mountain”). This pen name had much to do with Mt. Mandeok, a mountain in Gangjin on the slopes of which grew tea plants aplenty. This mountain was also known as Dasan (Tea Mountain). Dasan’s pen name is clearly intended to imply that the bearer was a staunch tea afficionado.

It would be amiss not to mention that Jeong Yak-yong counted among his brothers two other prominent scholars of the day to be exiled: Jeong Yak-jeon (정약전, 1758–1816) and Jeong Yak-jong (정약종, 1760–1801). Banished to the Islands of Sinji, Ui, and Heuksan, in the vicinity of Gangjin, Yak-jeon was a utilitarian Confucian scholar held in high esteem for his exceptional familiarity with oceanography, fisheries, and other utilitarian academic pursuits. Yak-jong was also a respectable Confucian scholar of the day. He was a devout Catholic as well and suffered martyrdom for the faith.

Throughout Korean history, people were regularly banished to lonesome spots on the dreary shoreline periphery of Jeonnam so that the outer reaches of the province practically served as Korea’s penal colony well into the tail end of the Joseon Dynasty. Islands in Jeonnam that used to harbor significant numbers of exiles included Jindo, Heuksando, Chujado, Gogeumdo, the Sinan islands, and Wando, as did the towns of Haenam, Gangjin, Gwangyang, Suncheon, and Yeongam. This might help shed light on the negative tag typically attached to the Gwangju-Jeonnam region as a whole to this day by much of the nation.

In a wry paradox, however, Gwangju-Jeonnam has produced quite a few torch bearers for modern Korea. Seo Jae-pil (서재필, aka Philip Jaisohn, 1864–1951), for one, hailed from Mundeok Township in Boseong County. He became a persona non grata in Korea when the Gapsin Coup of 1884 (갑신정변) came to naught. A ringleader of this failed palace coup, he ended up a runaway from the wrath of the court. His wife was executed along with the rest of his family. His fellow coup protagonists included such prominent figures as Kim Ok- gyun (1851–1894), Pak Yeong-hyo (1861–1939), and Seo Gwang-beom (1859–1897). Seo Jae-pil ended up seeking refuge abroad as an exile in the United States by way of Japan.