The Women's Network of the Busan March 1st Movement: How Ilsin Girl's School Became the First Spark
The Women's Network of the Busan March 1st Movement: How Ilsin Girl's School Became the First Spark
Introduction: The First Cry in the Port City
In early 1919, the air in Joseon was thick with both hope and sorrow. The sudden death of Emperor Gojong had ignited national fury against the tyranny of Imperial Japan, while the principle of self-determination, championed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, fanned the flames of desire for independence.
However, the situation in Busan was unique. As the bridgehead for the invasion of Joseon and the port city with the highest proportion of Japanese residents, Busan was tantamount to the heart of colonial rule, and the surveillance network of the Japanese military and police was tighter there than anywhere else.
This report aims to move beyond the macro-historical perspective that the male-centric central leadership of the 33 national representatives planned and triggered the March 1st Movement. It seeks to conduct an in-depth analysis of why, in the heavily surveilled city of Busan, the honor of leading the 'first' Manse demonstration fell to the female teachers and students of Ilsin Women's School (日新女學校). Their uprising was by no means a spontaneous or isolated event. It was made possible through an organic connection with the 'Songjukhoe' (松竹會), a secret Christian women's association that was already organized nationwide before the March 1st Movement. It was this invisible women's network that provided the ideological motivation, the organizational framework, and the secure communication channels necessary for swift and decisive action.
Chapter 1: The Nationwide Communication Structure of the March 1st Movement
A Coalition of Faith: Planning the Uprising Through Religious Organizations
The nationwide mobilization of the March 1st Movement was made possible through the solidarity of religious organizations, which were the only groups able to maintain a national network under Japanese surveillance. Leaders from Cheondogyo, Christianity (Presbyterian and Methodist), and Buddhism united under the great cause of national independence, transcending sectarian differences.
The printing and distribution of the Declaration of Independence is a prime example of this coalition's efficiency. Tens of thousands of copies were secretly printed at Boseongsa (普成社), a printing house run by the Cheondogyo figure Yi Jong-il (李鍾一), and the Cheondogyo organization was primarily responsible for its distribution to the northern and central regions.
The Wave Southward: The Christian Network and Student Emissaries
The Christian network played a pivotal role in communications to the southern regions, including Busan. The presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church, the annual conferences of the Methodist Church, and the mission schools scattered across the country moved like a single, vast organism to spread the plan for the uprising.
Specifically, Yi Gap-seong (李甲成), a Christian leader and one of the 33 national representatives, was tasked with mobilizing the Gyeongsang Province region, which included Busan.
The structure of this communication network reveals a crucial feature of the March 1st Movement. The central leadership provided the direction and ideological foundation (the Declaration of Independence), but the execution of demonstrations in each region was thoroughly decentralized. Since most of the 33 national representatives were arrested immediately after the movement began, it was physically impossible for them to directly command the situation in Busan on March 11th.
Chapter 2: The Invisible Architects: Songjukhoe and the Christian Women's Network
An Oath of Integrity: The Birth and Goals of Songjukhoe
To understand the pioneering role of Ilsin Women's School, one must turn the clock back six years before the March 1st Movement to spotlight the secret society 'Songjukhoe' (松竹會), which served as the hub of the women's independence movement at the time. Songjukhoe was an anti-Japanese secret society for women, formed in 1913, centered around the teachers and students of Soong-Eui Women's School in Pyongyang, a city then known as the 'Jerusalem of Korea'.
Secrecy and Discipline: The Organizational Structure of Songjukhoe
To evade Japanese surveillance, Songjukhoe operated as a highly disciplined cell-based organization.
Expansion Through Education: The Mission School Network
Songjukhoe's most brilliant strategy was its organizational expansion utilizing the 'mission school network'. As members who graduated from Soong-Eui Women's School became teachers and were appointed to Presbyterian mission schools across the country, they established new branches, thereby expanding their influence.
The connection to Busan was forged through this very strategy. In 1916, Songjukhoe dispatched organizational head Seo Mae-mul (徐梅勿) to Busan. She established the Busan branch by recruiting members centered around Ilsin Women's School and Busanjin Church, key Presbyterian strongholds in the Busan area.
The case of Songjukhoe clearly demonstrates the importance of 'soft infrastructure' in building a revolutionary network. The members of Songjukhoe shared not just patriotism, but a common Presbyterian faith, a homogeneous educational background from mission schools, and deep personal bonds as teachers and students. This informal, relationship-based foundation created the high level of trust essential for perilous secret activities. Information transmitted through this network was immediately trusted without a separate verification process, and the recipients were already prepared to act. This was the fundamental reason they could move more quickly and agilely than the male-dominated political networks.
Chapter 3: The Proclamation Arrives in Busan: Reconstructing the Communication Path
Dual Channels: Independent Communication Networks for Men and Women
The fervor for independence that began in Seoul was transmitted to Busan through two distinct channels. Around March 3rd, male student emissaries from the Gyeongseong Student Group delivered the Declaration of Independence to male students at Dongnae High School and Busan Commercial School, marking the first official channel.
The school's official liaison is recorded as being student Lee Myeong-si (李明施).
The Ecosystem That Enabled the Uprising
The uprising at Ilsin Women's School did not occur in isolation. Rather, the unique environment surrounding the school acted as an 'ecosystem' that facilitated and supported the event.
First, there was the active support of missionaries from the Australian Presbyterian Mission. Principal Margaret Davies, founder Isabella Menzies, and teacher Daisy Hocking were more than just educators; they were the students' spiritual pillars.
Second, the role of Busanjin Church (釜山鎭敎會) was absolute. As the parent institution of Ilsin Women's School, Busanjin Church was the center of the faith community to which the majority of teachers and students belonged.
In conclusion, Ilsin Women's School could become the site of Busan's first uprising because it was a point where three powerful forces intersected: a progressive Christian faith emphasizing justice and human dignity, a modern education that fostered women as social agents, and the secret nationalist network of Songjukhoe, which provided the capacity to organize actual action. Because these three elements were concentrated in one place, Ilsin Women's School became the perfect incubator for the March 1st Movement in the Busan region.
Chapter 4: The Torch of the Port: The Uprising of Ilsin Women's School on March 11
Secret Preparations
After the directive for the uprising arrived, the teachers and students of Ilsin Women's School began preparations in utmost secrecy. On the morning of March 10, a proclamation urging participation in the independence movement was found on the school grounds. When third-year student Kim Eung-su (金應守) delivered it to teacher Ju Gyeong-ae, the plan entered its final stage.
The most dramatic scene from the preparation process is conveyed through the memoir of Kim Ban-su (金班守), who was 16 at the time. In a letter written later in life, she recalled secretly taking the white cotton fabric her mother had cherished for her wedding dress to make Taegeukgi. In the dark of night, with blankets covering the windows to block the light, she and her friends drew the symbol of their nation on the wedding cloth—a symbol of a personal future—under candlelight. This was a sublime and symbolic act of dedicating one's personal life to the fate of the nation.
The Moment of Uprising
At around 9 p.m. on March 11, 1919, teachers Ju Gyeong-ae and Park Si-yeon finally led 11 students out of the school gates.
Suppression and Resistance
The Manse demonstration continued for about two hours but was violently suppressed by a large force of Japanese military police and regular police.
Trial and Imprisonment
Ultimately, teachers Ju Gyeong-ae and Park Si-yeon were sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, while the 11 students each received sentences of 5 to 6 months and endured imprisonment.
Table 1: Key Figures in the Busan Ilsin Women's School March 11 Manse Movement
Chapter 5: The Women's Connection: Reconstructing the Communication Network
Answering the Core Questions
By synthesizing the analysis of this report, we can provide clear answers to the user's core questions.
Did one of the 33 national representatives make direct contact?
No. While national representative Yi Gap-seong played a role in sparking the movement in the Gyeongsang region from Seoul, there is no record of him making direct contact with specific individuals in Busan, especially the women of Ilsin Women's School.
Who contacted whom? The communication network of the Busan March 1st Movement exhibits a 'dual structure' where male and female networks operated through different channels almost simultaneously.
Central Male Leadership (Seoul): The 33 national representatives formulate the Declaration of Independence and the plan for the uprising.
Male Student Emissaries: Yi Gap-seong and others dispatch students from the Gyeongseong Student Group to the southern regions.
Busan Regional Male Network: The emissaries deliver the declaration to male student leaders at Busan Commercial School and Dongnae High School, which leads to the Dongnae marketplace demonstration on March 13.
Busan Regional Female Network: Simultaneously or in parallel, the plan for the uprising is transmitted to the Busan branch through the nationwide Christian and Songjukhoe women's networks. The key recipients were teachers Ju Gyeong-ae and Park Si-yeon, based at Ilsin Women's School and Busanjin Church, with student Lee Myeong-si serving as the liaison.
Pioneering Action: The highly organized and strongly motivated women's network at Ilsin Women's School acts before the male network, carrying out the region's first Manse demonstration on March 11.
Gendered Networks and Revolutionary Efficiency
The case of Busan shows the existence of parallel, gender-segregated networks within the larger current of the independence movement. Paradoxically, the women's network was able to achieve greater efficiency precisely because of their social position. At the time, boys' schools like Dongnae High School would have been primary targets of surveillance by the Japanese police.
On the other hand, a girls' school run by foreign missionaries was likely considered a relatively low threat by the patriarchal Japanese authorities. They would have underestimated the political agency of young female students. It was this very 'underestimation' that provided the Songjukhoe organization at Ilsin Women's School with the 'strategic space' to plan and act swiftly without being detected. In the end, the shackles of 'frailty' and 'apoliticism' imposed on women by the society of the time ironically served as an advantage for a surprise attack on the revolutionary stage. This allowed them to raise the first torch of independence one step ahead of their male comrades in Busan.
Conclusion: The Legacy of the Ilsin Women's School Uprising and its Female Leaders
This report has clearly established that the protagonists who raised the first cry of the March 1st Movement in Busan were the female teachers and students of Ilsin Women's School. Their pioneering action was not the result of direct orders from the 33 national representatives but was made possible through a close connection with the nationwide Christian women's secret society, 'Songjukhoe', which had been established before the March 1st Movement. The March 11 Manse Movement at Ilsin Women's School was a historical product created by the combination of three elements—progressive education, patriotic Christian faith, and a systematic secret network—within the unique environment of support from Australian missionaries.
The uprising at Ilsin Women's School signifies more than just the first Manse demonstration in the Busan region. It was a powerful declaration announcing the emergence of the educated 'New Woman (新女性)' onto the forefront of Korean independence history, challenging both the oppressive colonial rule and the patriarchal social structure. Their organized and courageous action created fissures in both colonial power and traditional gender role perceptions.
The seeds of female leadership sown in the secret meetings of Songjukhoe would continue to grow after the March 1st Movement, developing into organizations such as the 'Korean Patriotic Women's Association' and, in the 1920s, the left-right coalition women's movement group 'Geunwoohoe (槿友會)', becoming a crucial pillar of the national liberation struggle.
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