The Writings of Henry Cu

P~per No. 13 The Writings of Henry Cu Kim The Center for Korean Studies was established in 1972 to coordinate and develop the resources for the study of Korea at the University of Hawaii. Its goals are to enhance the quality and performance of Uni versity faculty with interests in Korean studies; develop compre hensive and balanced academic programs relating to Korea; stimulate research and pub lications on Korea; and coordinate the resources of the University with those of the Hawaii community and other institutions, organizations, and individual scholars engaged in the study of Korea. Reflecting the diversity of academic disciplines represented by its affiliated faculty and staff, the Center especially seeks to further interdisciplinary and intercultural studies. The Writings of Henry Cu Killl: Autobiography with Commentaries on Syngman Rhee, Pak Yong-man, and Chong Sun-man Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by Dae-Sook Suh Paper No. 13 University of Hawaii Press Center for Korean Studies University of Hawaii ©Copyright 1987 by the University of Hawaii Press All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kim, Henry Cu, 1889-1967. The Writings of Henry Cu Kim. (Paper; no. 13) Translated from holographs written in Korean. Includes index. 1. Kim, Henry Cu, 1889-1967. 2. Kim, Henry Cu, 1889-1967-Friends and associates. 3. Rhee, Syngman, 1875-1965. 4. Pak, Yong-man, 1881-1928. 5. Chong, Sun-man. 6. Koreans-Hawaii-Biography. 7. Nationalists -Korea-Biography. I. Suh, Dae-Sook, 1931- . II. Title. III. Series: Paper (University of Hawaii at Manoa. Center for Korean Studies); no. 13. DU624.7.K67K56 1987 951.9'04'0922 87-22711 ISBN 0-8248-1159-3 To THE CHILDREN oF HENRY Cu KIM j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j j CONTENTS Introduction lX PART I FAMILY HISTORY 1 Chapter 1 Origins of the Kim Clan 3 Chapter 2 The Beginning of the Kyongju Kim Clan 10 Chapter 3 Our Most Outstanding Ancestors 19 Chapter 4 Grandfather Tok-hui 22 Chapter 5 The Accomplishments of Ch'ogang 29 Chapter 6 Kapkye 36 PART II AuTOBIOGRAPHY 47 Chapter 7 My Name and Age 49 Chapter 8 My Health 53 Chapter 9 My Education 60 Chapter 10 Family Life 132 Chapter 11 Social Life 150 Chapter 12 Postscript 160 PART III CoMMENTARIES 171 Chapter 13 Unam, Syngman Rhee: A Short Biography 173 Chapter 14 Usong, Pak Yong-man: A Short Biography, with A Note on Chong An-nip 253 Chapter 15 Komun, Chong Sun-man: A Short Biography, with A Note on Yi Chong-un 279 Notes 289 Appendix 295 Index 301 Vll INTRODUCTION HENRY Cu KIM (1889-1967) was a remarkable man. He was one of the first Koreans to come to the United States at the turn of the century, seeking an education, and when Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 he began a fight against the Japanese for the cause of Korean independence that lasted until the country was liberated at the end of the Second World War. He was one of the leaders of the Korean independence movement in the United States, and he headed the Korean Commission for Europe and the United States for three years, from 1926 to 1929. However, unlike some of his friends and colleagues who survived the struggle and returned to Korea to assume lead ership positions, Henry remained in the United States and abstained from participating in the politics of a divided Korea. Henry was a Korean patriot in the most fundamental sense. At the time of the Korean War, he even issued a statement opposing any indiscriminate bombing of North Korea by the United States, because it might result in the killing of women and children. For such expressions of patriotism, Henry was branded a Socialist and a Communist sympathizer, but he was neither. He lived in the United States for nearly half a century, fighting for Korean independence, and when his political rival, Syngman Rhee, returned to Korea to head the government of the southern half of the peninsula, Henry questioned the wis dom of establishing two governments and thereby further soli difying the division of the country for which he had fought so long. Henry was barred from returning to his native land dur- IX X INTRODUCTION ing Rhee's tenure as president of the Republic of Korea, and it was not until after Rhee was ousted following the April 19, 1960, student demonstration that Henry was able to return. When he was finally able to visit his birthplace in 1961, Henry was 72 years old and troubled by ill health. His compatriots, who had shared hard times with him in the United States, included, among others, such leaders as Philip Jaisohn (So Chae-p'il), Syngman Rhee, Pak Yong-man, Henry Chung, Chong Sun-man, and Chon Myong-un; but unlike these men, Henry wrote down his own story for posterity. He was a learned man. Not only did he serve as president of the Kungminhoe, a rival organization of Syngman Rhee's Tong jihoe, but he also edited various magazines and journals pub lished by Korean organizations in the United States, such as the Sinhan minbo and the T'aep'yongyang chubo. Henry wrote his autobiography primarily for his own children and grandchildren, but he also wrote short biographies of three other men: Syngman Rhee, Pak Yong-man, and Chong Sun man. Henry's autobiography makes up Part I of this volume, and the three biographies constitute Part II. His accounts, though heavily biased, shed much light on the activities of Ko reans in the United States and their independence movement. When I first came to Honolulu in the early 1970s, Henry Cu Kim had already passed away, but I was fortunate enough to meet his wife, Edith Kim, and her children. I was much in terested in hearing from her about various aspects of Korean patriotic organizations and the activity of the rival groups in Hawaii. A gracious lady of exceptional quality, she was mag nanimous in pointing out how each group worked to promote the cause of Korea in the United States during the Japanese occupation of Korea, and how these groups cooperated to ward this goal, minimizing the factional struggles among the rival organizations. It was shortly thereafter that her son made the writings of his father available to me. When I read the manuscript in Ko rean for the first time I was completely surprised for a number of reasons, but foremost was the wealth of firsthand accounts of various incidents and persons that it contained. Henry was an educated man, a student of Myonam (the literary name of Introduction xi Ch'oe Ik-hyon), a noted intellectual of the late Choson dynas ty, and he also studied in the United States, nearly completing his doctorate at the University of California at Berkeley. His three biographies display considerable bias, but they nonethe less serve to present views of some incidents that are totally different from other accounts which have hitherto been accepted as historical fact. I made Henry's writings in English available to his wife Edith before she passed away in 1985, and to their children, and received from them the permission to publish this compilation. I hope the reader will find Henry's accounts as fascinating as I first found them. Although they came to me in the form of a handwritten manuscript in Ko rean, I thought them significant enough to translate into En glish so that they might be made available to a wider audience. To those unacquainted with the remarkable life story of Henry Cu Kim, it may on the surface appear deceptively un eventful. Henry was born in 1889 in Kyongsangdo, Korea, to a wealthy literati family. He was tutored in the traditional Ko rean manner, studying under one of the most illustrious of the Korean literati, Ch'oe Ik-hyon. Ch'oe contributed significant ly to the downfall of the Taewon'gun, but because of his role in supporting Queen Min, he was exiled to the island of Tsushima, Japan, where he died fasting in 1906. At fifteen Henry was married to his first wife, who was fourteen, and when he came to Seoul, he attended the private high schools, Yangjong Uisuk and Posong Hakkyo. Henry left Korea for the United States in April1909 by way of Vladivostok, Moscow, and London, arriving in New York in 1910. He went to Denver, Colarado, looking for his com patriots, and later attended Hastings High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, graduating in 1913. He entered Cornell University in 1914, but had to quit after a year and a half because of financial reasons. He went to work, earning enough money to return to school in 1915, this time to Ohio State University, where he graduated in 1917. He later enrolled at the Univer sity of California at Berkeley, majoring in philosophy, and fulfilled the requirements for a doctorate in philosophy, ex cept that he did not complete his dissertation. During his life in the United States, Henry was constantly in xii INTRODUCTION financial difficulty, but not because he was unemployed or in dolent. He worked on the railroad in Wyoming, laid tracks in Iowa, became a kitchen helper and an orderly in Nebraska, worked in restaurants in California, was a night watchman in Hawaii, and did just about any other similar type of job throughout his life. During the same period, however, he was editor-in-chief of the newspaper Sinhan minbo and the weekly T'aep'yongyang chubo.

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