Incheon Public Hall and Formation of Public opinion in Korean Society in the 1920s and the mid-1930s

Author : ​Jeong, So-hyun & Chang, Kyu-sik

Page : 83-128

Abstract

  Due to the implementation of Culture Sovereignty after the March 1st Movement, the Korean society under Japanese Colonial Period could have freedom of assembly and association in part and tried to hold rallies with forming various groups nationally. The Korean groups used assembly facilities including theaters and public halls to hold various events such as lectures, conferences, fundraiser, plays, and concerts. Accordingly, theaters and public halls were used as public sphere for Korean society to discuss social problems and devise solutions throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

  This paper is a regional case study to clarify that the situation in which Korean society used theaters and public halls as public sphere in the 1920s and 1930s was a universal phenomenon nationwide. Specifically, the goal of this article is to analyze the regional public sphere in Incheon during the colonial period, focusing on Incheon Public Hall, where Korean used as an assembly hall.

  Incheon Public Hall was built on the border between Korean and Japanese villages and in the public facility area. As a result, the two ethnic groups were able to use it as a public assembly hall actively expressing local issues. The appearance of Incheon Public Hall, which were actively used as political and cultural public sphere throughout the 1920s, gradually​ became smaller due to changes in the way of japanese colonial power. With the enforcement of Public Peace Maintenance Law in 1925, political assembly activities were greatly restricted on this places, and with the inauguration of Governor-General Ugaki in 1931, the control of the public sphere was strengthened, resulting in the loss of political public sphere function. Since then, the public spheres, which were used only as fundraising venues, had have completely lost their function as cultural public sphere when Governor-General Minami took office in 1936.

  As such, entering the public sphere limited by the surveillance and control of colonial power was never easy for Koreans. Despite the oppression of colonial power, the Korean society solidified its position as a subject of public sphere through indirect expression of political opinions, fundraising activities as self-rescue measures, and solidarity with Japanese society throughout the 1920s and mid-30s. Therefore, the efforts of the Korean society in Incheon of this era to squeezed into the restricted passages and prepare a national assembly hall need to be reevaluated in terms of securing the autonomous private sector rather than simply resistance.

< Key Words >

​Culture Sovereignty, Colonial public sphere, Incheon, Public Hall, Korean Society​