3
in complete defiance of the Japanese, starved .to death.
It is this living and acting on principle which accounts for the direct
and whole hearted attitude of the Korean man. As Choy Ik Hyun held to
his path of right, so Koreans in general act by conviction rather than
convenience. Although they suffer greatly for what outsiders term their
ffchildis-: a3s?! or "impulsiveness", they have found honesty and outspokenness the necessary counterpart of their life*
At Unsan gold mine while operated by aa American firm, there was a Korem
by the name of Park employed by the company as a mining expert* While In
charge of the le oiatory work where he assayed the gold out of ores, he
took the remanent gold peice by peice and put in his possession until it
accumulated to a big lump which cost several thousand dollars* When his
conscience was roused to the senoe of honesty, he made up his mind to
return the stolen gold to the gompany* One day he went to the manager and
handed the gold over to him together with his resignition and said, I have
been stealing your gold for a number of years, sm but under the press-v:-
of my conscience I could nft but return the gold with my resignition* Th
American manager said, I would neither accept jpnrax the goldfnor your resignition, but keep the gold as your bonus and keep on your work* with more
of my trust in you* There Korean and American forthrightness met*1f common
ground*
The distinct qualities of the Korean personality are perhaps best reflected in its social organization. It must be kept in mind during any contemporary discussion of Korea that for over thirty years it has been dominated and pppressed by the military might of imperialist Japan whose
main effort has been to erase the Korean character. Ho?/ Koreans have sustained their native dignity in spite of incredible Japanese brutality and
cunning is a subject for later discussion* In this paper, dealing particularly with the people and their Wejs9 it is desirable to indicate significant traits of behaviour with their expression in social structures How
they gave Korean society its democratic character - beginning with village
rule, constitutional monarchy and referd&um before the annexation by Japan*
How they now act as mainstays In the present struggle to survive; and how
they wAillek ;pxiEciS^x±tax£r^ in the future
provide the framework for rehabilitation and new growth in the coming day
of democratic development*
The structure of Korean society is unlgue in its nature in the whole eastern Asia. There has never been exsisting at any time in Korea a caste
system a in Indea, or aristocratic orders as China, or military Feuldal-
ism ^s In Japan. The Korean society is based on family unit* In general,
of course, this is true of all oriental society. However, Korean family
organisation is distinctive in several important vrays* Being of a keenly
active nature, Koreans devised an ingenious and practical method of gen-
\ ealogy by which records of family descent were.kept absolutely clear so
\ that marriage and family deportment could be maintained on a high ethical
'plane* This is in contrast to China where genealogy is mainly a matter of
iheory and to Japan where it is restricted to aristcratic families*
\p the latter days of Imperal Korea, the class lines between commers,
yidle class and nobility became more obvious as vitality of society in
\ieral declined* This deciline is best understood in the light of geogra-
^ where Korea1 s position notably weakened by being the center of three
|nding imperialisms, China, Russia and Japan* These influences greatly
Hcted h activities of Korean court life. However, among the main
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