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Peasant Wars of 1812 and 1862
During this period, drought and flood alternately struck the country, causing a succession of bad harvests, which in turn generated a grim cycle of famine. Excessive tax collection and forced labor ensued. These adverse natural and social conditions ignited a series of agrarian revolts. In 1812, Hong Gyeongrae rose up in revolt with the peasants at Gasan, in the northern part of Korea, and held power in that district for some months. Frightened government officials dispatched the army, and only after waging a hard campaign were they able to suppress the revolt. In the south, all the way to Jejudo island, as well as in the north, peasants persevered in their struggle against oppression at the hands of the government, the local nobility and the wealthy landlords.
Half a century after Hong Gyeongrae's well-organized fight, the situation had not improved. A group of farmers in Jinju, Gyeongsang-do province, rebelled against their oppressive overlords, the provincial officials and the wealthy landowners. This uprising of 1862 is directly attributable to the exploitation of destitute farmers by Baek Naksin, a newly appointed military commander who had jurisdiction over the western half of Gyeongsang-do province.
Yu Gyechun, an intellectual native to the district who was outraged by Baek Naksin's rapacious conduct, led the farmers to riot, denouncing corrupt minor officials and wealthy landlords. The rebels killed local government functionaries, set fire to government buildings, and wrought considerable destruction. The startled Hanyang government hurriedly sent an investigator to the scene. On the basis of its findings of fraudulent practices by the local officials concerned, the government hastily revised the land, military and grain lending systems in an effort to eliminate such abuses. From the outset, however, it was unrealistic to expect the ruling class in the central government, which was itself deeply involved in such frauds, to make radical changes. But at least a superficial attempt at reform was made.
The agrarian revolt in Jinju served as a signal for similar uprisings elsewhere. In Gyeongsang-do, Jeolla-do and Chungcheong-do Province, on faraway Jejudo island and in Hamgyeong-do and Pyeongan-do Province in the north, groups of farmers rose up, attacking offices in principal towns and routing officials.
Under such social conditions, Choe Je-u (1824-1864) formulated the ideology of Donghak (Eastern Learning) in order to rescue the farmers from prevalent poverty and unrest, and to restore political and social stability. His ideas rapidly gained acceptance, and he set his doctrines to music so that farmers would understand and accept them more readily. His teachings were systematized and compiled as a message of salvation to farmers in distress. The songs he sang were a mixture of traditional elements from Confucianism, Buddhism and Seongyo (teachings of Silla's Hwarang), and to these he added modern humanistic ideas. Exclusionism was another characteristic of his religion, which incorporated an early form of nationalism and rejected alien thought.
