American Missionary Involvement in the Korean Independence Movement

Using archival sources, this poster presentation will show American missionary involvement in the Korean Independence Movement ran counter to U.S. foreign policy regarding Japan and Korea.  While U.S. officials preferred a hands off policy, American missionaries supported Korean efforts to pursue self determination at the Paris Peace Conference.  When these efforts failed, American missionaries supported the March 1, 1919, Samil Movement.  Japanese officials and the Japanese press stirred popular opinion against the missionaries who, along with Korean students, suffered Japanese imprisonment and brutality.  Thus began a shift in the Japanese view of American involvement in Korea.