Ilminism

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"The people of North Korea are the same as the people of South Korea. All are loyal to the land of their birth with the very few minor exceptions of foreign trained and foreign directed communists. This war is not a conflict between North and South; it is a conflict between the few who are communists, who by an accident got control of half of our country, and the overwhelming mass of the citizens of Korea, wherever they may live."

"The first and foremost priority is the protection of lives and freedom of thirty million people from the Northern aggression that's threatening them, which is why there can be no talk of ensuring the rights and freedoms of individual citizens."

Ilminism, also known as the One-People Principle or Unidemism, is a highly authoritarian, ethno-cultural nationalist , and economically variable (but usually nationalist) ideology that was the ruling ideology of the Republic of Korea under its first president Syngman Rhee, and later was heavily reformed & adopted by its third president Park Chung Hee. Ilminism generally believes in creating a loyal and obedient citizenry through centralized state power and authority, strong socio-culturally traditionalist sentiment, and brazen appeals to nationalism and national mysticism.

History

During the early stages of the First Republic, there emerged the notion of Ilminism, championed by the Korean National Youth Association - a fascist, far-right group founded on October 9, 1946, under the catchphrase "national branch, national geography", and led by Lee Beom Seok, a Korean independence activist and South Korean national conservative politician. He was negative about Nazi Germany and the Japanese Empire, but positively evaluated their strong patriotism and fascism based on ethnic nationalism. This ideology sought to unify the nation under the myth of a single ethnic group, based on the idea of Dangun's lineage, striving for a unified family state and a politically, economically, and socially integrated populace. Central to this ideology was the belief in the sovereignty of a single ethnic group, advocating independence from both external and internal influences, as reflected in the term "national democratic" that they used.

The ideology of Ilminism has been influenced by the works of the Korean philosopher An Ho-sang, who was the Minister of Education under President Syngman Rhee's administration, and prior to his promotion, he studied at the University of Jena in Germany during the late 1920s. He made a case explaining why even though civilian autonomy and agency are important, the interests of the collective Korean Nation/People as a whole should be a higher priority, especially considering the threat of the North Koreans overtaking them at the time.

Syngman Rhee

Syngman Rhee perceived the world in terms of the dominance of Western Protestant civilization versus a view of barbaric totalitarianism. Although he was a nationalist, his focus was aimed at integrating the Korean people into Western concepts of Christianity and liberalism, rather than at solely embracing nationalism and Korean values and traditions.

During the political turmoils in Busan, the Korean National Youth Association criticized opposition forces seeking constitutional amendments for a parliamentary system. They condemned these efforts as "supporting parliamentary dictatorship" and denounced the interference of the UN and the US, who backed them. However, they failed to anticipate the possibility of their leader becoming an internal adversary to them. Syngman Rhee, known for his adoption of Christianity, American-style education, and marriage to an American, was perceived as a pro-American elite. Syngman Rhee's regime emerged victorious in the political turmoils in Busan, and the Korean National Youth Association that supported him found itself politically marginalized and ostracized. This was partly due to the post-Korean War era's intolerance towards ideologies critical of both liberalism and communism simultaneously (fascism). Symbolically, key ideologue Ahn Ho Sang's imprisonment for alleged "pro-communist" remarks illustrates this shift, where any critique of liberalism or capitalism was construed as pro-communist. As a result, South Korea's national narrative centered around "freedom and democracy" and "anti-communism".

Contemporary scholars have liked the Ilminist principle to the Nazi ideal of the Herrenvolk (master race) and were part of an effort to consolidate a united and obedient citizenry around Rhee's strong central leadership through appeals to Ultranationalism and ethnic supremacy. In general, "Ilminists" often refer to pro-Syngman Rhee (groups).

In the 1st Republic, Syngman Rhee developed and adapted the theoretical framework of the One-People Principle and made it much into the contemporary ideology used in his administration until his resignation in 1960, and later was reformed further and used under the Park Chung Hee administration for nearly 2 more decades after the 1961 Coup d'état.

Park Chung Hee

In the 3rd and 4th Republics, President Park Chung Hee's reign included many aspects of the Ilminist ideology, specifically including his Yushin Constitution. It was a highly authoritarian ratification of the Korean constitution, which gave the executive branch (himself) the extremely autocratic ability to act as judge, jury, and executioner for laws, the economy, political organizing, media/press, etc. It also created extremely ethnonationalist and Traditionalist sentiments in South Korean society, such as cutting men's hair that was too long and forcing women to wear skirts (if they chose to wear skirts) that were at least 17 centimeters in length. This was done in order to reinforce the idea of gender roles (men being masculine, women being feminine, but also reserved and celibate). Ilminism also demanded that the Korean Nation (people) or Fatherland was the first and foremost priority and concern in all decisions and policies made by the government. To further prove this, during the May 16 coup when President Park Chung-hee seized power, the announcements used such rhetoric as: "We are a race of brilliant culture, with over 5000 years of history to realize this." In 1979, Park was assassinated, ending his 18-year reign.

It is still heavily debated whether president Chun Doo-hwan was truly a practitioner of the One-People Principle, but his staunch refusals to Democratize the country & newly amended constitution that was heavily biased in favor of his own political party made it clear that he was another Authoritarian leader and wanted to establish himself as a strongman military dictator in the footsteps of Park Chung-hee. The military suppression of the infamous 1980 Gwangju riots resulted in severely reduced approval ratings for Chun Doo-hwan, and by 1987 he resigned, with a newly Democratic constitution being ratified after his resignation, thus ending the 5th Republic and the last remaining practices of Ilminism in Korea to this day.

Core Beliefs

Main Principles

Ilminism is based around a 4-point political program: Eliminating discrimination between the nobility and the masses, the economic equalization of rich and poor through land reform & Corporatist economics under President Syngman Rhee, but was later reformed & transformed into a State Capitalist economy under President Park Chung-hee, political equity between men & women, and an end to discrimination between the Northern & Southern parts within the country, including ending discrimination between the Urban & Rural areas within the country as well. Ilminism believes in an end to pluralist politics, in favor of a united Korean people behind a de facto one-party state.

The New Village Movement

Saemaul Undong, or The New Village Movement, was an economic reform initiative created by President Park Chung-hee to modernize Rural villages for the national economy. The idea was based on the Korean traditional communalism called Hyangyak and Dure, which provided the rules for self-governance and cooperation in traditional Korean communities. The movement initially sought to rectify the growing disparity in the standard of living between the nation's Urban centers, which were rapidly Industrializing, and the small Rural villages, which continued to be mired in poverty. Diligence, self-help, and collaboration were the slogans to encourage community members to participate in the development process. The early stage of the movement focused on improving the basic living conditions and environments, whereas later projects concentrated on building rural infrastructure and increasing community income. It was also during these reforms that Misin tapa undong or "movement to destroy superstition" reached its peak. Old zelkova trees that had stood at village entrances and have traditionally served as guardian figures were cut down in order to erase superstitions.

Confucianism

Ilminism also believes strongly in Confucian philosophy and principles, including (but not limited to) the morals and ethics of loyalty which have elements attributed to the Western philosophy of the Great man theory, belief in the Traditional family structure (a man, woman & X amount of children), and deep respect for ceremonies, old Korean culture & elders. An important thing to note is that Confucianism in Korea often refers to a specific version called Neo-Confucianism, a more Secular & less spiritual form of Confucianism that stresses a more logical & practical view of traditional Confucian practices, making Neo-Confucianism a philosophy rather than a Religion. This would allow for additional religious accommodations such as Dr. An Ho-sang being a Dangunist, Syngman Rhee being a Christian, and Park Chung-hee being a Buddhist, yet all of them simultaneously being a strong supporter of Confucian philosophy.

The Communist Question

And of course, Ilminism is fundamentally and vehemently anti-communist, given the indefinite North/South split of the Korean peninsula since the 1950s (due to ideological conflicts and foreign intervention). In fact, under both Syngman Rhee and Park Chung Hee, many communists and suspected communist sympathizers had been brutally suppressed and even killed.

Goals

The theoretical egalitarian underpinnings of Ilminism would be to herald a class-collaborating society under firm central leadership. In an Ilminist society, the upper and the lower classes would both work together to rid themselves of materialism and class conflict, in favor of a more metaphysically balanced and fulfilled society.

Personality

Older generation Ilminism (Old Right) frequently exhibits these characteristics:

  • Absolutely loathes communism and communists in every regard.
  • Is really nationalist, including economically.
  • Is really socially conservative, and reminisces about the 1960s-1980s.
  • Gets very angry and emotional when the colonialization of Korea is brought up.
  • Praises and worships his dictators almost as much as North Koreans worship theirs. This practice was then adopted by Ilbe Storehouse by referring to their approved presidents (Park Chung Hee, Lee Myung-bak, Park Geun-hye) as "Gakha" (가카, corrupted from 閣下 각하 - "Their Excellency"), a title associated with presidential dictatorship, or "Rekha" (레카, short for 레이디 가카 - "Lady Rakha") in the case of Park Geun-hye.
  • Keeps denying the Gwangju Uprising, claiming that North Korean forces were involved in it.

Younger generation Ilminists (New Right) stay mostly consistent with the older-generation Ilminists, but with the utilization of the Internet and Satirism. They mostly conduct troll operations and browsing in Ilbe Storehouse (일베저장소), the Korean equivalent of 4chan. However, compared to the older generation, Ilminists hold positive views on Japan, particularly on their anime culture. They also espouse hatred towards the Honam Region, which is known for having a 98% vote for a regional liberal left-leaning party candidate Kim Dae-jung. They are known as the Korean equivalent of the Alt-Right movement[2] due to their extreme xenophobia, sexism (Ilbe users call feminists "Kimchi Bitches"), homophobia, transphobia, offensive satire of prominent South Korean figures (especially liberal left-leaning presidents, such as Roh Moo-hyun by posting "Noala" - an image of himself with a photoshopped koala face - and calling May 23 "The Day of Gravity", making fun of his suicide by saying that gravity killed him), hacking activities and other unsavory incidents perpetrated by them (such as when Ilbe users launched a "gluttony strike" in front of the family members of the victims of the Sewol Ferry Tragedy who were on hunger strike).

How to Draw

Main design

Flag of Ilminism
  1. Fill a ball with dark blue.
  2. Cut in half and fill top/left half with red.
  3. Cut in the middle horizontally and fill it with white.
  4. Add the eyes.

Alternative design

This design for Ilminism is based on several flags of South Korea, officiated during the 20th century.

Flag of Ilminism
  1. Draw a ball
  2. Color the ball with white
  3. In the middle, draw a circle-shaped "Yin-Yang" (taeguk) symbol with the upper half colored orange-red, and the lower purple-blue
  4. Add 4 sets of trigrams surrounding the symbol, facing toward it diagonally
  5. Draw eyes on the ball

You are finished!

Color NameHEXRGB
 White#FFFFFFrgb(255, 255, 255)
 Black#141414rgb(20, 20, 20)
 Orange Red#DA251Drgb(218, 37, 29)
 Purple Blue#29166Frgb(41, 22, 111)


Relationships

친구 (Friends)

의문 (Frenemies)

  • 삼균주의 - Kim Gu was a Founding Father of Korea. Shame that President Rhee disagreed with him on a lot... May he rest in peace.
  • 일본 자민당주의 - The young Ilbe userbase likes you and your anime, and we can work together against fake Korea, but I will never forgive what your predecessor did, and too many of you refuse to apologize for it. Btw I heard that Shinzo Abe died, lol. Rip bozo .
  • 가톨릭 신권정치 - Thanks for having a diplomatic relationship with me and not him. However, I should note that the 264th pope was very annoying and so are those """liberal""" priests in my country.
  • 국가 사회주의 - You have taught me what it means to be a "master race", but your alliance with them is unforgivable.
  • 신보수주의 - I appreciate the help against the Japanese and the Northern commies, but you are also similar to him, so let's not be too close. And why did you abandon my Vietnamese pals?
  • 바트주의 - Your Iraqi version loves me, but your Syrian version hates me. Weird.

적 (Enemies)

  • 주체 - My abhorrent, commie twin brother. GIVE ME BACK THE OTHER HALF OF MY COUNTRY!
  • 胡志明 思想 - Even though we had to retreat, we still wrecked you during the Vietnam war, fear the fierce tigers!
  • 호치민의 생각 - If you would have just minded your own damn business, all of the Korean peninsula would be rightfully mine!
  • 폴 포主義 - Genocidal maniac. This is a perfect example of what communism leads to.
  • 마르크스-레닌主義 - Thanks a lot for creating him, jerk. Your 5-year plans are pretty cool though...
  • 카스트로주의 - An educated revolutionary like you, yet you still chose him over me. Pathetic.
  • 김대중사상 and 반권위주의 - The Airborne Special Forces Brigade is the best in the ROK Armed Forces, and If those citizens are not afraid of the Airborne Special Forces Brigade, they are no longer citizens. THEY ARE RIOTERS AND TERRORISTS, AND WE WILL IMPOSE THE IRON FIST ON THEM!
  • 보수적 자유주의 - Authoritarianism is good for fighting communism and Yun sure deserved the coup. Also, laissez-faire economics is gay.
  • 페미니즘 - Ah yes, a """liberated""", short-haired Kimchi Nyun.[Note 1]
  • 게이 - You don't really exist. Or you're literally just sexual deviants or mentally ill people.
  • 진보주의 - Men shouldn't have long hair! Women shouldn't wear skirts that aren't at least 17 centimeters long! This is ridiculous!
  • 쇼와통계 - ENSLAVER! RAPIST!! GENOCIDER!!! The Americans should have nuked you more than just twice! But President Park studied from you.
  • 메이지즘 - Not a rapist like your grandson, but still the one who started the Japanese occupation of Korea. What do you mean you formulated my identity?[3]
  • 일본제국주의 - You're a very bad influence.
  • Ochlocracy - See? This is what """democracy""" leads to.
  • 군주국 - We will not bring back the monarchy.
  • 군주 사회주의 - Juche without the mask.

Gallery

Further Information

Works

Literature

Wikipedia

Peoples

Videos

Notes

  1. Many conservatives in South Korea frequently claim that all women with short hair are "feminists".

Citations

  1. 1.0 1.1 Syngman Rhee was officially glorified as, among many other things, the "Christ of the Korean Peninsula", "God's messenger on Earth", "modern saint" and "Son of God". Portraits of him were present in public spaces and printed on money, his birthday was declared a national holiday, and his statue (which was erected in 1956, but then toppled and decapitated during the April Revolution of 1960) surpassed in size not only the future Kim monuments in the DPRK, but any monument that existed in Asia at the time.
  2. Inside Ilbe: How South Korea's angry young men formed a powerful new Alt-Right movement, Mic.com.
  3. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1673282/FULLTEXT02

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