Late-Joseon official who became a councillor (chanui) of the Government-General's Central Council in the colonial period; designated as a collaborator
| Life | 1847 ~ 1925 |
| Era | 대한제국·일제강점기 |
| Clan | 풍산 홍씨 |
Hong Seung-mok (洪承穆, 1847-1925) was an official of late Joseon from the Pungsan Hong clan, with the courtesy name Gyeonghui and pen name Yeon-un. According to Wikipedia he was from Hanseong, passed the state examination in 1875 and began his career in the Royal Secretariat; after Hongmungwan and the Office of the Inspector-General he became Hyeongjo and Byeongjo uisam in 1879, Daesagan in 1881 and head of the National Academy in 1883. He was vice-minister of punishments and of military affairs in 1890 and Teukjingwan of the Royal Household Ministry in 1900. His father Hong U-gil had been minister of personnel; his son was Hong Beom-sik, who killed himself in protest at the annexation, and his grandson was the novelist Hong Myeong-hui.
After Gojong's forced abdication in 1907 he began to join pro-Japanese organizations. He became vice-president of the Daedong Society and succeeded as president when Sin Gi-seon died, and was also vice-president of its successor, the Confucius Association. In 1908 he was president of the Imperial Industrial Society led by Min Won-sik, a body assessed as having hired Japanese advisers and gathered pro-Japanese peddlers to hasten annexation. Around the same time he joined the Gwanjin Banghoe and in 1909 was a drafting committee member of the National Lecture Society that Yi Wan-yong set up to counter the Iljinhoe. He is judged to have turned actively pro-Japanese earlier than the officials who cooperated only just before the annexation treaty.
After the 1910 annexation treaty he became a councillor (chanui) of the Central Council set up by the Government-General and served until the 1921 reorganization; in 1912 he received the Korean Annexation Commemorative Medal from the Japanese government. He appears on the 2002 list of 708 pro-Japanese figures by the National Assembly group Minjok Jeonggi, the 2006 list of 106 early colonial collaborators by the Presidential Committee for the Inquiry into Pro-Japanese Collaborators, and the 2008 list of planned entries in the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators by the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities. This contrasts sharply with the martyrdom of his son Hong Beom-sik, and this Pungsan Hong family is often cited in modern history as one split between martyrdom and collaboration. This text relies on Wikipedia and a summary of the committee's decision; for details of individual acts, please check the original sources.
Passing in 1875, he served as Daesagan, head of the National Academy and vice-minister of punishments and military affairs, and became Teukjingwan in 1900.
From 1907 he worked in groups such as the Daedong Society and the Imperial Industrial Society, and after annexation served as Central Council chanui from 1910 to 1921.
Son Hong Beom-sik (martyr), grandson Hong Myeong-hui, and daughter Hong Jeong-sik (wife of the independence activist Jo Wan-gu).