Korean History › Late Joseon › Joseon
Catholic persecutions in Joseon
1801, 1839, 1846, 1866· Event· Society, economy & people
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Waves of arrests and executions of Korean Catholics by the Joseon state between 1801 and 1871.
See it on the Korean History map →What happened
Catholic books reached Korea from Beijing as "Western Learning" in the 1600s; in 1784 Yi Seung-hun was baptized in Beijing and lay scholars founded a church without missionaries. The state saw a threat when converts refused ancestral rites, the core of Confucian order. The Catholic persecutions (천주교 박해) followed: 1801 (Sinyu, over 100 executed, hundreds exiled), 1839, 1846 (killing Andrew Kim Dae-geon, the first Korean priest) and 1866–1871 (Byeongin), when deaths are estimated at around 8,000.
Why it matters
They tied foreign religion to foreign threat in the court's eyes, gave France a pretext to attack in 1866, and produced martyrs central to Korean Catholic identity.
How we know
Court and interrogation records, missionaries' letters to Paris and Hwang Sa-yeong's 1801 silk letter; Pope John Paul II canonized 103 Korean martyrs in Seoul in 1984.
Still debated
Death tolls, especially for 1866, are estimates; how far each wave was about faith versus factional politics (1801 hit the Southerner faction hard) is debated.
Connections (4)
▸King Jeongjo died just before the 1801 wave of Catholic persecutions in JoseonWell documented
The connection
Jeongjo called Catholicism a heresy but punished lightly, executing only a few, such as two Jinsan gentry who burned their ancestral tablets in 1791. His restraint shielded Southerner scholars, several of them Catholic or close to it. After he died in mid-1800, the regent, Queen Dowager Jeongsun, launched the 1801 purge.
When and how
Jinsan, 1791 (the Sinhae incident); Seoul, from Jeongjo's death in 1800 to the 1801 edict.
How we know
The Annals record Jeongjo's lenient rulings and the 1801 edict banning Catholicism.
Debates and open questions
How much the 1801 persecution was about faith, and how much a political purge of Jeongjo's Southerner allies, is debated.
▸Jeong Yak-yong (Dasan) was exiled during Catholic persecutions in JoseonWell documented
The connection
Jeong met Catholic books in his youth through his brother-in-law Yi Seung-hun and family friend Yi Byeok, then renounced the faith. In the 1801 persecution his brother Jeong Yak-jong was executed, brother Yak-jeon was exiled to Heuksan Island, and he was exiled too, ending up in Gangjin for 18 years, where he wrote most of his works.
When and how
1801: trials in Seoul, then exile, from late 1801 at Gangjin, South Jeolla; released 1818.
How we know
The 1801 interrogation records and Jeong's own letters and writings from exile.
Debates and open questions
Whether his renunciation was sincere is debated; some Catholic accounts claim he returned to the faith before his death.
▸Heungseon Daewongun intensified Catholic persecutions in JoseonWell documented
The connection
After Russian ships appeared in 1864–65, the Daewongun briefly explored using French missionaries to seek an alliance against Russia. When that went nowhere and court pressure grew, he ordered the 1866 Byeongin persecution: nine French priests and, by estimates, about 8,000 Korean Catholics were killed over several years.
When and how
Seoul and across Korea, 1866–1871; executions at Saenamteo and Jeoldusan on the Han River.
How we know
Court records, Father Félix-Clair Ridel's reports and Catholic martyr lists; the Jeoldusan shrine marks an execution site.
Debates and open questions
Death tolls vary widely; why he turned from contact to persecution (court politics, Qing anti-Christian moods, rivals' pressure) is debated.
▸Catholic persecutions in Joseon triggered French campaign against Korea (Byeonin yangyo)Well documented
The connection
Among those executed in early 1866 were nine French priests, including Bishop Siméon Berneux. Father Félix-Clair Ridel escaped to China and reported to the French navy. Rear Admiral Roze, encouraged by France's chargé d'affaires in Beijing, Henri de Bellonet, launched a punitive expedition that autumn.
When and how
Executions in Seoul, spring 1866; Ridel reached China in July; the fleet sailed for Korea in September and again in October.
How we know
French diplomatic and naval correspondence, including Bellonet's letter to the Qing claiming France would choose Korea's next king.
Debates and open questions
Whether Paris approved the campaign beforehand, or Bellonet and Roze acted on their own, is debated.