User:Msong200/Byeong-in Persecution

The Byeong-in Persecution was a series of large scale oppressions on the Catholic population of Korea by Heungseon Daewongun beginning in 1866. Also known as the 1866 Persecution of the Catholics in the year of Byung-in, it continued for 6 years until it ended in 1872, resulting in more thatn 8000 deaths including missionaries from the Paris Foreign Missions Society.

Heungseon Daewongun originally had no antipathy toward Catholicism, so he had no plans to suppress it. Rather, he even tried to block Russia's southward policy by obtaining help from France through French missionaries. However, to prevent his political position from being shaken due to internal and external changes, he implemented a policy of persecution of Catholics.

The persecution, which began in the spring of 1866, became more intense when the General Sherman incident (August 1866), the Byeonginyangyo incident (October 1866), and the Namyeongun tomb robbery incident (1868) occurred. In addition, Heungseon Daewongun 's policy of national isolation was strengthened.

Aftermath off the incident
Nine out of 12 French missionaries were executed, and Riedel, who survived, escaped to the Qing Dynasty and reported the news of the persecution to Pierre Gustave Rose, commander of the French fleet in Tianjin. This became the cause of the French expedition to Korea that occurred in November of that year.

Etc
The Byeongin Persecution was a famous event even among Westerners, to the extent that British geographer Isabella Budd Bishop described Heungseon Daewongun in “ Joseon and Its Neighbors ” as a person who turned Joseon into a country of martyrs through the martyrdom of Christians.

This persecution unfolded in four waves. The first was in the spring of 1866, the second was from the summer to the fall of 1866, the third was in 1868, and the fourth was in 1871, resulting in a total of more than 8,000 martyrs. The third in 1868 is called Mujinsaok, and the fourth in 1871 is called Shinmisaok, but since it was continuously promoted by Daewongun, it is customary to include it in Byeongin Persecution. Therefore, the Byeongin persecution does not refer to the persecution of 1866, the year of Byeongin, but refers to all persecution over the following six years.