CHAPTER 1

Medicine and Its Fragments,1945–1948

Traditional Practitioners and the USAMGIK

In 1944, Andrew Grajdanzev published Modern Korea, a comprehensivesurvey of the peninsula and its social conditions following several decadesof Japanese colonial rule; the survey offered a deeply critical take on claimsmade by colonial authorities. While scholars have speculated a great deal onGradjanzev's ideological leanings and his personal identity, along with his curiousinstitutional affiliation, the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR), it is thecumulative statistical portrait presented in his volume that holds the greatestpotential for further inquiry: Grajdanzev critiques the very terms on whichthe colonial apparatus bases its hold, especially the claim of penetrating theKorean countryside, even under difficult wartime conditions. More specifically,questions of land ownership, access to education at all levels, and accessto modern forms of medical care represent the major issues to be confronted,with an incisive, almost corrosive skepticism directed at the existing portraitmade available through standard sources such as the more optimistic framingoffered in Chosen Sotokofu Tokei Nenpo, the series of annual reports issued bythe governor-general of Korea (GGK) as evidence of its benevolence towardthe colony.

Gradjanzev offers an image of conspicuous lack of medicine and healthcare, with only a small handful of doctors based in urban areas, offering theircare almost exclusively to a Japanese clientele, primarily those associated withthe colonial state and its settler population. This is not to say that the colonialmedical system had no impact on colonial Korea. In fact, the legacy of Japan'smedical system during the colonial period has recently become the subject ofa great deal of emerging scholarly literature, especially with respect to key issuessuch as gender, reproduction, and mental health. But the issue here willbe framed from a slightly different perspective: Assuming Gradjanzev's termsas a starting point, what were health conditions like for the significant portionof the population not seeking care from a Western-trained physician, regardlessof whether Japanese or Korean? What were the available alternatives forthis sizable pool of individuals, living outside the major cities and sometimessuspicious of, and seeking to minimize contact with, the colonial state?

Byun Sang-Hun's Postcolonial Encounter

Issued in March of 1947, the license provided to Byun Sang-Hun (1902–1989)—hereidentified as "S. H. Byun"—the third generation in a family of Koreantraditional medical practitioners, certified his right to continue operating hisclinic at Yangsan, a small village located a short distance southeast of Taejonin the southern half of the Korean peninsula. The accompanying photograph,with the left side masked in shadow, offers a sober portrait of a middleagedKorean male in Western dress, wearing a dark shirt. The individual in question,born in 1902, had continued the practice handed down by his father andgrandfather; the licensing procedure likely carried with it a certain degreeof anxiety, as it was not yet clear how American military authorities or theUSAMGIK would treat Korean medical practitioners. Certainly Byun washardly alone in submitting to this procedure, as the reverse side of the samedocument assigned him the number 853, thereby placing him among a collectionof individuals who had already registered with the USAMGIK Bureau ofPublic Health and Welfare. Within less than two years, this act of registrationwas recognized by an independent South Korean state, which later mobilizedByun's practice as part of its national story by validating his embrace of the"traditional," even while marginalizing his form of practice.

The location assigned to Mr. Byun's clinic encompassed the township(myon) of "Yang San," located in the "Yung Dong" (Yongdong) district (kun)of the "Chung Puk" (Ch'ungbuk) province of Korea, specifying the area inwhich he would be permitted to practice. Comprising a region occupyingthe south-central portion of the Korean peninsula, the only province lackingaccess to the sea, Chungbuk (North Chung) was then, as it is now, primarily arural area, encompassing low-lying mountains as well as agriculture. The townof Yangsan, located in the southeastern portion of the province, was situatedtoward the center of the peninsula, placing it close to the border with neighboringChungnam (South Chung). The geographical specificity of Mr. Byun'ssite was significant not simply as a matter of administrative record keepingbut also because USAMGIK was acutely conscious of the need to account forthe geographical distribution of medical personnel—including those trainedin Western medicine and Korean traditional medicine—in the aftermath of aseries of epidemics the preceding year, including a cholera outbreak.

This spring 1947 survey of "herb medicine" and its associated practitionerswas only one in a series of bureaucratic activities conducted over a periodof approximately sixty years (1885–1945), devoted to identifying, classifying,and ultimately transforming the practice of Korean traditional medicine, orhanuihak. The arrival of Western missionaries in the late nineteenth centurywitnessed initial contact between the different medical traditions, with Dr.Horace Allen (1858–1932) winning influence at the Korean court through hisability...