Transformations of the Confucian Literati Conferences and Their Role in Wartime Mobilization in Colonial Korea during the 1930s-1940s

How did the Government-General of Korea attempt to control the Korean Confucian community during the 1930s and 1940s? Did it attempt to use the influence of prominent Confucian leaders or several organizations? Or did it focus attention on alternative institutional frameworks? This study focuses on a system known as the Confucian literati Conferences (Yurim daehoe, 儒林大會), which played a significant role in shaping discourse.<br/> During the 1920s, these conferences primarily functioned as a platform for addressing internal concerns in the Confucian community. Between 1931 and 1937, however, they gradually became institutionalized and were increasingly mobilized in support of the Government-General Korea’s social reform campaigns and the Rural Revitalization Movement. From 1937 to 1945, the Confucian Conferences evolved into a mechanism for mobilizing the Confucian literati and the general public during wartime, thereby helping consolidate scattered Confucian organizations and disseminate wartime ideology.