ABSTRACT
Following Su-un's execution, the Donghak organization was dissolved by the government, and Su-un's followers, persecuted and demoralized, sought refuge in the mountains or other areas remote from the authorities’ gaze. The dispirited group was not large, probably numbering a few score, or at most a few hundred members. One consequence of their dispersion was that the simple organizational structure which Su-un instituted and which consisted of jeop [local units], jeopju [unit leaders] and jeopsa [administrators/clerks] collapsed. 1 Susan Shin makes the following comment on the Su-un's death and its consequences:
His death and official harassment scattered the believers and disrupted what little formal organization there was. Local authorities could rest secure in the belief that Tonghak was moribund. There was, in fact, very little in this obscure sect to suggest the moral force that would shake the dynasty. 2
