이 논문은 일제강점기 광주지역의 한국인 유지집단의 형성과정과 성격, 유지활동, 친일부역 및 보상 형태를 살펴보았다. 병합을 전후로 한 초기에는 일제에 의해 대지주나 한말관료 출신 등 지역 명망가들이 관변기구를 통해 호명되어 나오다가, 1920년대 들어서면서부터 신진 유지집단이 새롭게 부상한다. 이들은 기본적인 ‘재력’과 ‘학력’(일본유학을 포함한 근대고등교육 출신자들)을 토대로, 지방의회(광주면 협의회·읍회·부회 등)를 통한 정계 입문 및 ‘광주번영회’를 기반으로 일본인 유지집단과의 관계망과 ‘[일제]당국의 신용’을 획득해나가면서 지역유지로 성장한다. 그리고 다양한 유지활동(자선 및 기부, 지역민원 해결 등)을 해나가면서 ‘사회 인망’을 확보한다. 이 과정에서 때로는 일본인 유지들과 협력하기도 하고, 때로는 한국인들의 이해를 관철시키기 위해 일본인들과 투쟁하기도 했다. 하지만, 상당수 유지들은 자신의 이권을 챙기기 위해서든 권력과 재산을 지키기 위해서든, 친일부역 행위에 몸 담았으며, 이에 대한 보상을 챙긴 것도 사실이다. 민족과 친일 사이, ‘사회 인망’과 ‘당국의 신용’ 사이, 이 중층성의 경계에 서 있는 자들이 한국인 유지집단이었으며, 이들에 대한 단선적 평가를 피하기 위해서는 바로 이러한 중층적 위치에 대한 이해가 요청된다.

This study examines a group of Korean community leaders in Gwangju during the Japanese Colonial rule in order to understand the formation and characteristics of the group, their community leading activities, their pro-Japanese labor, and the forms of rewards they received for the labor. In the beginning, with regards to the Japanese annexation of Korea, great landowners, or men of renown, who had been officials in the late period of Joseon, were called out through government offices by the Japanese Empire. In the early 1920s, a new group of Korean community leaders emerged. They served as a mediation group between the Japanese authorities and Koreans, and played an essential role in reducing Koreans’ protest against the Japanese rule. Based on their “wealth” and “academic backgrounds” (They received modern higher education, including studying in Japan), they grew as community leaders as they went into politics through local councils, formed networks with Japanese community leaders, and gained “trust from the Japanese Empire.” They also secured “social human networks,” by performing various community leading activities (charity and donation, resolving community complaints, etc.). In doing so, they sometimes cooperated with Japanese community leaders, while atother times protested against the Japanese in the interests of Koreans. Yet a majority of Korean community leaders were involved in pro-Japanese labor, whether to obtain rights to benefits, or to protect their power and wealth, and for that they gained some reward. We need to consider two aspects in order to properly understand the group of Korean community leaders during that period. First, they were positioned along the competing boundaries between the “Korean people” and “pro-Japanese activities” and between “social human networks” and “trust from the Japanese Empire.” An understanding of their dual position is necessary to avoid a linear evaluation. Second, the group of Japanese community leaders, when it came to areas directly related to their interests, never allowed the group of Korean community leaders to be directly involved. This means a majority of Korean community leaders had quite limited rights to benefits and favors, with the exception of a few Koreans with immense power. In this sense, we need to understand that several intricate layers of entanglement surrounded most of them, and as such they should not be judged as one group.