Hwang Sayeong

Hwang Sa-yeong (1775–1801) was a Korean Catholic of the late Joseon period, baptized Alexis. When the Catholic Persecution of 1801 broke out, he fled to Baeron in Chungcheong Province (present-day Jecheon) and there composed the so-called "Silk Letter" (baekseo), which reported the persecution to Bishop Gouvea in Beijing and appealed for the Qing dynasty to intervene militarily on behalf of religious freedom. The document was intercepted before it could be delivered; Hwang was arrested and executed by dismemberment. Because it invited foreign intervention, his letter was used to justify the persecution of Catholics and remains a debated episode over the relationship between faith and the state.