The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    INTERVIEWTati Gabrielle, actress of Korean, African-American descent, feels proud of her heritage

  • 3

    Disgraced ex-minister's daughter says she feels proud, qualified as a doctor

  • 5

    Why Galaxy Book3 draws more attention than S23 smartphones

  • 7

    Families of Itaewon victims on collision course with Seoul City

  • 9

    VIDEOFilipina K-pop idol and K-drama actress react to stereotypes about the Philippines

  • 11

    VideoHow Koreans' favorite convenience store foods are made in factories

  • 13

    President Yoon at odds with politician who helped him win election

  • 15

    'Hype Boy' by NewJeans reaches 200 mil. Spotify streams

  • 17

    BTS fails to win Grammy for 3rd consecutive year

  • 19

    LG publishes Korea's first group-level net zero report

  • 2

    2-year work experience prerequisite lifted for foreign shipyard welders

  • 4

    Decoding success factors of NewJeans: How is it different?

  • 6

    China expresses 'strong dissatisfaction' over US shooting down balloon

  • 8

    Singer Lee Seung-gi to marry actor Lee Da-in in April

  • 10

    INTERVIEWSaudi Arabia seeks greater cooperation with Korea in NEOM

  • 12

    US shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon with a single missile

  • 14

    Debate heats up over chemical castration of more sex offenders

  • 16

    Powerful quake rocks Turkey and Syria, kills more than 1,500

  • 18

    US literary agent reflects on personal journey to discover Korea in new book

  • 20

    More than 2,000 foreign workers to be hired at Korean shipyards this month

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Tue, February 7, 2023 | 23:11
Kim Ji-myung
Archive to revive 1907 Korea
Posted : 2019-09-20 17:38
Updated : 2019-09-20 17:38
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
By Kim Ji-myung

While I was finalizing my dissertation in November 2017, UNESCO decided to list on the Memory of the World Register the very documentary archives I had been researching ― the National Debt Redemption Movement Archives. Those thousands of historical records, handwritten letters and newspaper articles from 1907 to 1910 attest to the first nationwide voluntary fundraising movement by the Korean people.

To briefly explain the backdrop of this civil movement, Korea had long been slowly usurped of her sovereign rights, mainly to Japan, since the 1870s by interfering Japanese advisers, while China, America and Russia were also competing to claim their portion of interest in this waning kingdom.

The period of the Korean Empire from 1897 to 1910 hit Korean society with a paralyzing force on all dimensions. Forced to open the nation by treaties with other countries, through negotiations handled by foreign advisers and interpreters, the royal court and government officials alike were lost, suspicious and divided among themselves.

On the other hand, foreign books, religions and alien cultures came in, shaking the intellectual cadre and patriotic leaders. Social movements emerged to enlighten the compatriots, opening schools to educate youngsters and organizing women to awaken them.

My research found that publishers and the press played key roles in ushering in social changes in all strata of society, including housewives who could not read traditional books written in classical Chinese.

Obviously, the inscription of the archives I was researching on the UNESCO Memory of the World was a coincidence and truly unplanned good fortune that befell my future. Especially so, as the Korean government and the city of Daegu had begun taking action to build a state-of-the-art digital online and offline multi-function library-archive-museum to entertain visitors from in and outside Korea.

I feel as if I am the very person destined to do this job, for two reasons. Firstly, my research of this documentary heritage differs from a traditional history scholar. Rather, I hope to compile and reorganize all the data and research results available and further explore meaningful relationships among the elements contained in those records.

By subjectively building them into a semantically structured digital archive, I hope new relationships among the people, events, literature, organizations and locations can be revealed so that they can be utilized as components for representing the past in the present time and space.

Secondly, researchers in traditional domains such as Korean history, political science, economics, women's studies and international relations usually focus their study within the framework of their area. When we deal with an event that occurred on the Korean Peninsula, it is naturally considered as belonging to Korean history.

Such a scholarly approach emphasizes the National Debt Redemption Movement as an "unprecedented, historically significant, voluntary movement of the Korean people." It was the patriotic act of all Koreans ― from the king on the top to the beggars and even butchers, who were regarded as the lowest class. Some Koreans living in Japan, Hawaii, America and Russia also joined the campaign, but research is missing for those outside the peninsula, including the northern half of Korea. In general, the narratives are over-simplified.

"Hyperconnected World" will be a most important concept in my proposal for the digital Debt Redemption Movement Archive. Technically, there should be no barrier between Daegu and Jeju, for example, or between Korea and Zimbabwe, or between Seoul and Pyongyang of course.

Language should also not be a hindrance. At least English speakers will be able to enjoy full access to the content, which will be accompanied by helpful commentaries.

By checking out the content of the archive either inside the physical library-archive-museum facility or on your smartphone, visitors will learn about how, before the fall of the Korean Empire, there were dramatic deals behind the scenes during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars. And schoolchildren will learn that for the first time in history Korea was introduced to the outside world in full force by those foreign war correspondents who rushed to Korea to cover the Russo-Japanese War in 1904.

The most successful history representation, in my view, is to bring people back to the point in time and place of history.


The writer (Heritagekorea21@gmail.com) is chairperson of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage).


 
Top 10 Stories
1Why Galaxy Book3 draws more attention than S23 smartphones Why Galaxy Book3 draws more attention than S23 smartphones
2[VIDEO] Filipina K-pop idol and K-drama actress react to stereotypes about the Philippines VIDEOFilipina K-pop idol and K-drama actress react to stereotypes about the Philippines
3[INTERVIEW] Saudi Arabia seeks greater cooperation with Korea in NEOM INTERVIEWSaudi Arabia seeks greater cooperation with Korea in NEOM
4[Video] How Koreans' favorite convenience store foods are made in factories VideoHow Koreans' favorite convenience store foods are made in factories
5Debate heats up over chemical castration of more sex offenders Debate heats up over chemical castration of more sex offenders
6US literary agent reflects on personal journey to discover Korea in new book US literary agent reflects on personal journey to discover Korea in new book
7[ANALYSIS] New order prevails in global battery industry ANALYSISNew order prevails in global battery industry
8Coupang reveals Asia's largest fulfillment center in Daegu Coupang reveals Asia's largest fulfillment center in Daegu
9'Celebrity forests' emerge as new K-pop trend in Seoul 'Celebrity forests' emerge as new K-pop trend in Seoul
10Book recounts poverty-stricken Korean coal miners' contribution to their countryBook recounts poverty-stricken Korean coal miners' contribution to their country
Top 5 Entertainment News
1[INTERVIEW] Tati Gabrielle, actress of Korean, African-American descent, feels proud of her heritage INTERVIEWTati Gabrielle, actress of Korean, African-American descent, feels proud of her heritage
2Decoding success factors of NewJeans: How is it different? Decoding success factors of NewJeans: How is it different?
3The Boyz member Hyunjae apologizes for wearing hat with Rising Sun flag design The Boyz member Hyunjae apologizes for wearing hat with Rising Sun flag design
4Reclusive fashion icon Martin Margiela makes comeback as artist with eerie wonderland of human bodiesReclusive fashion icon Martin Margiela makes comeback as artist with eerie wonderland of human bodies
5SM in internal feud over founder's exit from producing SM in internal feud over founder's exit from producing
DARKROOM
  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

  • World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

    World Cup 2022 France vs Morocco

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group