By Andrei Lankov
The late 19th century in Korea was a time of great changes. People who were born into a society which had not changed much from, say, the early 1400s, saw their lives completely transformed by forces beyond their control.
They were eager to learn more about the outside world, and they devoured descriptions of foreign countries with great enthusiasm.
Of these early descriptions, the most significant was a book written by a Korean who was the first foreign student in Japan and who later was also the first Korean to enroll in an American college to study English (untold numbers were to follow in his footsteps, of course).
The book was called ``Seoyu Gyeonmun'' (Things Seen and Heard while Traveling in the West) and the author's name was Yu Kil-jun.
Like most prominent Korean politicians and intellectuals of his generation, Yu was the scion of a yangban family and received a traditional education. His life was changed by his meeting with Park Kyu-su, a prominent dignitary who, despite his advanced aged (Park was born in 1807), in the 1860s and 1870s was the major proponent of modernization and reform.
In 1881 Yu was sent to Japan as a part of an official mission. He was impressed by the new, strange and attractive things which Japan had imported from the West, and decided to master the new science and technology. Yu stayed in Japan and entered a college, becoming the first foreigner to do so.
Once again, he was lucky to meet a charismatic and famous mentor, this time Fukuzawa Yukichi, a prominent Japanese educator, diplomat, and philosopher (Yu even briefly boarded in Fukuzawa's house). However, his studies did not last _ soon Yu was recalled to Korea to become a member of the diplomatic mission to the US.
Still in the U.S., Yu learned that in December 1884 his friends had staged a coup in Seoul. The coup ended in failure and led to much bloodshed. Under the circumstances, Yu prudently chose to stay in the U.S. to learn English. He was supported by Edward Morse, a great American scientist, former professor at Tokyo University, and the founder of the modern Japanese studies of anthropology and archeology (indeed, Yu attracted many remarkable people). Finally, Yu decided to come back to Korea, only to be arrested upon his arrival in Incheon in December 1886.
Fortunately, by that time passions calmed down, and as Yu had not been a direct participant in the 1884 coup he was not executed, but he did spend seven years under house arrest.
Interestingly, most of this time Yu lived in the house which now stands on the grounds of Kookmin University where the present author works, roughly 25 meters away from my own humble dwelling.
Having a lot of time at his disposal, he decided to write down his impressions of America, Japan, and Europe. In those days, very few educated Koreans could travel overseas, so Yu's book became a major source of information for those who wanted to learn what was going on in the outside world.
Thus, the ``Seoyu Gyeonmun'' became a crash course in modern Western culture. By no means a small book, the ``Seoyu Gyeonmun'' was more like an encyclopedia of the civilizations mentioned, as perceived by a young, inquisitive and intelligent Korean in the 1880s.
Yu wrote about the need for modern education, and advocated the then novel idea of citizens' rights and international law. The book also included geographic descriptions of major countries, and news about modern technology (among other things, Yu was probably the first Korean to provide his compatriots with a detailed description of the railway).
Another important peculiarity of the book was its writing system: the book was one of the first ``serious'' works to be written in Korean, with combination of the Chinese characters and phonetic script, in those days not yet known as ``hangeul,''
The book was completed around 1890, even though it was initially impossible to have it published. Only in 1894 was the ``Seoyu Gyeonmun'' printed in Japan, once again with the help of Fukuzawa Yukichi. It enjoyed great success and was widely read by many people, including the would-be first president of Korea Syngman Rhee.
However, very soon the book became outdated _ as increasing numbers of Koreans learned foreign languages and went overseas, they provided more reliable and specialized accounts of the foreign worlds.
In 1894 Yu joined the new government which can be, depending on one's point of view, described as either ``pro-Japanese'' or ``reformist.'' Indeed, in those days the reformists had a few illusions about Japan intentions, they universally saw it as a model to be emulated, as well as a possible sponsor of a future self-reforming Korea. Needless to say, the Japanese policy makers used these illusions with great success.
In a new government Yu was made minister for the interior, but soon lost his job due to a backlash from the more conservative (and more anti-Japanese) groups. He spent some more years in Japan as a political refugee, came to be involved in some conspiracies against the Korean government, and was exiled to the Japanese countryside, only to return to Korea in 1907.
He briefly served in a government position again, but all his actions were meaningless _ Korea was losing its independence, and in 1910 it became a Japanese colony. Yu did not live long under the new regime _ he died in 1914.
Prof. Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul.