The Korea Times

Yun Hui-sun, a female freedom fighter

By Robert NeffIs this card, circa April 1907, “a piece of Japanese political propaganda about Yun Hui-sun”?   Courtesy of Diane Nars CollectionThere is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words but is the story that it is telling the truth? When viewing an image we need context. Who were the people who appear in the picture, when and why was it taken and who was the photographer ― with this information we are better able to understand what the image is trying to tell us.My friend Diane purchased a postcard recently with an interesting but somewhat confusing story. The postcard ― postmarked “Yokohama, 18 April 1907” ― was sent by a Royal Navy sailor named Charles Walter Candy (1877-1930) to his future wife and, in itself, is not overly interesting, but the dealer's description of the card was:“This [postcard] shows a Meiji-period boy and girl, the boy reaching forward to take the girl's hand. He wears the uniform of a Japanese Army General and she wears a splendid kimono, richly and dramatically decorated. This would seem to be a ve

Mar 5, 2022By Robert Neff

Opinion

Korean kites: carrying away bad luck

The Great Red Arrow Gate (Hongsalmun) in Seoul in the winter of 1883/84   Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffWhile wandering the streets of Seoul in February 1884, Percival Lowell commented about the number of large kites (birds) he encountered near the Red Arrow Gate (Hongsalmun):“There is one other place that is a great favorite with the birds. It is a certain double gibbet-like structure, painted a bright red; and it stands just off one of the main streets, at the entrance to another narrower thoroughfare. It is a magnificent post of observation for a kite; and I rarely passed under it, and over its ghastly, ghost-like shadow lying there black across the sunlit path, without seeing the silhouette of a bird projecting beyond the shade or the cross-bar; and instinctively turning and looking up, there, on the upper transverse beam, was perched the motionless body of a kite, to all appearance sunk in lazy drowsiness, but whose winking eye nothing escaped.”These were not the only kites that attracted his attention. He also encountered a large number of paper kite

Feb 27, 2022By Robert Neff

Korean kites: aerial battles as cornerstone of childhood

Opinion

Korean kites: aerial battles as cornerstone of childhood

By Robert NeffA postcard of a Korean boy preparing his kite for a day of flying circa 1920s.   Robert Neff CollectionIn early February 1903, the sky over every village and city in Korea was filled with kites. In Pyongyang, nine-year-old Il-han described the kites as resembling “a vast flock of gulls” dashing and whirling about, but they were not flying about aimlessly, for they all had “a real purpose” ― they were the weapons in the annual kite fights. These kite fights ― as well as the kite-flying season, took place during only the first two weeks of the Lunar New Year.These kite fights were, declared Il-han, “the [greatest] sport events of the year and every Korean boy at some time in his life has hoped for the championship of his village.” However, it wasn't just boys who took a keen interest in kites. Korean men of all ages ― including the king ― were either active participants or enthusiastic spectators.In the late 1880s, George Gilmore, an American teacher in Seoul, noted that it was “not at all unusual to see a boy flying a k

Feb 26, 2022By Robert Neff

Korean kites: aerial battles as cornerstone of childhood

Korean kites: carrying away bad luck

Opinion

Heungseon Daewongun, the tiger with 'bowels of iron and a heart of stone'

By Robert NeffA picture of Heungseon Daewongun presumably in the 1890s from Homer B. Hulbert's “The Passing of Korea,” 1906Tuesday, Feb. 22, 1898, was a cold, windy and gloomy day but for Alexis de Speyer, the Russian representative to Korea, it was a great day. According to him, “two very pleasant things occurred on the same night”: the attempted assassination of Kim Hong-nuik, his interpreter, and “the death of the Emperor's father” Heungseon Daewongun ― a man he considered to be Russia's enemy.According to The Independent (an English-language newspaper published in Seoul), Heungseon Daewongun (Grand Imperial Prince Heungseon) died at 7 p.m. He “had been ill for some months with chronic dysentery and his health had been very feeble […] and those who were near him [had] been expecting his death for some weeks.”The morning following his death, the legations and consulates in Seoul all placed their flags at half-mast for three days and the Korean shops throughout the city were closed for the same period as a token of sympathy and

Feb 20, 2022By Robert Neff

Heungseon Daewongun, the tiger with 'bowels of iron and a heart of stone'

Opinion

Assassins in Seoul's streets in 1898: Kim Hong-nuik

Kim Hong-nuik circa 1896-98 / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffArguably, one of the most hated men in Seoul in 1898 was Kim Hong-nuik, the interpreter at the Russian legation. Horace N. Allen, the American minister to Korea, described Kim as “a very common and uneducated man, unable to read or write the official Chinese characters used in Korea” ― but he had a skill that was needed: having been born near the Russian border, Kim was able to speak Russian. According to Allen, none of the Russians in the legation spoke Korean so Kim became “the mouthpiece, counselor, and general informant of the [Russian] Minister as to things Korean.”The British representative, John N. Jordan, echoed Allen's sentiment. He described Kim as a simple “water coolie on the streets of Seoul” who managed to achieve “the most influential position in the country, [and] has earned a reputation for high-handed and unscrupulous action which has made his name a (byword) throughout Korea.”He was a true Machiavellian ― unafraid to use “violent and threatening l

Feb 19, 2022By Robert Neff

Assassins in Seoul's streets in 1898: Kim Hong-nuik

Opinion

Tales of Korean nobles and American women: Part 2

By Robert NeffA Korean man in traveling clothes, circa 1900s   Robert Neff CollectionThey say every story has two sides and both sides have to be heard before a fair judgment can be reached. As we saw in yesterday's article, many newspapers in the United States seemingly had an agenda to portray Eugene Hughes, a Korean student, in a very negative light. Today's article will look at him from a more sympathetic perspective and allow you, the reader, to judge whether or not he was guilty of “white slavery” or just of naivety and a victim of the Yellow Peril. Hughes was born in Korea around 1883 and claimed that his “grandmother was the queen of Korea under the old form of government.” It was a bold and surprisingly fairly common claim. Unfortunately, it is one that cannot be verified, as we do not know which queen he was talking about, nor do we know his Korean name. At some point, Hughes went to Japan where he graduated from a medical school, and then in 1905 he moved to the United States where he “graduated from two colleges” before moving

Feb 14, 2022By Robert Neff

Tales of Korean nobles and American women: Part 2

Tales of Korean nobles and American women: Part 1

Opinion

Tales of Korean nobles and American women: Part 1

Emperor Gojong and Emily Brown's marriage in 1903 was denounced as a tale that “suited the vaudeville taste of the rag-time portion of our great newspaper public.”  Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffIn recent years, hallyu, or the Korean wave, has grown from a small ripple into a tsunami. But this isn't the first time Koreans have been an object of interest and attraction by the public in the United States. The first may have been in the early 1900s.In 1903, Americans were surprised to learn that Emily Brown, a young American missionary woman, had supposedly married Emperor Gojong and become the first American empress of the Land of the Morning Calm. It was a tale that captivated the American public for more than a decade and inspired hundreds of women to write to the American legation in Seoul in hopes of finding a Korean husband.Horace N. Allen, the American minister to Korea, became so infuriated with the deluge of letters that he issued a statement denouncing the tale as pure fabrication and warned, “There [was] no room in Korea for foreign female nu

Feb 13, 2022By Robert Neff

Tales of Korean nobles and American women: Part 1

Tales of Korean nobles and American women: Part 2

Opinion

'Chance of a lifetime': American fur traders in 1900s Korea

Yuri (George) M. Yankovsky and a number of boars he killed in the early 1930s   Sten Bergman, “In Korean Wilds and Villages.”By Robert NeffIn the early 1900s, the northern part of the Korean peninsula was the domain of the majestic tigers, sleek leopards, insatiable wolves and unpredictable giant boars. They prowled the darkness and lonely places preying upon the weak and unwary. They also attracted the attention of foreign hunters who came to Korea to hunt them as souvenirs to display in their trophy rooms. There was even a Russian family (Yankovsky) that established a famous hunting lodge on the east coast. But this region was also blessed with great numbers of fur-bearing animals. They, too, attracted foreign hunters who came not so much for the sport but rather the profit.Korea was no stranger to the fur industry. Some of the earlier trade reports list tiger, leopard and bear pelts exported from Wonsan ― most likely to Japan. Sable and otter pelts were especially prized and were readily purchased by Chinese merchants. In 1897, a pair of Korean fur dealers cl

Feb 6, 2022By Robert Neff

'Chance of a lifetime': American fur traders in 1900s Korea

Opinion

Clare Hess: The dangerous spectator

A quiet street in Korea in the early 1900s   Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffIn the first week of February 1903, Horace N. Allen, the American minister to Korea, reported to the State Department that the annual “seokjeon” (stone battles) had begun. He assured the State Department that these fights were common and the Korean government allowed, if not supported, them because they were “supposed to promote a courageous spirit” in Korean men. He went on to explain: “In [these stone fights], rival villages assemble their best men in line and stone the opposing line of villagers. If damage is done by the stones the men rush at each other and fight with clubs. Severe injuries are always received on either side and there are usually several deaths each year. Thousands of spectators cover the adjoining hills and when a rush takes place the whole crowd surges back to avoid the flying stones.”Allen stressed that “foreigners are usually careful to keep well out of reach of stones when visiting the scene of one of these fights.” Howe

Feb 5, 2022By Robert Neff

Opinion

Lunar New Year: A time for 'manly sport'

A “seokjeon” stone battle is held outside of Seoul in 1902. Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffThe city walls and nearby hills were covered with a great mass of white-clad Koreans staring down into a vacant lot with nervous anticipation. In harsh voices bets were made between the men, sealed with drinks of alcohol and punctuated with hoarse laughter, while children pushed their way eagerly to the front for a better view of the impending stone battle. These stone battles, known as “seokjeon,” were held twice a year throughout the country ― usually in vacant fields just outside of the city gates. The participants were generally the young men of two different villages, or families and their friends that had suffered some wrong from their opponents. Other times the battles were between two guilds that had decided to use these battles as a way of settling their differences. These battles were especially brutal and usually involved several hundred men. The Korean government looked upon these “games” as a means of promoting martial spirit and allowing th

Jan 29, 2022By Robert Neff

Robert Neff

Read more

Yun Hui-sun, a female freedom fighter

Korean kites: carrying away bad luck

Korean kites: aerial battles as cornerstone of childhood

Heungseon Daewongun, the tiger with 'bowels of iron and a heart of stone'

Assassins in Seoul's streets in 1898: Kim Hong-nuik

Tales of Korean nobles and American women: Part 2

Tales of Korean nobles and American women: Part 1

'Chance of a lifetime': American fur traders in 1900s Korea

Clare Hess: The dangerous spectator

Lunar New Year: A time for 'manly sport'

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