Contributor
Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
“You often read about the falcon hunts of the days before the invention of sporting guns and smokeless powder, but these hunts must have been tame compared to a modern Korean wolf hunt with trained eagles,” declared a writer in the early 1920s.
As mentioned in the previous article, Captain Philo McGiffin has become a folk hero — especially to naval buffs — mainly because of his firsthand account of events surrounding the naval aspects of the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95.
Over the years, Captain Philo McGiffin has become a folk hero — especially at the American Naval Academy. Many articles and books have been written about him, but they often have conflicting information. In 1968, Lee McGiffin — whose husband was Captain McGiffin’s nephew — wrote an interesting, but informal, biography about the captain, titled "Yankee of the Yalu."
Although 19th-century Korea is often referred to as the “Hermit Kingdom,” a land relatively unknown to Westerners, it is surprising how many famous (or infamous — depending upon your view) people traveled through the country. One of these visitors was Philo Norton McGiffin.
Traditionally, animals were often seen in Korea as harbingers of doom or omens of hope and good fortune. Foxes were often associated with evil acts while magpies enjoyed a more favorable image. It is easy to dismiss these tales as superstitions of the past but it might surprise you to learn that South Korea’s first president, Syngman Rhee, regarded an enormous turtle as a positive omen for the country.
In the spring of 1888, the HMS Constance began printing its own newspaper called The Ferret. This newspaper provided an interesting perspective of life aboard a British warship and was filled with scuttlebutt, advice and, of course, anonymous complaints.
Concerned about Russia's growing influence in Korea, three British warships sailed into Geomun-do, a small group of islands off the southern coast of Korea, on April 15, 1885, and began a two-year "preventive occupation" in which a garrison named Port Hamilton was established.
Some of my fondest memories of Korea occurred on trains.
A recent article appearing in The Korea Times announced the opening of a photo exhibition illuminating the 70 years of friendship between Korea and Greece. While it is true the diplomatic relationship between the two countries is fairly recent, there have been Greeks residing in Korea for over 120 years.
In the fall of 1900, Seoul was temporarily graced by an intrepid English doctor named Ella Campbell Scarlett. Like many of these temporary presences in the Land of the Morning Calm, we know very little about her stay in Korea, but, judging from Horace N. Allen, the ever-cranky American minister to Korea, she was quite the character.