19th-Century Joseon Through British Eyes
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Rare photos and illustrations depicting Korea in the 19th century by British weeklies have been published in a book.
The Korea Literature Translation Institute has released the book as part of the Korean Heritage Books series in cooperation with LG-Yeonam.
It includes a total of 261 out of 276 pieces, photos and illustrations, which were posted in British weeklies in the 19th century, collected by Kim Jang-choon, a professor of Myongji College.
The three big British weeklies ― the Illustrated London News (ILN), The Graphic and The Sphere ― containing many graphics and illustrations were published
every Saturday.
The papers had pieces dealing with Joseon from 1858 to 1911 spanning 54 years. About 200,000 issues of the ILN in 1858, which contained the first images on Joseon were sold, three times of the sales of The Times, Britain's top daily at that time.
The book includes a rare photo ``Lady Om, Ex-queen of Corea, with the Wife of the Japanese Ex-Resident-General of Corea and Her Two Children.''
The caption says ``Lady Om was formerly an ordinary attendant in the palace but the Emperor attracted by her beauty, made her his second wife on the death of his first wife. She became the Queen on her son becoming Crown Prince. Since the annexation of Korea by Japan all the members of the royal family have been set aside. They are now, to all intents and, purpose a small portion of their palaces.''
The illustration on ``Our Traveling Artist in the Hermit Kingdom: The Quaint Koreans as Seen by Tom Brown'' depicts Korea as ``a country of quaint headgear, ranging from the stiff, transparent hat of finely woven horse-hair, worn by the married men, down to the umbrella hat, sometimes as much as seven feet long and five feet broad, which protects the body as effectively as any umbrella could go.''
It also ridicules the Korean dress, as saying ``the dress of the people seems no less strange to the Western eye, the flowing white gowns which they invariably affect being unpleasantly suggestive of shrouds.''
The illustrations and photos depicted the unpleasant scenes revealing Joseon's poverty. British correspondents or journalists and painters portrayed Joseon as a small and uncivilized country in many cases.
Sometimes, they carried the wrong information about Joseon. They wrongly portrayed Japanese girls in kimono as Korean girls and they mentioned that Joseon was similar in size to that of France, which were both groundless.
Kim says that distorted and wrong portrayals about Joseon resulted from a lack of the understanding about the country. ``The articles related to the photos and illustrations reflect how historic facts were distorted in the British eyes. They portrayed beggars on the street, Joseon people suffering from highly infectious diseases such as smallpox, which shows how Joseon was poor and undeveloped,'' Kim said.
Kim said, however, British papers took a different position toward Japan from that of Korea. Their pro-Japanese descriptions prove that Britain approved of Japan's occupation of Joseon, as Britain wanted Japan to counter Russia's southward advance.
The illustration of ``Japan on Guard in Her New Province, Choseon: Soldiers of the Mikado outside the Ex-Emperor of Korea Palace in Seoul'' shows the caption, saying that ``The fact that Korea is now a Japanese province is much in evidence in Seoul. The name of the country has been changed to Choseon; and every other change seems likely to be radical.''
But most of the photos and illustrations are historically important as its is rare for them to be seen in Korea.
``It is unpleasant to see modern Koreans seen by British journalists in the Imperial Era. But the data they left are crucial for us to look back to our past and present. Also, we can see another spectrum through Britain on Joseon surrounded by the imperialists of the 19th century,'' said Kim.