KEPCO tracing Korea's electricity history

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) CEO Cho Hwan-eik, left, shakes hands with Wendy Sadler, a granddaughter of Harry Bostwick, during a ceremony of donating documents of the late 19th century at its headquarters in Naju, South Jeolla Province, Wednesday. Bostwick established the country’s first electric utility, which eventually became a part of KEPCO. / Courtesy of KEPCO

By Kang Seung-woo

A Korean utility’s efforts to shed light on the country’s history of electricity use are bearing fruit as it recently obtained hitherto unknown documents about its origins.

Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Sunday it received historical records of Hansung Electric Company last week from descendants of Harry Bostwick. A ceremony to mark the free donation took place at its headquarters in Naju, South Jeolla Province.

Wendy Sadler, a granddaughter of Bostwick from Chicago, attended the event, along with KEPCO CEO Cho Hwan-eik and other guests.

Bostwick was one of the two American businessmen who formed a joint venture the Collbran and Bostwick, and agreed with King Gojong to establish Hansung Electric, the nation’s first utility on Jan. 26, 1898. The other American was Henry Collbran. Bostwick served as general manager of the utility.

Hansung launched a streetcar service in Seoul in May 1899 and lit its first street lamps on Jongno in April 1900 -- the first-ever lighting in a public area.

“The Korean Empire lit the first electric lamp at Gyeongbok Palace in 1887, eight years after Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light in 1879. It built Hansung Electric under the combination of King Gojong’s investment and advanced U.S. technology,” Cho said at the ceremony.

“We expect the donation of historical documents will greatly help KEPCO learn about the history of electricity usage in Korea.”

KEPCO also plans to make the historical records public, while making them available for various studies in the future.

The donated documents include letters between King Gojong and Collbran and Bostwick, pictures of Hansung Electric’s head office and a power plant at Dongdaemun in the early 1900s along with local and international news about the firm.

KEPCO has carried out a history-tracing campaign and a research team at Pai Chai University found the documents owned by the Bostwicks through its research in the United States.

Hansung Electric was renamed Hanmi Electric in 1904 and eventually Kyungsung Electric in 1915. Later, Kyungsung joined hands in 1961 with two more electric firms -- Chosun and Namsun -- to eventually become KEPCO.

As part of the campaign, KEPCO recently changed its founding day to Jan. 26, the date when Hansung Electric opened.

According to KEPCO, it is also seeking out other utility firms, including Kyungsung, to restore the full history of the nation’s electric producers.