Yu Kil-chun (; November 21, 1856 – September 30, 1914) was a Korean politician. Yu lived during the last few decades of

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

and the

Korean Empire The Korean Empire, officially the Empire of Korea or Imperial Korea, was a Korean monarchical state proclaimed in October 1897 by King Gojong of the Joseon dynasty. The empire lasted until the Japanese annexation of Korea in August 1910. Dur ...

, before the occupation of the peninsula by Japan. As a young man, he studied the Chinese classics. Unusually for the time, he came to embrace foreign ideas and literature. Yu achieved a number of notable firsts: in 1883, he was among the first Koreans to visit the United States. He was also the first Korean to study abroad in Japan and the first in the United States. He also wrote some of the earliest books and translations on Western topics in contemporary Korean, which significantly impacted the reform movement in the

. He is also remembered for his contributions to Korean linguistics. Yu was among the earliest Korean independence activists and reformers. He proposed numerous changes to modernize the Korean government, including the establishment of a

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

and increased popular participation in government. This brought him into conflict with the Korean monarchy, who forced him to flee to Japan. There, he orchestrated a coup against the Korean monarchy that failed. By the time he was eventually pardoned and allowed to return to the peninsula, it was already firmly under Japanese influence. He fell into a depression and died several years after the formal beginning of the occupation of Korea. Yu is now remembered as a '' chinilpa'' or collaborator with Japan. In the aftermath of the assassination of Empress Myeongseong, he was named one of the Eulmi Four Traitors that assisted in her death.

Early life and education

Yu was born on November 21, 1856, in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. He is of the . He was born the second son of Yu Jin-su and his second wife, Lady Yi of the Chungju Yi clan. At an early age, he learned the Chinese classics from his father and his maternal grandfather, Yi Gyeong-jik. In 1870, at age fourteen, Yu joined the circle of Park Gyu-su who was also a trusted friend of the late Crown Prince Hyomyeong, a leading scholar of (), a school within the

Silhak ''Silhak'' () was a Korean Confucian social reform movement in the late Joseon Dynasty. ''Sil'' means "actual" or "practical", and ''hak'' means "studies" or "learning". It developed in response to the increasingly metaphysical nature of Neo-C ...

social reform movement. The movement advocated for learning from abroad in order to reform the country, which was an unconventional idea in Joseon at the time. He quickly adopted an interest in reading foreign books.

Studying abroad in Japan and America

In 1881, he was sent to Japan as an attendant of a Joseon foreign mission. While there, he was allowed to remain in Japan and study abroad for a year at the Keiō School (later " Keiō University"). This made him the first Korean exchange student to Japan. When the Imo Incident occurred in 1882, recommended that Yu return to Korea, which he did in January 1883. Yu was among the first

Koreans Koreans are an East Asian ethnic group native to the Korean Peninsula. The majority of Koreans live in the two Korean sovereign states of North and South Korea, which are collectively referred to as Korea. As of 2021, an estimated 7.3 m ...

to ever set foot in North America. In July 1883, Yu traveled as an attendant to Min as part of the first-ever Korean special mission to the United States. While there, he again remained to study abroad. He stayed for around a year and a half thanks to the patronage of the American zoologist Edward S. Morse, whom he had previously met while in Japan. In Fall 1884, he enrolled in the Governor Dummer Academy (now known as The Governors Academy) in

Byfield, Massachusetts Byfield is a village (also referred to as a "parish") in the town of Newbury, Massachusetts, Newbury, in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It borders West Newbury, Massachusetts, West Newbury, Georgetown, ...

. This also made him the first Korean to study abroad in the United States. However, his studies were once again halted due to another incident in his home country: the Gapsin Coup. He halted his studies in December 1884, and returned to Korea via Europe. He stopped by a number of major European countries along the way.

Return to Korea

However, upon his return to Korea, he was viewed with suspicion due to his association with members of the pro-reform Gaehwa Party. Yu was then arrested. With the assistance of Han Kyu-seol, Yu was eventually able to escape a verdict of

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

, and was allowed to serve his sentence at Han's house until 1892. While in detention, Yu wrote a book on his experiences entitled ''Observations on Travels in the West'' () and published it in 1895. The book is nearly 600 pages long, and is written in a mix of

hangul The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...

and

hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

, and introduces Western civilization to Korean audiences. It advocates for a number of reforms, including the establishment of a

, military reforms, international trade, and a modern currency and tax system. It also discussed ideas such as the

social contract In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is an idea, theory, or model that usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Conceptualized in the Age of Enlightenment, it ...

. These ideas later became a significant inspiration for the

Gabo Reform The Kabo Reform () describes a series of sweeping reforms suggested to the government of Korea, beginning in 1894 and ending in 1896 during the reign of Gojong of Korea in response to the Donghak Peasant Revolution. Historians debate the degre ...

. At the end of the

Donghak Peasant Revolution The Donghak Peasant Revolution () was a peasant revolt that took place between 11 January 1894 and 25 December 1895 in Korea. The peasants were primarily followers of Donghak, a Neo-Confucian movement that rejected Western technology and i ...

and the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

that followed, Yu worked in the government as part of a pro-Japanese faction. From 1894 to 1895, Yu worked for the government under Prime Minister Kim Hong-jip, who intended to modernize Korea. In 1895, he became Vice Minister of State for the Home Office. In 1895, he published the first Korean dictionary and grammar book. In October 1895, he was labeled by King Gojong as one of the 'Eulmi Four Traitors' for collaborating with Imperial Japan leading up to the assassination of Empress Myeongseong. Following the assassination, Yu contacted Inoue Kaoru, the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, to discuss the incident. In February 1896, during Gojong's internal exile to the Russian legation, the pro-Japanese faction collapsed, and Yu fled to Japan. Yu and a group of young Korean graduates of the

Imperial Japanese Army Academy The was the principal officer's training school for the Imperial Japanese Army. The programme consisted of a junior course for graduates of local army cadet schools and for those who had completed four years of middle school, and a senior course f ...

attempted to execute a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

against the Korean government, but the attempt failed. This sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries, and Yu was subsequently imprisoned on the

Ogasawara Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , is a Japanese archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands located around SSE of Tokyo and northwest of Guam. The group as a whole has a total area of but only two of the islands are permanen ...

. Yu was eventually allowed to return to Korea in 1907, when Gojong was dethroned. Yu then served as the vice chair of the . In 1909, Yu wrote and published a book on Korean grammar.

Later life and death

When Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan in 1910, Yu opposed the annexation. He declined the '' Danshaku'' title he was awarded by the Japanese government. He then fell into a depression. On September 30, 1914, he died from complications of a kidney disease.

Legacy and honors

In 1910, Yu received a Order of the Taegeuk, 1st class from the

. In 2003, the Peabody Essex Museum in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...

, had an exhibit dedicated to Yu installed.

Works

All five of Yu's books were republished in 1971. * ''Seoyu gyeonmun'' () Yu also published a number of translations of foreign books, including histories of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, and the rise and fall of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Family

* Father ** Yu Jin-su (; 1825–1898) * Mother ** Lady Yi of the Hansan Yi clan (; 1824–1900) * Sibling(s) ** Older brother – Yu Hoe-jun (; 1847 – ?) ** Younger brother – Yu Seong-jun (; 1859/1860 – 27 February 1934) * Wives and their issues ** Lady Kim of the Gyeongju Kim clan (; ? – 1874) – No issue. ** Lady Yi of the Chungju Yi clan (); daughter of Yi Gyeong-jik () *** Son – Yu Man-gyeom (; 13 July 1889 – 13 December 1944) *** Son – Yu Eok-gyeom (; 23 October 1896 – 8 November 1947)

Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Kil-chun Korean politicians Japan–Korea relations 1856 births 1914 deaths 19th-century Korean people The Governor's Academy alumni Activists for Korean independence Government officials of the Korean Empire People from Jongno District Activists from Seoul Deaths from kidney disease Korean expatriates in the United States Korean expatriates in Japan People of the assassination of Empress Myeongseong Linguists of Korean Linguists from Korea Korean collaborators with Imperial Japan Keio University alumni