Yun Chi-ho

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Yun.
Yun Chi-ho
윤치호
尹致昊

Yun Chi-ho is standing at the rear. His father, Yun Ung-nyeol is seated, wearing the western uniform of the Korean Empire. This photograph captures the General with his family c. 1910.
Born (1864-12-26)26 December 1864
Died 9 December 1945(1945-12-09) (aged 80)
Yun Chi-ho
Hangul 윤치호
Hanja 尹致昊
Revised Romanization Yun Chi-ho
McCune–Reischauer Yun Ch'iho
Pen name
Hangul 좌옹
Hanja 佐翁
Revised Romanization Jwaong
McCune–Reischauer Chwaong
Japanese name:
Itō Chikō (伊東致昊)

Yun Chi-ho (hangul: 윤치호, hanja: 尹致昊, 1864 – 1945) was an important political activist and thinker during the late 1800s and early 1900s in Joseon Korea. He was a strong nationalist especially in his early years; pushing for reform and modernization in the Joseon government.[1] He was involved in important organizations such as the Independence Club led by Seo Jae-pil. He also served in various government positions and was a strong supporter of Christianity in Korea[2]

Although Yun’s early years were filled with strong support of patriotic and nationalist movements, there seemed to have been a change in Yun’s approach to Korean independence in the wake of the Japanese dominance in Korea, starting with Korea becoming a protectorate of Japan in 1904, and then fully annexed into the Japanese Empire in 1910. Because of Yun’s apparent change in attitude toward Korean independence and his lack of support of nationalist movements, like the 1919 Samil Movement, many Koreans today see him as a collaborator with the Japanese.[3]

Early life

Yun Chi-ho was born on December 26, 1864 in a small village in Chungcheong Province. His father, Yun Ung-yeol, was an official in the Joseon government and as a member of the yangban aristocracy saw that Chi-ho received a proper education. Yun Chi-ho excelled in his studies of the Confucian classics at the local seodang and even tried to apply to take the civil-service exams at age twelve.[4]

Trip to Japan

Because of Yun Ung-yeol’s position in the government, he was able to arrange for Yun Chi-ho’s participation in a delegation of representatives from Korea to observe the process of modernization in Japan in 1881.[5] Yun was only sixteen years old at the time, but this experience greatly influenced his thoughts on modernization and opened his eyes to world beyond the isolated “Hermit Kingdom” that Korea had become. He frequently compared the lack of progress in Joseon Korea to the rapid modernization of Japan and often lamented in his diaries that he wanted nothing more than for Korea to become the kind of advanced, modern nation that Japan had become.[6]

Studying in China

Yun would later travel to Shanghai, China in 1885 where he would attend the Anglo-Chinese College studying English and mathematics, among other things. While in Shanghai he also converted to Christianity, something that would play a major role throughout the rest of his life. Yun Chi-ho viewed Christianity as a strong progressive philosophy that could help Korea catch up with the advancements of Japan and the West.[7]

Time in America

He eventually even studied in America, starting in 1888 at Vanderbilt and then Emory University. He strongly admired many aspects of American culture, but was also frustrated with the racial prejudices he experienced while living in the South. While in America he studied English, theology and speech and he gained a great deal of proficiency in the English language; writing most of his diaries in English.[8]

Yun Chi-ho as a student at Emory University (1892).

Government Service

Interpreter

Yun served in several important government positions throughout his life. He served as an interpreter for the first American Foreign Minister in Korea, Lucius Foote. Upon arriving in Korea he had inquired of the Japanese Foreign Minister about finding someone to interpret for him while in Seoul, and Minister Inoue of Japan, who new Yun Chi-ho from his days in Japan, recommended Yun to help serve Minister Foote. It was also Foote who helped Yun go to school in Shanghai.[9]

Vice President of the Privy Council and Banishment

Yun also served as the Vice President of the Privy Council of the Joseon Court from 1898 until he was banished in 1899 due to pressure from opposing factions in the government. While banished to the countryside, Yun served as magistrate for a town called Wonsan in Northern Korea. His banishment was not long lived and in 1903 he was called to serve as the Vice Foreign Minister.[10]

Korean Independence Movements

The Independence Club

When Yun arrived back in Korea from his studies abroad, there were small groups of scholars who were beginning to call for social and political reform in Korea. One such group was the Independence club, which Yun began to participate in. Among other things, the club promoted educating the Korean people on their unique history, promoted the use of Hangeul, the Korean vernacular alphabet, and pushed for government reform. While in the Independence Club Yun called for the government to be more representative of its people and even supported the elevation of King Kojong to the title of Gwangmu Emperor.[11] Eventually the group was met with pressure from opposing factions in the government that believed the club was gaining too much influence and so in 1899, the club disbanded.[12]

The Enlightenment Movement

As Japanese influence on the Korean peninsula began to tighten, Yun also began to support groups that were part of the Enlightenment movement. These groups, such as the Korean Self-Strengthening Society and the New People’s Society, were picking up the pieces where the independence club had left off, and Yun Chi-ho helped them out by giving speeches and writing pamphlets for them. During his time of Banishment, these groups gave Yun something to work for in the hopes of creating a stronger Korean society.[13]

Conspiracy Trial and Imprisonment

In 1911 Yun was implicated in assisting with an assassination attempt on Japanese governor-general, Terauchi Masatake. Sources from within some of the Enlightenment Movement groups that Yun had taken part in had informed Japanese officials that he had a hand in planning this attempted assassination. He was put on trial and given the maximum sentence. However, after a series of retrials his sentence was shortened and he eventually gained amnesty after only six years in jail.[14] During this time, he didn’t write down anything in his diaries, but his experience in the Japanese prison system seemed to have a significant effect on his actions after his release. In fact, his release can be seen as a turning point for Yun Chi-ho where he began to make many pro-Japanese statements and gives much less support to Korean nationalistic movements.[15]

Samil Movement

Inspired by Woodrow Wilson’s idea of “self-determination” presented at the Paris Peace Conference the previous year, on March 1, 1919 many Koreans took to the streets in a peaceful protest to demonstrate that Korea was ready for independence from Japan. Yun knew that the European nations would not take this demonstration seriously. Yun said the following about the movement: “He who buys a field and keeps it from falling into unredeemable hands is a wiser patriot than he who sells his lands to finance the independent movement. He who sends a poor boy to school to become more intelligent than his fathers is doing a greater service than he who stirs up students for political agitations. He who leads an erring man into decent religious life is serving the Korean race better than he who sends ignorant folks to jail for yelling ‘mansei.’ Now is the time for Koreans to learn and wait.”[16]

Japanese Support

Yun’s reversal in opinion took an even larger turn from his previous nationalistic rhetoric when he began supporting the Japanese war efforts during WWII. He urged the young men of Korea to help the Japanese to victory by assisting in the war effort. He celebrated as the Japanese pushed Western imperialist powers out of Asia.[17] According to Yun the Korean people’s part in the Japanese Empire them opportunity and access to education and resources they previously never had. Yun said, “The intellectuals of Korea today all realize that destiny of the Korean people can be promoted by becoming one with the Japanese people and that Manchuria and North China have opened up a field for the development of the Korean people never before dreamed of.”[18]

Gallery

  • Yun Chi-ho (1907)

  • Yun Chi-ho (1910s)

  • Yun Сhi-ho

  • Yun's father, Yun Ung-ryeol (1880s)

  • Yun's second wife, Ma Ae-bang

  • Yun, his father, Yun Ung-ryeol, Yun's son, Young-sun and Yun's daughter Bong-hee (1904)

  • Yun's mother and wife, Ma Ae-bang (1907)

  • The Independent

  • Wusunsori, a Korean language translation of the Aesop´s Fables

  • The South Korean Aegukga, written by Yun Chi-ho

  • Yun's father, Yun Ung-ryeol (1910s)

  • Yun Chi-ho and Min Young-hwan in Russia (April, 1896)

  • Yun's uncle, Yun Yeong-ryeol and his wife Han Chin-suk (1927)

  • Yun Chi-ho (1930s)

  • Yun Chi-ho (1940s)

  • Yun's nephew, Yun Bo-seon

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Clark, Donald N. Yun Ch'i-ho (1864-1945): “Portrait of a Korean Intellectual in an Era of Transition”. Source: Occasional Papers on Korea, No. 4 (September 1975),pp 37-42, 46-50, 54-56, 57, 58
  2. ↑ Chandra, Vipan. “Imperialism, Resistance, and Reform in Late Nineteenth-Century Korea: Enlightenment and the Independence Club”. (1988) Regents of the University of California ISBN 0-912966-99-8, pp 89-91, 137, 172
  3. ↑ Caprio, Mark (2007). "Loyal Patriot? Traitorous Collaborator? The Yun Ch'iho Diaries and the Question of National Loyalty." Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Volume 7, Number 3.
  4. ↑ Clark, Donald N. Yun Ch'i-ho (1864-1945): “Portrait of a Korean Intellectual in an Era of Transition”. Source: Occasional Papers on Korea, No. 4 (September 1975),pp 37-42, 46-50, 54-56, 57, 58
  5. ↑ Schmid, Andre. “Korea Between Empires”. (2002) Columbia University Press ISBN 0-231-12538-0 pp. 47, 49, 76, 112
  6. ↑ Yun, Chi-ho. "Yun Chi-Ho's Diaries". Vol I-X. 1975 National History Compilation Committee. Seoul, Korea
  7. ↑ Yun, Chi-ho. "Yun Chi-Ho's Diaries". Vol I-X. 1975 National History Compilation Committee. Seoul, Korea
  8. ↑ Yun, Chi-ho. "Yun Chi-Ho's Diaries". Vol I-X. 1975 National History Compilation Committee. Seoul, Korea
  9. ↑ Clark, Donald N. Yun Ch'i-ho (1864-1945): “Portrait of a Korean Intellectual in an Era of Transition”. Source: Occasional Papers on Korea, No. 4 (September 1975),pp 37-42, 46-50, 54-56, 57, 58
  10. ↑ Clark, Donald N. Yun Ch'i-ho (1864-1945): “Portrait of a Korean Intellectual in an Era of Transition”. Source: Occasional Papers on Korea, No. 4 (September 1975),pp 37-42, 46-50, 54-56, 57, 58
  11. ↑ Neff, Robert D. “Korea through Western Eyes”. (2009) Seoul National University Press. ISBN 978-89-521-1003-9 03900 pp 137
  12. ↑ Chandra, Vipan. “Imperialism, Resistance, and Reform in Late Nineteenth-Century Korea: Enlightenment and the Independence Club”. (1988) Regents of the University of California ISBN 0-912966-99-8, pp 89-91, 137, 172
  13. ↑ Chandra, Vipan. “Imperialism, Resistance, and Reform in Late Nineteenth-Century Korea: Enlightenment and the Independence Club”. (1988) Regents of the University of California ISBN 0-912966-99-8, pp 89-91, 137, 172
  14. ↑ Caprio, Mark (2007). "Loyal Patriot? Traitorous Collaborator? The Yun Ch'iho Diaries and the Question of National Loyalty." Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Volume 7, Number 3.
  15. ↑ Clark, Donald N. Yun Ch'i-ho (1864-1945): “Portrait of a Korean Intellectual in an Era of Transition”. Source: Occasional Papers on Korea, No. 4 (September 1975),pp 37-42, 46-50, 54-56, 57, 58
  16. ↑ Yun, Chi-ho. "Yun Chi-Ho's Diaries". Vol I-X. 1975 National History Compilation Committee. Seoul, Korea
  17. ↑ Kim, Hyung-chan. “Portrait of a Troubled Korean Patriot: Yun Ch'i-ho's Views of the March First Independence Movement and World War II”. Korean Studies, Volume 13, 1989, pp. 76-91 (Article) Published by University of Hawai'i Press. DOI: 10.1353/ks.1989.0014
  18. ↑ Yun, Chi-ho. "Yun Chi-Ho's Diaries". Vol I-X. 1975 National History Compilation Committee. Seoul, Korea

References

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yun Chi-ho.
  • Caprio, Mark (2007). "Loyal Patriot? Traitorous Collaborator? The Yun Ch'iho Diaries and the Question of National Loyalty." Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Volume 7, Number 3.
  • Chandra, Vipan. “Imperialism, Resistance, and Reform in Late Nineteenth-Century Korea: Enlightenment and the Independence Club”. (1988) Regents of the University of California ISBN 0-912966-99-8, pp 89–91, 137, 172
  • Clark, Donald N. Yun Ch'i-ho (1864-1945): “Portrait of a Korean Intellectual in an Era of Transition”. Source: Occasional Papers on Korea, No. 4 (September 1975),pp 37–42, 46-50, 54-56, 57, 58
  • Kim, Hyung-chan. “Portrait of a Troubled Korean Patriot: Yun Ch'i-ho's Views of the March First Independence Movement and World War II”. Korean Studies, Volume 13, 1989, pp. 76–91 (Article) Published by University of Hawai'i Press. DOI: 10.1353/ks.1989.0014
  • Neff, Robert D. “Korea through Western Eyes”. (2009) Seoul National University Press. ISBN 978-89-521-1003-9 03900 pp 137
  • Schmid, Andre. “Korea Between Empires”. (2002) Columbia University Press ISBN 0-231-12538-0 pp. 47, 49, 76, 112
  • Yun, Chi-ho. "Yun Chi-Ho's Diaries". Vol I-X. 1975 National History Compilation Committee. Seoul, Korea

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