WHAT ABOUT KOREA?

Kim offers an exploration of American educator Homer B. Hulbert’s lifelong dedication to the welfare of the Korean people.

The author, the chairman of The Hulbert Memorial Society, examines the contributions of American educator and missionary Hulbert to Korean education and culture, as well as to the Korean independence movement. The Vermont-born Hulbert, an 1884 graduate of Dartmouth College, was 23 when he arrived in Korea in 1886, appointed as a teacher to the newly created Royal College in Seoul and charged with bringing modern, Western-style education to the nation. Kim discusses how Hulbert’s appointment coincided with the beginning of an enlightenment period in Korea; the focus on education was one part of the efforts of King Gojong of the Joseon dynasty to encourage progress and fortify Korea against the threats of aggressive neighbors, including Japan and China. Kim argues that Hulbert’s diverse scholarly pursuits and interests—particularly a facility with language that allowed him to become fluent in the Korean language within a year of his appointment—made him uniquely suited to recognize and foster the latent talents of the country’s people. A central tenet of Hulbert’s educational reforms was his advocacy for the official adoption of Hangeul, the Korean alphabet. He was committed to promoting the education of all Koreans, regardless of gender or class, and believed that the use of Hangeul would facilitate widespread literacy, unlike the complex Chinese characters favored by the country’s elite. To that end, Hulbert authored and published Saminpilji, the first textbook written in Hangeul, in 1891, and contributed to the establishment of the first Korean-language newspaper.

Kim’s meticulous research into Hulbert’s life and accomplishments is an obvious labor of love, and the book is rich with excerpts from his subject’s correspondence and published works, balancing Kim’s impassioned but justifiable arguments for the significance of Hulbert’s legacy. The result is a work that’s worthy of the man Kim calls “the father of Korea’s modern education system.” For example, Kim ably chronicles how Hulbert’s prolific writings, published in both Korea and the United States, brought Korean poetry, music, folklore, and history to worldwide attention. When Japanese forces assassinated the Korean queen in October 1895, Hulbert actively stood in opposition to Japanese aggression and pro-Japanese elements in the Korean court. Kim effectively describes how Hulbert’s relationship with King Gojong led the monarch to entrust Hulbert with diplomatic missions to raise support for Korea’s resistance to Japan. As the king’s special envoy to the United States in 1905, Hulbert challenged President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration over its support for Japan’s enforced protectorate over Korea, and his appointment as Korea’s envoy to the 1907 International Peace Conference at The Hague resulted in him having to leave Korea for his own safety. Kim effectively details at length how Hulbert continued his advocacy for Korea for the remainder of his life, touring the United States on the lecture circuit to push for Korean independence after Japan’s 1910 annexation of the nation. His famed 1919 address to the U.S. Senate on the matter is included in full and gives the book its title.

A persuasive and comprehensive tribute to Hulbert’s advocacy for Korean sovereignty and culture.