Korea’s Internal Civilizing Mission: Education in the English Edition of The Independent, 1896-1898

This article discusses the education-related contents of the English edition of the bilingual Korean newspaper The Independent which appeared from 1896 to 1898. The paper, edited by Seo Jae-pil and Yun Chi-ho, was the key organ of the enlightenment party. It is argued that education was a key component of an internal civilizing mission spearheaded by the newspaper’s editors. This mission involved two elements. Firstly, The Independent saw education as a major means to emancipate Korea from Confucian tradition (which was itself seen as backward) and forge a new sense of nationalism. Secondly, education was continuously linked to new (predominantly male) practices, such as sports and military drills, as well as public speech and debating contests. Furthermore, reporting in the newspaper provides insights into educational debates and practices in late nineteenth-century Korea.