''The Korea Daily News'' was an English-language newspaper published in the

Korean Empire The Korean Empire () was a Korean monarchical state proclaimed in October 1897 by Emperor Gojong of the Joseon dynasty. The empire stood until Japan's annexation of Korea in August 1910. During the Korean Empire, Emperor Gojong oversaw the Gwa ...

between 1904 and 1910. It also published editions in

Korean mixed script Korean mixed script () is a form of writing the Korean language that uses a mixture of the Korean alphabet or ''hangul'' () and ''hanja'' (, ), the Korean name for Chinese characters. The distribution on how to write words usually follows th ...

and

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

under the name ''Taehan Maeil Sinbo'' (). After a few trial issues under the name ''Korea Times'', the newspaper formally launched as the ''Daily News'' on 18 July 1904. It was published by

Ernest Bethell Ernest Thomas Bethell (3 November 1872 – 1 May 1909), who is also known by his Korean name (, ), was a British journalist who founded a newspaper, '' The Korea Daily News'', antagonistic to Japanese rule. Arrival in Korea In 1904, Ernest Be ...

, a British citizen who sharply criticized the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

's rapid encroachment on Korean sovereignty. After Tokyo began indirectly ruling Korea in 1905, Bethell was one of the only newspaper publishers able to write critically about Japan, although he and the newspaper were subject to increasing retaliation. The newspaper was sold after Bethell's death in 1909, and became an organ of the colonial government called ''

Maeil Sinbo The ''Maeil Sinbo'' () was a Korean-language newspaper that was published from 1910 to 1945 from Keijō (Seoul), Korea under Japanese rule, Korea, Empire of Japan. The newspaper was the successor to ''The Korea Daily News'', which was first publ ...

.'' It was published until the 1945

liberation of Korea The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

, when it was seized by the United States occupying force and reorganized into today's ''

Seoul Shinmun ''The Seoul Shinmun'' (translating to The Seoul Newspaper) is the oldest daily newspaper in South Korea with more than a century of publication. Its original name was ''Daehan Maeil Sinbo'' (''The Korea Daily News''), which was started on July 1 ...

''.'''' Some issues of the English and most of the Korean issues are freely available on the Korean Newspaper Archive website.

History

Establishment

In 1904, British journalists

and Thomas Cowen were sent to Korea to report for the British newspaper '' Daily Chronicle''. Around this time, Japan was stepping up its encroachment into Korean sovereignty. After being fired from the paper, Bethell and Cowen began planning to publish their own paper tentatively called the ''Korea Times'' (different from later ''

The Korea Times ''The Korea Times'' is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the ''Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean language daily; both are owned by Dongwha Enterprise, a wood-based manufacturer ...

''). However, Cowen was secretly supportive of Japan, and unbenownst to Bethell, warned the Japanese government of the paper's founding. The pair, along with Korean independence activist

Yang Gi-tak Yang Gi-tak (April 2, 1871 – April 20, 1938) was one of the leaders of Korean independence movement who served as the 9th president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea from 1933 to 1935. Korea Daily News In 1904, Yang and ...

, published the first trial issue of the ''Korea Times'', completely in English, on June 29, 1904. Shortly afterwards, Cowen quit the paper and left to Japan, and the paper changed its name to ''The'' ''Korea Daily News''. The first non-trial issue under the new name was published on 18 July 1904. The issue had six pages, with two in Korean (in mixed script) and four in English. How exactly the newspaper was financed is unknown. Emperor Gojong did finance Bethell by transferring funds through Antoinette Sontag, owner of the

Sontag Hotel Sontag Hotel () was the first European hotel in Seoul, Korea, built in 1902. The hotel was sold in 1917 and eventually demolished in 1922. The 25-room hotel was bestowed to a German Russian, Antoinette Sontag, by Emperor of Korea, Emperor Gojong o ...

. Some theorized that Bethell was funded by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, Japan's rivals for Korean sovereignty, although Bethell dismissed this idea. Funding was still insufficient; in March 1905, printing of the paper was suspended as he went to Japan to buy a printer and try to raise money. By 11 August, printing resumed, this time with separate Korean and English editions.

Growth and attention from Japan

After Korea was forced to sign the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905 in November, Japanese control over the peninsula increased. Newspapers were then censored by the Japanese Resident-General of Korea. Bethell, as a British citizen, was able to dodge Japanese censorship and continue publishing newspapers. However, he was frequently harassed by the Japanese. The contemporary Canadian journalist Frederick Arthur MacKenzie wrote:Gojong and other Koreans praised Bethell and saw him as a hero. On 10 February 1906, Gojong gave Bethell a handwritten note, putting him in charge of communications and the press of the empire and subsidizing his expenses. On 21 February 1907, ''The Korea'' ''Daily News'' published a letter that launched the

National Debt Repayment Movement The National Debt Repayment Movement (The National Debt Redemption Movement) was a movement to restore national power between 1907 and 1908 to repay government bonds with public fundraising. It was started by Seo Sang-dong of Daegu on 30 January 1 ...

: a grassroots effort to pay off Korea's debts to Japan in a bid to avoid Japanese encroachment. The newspaper became the main champion of the campaign. Its staff formed an association () to manage donations it received. That May, they offered to house Ahn Chang Ho's New People's Association, sheltering it under Bethell's immunity from Japanese persecution. On 23 May 1907, the ''Korea Daily News'' established an entirely

version of the newspaper, alongside the original version that was written in both Hanja and Hangul. In August, when the Korean Empire's army was forcefully disbanded, impromptu militias dubbed "

righteous armies Righteous armies, sometimes called irregular armies or militias, are informal civilian militias that have appeared several times in Korean history, when the national armies were in need of assistance. The first righteous armies emerged during th ...

" arose in armed rebellion. The newspaper devoted much of its reporting around this time to their activities, and urged civilians to join the fight. By 27 May 1908, circulation of the paper reached 13,256 copies (8,143 in mixed script, 4,650 in Hangul, and 463 in English), more than all other newspapers in Korea combined. In 1907, the Japanese published the Newspaper Act, which was partially targeted at the paper and placed various restrictions on Koreans purchasing it. Bethell was arrested and tried by the British twice by request of the Japanese government. He transferred ownership of the paper to his assistant editor Arthur Marnham, who carried on reporting critically of Japan. Bethell eventually won his second trial at the

British Supreme Court for China The British Supreme Court for China (originally the British Supreme Court for China and Japan) was a court established in the Shanghai International Settlement to try cases against British subjects in China, Japan and Korea under the principles o ...

in December 1908, and defiantly immediately returned to continue reporting. However, he died several months afterwards, likely due to his unhealthy lifestyle and stress from his imprisonments. His last words were reportedly "Even if I may die, ''The Korea Daily News'' will live on and help the Korean people".

End and rename to ''Maeil Sinbo''

On 21 May 1910, Marnham folded under joint British and Japanese pressure. He secretly sold the newspaper to former employee Lee Jang-hoon () for 40,000

won Won may refer to: *The Korean won from 1902–1910 *South Korean won, the currency of the Republic of Korea *North Korean won, the currency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea * Won (Korean surname) * Won (Korean given name) * Won Buddhis ...

in gold and left the country. The 14 June 1910 edition—the paper's 1408th issue—reflects this, with Lee's name given as editor. Yang and other Korean independence activists resigned and denounced the paper publicly as a propaganda piece. The paper stopped publishing in English, and became strictly controlled by Japan. Its final issue was the 1461th mixed-script and 938th Hangul issue. It changed its name to ''Maeil Sinbo'' () on 30 August 1910, and it was integrated into the ''

Keijō Nippō was a Japanese language, Japanese-language newspaper published in Korea from 1906 to 1945. It is primarily associated with the Korea under Japanese rule, Japanese colonial period in Korea, and is considered to have functionally been an official n ...

'' thereafter''.''

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korea Daily News, The Defunct daily newspapers Korean independence movement organizations Defunct Korean-language newspapers Defunct English-language newspapers published in Korea Newspapers established in 1904 Newspapers disestablished in 1910 Seoul Shinmun 1910s disestablishments in the Japanese colonial empire Newspapers published in the Korean Empire 1904 establishments in Asia