Life
Yu was born in Seoul, in modern-day South Korea. In his early years, he studied under Park Kyu-su and Oh Kyung-suk. In 1881 he went to Meiji period, Meiji Empire of Japan, Japan to matriculate at Keio University for a year, studying modernization from Fukuzawa Yukichi. In 1884, he traveled to the United States as part of the first official Korean delegation to observe American industry and government and studied at the The Governor's Academy, Governor Dummer Academy. Having travelled to several European countries, he was accused of supporting the ''Gaehwadang'' (Enlightenment Party, 개화당, , Enlightenment Party, ‘enlightenment party'). In detention, he wrote a book on his experiences entitled ''Seoyu Gyeonmun'' (서유견문, ) ("Observations on Travels in the West"); in this book he used Hangul#Mixed scripts, Korean mixed script as opposed to Literary Chinese, which was written using exclusively Chinese characters, and was the normal writing method of period literati-officialdom. 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 October 1895, during the so-called Eulmi Sabyeon (을미사변, 乙未事變), the murder of Queen Min by Japanese soldiers, he was accused of co-operating with Japanese killers by Korea's Gojong of Joseon, King Gojong. Yu had previously written a letter describing Queen Min as ‘evil’; worse than Mary I of England, Mary I of England and Marie Antoinette of France. When Kim was killed and his cabinet disbanded in 1895, Yu fled the country for exile in Japan, returning to Korea only in 1907 after he was pardoned by Korea's Emperor Sunjong of Joseon, Sunjong. Yu wrote his "Levels of Enlightenment" after studying in both Japan and the U.S. In the book, he laid out what he believed to be an optimal track towards modernization and enlightened thought; one that dispelled class systems and championed a meritocracy based on the tireless individual pursuit of knowledge.Ch'oe Yongcho, et al. "Sources of Korean Tradition, Volume Two: From the 16th Century to the 20th Centuries." Columbia University Press, New York. 2001. In 1910, when Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan, Yu started a movement against the annexation. Yu declined the ''Baron, Danshaku'' title he was awarded by the Government of Japan; the title being created by the government as part of its new Korean peerage system and designed after its own British peerage, British-modeled Kazoku system.Works
* ''Seoyu gyeonmun'' (서유견문; 西遊見聞)Bibliography
*De Ceuster, Koen. “The World in a Book: Yu Kilchun’s Soyu kyonmun.” In Remco E. Breuker, ed. ''Korea in the Middle: Korean Studies and Area Studies: Essays in Honour of Boudewijn Walraven''. Leiden: CNWS Publications, 2008.References
External links