"The people in this land are born to be foolish. They are little different from animals." It is part of the Korean Peninsula's first newspaper, "Choson Sinbo," published by the Japanese at the Busan open port. This reveals Japan's perception of justifying its dominance over Choson by portraying Koreans as barbaric and foolish beings at the time.

On August 30th, the Institute of Jeompil-Jae at Pusan National University (PNU) published the "Korean Translation Choson Sinbo," which translates historical data into Korean for the first time in the country so we can examine Japan's position on Choson before the Sino-Japanese War. Kwon Jung-Won, (Former researcher, the Institute of Jeompil-Jae at PNU), and Kim So-Young, (Lecturer, Dept. of Japanese Language & Literature), were in charge of the annotation and critical evaluation of the source. The project was carried out as part of the "Enlightenment and Korean Empire Translation Project," supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea.

The Choson Sinbo is a newspaper released by the Japanese at the "Commercial Law Chamber," an institution located in Busan Port that supported Japanese trade. It has high historical value as it is data that exposes Japan's position in the struggle for power over Choson before the Sino-Japanese War.

The Institute of Jeompil-Jae analyzes that the Choson Sinbo emphasized Japan's superiority, improved sluggish trade transactions with Choson, and created a discourse of support for Japanese imperialism. It is expected to contribute to the diversification of research on newspaper media during the modern transition period and the Busan area during the Harbor-opening period by being able to grasp not only Japan's position but also Choson’s politics, economy, and society. Researcher Kwon said, "After the opening of the port, data on the size and facts of the early part of port opening in Busan as well as Choson's social image will be easier to access."

The Choson Sinbo is bilingual. Japanese articles are published for Japanese living in Choson, revealing their views are comparatively dominant over the country. In addition to the news of Japanese society, 'uncivilized beings' and 'people of barbarism' can be found in the expressions about Koreans. On the other hand, Chinese articles explain the Korean bureaucrats and intellectuals as a target of the necessity of modernizing Choson and enlightening people.

The Choson Sinbo was the "First Modern Newspaper on the Korean Peninsula" and received attention from academia early on. However, the research was not actively conducted. It was difficult to interpret the ancient Japanese language and Chinese characters. Also, their translation is different due to the target consumer group and content. Researcher Kwon said, "The Korean language was complicated, but the convergence between studies through the unity of Chinese and Japanese literature majors led to productive results."

This publication is also well-received in that the PNU research institute contributed to regional studies by analyzing historical data produced in Busan. Institute of Jeompil-Jae says, "We desperately need to make efforts to restore and research traditional culture in Busan, Gyeongnam, and plan and produce modern content at universities in Busan. For this, the interest of students and researchers has to come first."

Reporter Yoon Da-Gyo

Translated by Shin Ji-Won