Hong Yi-sup


Hong Yi-sup was a South Korean historian. Hong contributed to studies on Korean history, the history of Silhak, and the intellectual history of Korea.
One of his notable books is The History of Science in Joseon, which is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the Joseon period's scientific advances. It was first published in the Japanese language in Tokyo, Japan, in 1944. The History of Science in Joseon was later translated into Korean and published by Jeongeumsa in 1946. Hong is also known for his book, History of Korea, which was written collaboratively with Pow-key Sohn and Chol-choon Kim and funded by the Korean National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. This book has been widely used as a comprehensive source for studying Korean history around the world. Hong later translated History of Korea into Korean and later published Korean Modern History.
Hong contributed to diverse areas of Korean history during the colonial period through his research. He established a foundation for the studies of the history of Korean science and provided a new perspective that helped overcome the misrepresented history of Korean that stemmed from the Japanese colonial period. Through his works, he wanted to depict the true Korean history to the public that resisted the colonial Japanese gaze and criticized the distorted history of Korea written by Japan, which justified Japanese colonialism in Korea.

Life

Hong Yi-sup was born in Keijō, Korea, Empire of Japan on December 6, 1914. He graduated from Seoul Geumhwa Elementary School in 1929 and from Paichai High School in 1933. He served as a teacher at the School of YMCA after graduating from Yonhi College in 1938. After the National Liberation Day of Korea on August 15, 1945, he served as a professor in the Humanities department at Korea University from 1949 to 1954 and served as a Humanities Professor at Yonsei University from 1953 to 1974. During his years at Yonsei University, he assumed the position of department chair in both the History and Humanities departments. He also worked as the director of Eastern studies and the director of publishing. He received his doctoral degree in Korean Literature at Yonsei University in 1966 and continued to serve as a professor there. He died on March 4, 1974, of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 61.

Career

  • 1949, Member of the Academic Subcommittee of Seoul Metropolitan City Culture Committee.
  • 1951, Editor of the War History Compilation in the Korea Navy Council.
  • 1952, President of the Korean Historical Association.
  • 1952, Examiner for the Examination Committee.
  • 1955, Member of the National History Compilation Committee of the Ministry of Education.
  • 1956, Member of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO.
  • 1956, Researcher of national thought.
  • 1958, Examiner for the Korean bar exam.
  • 1965, Board member of the Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics.
  • 1965, Board member of YMCA.
  • 1965, Member of the National Culture Council.
  • 1969, Member of the Culture Heritage Conservation Committee in the Ministry of Culture and Public Information.
  • 1969, Member of the Committee for Compilation of Independence Movement History in the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.
  • 1970, President of the South Korea Foundation Oesolhoe.
  • 1971, Executive director of the King Sejong Commemoration Enterprise Council.

Published Works

The History of Science in Joseon The Comparative Chart Between Joseon History and World History Korean Maritime History Study on Yak-yong Jeong's Political and Economy Thought Methodology of Korean History The History of Korea Biography of King Sejong the Great Korea's Self—Identity Korean Modern History
  • ''Introduction to the Intellectual History of Korea''

Achievements

A Study on the History of Joseon

Hong is best known for his work, The History of Science in Joseon. The book provides an extensive history of Korean traditional science. His work established the foundation for studies on Korean science history. It contributed to research and development in Korean science history. Hong wrote The History of Science in Joseon for several reasons. First, its topic could not only evade the censorship of Japan during the colonial period but also show pride in Korea's national history. Second, he believed it was crucial to focus on the development and transition process in people's lives and the social structures central to the development and transition of science in Korea. Third, he regarded learning the spirit of science, in the history of science, as significant in establishing the national spirit of Korea.
The History of Science in Joseon is considered a valuable resource for the study of the history of Korean science. Before its publication, there was no existing research by Korean scholars on the history of Korean science; instead, missionaries from the West or Japanese scholars researched the subject. Hong created the foundational system of Korean science history by dividing the timeline into six historical periods to depict the critical progress of how science developed in history: the Prehistoric period, Three Kingdoms dynasty, United Silla dynasty, Goryeo dynasty, early Joseon, and Yeong-Jeong dynasty. Hong highlighted that the fourth period, the Goryeo dynasty, was the most significant since Korea's relationship with Song dissolved during this period. As a result, they had to reexamine Chinese science and technology on their own terms. Hong also thought the Joseon period was also critical in science history. During the Sejong Dynasty, bureaucracy and sovereignty reorganized science in early Joseon. Moreover, during the Joseon period, the influx of Cheong dynasty culture influenced Joseon to reorganize science and technology in the palace. Furthermore, the study of positivism that the school of empiricism pursued introduced Western science in Joseon. Thus, by analyzing the historical development of science, Hong redefined Korean science in terms of its relation with foreign knowledge.

A Study about Yak-yong Jeong

Hong focused on the economic thought of Yak-yong Jeong. His interest in this area was rooted in his concern for the uncertain reality of the colonial period of Korea in the 1930s. His book, Study on the Politics and Economic Thought of Yak-yong Jeong, deals with Yak-yong Jeong's governing thoughts because Hong believed understanding economic thought is necessary for establishing the new nation. In his book, Hong analyzes and examines thecomposition process and fundamental ideas of Yak-yong Jeong's works, Kyungseyupyo and Mongminsimseo. Kyunseyupyo is about reform plans for the nation's politics, society, and economy. Mongminsimseo is a guideline for local officials to govern the people. On the basis of Kyungseyupyo and Mongminsimseo, he comprehensively addresses the function of politics and the economy during the late Joseon period. Moreover, he investigates the reform plan for establishing the government and stabilizing the agriculture economy. He also scrutinizes the administration method that criticizes and eliminates the swindling acts of peasants hindering the agricultural economy in the provinces. Hong's book is considered to have contributed to studies about Jeong and the thought of practical science in the late Joseon period.

The Establishment of a National Historical Perspective to Combat Japan's Historical Distortion on Korea

Hong endeavored to establish a national historical perspective that rejected the Japanese colonial interpretation of history. He emphasized the significance of reading the materials on 20th century Korean history recorded by Japan with a critical viewpoint. Hong realized that since the 20th century, Japan has distorted Chinese and Korean history to justify the invasion and colonization of Manchu and Korea. By fabricating the history of the two nations, Japan strengthened the perspective that China and Korea were dependent on Japan and regressive, which solidified their colonial historical perspective through the distortion of histories. Hong introduced alternative methods to present a national historical perspective. His methodology stressed the following two aspects. Firstly, he emphasized that analyzing and criticizing the formation, compilation, and publishing of literature according to the social context is crucial in historical criticism. Secondly, he highlighted the need for criticism regarding the mind of the writer, the historical context, the division of nation, ethnicity, and the psychological relationship and verbal issues between the dominant and the subordinate. He deemed these factors essential for establishing a national historical perspective because he thought research without criticism on such elements would be imbued with a Japanese colonial historical perspective.

A Study of Thought and History from the 1920s through Korean Literature

Hong facilitated research on the history of Korea under Japanese rule. He studied how Korean writers during the Japanese colonization period reproduced their ideas in their works by analyzing Korean literary works by analyzing Korean literary works by Yong-un Han, Seo-hye Choi, Man-sik Chae, and Hoon Shim. In those days, examining history through literary works was a new attempt. He used the new approach to identify the historical context and trace how the writer lived in that milieu. He focused on ethnic poverty in the colonial period, especially the lives of the agricultural community and farmers, represented in the works of Sang-seop Yeom, Seo-hye Choi, Man-sik Chae, and Hoon Shim. He reexamined these works within the colonial context by comparing the life of the rural people to that of the Korean intellectuals in the 1920s to 1930s. His research functioned as literary criticism and was evaluated as meaningful, in that it tried to study the colonial reality and social consciousness inherent in the lives of the people.

A Study on the History of Korea

Hong's book, Korean Modern History was published in 1975 after his death. It was collaboratively written by Professor Pow-key Sohn, of Yonsei University, and Professor Chol-choon Kim, of Seoul National University. The authors wanted to provide an accurate description of Korean history that was not distorted by the viewpoint of Japan and Japanese propaganda. They aimed to make the book interpretative and approachable to overseas readers, using a functional approach to translating Korean terminology, thereby better describing the shifts and currents of historical development. The book was written to explore the authentic and comprehensive landscape of the history of Korea and to rectify the errors of some of the books on Korean history published overseas at the time. The Korean National Commission for UNESCO financially funded and published it. An English-translated version, The History of Korea, was translated by Pow-key Sohn, Myong-chol Kim, and Hui-chang Kim, and published in 1970.

Criticism

Hong views Silhak, a Korean Confucian social movement, not as a scholarship that broke away from feudalism but as a scholarship that tried to maintain the Joseon feudal society. Do-hyung Kim, a professor of Korean History at Yonsei University, criticizes Hong's research on Silhak and Yak-yong Jeong's thoughts, noting that the reformative aspect of Silhak is neglected. Kim claims that Hong overlooked the reformative and modern aspects of Silhak as a medieval times system due to the lack of development in the research of social economy history back then. Moreover, Ho Yeon Kim, an HK research professor at Kangwon University, acknowledges that Hong has contributed to comprehensive research on science history and his methodology of using Marx's historical materialism helps describe the correlation between social structure and science and technology. However, Kim argues that analyzing the history of science using Marx's historical materialism does not describe the development of science. Kim emphasizes that examining the development of science and its influence on people and society is significant in science history research.