송재 서재필선생 생가와 기념공원

Seo Jae-pil of Boseong - Songjae Seo Jae-pil An ill-fortuned independence fighter Dr. Seo Jae-pil was born on January 7, 1864 in Ganae Village of Yongam-ri, Mundeok-myeon, Boseong-gun. After spending his childhood in his hometown, he was sent to his uncle in Hanseong when he was seven. Serving as a Champan, or a vice minister-level official at the time, Seo's uncle, Kim Seong-geun, was close with Kim Ok-gyun, Park Yung-hyo, Hong Yeong-sik and many of the Gaehwapa members. During his stay at his uncle’s house while preparing for a national examination, Seo naturally came into contact with them and became fascinated with the new culture. He took the national examination at the age of 18 and won first place. Then, based on advice from Kim Ok-gyun, he enrolled at an army school in Japan as a government scholarship student. In December 1884, 21-year-old Seo took part in the Gapsin Coup led by Kim Ok-gyun and became a member of the new regime. But the coup ended with Kim’s Three-Day Reign. The failure of the Gapsin Coup was the beginning of a long period of adversity. Dishonored as traitors, he defected to Japan together with Kim, Park Yung-hyo, Seo Gwang-bum, and others but the Japanese government greeted them with cold shoulders as they wanted to evade the responsibility of the coup. Eventually, they ended up leaving to the United States a few months later. While he wandered in foreign countries from Japan to U.S., his parents and siblings had to live their lives as the family of a traitor and his wife and children were also dragged into a terrible calamity. His parents, older brother, and wife committed suicide by taking poison and his younger brother was executed while his young, two-year-old son ultimately died from starvation. Meanwhile, Seo became naturalized in U.S. and, after much difficulty, settled down in the city of San Francisco. He worked during the day and learned English at night, spending desperate efforts to adapt to the life there. In 1889, Seo entered Columbia Medical College, now known as George Washington University. Because he had to earn money for tuition during the day, he went to night classes. Having lost his entire family, studying was his only hope. He went through many struggles but successfully graduated from college and made a living by working as a part-time lecturer. He then married a woman and opened up a hospital in Washington. Around this time, the Gabo Reform took place in Joseon and false charges on the leaders of the Gapsin Coup were also cleared. In 1895, Park Yung-hyo who had become the Interior Minister as an important figure of the reformation government came to visit Seo in the U.S. By the advice of Park, Seo decided to return home and was appointed as the adviser of Jungchuwon in January of the following year. Philip Jaisohn or Pi Jai-sohn or Seo Jae-pil. As you can see from the different names he used in various circumstances, the life of Dr. Seo Jae-pil was full of twists and turns. Perhaps, he thought that it would be safer for him to work as an American citizen and a defected politician. Upon his return to Joseon, he primarily used his American name, “Philip Jaisohn” or “Pi Jai-sohn,” a Korean version of the American name, rather than his original name.

Seo Jae-pil of Boseong - Story of Dr. Pi Jai-sohn Publishing the Dongnip Sinmun 〈Dongnip Sinmun〉, published in April 1896 for the first time, was born by government funds thanks to an arrangement made by Yu Kil-chun. He was simply overloaded with work at that time. In July of that year, he formed the Independence Association together with Yi Sang-jae, Yun Chi-ho, Rhee Syngman, and others, as well as establishing the People's Joint Association. In addition, he taught Thursday lectures at the Paichai School with the goal of enlightening the people. It was also around this time when Mohwagwan, which had been taken over to abolish the flunkeyism towards China, was remodeled into Dongnipgwan, or Independence Hall. In 1897, Yeongeunmun Gate was torn down to build Dongnipmun in the same location . Dongnip Sinmun, an integration of Seo's thoughts and beliefs, was published 100% in Korean thanks to the efforts of Ju Si-gyeong, a Korean linguist, and the final page was produced in English, which aimed at informing the foreign media on the reality that was faced by the Korean Empire. Starting in the second year of foundation, it published two versions, English and Korean, as the scale of the newspaper grew significantly. In 1898, the total number of newspaper issues published in Seoul at the time was about 2,500, and it is estimated that nearly 2,000 of them were issued by Dongnip Sinmun. It is said that a single copy of Dongnip Sinmun was circulated and read by 85 people so you can understand how great its influence was. Through Dongnip Sinmun that could be easily accessed by not only government officials and intellectuals of the society but also the general public, Seo wrote articles that criticize Russia's policies for East Asia and also demanded the withdrawal of the Russian advisory committee, thus utilizing the newspaper pages to its fullest. Such articles led to a confrontation against the pro-Russian regime and increased wariness by the Japanese government. When Dr. Seo returned, the Korean Empire's government at the time appointed him as the advisor of Jungchuwon and stipulated the term of contract to be 10 years. There was also a condition that they would pay him a certain amount of money for living expenses. But, threatened by the growing power of the Dongnip Sinmun, the extremely conservative regime together with Russia and Japan fired Seo from his position as a Jungchuwon advisor and suspended all assistance of funds. Seo eventually left to U.S. on May 14, 1898, and delegated all operations of the newspaper to his colleagues. The ownership of the newspaper was still vested in him but it was virtually a deportation. A few months later, the Independence Association was disbanded and the government demanded a return of the newspaper company building by insisting that it was a state-owned property, which led to the government's takeover of the publication rights and printing facilities of the newspaper at an extremely cheap price. This pretty much resulted in the discontinuance of the publication. How devastated must he have felt, being driven out of his motherland twice.

Seo Jae-pil of Boseong - The Last of Seo Jae-pil Will for independence in the U.S. Even after returning to the U.S., Dr. Seo Jae-pil did not let go of his ties to the independence movement. When the March 1st Movement happened, he appealed for our independence to global media and, also, secured funds with his own properties. Furthermore, he formed “The League of Friends of Korea”with Americans who showed pro-Korea tendencies and also established the Bureau of Information for The Republic of Korea to publish 〈Korea Review, 〉 performing a variety of sponsorship activities. But, mostly he was using his own money which meant that his everyday was unavoidably in need of assistance. Under such difficult circumstances, however, he did not stop serving as the sponsor for independence fighters in the U.S. When he returned to his liberated home country in 1947, he was already 83 years old. Some people talked about recommending Dr. Seo as a candidate for presidency. As he received heavy spotlight from the media irrelevant to his own intentions, Seo went back to the U.S. despite his old age. Then, in 1951, sad news came during the middle of the Korean War that Dr. Seo Jae-pil who had been bedridden passed away at the age of 85. Many who heard of the news shed tears of mourning. In 1977, the Korean government conferred the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Republic of Korea Medal in commemoration of his meritorious deeds.