Foreigners’ Reaction to Koreans

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(1)The question that foreigners who came to Joseon often have
(2)Viscount Northcliffe, a British newspaper king who visited Joseon on his way to China in 1921, commented that even African natives live in better houses than that Yoon Chi-ho interprets it as because no one dared to have a decent house under the rotten government of the old Joseon Dynasty
(3)Snorcliff 1865-1922

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william F Sands

The royal family was lazy and full of hungry people trying to take up a seat, and they watched the influence of each construction closely and paid respect accordingly

Moreover, it was customary to form a faction led by several high-ranking officials involved in the construction because of their beliefs or financial sources

Bunsch

Seoul’s street cleaning has been left to the dogs

Dogs eat feces everywhere, so the cleanliness of the road depends on the dog’s appetite

Hamel

Half of the people in the country are slaves, and some of them have 2,000 to 3,000 slaves Slobies don’t take care of their children

Because when you’re old enough to work, the owner takes it away immediately

Kim Ok Gyun

Foreigners who visit our country say, “What was the scariest thing in Joseon was the people on the road

be a dirty little beast From the government office to the private house’s yard, the smell of dirt and earth sticks to my nose

I don’t want to be ridiculed by foreign countries

Underwood

The ditch was filled with green, mucus-thick filth, which smelled terrible because of abandoned manure and bitter and abandoned sewage from every house But in the dirty, rotten gutter, children in Banla were enjoying playing, and street vendors were selling their goods with pieces of board hanging over the gutter

The situation was also serious in places with private wells Half of the yard was a pile of mudstone, and the women were calmly drawing drinking water from the well

Joseon’s narrow sewage system was filled with dirt and overflowed into the road, so green mossy water holes filled the streets

But in such filth, the women were washing the vegetables

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Only Sten Berry

Koreans lack the ability to collectively act in the spirit of energy and power struggle

Russia or China would have merged, if not Japan, because the country was in a chaotic situation and could not look back

George Kenan

Koreans are lazy, lethargic, filthy, dull, very ignorant and inherently lazy people

Sherwood Hall

Seoul is the dirtiest and most insignificant city I have ever seen I’d rather not talk about the dirt on the street

Henry Burgess Drake

It is the nature of Koreans who have no capacity for systematic control and are governed by foreign countries

The political turmoil and decline of the late Joseon Dynasty was caused by Koreans’ national defects and should not be sympathized as an innocent victim

George Clayton Fork

Officials squeeze the people out of tax collection

The Joseon government is a huge robber

Charles Gutzlaff

Impressed by the poverty, infidelity and depravity, I stayed among Joseon people for a month and gave them soap

I left the coast feeling desperate for the Bible

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Jack London

1 Koreans are very stupid and stupid

Jack London, who came to Joseon, rode a horse to the marketplace with a horseman, but strangely, the horse kept stuttering Jack London told the coachman to look at the soles of his feet, but the coachman repeated that it was okay and could not find any significant problems. Jack London looked at the horse’s hooves himself, and half of the hooves were already broken In response, Jack London was shocked at the Koreans, saying, “How stupid are the Koreans? If we had gone like this, the horse would have become a leg-up.” For centuries, the Joseon and Joseon governments did not know how to fix themselves, even though horses limped. Perhaps the horses continued to limp until an excellent foreign coachman came and fixed the horseshoes,” he said, expressing enthusiasm about the foolishness of Koreans

2 Koreans are the weakest and most scared people in the world

Especially when I take pictures, I get scared One day, refugees carrying children and powder on their heads came. At that time, because of the Russo-Japanese War, the northern part of the Korean Peninsula was a battlefield and many people were fleeing When I was trying to take a picture of the refugee father and child, the father and the child were afraid that they might be taking their lives, and when they forced them to turn toward the lens, they were sobbing and crying like an acting award

3 Koreans are lack of spirit and feminine

The Koreans are a burly people with developed muscles that have already occupied them and now far exceed the size of their boss, the Japanese, who look at them with the eyes of their masters. But the Koreans have no backbone There is no such ferocity in Koreans that makes the Japanese a great soldier The appearance of Koreans is delicate, but the important thing is missing, which is strength Compared to the more courageous race, Koreans are female and have no hawkishness. In the past, they used to be brave, but after centuries of corruption of the ruling class, they gradually lost their bravery

4 The Koreans were so lazy and slow that they burst

When Jack London came to Joseon, the first words that he learned were words such as “hurry, hurry, hurry, and so on.” The existence of a word in a society’s language corresponds to the need for that word. Joseon’s language seemed to have at least 20 words made out of the need to speed up

5 Koreans are good at stealing and strong against the weak

Jack London, who spent the night in the tavern one day, woke up the next day and found that two blankets he had covered had disappeared Nevertheless, the owner of the tavern did not take any action, saying, “What should I do?” because he was sorry It happened so often that I felt like a person who got used to it Angry about this, Jack London gathered the villagers and threatened to take them to Pyongyang to punish them if they didn’t give them a blanket Frightened by this, a porter began digging blankets out of the ground Koreans who saw this flocked and assaulted the porter, and Jack London, who saw this, recalled like this This is the result of Asian thinking that the weak must hit the weaker than themselves in order to reconcile with the strong

6 Koreans have a lot of unnecessary curiosity

In particular, Koreans like to snoop. Koreans come early in the morning and watch strangers come until evening The most popular time was when Jack London shaved, and the area was crowded

7 The Koreans are the most inefficient and incompetent of all the peoples on Earth

The Koreans made this remark, criticizing the absolute lack of will and initiative If a white traveler stays in Joseon for the first time, if he is a sensitive person, he will spend most of his time struggling between two powerful desires: one to kill Koreans and the other to kill himself. Personally, I would have made the first choice However, there is only one thing that is outstanding: the ability to carry a burden. Koreans do things perfectly like animals pulling their luggage. A pig goes to the point where it doesn’t matter

8 Koreans have only the exploited and exploited classes

When Japanese authorities ask Joseon for food for its soldiers, Joseon officials receive about two rice, as is the case with each family. The people of Joseon provide rice, Japanese soldiers eat, the Japanese government pays, and Joseon officials pocket the money Jack London, who stayed in the South Pyongan Province, finds that a Korean named Park Soo-sung, the governor of the county, gives it to the 30,000 people paid by the Japanese military, and the rest is pocketed. Angry at this, Jack London suddenly stormed into the government office and argued while watching the sato. In response, Park Soon-seong was in fear and promised to return every penny to the people

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(1)Jack London is an American novelist and social critic
(2)London’s assessment of staying in Joseon for less than four months is harsh
(3)Criticizing Koreans as inefficient and incompetent, he said this
(4)”If a white traveler stays in Korea for the first time, there are two things if he is a sensitive person
(5)I’ll spend most of my time struggling between powerful desires
(6)One is the desire to kill Koreans and the other is the desire to kill themselves
(7)Personally, I would have made the first choice
(8)- Jack London. – Excerpts from The World’s Joseon Journey
(9)Jack London’s glimpse of the Joseon people Second edition of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904
(10)A peek at Jack London’s Koreans
(11)Author Jack London translator Yoon Mi-gi, Hanul 20110425 Wonje Coreenfeu
(12)Page 253 ISBN 29788946043701 Edition A5 148210 mm Revised 2 Edition ▣
(13)13500 won 15000 won 10
(14)The most interesting thing in the American procession is color, and the clothes that the porters wore according to Joseon customs were white It was as if large snowballs were floating on the black river The Koreans are a strong people with developed muscles that far exceed the size of the Japanese, their three battles, who look at them with the eyes of the inhabitants who occupy them. However, the Koreans have no mettle There is no such ferocity in Koreans that makes the Japanese good soldiers The appearance of Koreans is delicate, but the important thing is missing, which is strength Compared to the more courageous people, Koreans are female and have no hawkishness. In the past, they used to be brave, but they gradually lost their bravery due to centuries of corruption of the ruling class In fact, the Korean people are the most inefficient people among all the peoples on Earth who absolutely lack will and initiative. However, there is only one thing that is outstanding: the ability to carry a burden They do things perfectly like animals pulling their luggage—pp60~61
(15)The Korean people are so skittish that their fear of acting can be attributed to laziness. The existence of a word in a society’s language corresponds to its need. Due to the need to speed up, at least 20 words were created in the late Joseon Dynasty, and some of them are cited as “briefly at first glance” and “briefly at once.” —p62
(16)The Korean people complained about Japanese soldiers taking food without paying Here’s the truth: The military drafts a certain amount of food and macho and sets a reasonable price, but the price is adjusted by Korean officials Their ability to siphon off money exceeds that of Westerners There is a separate term for this, and it is called exploitation. For more than 100 years, it has been established as a kind of skill In Joseon, there are only two classes: the exploited class and the exploited class When the Japanese military authorities ask Joseon for food for its soldiers, Joseon bureaucrats are paid, say, two rice for each family. The people of Joseon provide rice, Japanese soldiers eat, the Japanese government pays, and Joseon bureaucrats pocket the money—p74
(17)- Koreans are all peoples on Earth who absolutely lack will and initiative
(18)be the most inefficient people of all
(19)However, there is only one thing that is outstanding: the ability to carry a burden
(20)They do things perfectly like porters
(21)Jack London’s glimpse of the Joseon people during the 1904 Russo-Japanese War

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