KORAPAT

[s. 395] : A town in the Presidency of Madras, India; situated in the District of Vizagapatam, 18 miles N. W. of Salur. Station of the Breklum Mi ionary Society (1884), with (1903) 2 mi ionaries (1 with his wife), 7 native workers, 10 outstations, 2 day schools, 8 places of worship, and 1,925 profe ed Christians. KONIGSBERG. KONKORDIA. Korea Koahl KOREA: The kingdom 878 Korea, properly and development of the country, that strangers called Cho-sen (Morning Calm), comprises the peninsula lying between Japan and the mainland of China, together with a multitude of adjacent It is washed by the Yellow Sea on the islands. may settle their differences witla least inconvenience to themselves. People: The population of Korea is probably about 12,000,000, altho the lack of a proper census renders an exact estimate impo ible. This population is distributed unevenly over the eight provinces composing the kingdom, the most thickly settled portions being the southern and western provinces. The people of Korea are of undoubted Mongolian origin. Succe ive tribes sweeping down from the north and overrunning the country, together with large numbers of Chinese who from time to time found in Korea an asylum from the oppre ion of their native land, have produced a conglomerate ma , of whose origin it is impo ible to say more. The affinities of the people are Japanese rather than Chinese. But there is not much affection for the Japanese among the common people. Language: The language of the Koreans is distinct from that of their neighbors in its grammatical construction and idioms, but it has borrowed from the Chinese a large number of words, just as English has borrowed largely from the The Chinese character is used in all Latin. of west and the Japan Sea on the east; on the north it is bounded by Chinese and Ru ian territory. Its surface is rugged and mountainous, being divided into two watersheds by an irregular range of mountains running from north to south near the eastern coast. The country is well watered, the largest rivers falling into the Yellow Sea. Considering the mountainous character of the country it is exceedingly productive. All kinds of cereals are produced.from wheat in the northern part to rice in the more temperate southern provinces. The pine and fir grow almost side by The mineral wealth of side with the bamboo. Korea is very great; large deposits of gold, silver, and coal have been found; but the mineral A resources have not yet been fairly tested. few mining conce ions have been granted to foreigners during recent years. Government: Korea is an absolute monarchy There is a written con of the paternal type. stitution which serves as a guide, in a loose way, to the administration of government, but this official and literary writing, and in fact in all does not include anything like representation of the people in Government Councils. While the country is nominally independent, its position writing on the part of the better cla of people. The Korean language was reduced to writing about three hundred years ago. It has an between China and Japan makes alphabet whose simplicity, flexibility, and comprehensivene compare favorably with those of any other known alphabet. It is as unlike the it liable to attack from either; and it has many times been a va al state of either or both. It has also suffered several times as the battle-field on which China and Japan have settled their differences. In 1876 Japan invaded Korea and forced the king to sign a treaty opening certain ports to foreign commerce, and accepting in principle certain reforms of internal administration held to be e entials of development to the country. The United States had vainly attempted in 1870 to open negotiations with Korea, even going so far as to attack and capture a number of fortified ports in order to punish officials who fired upon But the actual the ships bearing the emba y. opening of diplomatic and commercial intercourse between Korea and the Western nations was secured by Japan. In 1894 China undertook to encourage Korea in resisting reform, and to resume the protectorate which she had formally drove the renounced. Japan declared war, Chinese armies from the country, and having thoroughly broken the military power of China, dictated a peace by which the independence of Korea was secured. In 1897 the king a umed the title of Emperor, the privileges of the aristocracy were abolished, and important reforms were introduced, among others the adoption of English and German principles of law and justice. A strong reaction against these radical changes did not fail to show itself; and Ru ia, which had acquired railway interests in neigliboring regions in Manchuria, in 1900, began to take advantage of these reactionary tendencies to become a rival of Japan for the privilege of serving as tutor to the Emperor. The steady, onward march of Ru ian influence, interfering in Korean affairs at innumerable points, has been a potent factor in deciding Japan to take arms against such encroachments. The war opened in February, 1904, between Ru ia and Japan, whatever it decides, must trample down Korean territory once more and seriously retard the civilization Japan as it is unlike the The Korean unwieldy ideograms of China. written language is used only by the lower cla es, who form, however, the vast majority of the inflexible syllabary of population. Religion: The religious history of Korea may be divided into five periods or movements. The first includes the early centuries of the kingdom, and terminates about 350 a.d. Of the religious It is history up to that time little is known. probaijle that there was no one form of religion prevalent throughout the different tribes and clans living in the land, but that each had its own But during the religious observances and rites. 4th century a general consolidation of the different parts of the country took place, and at the same time Buddhist mi ionaries appeared and taught their faith. It flourished, and in the space of a few centuries we find Korea a Buddhist nation, with numerous monasteries filled with people from every station in life. In the course of time the teachings of Confucius began to have their influence upon the people and gradually supplanted the religion of Buddha, and for many centuries past Con fuci an ism has been holdings way over the ma es of the people. Buddhism still exists, but is confined exclusively to a few monasteries, whose inmates are looked down upon by the people at large. Near the close of the 18th century some of the members attached to the Korean Emba y to Peking came in contact with Roman Catholic mi ionaries and brought back that faith to Korea. It took root almost immediately and spread with great rapidity. But the history of Korea is one of perse cuR oman Catholicism tions from the very beginning of the 19th cenIn 1864 the last king of the Yi dynasty tury. died a king under whom the Romanists were not only tolerated, but even allowed to obtain a m — Korea KoBhl S79 ere at deal of influence in the affairs of the kingaom. The reins of government fell into the hands of a regent who was intensely opposed to foreigners, and to the Romanists in particular. Soon after he took the lead of affairs Bishop Berneux and eight of his a ociates were seized and put to death, and an inquisition was instituted which bade fair to exterminate Christianity from the land. It is not known how many native converts there were at that time, but there must have been not le than 60,000. Of In some local these, 10,000 were put to death. able impre ion that a general government hospital was founded by his majesty, and Dr. Allen was placed at its head. In this way a great impetus was given to the good feeling that had already begun to make itself manifest on the part of Koreans toward foreigners. In the spring of 1885 Rev. H. G. Underwood, who had been spending some months in Jaj)an studying the Korean language, arrived in Korea. For a time tlie object of his coming was kept from the Korean officials through fear that the interests of the whole communities and villages were put fear proved to be groundle , and soon it became ities to the sword. The effects of this persecution were very widespread and permanent, and it is probable that the power of the Romanists has never rallied from the stroke it then received. The horrors of that time implanted in the whole people a dread of foreign religions which is as great a drawback to Protestant as to Romanist mi ion work. There is now a strong force of Roman Catholic One of the greatest mi ionaries in Korea. benefits that they have conferred upon the cause is the compiling and publishing of a complete lexicon and grammar of the Korean language. Protestant Mi ions: The first Protestant mi ion work for Korea was done by the Rev. John Ro of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. About 1875 he came in contact with Koreans near the border between Korea and China. He took up the Korean language, and, altho never having set foot upon Korean soil, he translated the whole of the New Testament into Korean and sent it acro the border, together with large numbers of Chinese Bibles. He thus became the means of beginning a work When of great importance in Northern Korea. Protestant mi ionaries came to Korea later they found whole communities in the north profe ing Protestant Christianity, studying the Bible among themselves, and only waiting for some one to come and teach them. The treaty between Korea and the United States was signed in 1882; and then for the first time the eyes of the civil were turned upon Korea. The first movement made toward putting men in the field was the appointment by the American Pre sized world byterian Board of Dr. J. W. Heron, M.D., as medical mi ionary to Korea in the spring of 1884. His coming was delayed, and in the summer of the same year Rev. R. S. McClay of the Japan Methodist Conference was sent to look over the ground and report on the advisability of sending mi ionaries. Before his favorable report was acted upon. Dr. H. N. Allen, M.D., of China, was transferred from that field to Korea, and he, arriving with his family in the autumn of 1884, became the first resident Protestant mi ionary. Meanwhile the report of Dr. McClay had been acted upon, and the Mi ionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America had appointed to the field Dr. Wm. B. Scranton and Rev. H. G. Appenzeller, and the Woman’s Foreign Mi ionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church appointed Mrs. M. F. Scranton. In November of the same year the Presbyterian Board appointed Rev. H. G. Underwood. In December of 1884, before any of these appointees had arrived in Korea, occurred the riot in Seoul, during which Prince Min Yong Ik was severely wounded. The skilful and succe ful treatment of the case by Dr. Allen produced such a favor mi ionary work might be endangered; but that generally known that he had come, and that the object of his coming was something besides medical work. The Methodist Mi ion was opened the same year. The first Korean was baptized in the autumn of 1886, and from the first the work took on a most encouraging aspect. Large numbers of inquiries came in from distant parts of the country, and it was not long before a little native church was organized. Korea is to-day thrown wide open to the Christian religion; the Emperor is the open friend of Protestant mi ionaries, and while recently destroying thirty heathen temples and about Seoul, and officially deploring the money annually squandered upon the worship of idols, he allows Christian churches, schools and hospitals to be scattered throughout the land. Christian literature in the vernacular and several mi ion periodicals are di eminating the truth; a Bible society, which sold 70,000 copies of the Scriptures in 1900, has been formed; and of the 70,000 Cathohcs and Protestants, 40,000 have been gathered in during the last decade. One of the Korean leaders recently remarked: “The only hope of the country is in the churches. There is no moral character in Korea. It is being created To convert and educate the in the churches. common people is the only hope of the land.” Bishop (Isabella Bird), Korea and Her Neighbors, London and in New York; Gifford (D. L,), Gale (J. S.), Korean Sketches; York, 1904. Everyday Life in Korea; The Vanguard, New alsj. 397