[KS] HAN, Sang-uk

[Ross King]

James Scarth Gale routinely rendered 억, etc., as -"uk" in his many works. 

RK


-----Original Message-----

> Date: Mon Apr 19 08:08:03 PDT 2010
> From: "Frank Hoffmann" <hoffmann at koreaweb.ws>
> Subject: [KS]  HAN, Sang-uk
> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
>
> >> I suspect that the problem comes from assuming that the name Han  
> >> Sang-uk was written 한상욱 when it might very well have been 한상억 (韓相億)  
> >> Han Sang-eok about whom I think quite a lot might be discovered.   
> >> (...) we find mention of
> >> 한상억(韓相億)의 동양백화주식회사(1937) so he might have gone into business  
> >> opening a department store.
> 
> Well -- can't exclude that possibility -- but have you ever seen  
> anyone with the name xxx-억 transcribing this as "-uk"? I have seen  
> "-ok," "-og" and even "-ogg" to represent 욱 (ŏk), but not "uk."
> 
> Several of the first generation Koreans in Europe used pseudonyms --  
> same as those in China and Manchuria. For example, the  
> anarcho-communist Fonkeng Han who studied in Berlin during the 1920s  
> was actually An Pong-gŭn 安奉根, a cousin of the all-Korean national hero  
> An Chung-gŭn (1879-1910). An Pong-gŭn later returned to North Korea  
> where he had higher offices and were he was active as an academic,  
> while other parts of the family lived in Manchuria (e.g. I met a  
> sister in Yanji/Yŏn'gil long ago). Someone like An Pong-gŭn, alias  
> Fonkeng Han, who was very active during the 1920s in the cultural life  
> and in academia and who continued to work for the Korean cause within  
> German labor unions and some youth organizations (organizing  
> anti-Japanese protests) ... someone like An had come with a Chinese  
> passpord. There are at least two others where this is also the case.  
> Han Sang-uk, on the other hand, came with Japanese documents -- see  
> here:
> http://www.matrikel.uzh.ch/pages/577.htm#30370
> That means he would not use any pseudonym for parts of his name, and  
> "uk" representing 억 seems not to have ever been a usual transcription.
> Still, I can't exclude this possibility.
> Do you (or anyone here) have any sort of indication that Han Sang-ŏk,  
> the department store founder, had a PhD degree from Europe? If not,  
> then I would think this is just a somewhat too far fledged assumption.  
> (I could not find any further info on Han Sang-ŏk.) Maybe you could  
> follow up and find some info for us?
> 
> Best,
> Frank
> 
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--
Ross King
Professor of Korean and Head,
Department of Asian Studies, 
University of British Columbia, 

and 

Dean, Korean Language Village, 
Concordia Language Villages

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