[KS] Corea vs. Korea
mson at ucla.edu
mson at ucla.edu
Sun Oct 1 21:52:50 EDT 2006
Having only joined this list this past year, I don't know if this topic
has already been addressed before. But in any case, does anyone know
definitively when and why the spelling of Corea was changed to Korea?
I ask this because having heard explanations casually tossed around
about how the Japanese changed it so that Korea would come
alphabetically after Japan, I've recently come across some written
evidence that suggests this indeed may have been true.
In Yun Ch'iho's Diary, an entry in May 1896 describes his meeting with
the Russian Emperor before his coronation as Czar. Min Yong-hwan,
curious about why the "Corean" embassy had the honor of being received
before the Japanese is told that all the embassies were received in
alphabetical order. (See Kuksa py'onch'an wiwonhoe's edition of Yun
Ch'iho Ilgi, Vol. 4, p. 195)
Considering Japans's contentious and competitive relationship with
Russia in this era, it makes sense to me that this question of Korea's
spelling might have originated in regard to Russia. However, in this
Diary, it is only years later, in December of 1898 that Yun Ch'iho
inexplicably shifts from using "Corea" to "Korea" without any
explanation.
If anyone has any further knowledge of this curious historical detail,
I would greatly appreciate any information.
Yours,
Min Suh Son
Ph.D. Candidate, UCLA
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