[KS] HAN, Sang-uk

[Frank Hoffmann]

>> 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