39 Facts About Yun Chi-ho

1.

Yun Chi-ho or Tchi ho yun was an important political activist and thinker during the late 1800s and early 1900s in Joseon Korea.

2.

Yun Chi-ho's penname was Jwa-ong ; his courtesy name was Sungheum, or Sungheum.

3.

Yun Chi-ho was a strong nationalist especially in his early years; pushing for reform and modernization of the Joseon government.

4.

Yun Chi-ho served in various government positions and was a strong supporter of Christianity in Korea.

5.

Yun Chi-ho was a member of one of the prominent yangban families of Korea.

6.

Yun Chi-ho was an early leader of the Korean YMCA and a South Korean Methodist.

7.

Yun Chi-ho was born on December 26,1864, in a small village in Dunpo-myeon, Asan, Chungcheong Province.

8.

Yun Chi-ho's father, Yun Ung-nyeol, was an official in the Joseon government and as a member of the yangban aristocracy saw that Chi-ho received a proper education.

9.

Yun Chi-ho excelled in his studies of the Confucian classics at the local seodang and even tried to apply to take the civil-service exams at age twelve.

10.

Yun Chi-ho's family was one of Joseon dynasty's most illustrious noble families; his 9G-Great grandfather Yun Chi-ho Doo-su was Yeonguijeong under King Seonjo.

11.

From 1871 to 1878, Yun Chi-ho studied Confucianism at Chang's private village school.

12.

Yun Chi-ho frequently compared the lack of progress in Joseon Korea to the rapid modernization of Japan and often lamented in his diaries that he wanted nothing more than for Korea to become the kind of advanced, modern nation that Japan had become.

13.

Yun Chi-ho viewed Christianity as a strong progressive philosophy that could help Korea catch up with the advancements of Japan and the West.

14.

Yun Chi-ho strongly admired many aspects of American culture, but was frustrated with the racial prejudices he experienced while living in the South.

15.

Yun Chi-ho tried to deny accepting this position, in part because of the dissatisfaction of his election by several classmates due to their white supremacist beliefs.

16.

Yun Chi-ho served in several important government positions throughout his life.

17.

Yun Chi-ho served as an interpreter for the first American Foreign Minister in Korea, Lucius Foote.

18.

Yun Chi-ho traveled to Russian Empire to participate in coronation of Nicholas II with some government officials including Min Young-hwan.

19.

Yun Chi-ho served as the Vice President of the Privy Council of the Joseon Court from 1898 until he was banished in 1899 due to pressure from opposing factions in the government.

20.

Yun Chi-ho's banishment was not long lived and in 1903 he was called to serve as the Vice Foreign Minister.

21.

When Yun Chi-ho arrived back in Korea from his studies abroad, there were small groups of scholars who were beginning to call for social and political reform in Korea.

22.

One such group was the Independence club, which Yun Chi-ho began to participate in.

23.

Yun Chi-ho was against the signing of Eulsa Treaty, which made Korea as a protectorate of Japan.

24.

Yun Chi-ho said to Durham Stevens who was in Korea that those who sign the treaty will be hated by Koreans like Benedict Arnold as a traitor.

25.

Yun Chi-ho praised Han Kyu-seol, who was the only one against the signing of treaty until the end.

26.

When Min Young-hwan committed suicide, Yun Chi-ho paied respects to his courage.

27.

Yun Chi-ho suffered from malicious punishment and torture as a result of the 105-Man Incident.

28.

Yun Chi-ho was one of six who were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms.

29.

In 1911 Yun Chi-ho was implicated in assisting with an assassination attempt on Japanese governor-general, Terauchi Masatake.

30.

Sources from within some of the Enlightenment Movement groups that Yun Chi-ho had taken part in had informed Japanese officials that he had a hand in planning this attempted assassination.

31.

Yun Chi-ho was put on trial and given the maximum sentence.

32.

Yun Chi-ho knew that the European nations would not take this demonstration seriously.

33.

Yun Chi-ho who sends a poor boy to school to become more intelligent than his fathers is doing a greater service than he who stirs up students for political agitations.

34.

Yun Chi-ho who leads an erring man into decent religious life is serving the Korean race better than he who sends ignorant folks to jail for yelling 'mansei.

35.

Yun Chi-ho urged the young men of Korea to help the Japanese achieve victory by assisting in the war effort.

36.

Yun Chi-ho celebrated as the Japanese pushed Western imperialist powers out of Asia.

37.

Yun Chi-ho made a personal guarantee of the members that were related to the incident and all were released.

38.

Yun Chi-ho was going to propose a postponement of the order, because of the national sentiment held by the Koreans.

39.

Yun Chi-ho was the uncle of Yun Bo-seon, who was President of South Korea in 1960 and Yun Il-seon, the first Korean pathologist and anatomist.