• The Journal of Art Theory & Practice
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• no.4
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• pp.123-144
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• 2006

Foreigners who arrived in Korea after the age of enlightenment were Japanese, Chinese and 'Westerners' who were Europeans and Americans. The westerners were diplomats who visited Korea for colonization or for increasing their economical profits by trading after the spread of imperialism, and tourists curious of back countries, artists, explores and missionaries to perform their roles for their religious beliefs. They contacted with Korean cultural and educational people as missionaries and instructors during Japanese colonial period. In 1945, the allied forces occupied Korea under the name of takeover of Japanese colony after Japan's surrender and the relation between foreigners and Korean cultured men enter upon a new phase. For 3 years, American soldiers enforced lots of systems in Korea and many pro-American people were educated. This relationship lasted even after the establishment of the government of Korean Republic and especially, diplomats called as pro-Korean group came again after Korean War. Among them, there were lots of foreigners interested in cultures and arts. In particular, government officials under American Forces who were influential on political circles or diplomats widened their insights toward Korean cultural assets and collected them a lot. Those who were in Korea from the period of independence to 1950s wrote their impressions about Korean cultural assets on newspapers or journals after visiting contemporary Korean exhibitions. Among them, A. J. McTaggart, Richard Hertz and the Hendersons were dominant. They thought the artists had great interests in compromising and uniting the Orient and the West based on their knowledge of Korean cultural assets and they advised. However, it was different from Korean artist's point of view that the foreigners thought Korean art adhered oriental features and contained western contents. From foreigners' point of view, it is hard to understand the attitude Korean artists chose to keep their self-respect through experiencing the Korean war. It is difficult to distinguish their thought about Korean art based on their exotic taste from the Korean artists' local and peninsular features under Japanese imperialism. We can see their thought about Korean art and their viewpoint toward the third world, after staying in Korea for a short period and being a member of the first world. The basic thing was that they could see the potentialities through the worldwide, beautiful Korean cultural assets and they thought it was important to start with traditions. It is an evidence showing Korean artists' pride in regard to the art culture through experiencing the infringement of their country. By writing about illuminating Korean art from the third party's view, foreigners represented their thoughts through it that their economical, military superiority goes with their cultural superiority. The Korean artist's thought of emphasizing Korean history and traditions, reexamining and using it as an original creation may have been inspired by westerners' writings. 'The establishment of national art' that Korean artists gave emphasis then, didn't only affect one of the reactions toward external impact, 'the adhesion of tradition'. In the process of introducing Korean contemporary art and national treasure in America, different view caused by role differences-foreigner as selector and Korean as assistant-showed the fact evidently that the standard of beauty differed between them. By emphasizing that the basis to classify Korean cultural assets is different from the neighborhood China and Japan, they tried to reflect their understanding that the feature of Korean art is on speciality other than universality. And this make us understand that even when Korean artists profess modernism, they stress that the roots are on Korean and oriental tradition. It was obviously a different thought from foreigners' view on Korean art that Korean artists' conception of modernism and traditional roots are inherent in Korean history. In 1950s, after the independence, Korea had different ideas from foreigners that abstract was to be learned from the west. Korea was enduring tough times with their artists' self-respect which made them think that they can learn the method, but the spirit of abstract is in the orient.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
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• v.3
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• pp.54-73
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• 2021

The Natural Products Research Institute (NPRI, 生藥硏究所), an institution affiliated with Keijo Imperial University (京城帝國大學), was the predecessor of the NPRI at Seoul National University and a comprehensive research institute that focused on ginseng research during the Japanese colonial era. It was established under the leadership of Noriyuki Sugihara (杉原德行), a professor of the second lecture in pharmacology at the College of Medicine in Keijo Imperial University. Prof. Sugihara concentrated on studying Korean ginseng and herbal medicine beginning in 1926 when the second lecture of pharmacology was established. In addition to Prof. Sugihara, who majored in medicine and pharmacology, Kaku Tenmin (加來天民), an assistant professor who majored in pharmacy; Tsutomu Ishidoya (石戶谷勉), a lecturer who majored in agriculture and forestry; and about 36 researchers actively worked in the laboratory before the establishment of the NPRI in 1939. Among these personnel, approximately 14 Korean researchers had basic medical knowledge, derived mostly from specialized schools, such as medical, dental, and pharmaceutical institutions. As part of the initiative to explore the medicinal herbs of Joseon, the number of Korean researchers increased beginning in 1930. This increase started with Min Byung-Ki (閔丙祺) and Kim Ha-sik (金夏植). The second lecture of pharmacology presented various research results in areas covering medicinal plants in Joseon as well as pharmacological actions and component analyses of herbal medicines. It also conducted joint research with variousinstitutions. Meanwhile, in Gaesong (開城), the largest ginseng-producing area in Korea, the plan for the Pharmaceutical Industry Complex was established in 1935. This was a large-scale project aimed at generating profits through research on and the mass production of drugs and the reformation of the ginseng industry under collaboration among the Gaesong Ministry, Kwandong (關東) military forces, Keijo Imperial University, and private organizations. In 1936 and 1938, the Gyeonggi Provincial Medicinal Plant Research Institute (京畿道立 藥用植物硏究所) and the Herb Garden of Keijo Imperial University (京城帝國大學 藥草園) and Pharmaceutical Factory were established, respectively. These institutions merged to become Keijo Imperial University's NPRI, which wasthen overseen by Prof. Sugihara as director. Aside from conducting pharmacological research on ginseng, the NPRI devoted efforts to the development and sale of ginseng-based drugs, such as Sunryosam (鮮麗蔘), and the cultivation of ginseng. In 1941, the Jeju Urban Test Center (濟州島試驗場) was established, and an insecticide called Pancy (パンシ) was produced using Jeju-do medicinal herbs. However, even before research results were published in earnest, Japanese researchers, including Prof. Sugihara, hurriedly returned to Japan in 1945 because of the surrender of Japanese forces and the liberation of Korea. The NPRI was handed over to Seoul National University and led by Prof. Oh Jin-Sup (吳鎭燮), a former medical student at Keijo Imperial University. Scholars such as Woo Lin-Keun (禹麟根) and Seok Joo-Myung (石宙明) worked diligently to deal with the Korean pharmaceutical industry.