Wikipedia Assignment

Hello all!

I selected the Tongnip Sinmun (독립신문) as my Wikipedia assignment topic.

The Tongnip Sinmun was the first privately-operated newspaper founded by Seo Jae-pil (later known as his English name, Philp Jaisohn) in 1896. Even though there was an official gazette titled Hansung Sunbo (한성순보) in Korea, arguably, it is historic in that it was an attempt to save the country via grassroots' enlightenment.

During the semester, we have covered a number of thought-provoking issues about Korean history. One of acute points that drew my attention was the period of declining Chosun Korea.

At first glance, there was no hope for the contemporary Korea.

Indeed, it was a very murky era. However, it is hard to say that Koreans sat idlely and waited for its fate passively. There was an progressive movement, as observed the Tongnip Sinmun, representing the hope of Korea.

Even though Korea had to fall into a colony of Japan, I am convinced that Korean civilized and educated Korean intellectuals including Seo Jae-pil sought for ways that Korea should direct and put their ideal into practice against the backdrop of imperialism and modernization.

I thus wanted to cover the Tongnip Sinmun, which considered a blueprint that Korean intelligentias aspired, thereby demonstrating the source of dynamics that led remarkable development.

Since there was nothing about this issue, I created a new page in regard to this historic newspaper. Although my work was not insufficient, I tried to cope with following several aspects of the Tongnip Sinmun.

- Background
- Development and Discontinuance
- Contents
- Contribution to Korean society

Here is the URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongnip_Sinmun