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Canadian missionary James Scarth Gale (1863–1937) served in Korea from the 1880s until 1927, a time of momentous changes in Korean society and culture, and especially in Korean language, literature, and the development of a new vernacular literary language. During his last five years in Korea, Gale worked full-time for the Christian Literature Society (CLS) vetting and editing Korean-language submissions for publication along with his committee of three Korean Christian “pundits.” This paper introduces for the first time the unpublished working notes of Gale and his committee and through examining their work, finds that they were engaged in a conservative project of “verbal hygiene” designed to 1) save the riches of traditional Korean literary culture from oblivion, 2) mobilize Korean literature and literary translation into Korean under the aegis of the CLS for the Christian salvation of the Korean people, and 3) save “beautiful, idiomatic Korean” from misguided attempts at literal word translation and newfangled trends in Korean literary style based on foreign (especially Japanese) models that threatened to turn the new modern literary idiom into “mongrel Korean.” The work of Gale and his pundits at the CLS provides us with a first-hand account of the changes in and foreign influences on modern Korean, especially modern literary Korean, at a pivotal moment in its development, the early 1920s.

This article examines how James Scarth Gale (1863–1937), one of the most influential Presbyterian missionary translators in early-modern Korea, Christianized The Story of Sim Chung [Sim Ch’ŏng chŏn] (1919). To do this, it compares his translation with the first English translation, produced in 1889 by Horace Newton Allen (1858–1932), the first American Presbyterian missionary in Korea. The paper argues that Gale adopted a Christian-oriented concept and ideology, often eliding the Buddhist and Taoist references in the source text. It further posits that the Christian notions in his translation are typical of Gale, but that the more sophisticated translation choices in The Story of Sim Chung represent the evolving character of his translation stylistics and differ from his previous translations, such as The Life of the Buddha (1915).

This paper analyzes the writings of the American Orientalist William Elliot Griffis (1843–1928) and the Canadian scholar-missionary James Scarth Gale (1863–1937), two of the most influential voices in establishing an image of Korea for a Western, Anglophone audience during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their writings demonstrate typical strains of Social Darwinism and Christian triumphalism, reflecting dominant Western discourses on Asia at the time. However, divergent views on the place and significance of “cosmopolitan culture” in a modernizing Korea suggest a more complicated legacy. Gale, due to his adoption of a “cosmopolitan” ideology oriented toward Hanmun literature closely linked with the Neo-Confucian episteme, approached modernization and the material benefits brought by Japanese colonialism in a more ambivalent manner. Whereas Griffis tended to essentialize modernization as necessarily intertwined with Westernization and Christianization, praising Japan and offering hope for Korea in reaching an objective yardstick of civilization, Gale continually questioned whether such a measure of civilization was indeed appropriate for Korea, a country which was essentially Confucianist and cosmopolitan in orientation. Thus, although both scholars demonstrate a critical turn against Japan following the March First Movement, Gale’s critiques represent the confirmation of lingering doubts as to the compatibility of traditionalist Korea and materialist Japan. On the other hand, Griffis’ criticisms impugn Japan for failing to fulfill the promise of full civilization and modernity. These approaches to Asian modernization suggest a further reevaluation of classical Orientalist tropes and invite us to explore instead the potential embeddedness of Anglophone discourse within the pre-modern Sino-barbarian (Hwa-i 華夷) paradigm.

This article analyzes how the Canadian Presbyterian missionary James Scarth Gale (1867–1937) developed an interest in and respect for Buddhism during the later stages of his career in Korea during the Japanese Colonial Period (1910–45). Gale’s positive attitude toward Buddhism marked him as something of an anomaly among his peers and was at least partly an outcome of his study of Literary Sinitic (Hanmun), something that allowed him to understand more fully Korea’s intellectual inheritance and the roles of Buddhism and Confucianism within it. Gale’s growing understanding of Buddhism and Korea’s intellectual inheritance was also indebted to mass modern publication by both Koreans and Japanese, through which core classical texts were made more widely available than ever before. As a result, Gale was predisposed to be sympathetic toward both Confucianism and Buddhism and thus favor the Confucian-Buddhist mix that predominated during Korea’s Koryŏ dynasty (936–1392) and that came under pressure during the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). There was no small irony in this. Gale’s masterwork as a translator was his 1922 published translation of a seventeenth-century novel, The Cloud Dream of the Nine (Kuunmong), which dealt with Confucian-Buddhist tensions in Korean history. Yet it is clear that he struggled to make full sense of the novel’s implications. This article concludes with observations on how Gale most likely attempted to reach a fuller understanding of the relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism in Korean history during the final years of his life in retirement.

This study discusses the differences in translation style and choice of terms in two Korean translations of Dehui rumen (The gate of virtue and wisdom) and how these differences reveal the rapid changes taking place in the Korean language at the time. The translators, Horace Grant Underwood (1859–1916) and James Scarth Gale (1863–1937), adhered to different translation styles. In his 1915 translation, Underwood translated the original content using phrasal structures and native Korean and omitted nothing from the original. In contrast, in his 1927 translation, Gale often omitted the original content and added expressions not present in the source text. In addition, he tended to use sinographic terms and noun forms rather than paraphrases. I argue that these differences in translation style are due to Gale’s belief that “thought translation” (as opposed to “word translation”) helped readers better understand the book and that this led to his introduction of a variety of new terms to Korean speakers.

This study introduces Kyŏnch’ŏmnok 見睫錄, a late-Chosŏn categorized miscellany (p’ilgich’e yusŏ 筆記體 類書) circulated in manuscript, as translated by the Canadian missionary and pioneering scholar of Korean studies James Scarth Gale (1863–1937). Recent research has suggested that the original author―compiler of Kyŏnch’ŏmnok was Yun Tonghŭng 尹東興 (1697–1753). This paper provides additional historical references to corroborate Yun’s authorship, and examines Gale’s unpublished translations. Gale’s translations of Kyŏnch’ŏmnok can be approached from the perspectives of their composition, their contents, and their rhetorical aspects. First of all, he selected and reconstructed the translated excerpts according to his own standards while maintaining the genre specificity of the Kyŏnch’ŏmnok. One essential characteristic of his translation is that he actively intervenes in the translation process. In order to convey more effectively a different culture to Western readers, Gale translated in a proactive and flexible manner. In addition, in the case of his verse translations, his literary rhetoric stands out. He pursued a high level of literary perfection to allow the rhythms of the poems to come though even in the target language, English.

In most studies of Chosŏn-period time and weather, researchers rely on quantitative data, focusing on known quantities and fixed points. But the majority of temporal and climatic information recorded in Chosŏn remains hidden within a network of experiences that are not easily quantifiable. A contextually sensitive understanding of time and weather is required to access information from qualitative sources. This article analyses Yi Sunsin’s Nanjung ilgi to understand experienced time and descriptive climatic information. Yi’s weather documentation not only contains climatic information, but also its direct connection to the spread of diseases, disruption of battle plans, and impacts on people. Ultimately a closer reading is required to help craft a more reliable understanding of the natural world and shows the limitations of modern text mining in the quantification of the past.

This article examines the political and philosophical debates between King Chŏngjo and the scholar-officials regarding the legitimacy of faction-centered versus king-centered governance in late Chosŏn Korea. While previous scholarship has focused on King Chŏngjo’s perspective, which sought to diminish the factions by implementing king-centered politics, this study provided a balanced analysis of both arguments. It demonstrates how both sides drew upon the concept of “imperial pivot” from the Shujing 書經 to support their conflicting positions, particularly through the writings of Chŏng Chon’gyŏm 鄭存謙 (1722–1794) who defended faction-centered politics and supported scholar-officials as a check against royal authority and Chŏng Yagyong 丁若鏞 (1762–1836) who criticized faction-centered politics and supported the strengthened royal power while criticizing factional excesses.

This study analyzes the extent to which China adhered to shifting North Korean narratives on Kim Il-sung amid turbulent bilateral relations between the two communist neighbors. It considers these ties in relation to Yuwen School, where Kim Il-sung studied during the late 1920s and early 1930s, and which historically has been a key site and symbol of bilateral exchange and cooperation. For decades, China deferred to North Korea on the sensitive issue of biographical information on Kim. However, during a recent period of strained Sino-DPRK relations, China published new material on Kim’s graduation from Yuwen which represents a rare instance of China contradicting the North Korean biography of Kim. This analysis challenges DPRK narratives on the “Great Leader” from the perspective of historical and geopolitical contexts, and in so doing introduces new material which contributes both to the early biography of Kim and to recent debate on his graduation from Yuwen School. It offers a fresh perspective on the recent difficulties in the Sino-DPRK relationship, and considers how contemporary changes in this complex bilateral alliance shape the biographies of North Korean leaders.

With the growing popularity of K-pop, K-pop bands have become increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. However, is the diversity of K-pop bands—referred to as K-pop diversity—genuine? This article addresses this question by examining issues related to race and color and institutional racism within the K-pop industry. The discussion consists of four parts. First, the article visits three framing ideas that guide the article’s analysis, specifically Critical Race Theory (CRT), Koreanness, and neoliberal multiculturalism. Second, it examines the racial and ethnic diversity of K-pop boy and girl groups from 2010 to 2022, highlighting the implications of this trend. Third, it offers a critical analysis of EXP Edition, the first non-Korean K-pop band. Fourth, the article delves into ChoColat, the first mixed-race Korean K-pop band. Through these case studies, the article explores institutional racism, neoliberal ideas of racial diversity, and the notion of Koreanness in K-pop bands. Finally, the article discusses the future of K-pop diversity and K-pop bands regarding multiculturalism.