Philip Jaisohn
Philip Jaisohn, originally named Jae-pil Seo, was a prominent figure in the Korean independence movement and the first Korean to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Born in January 1864 in Bosung, Korea, Jaisohn was educated in the Korean and Chinese classics and became involved in reformist activities early in his life. After participating in the brief Kapsin Coup in 1884, he was forced into exile and eventually settled in the United States, where he anglicized his name and pursued medical studies.
While in the U.S., Jaisohn founded Korea's first modern newspaper, the Independent, and was a key member of the Independence Club, which promoted education and Western ideas in Korea. He maintained a strong advocacy for Korean independence from Japanese rule, even as he worked in the U.S. and collaborated with international communities. Jaisohn played a significant role in various political organizations and events aimed at raising awareness of Korean issues, including the First Korean Congress in 1919.
In addition to his activism, he contributed to Korean literature and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Despite later tensions with South Korean leadership, his legacy is honored through memorials and foundations in both the United States and South Korea, reflecting his enduring impact on the quest for Korean independence and unification.
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Philip Jaisohn
Korean-born activist, journalist, and physician
- Born: January 7, 1864
- Place of Birth: Bosung, Korea (now South Korea)
- Died: January 5, 1951
- Place of Death: Norristown, Pennsylvania
Philip Jaisohn, the first Korean to become a naturalized US citizen, played an important role in the Korean independence movement. Traveling between the United States and Japanese-occupied Korea, Jaisohn founded and led independence organizations and promoted political unity of the Korean people.
Birth name: Jae-pil Seo
Areas of achievement: Activism, journalism, medicine
Early Life
Philip Jaisohn, also known by his birth name, Jae-pil Seo, was born in January 1864 in Bosung, Korea, which later became part of South Korea. As a member of the elite yangban class, he received education in Korean and Chinese classics. When he was seven, Jaisohn moved to Seoul to study with his uncle. In 1882, he became the youngest person to pass the civil-service examination and was appointed minister of defense. He associated with reformists, and, following the advice of reform leader Kim Okkyun, Jaisohn went to Japan for higher education. He attended the Youth Military Academy in Tokyo between 1883 and 1884 and returned to Korea after completing his eight-month training.
In 1884 and 1885, Jaisohn became involved in the Kapsin Coup (also known as Gapsin or Gap-Shin), which sought to open Korea’s borders to international relations and trade. The revolutionary attempt lasted only three days, and Jaisohn was forced to take exile in Japan and later in the United States. Once in the United States, he anglicized his name, Jae-pil Seo, to Philip Jaisohn. Jaisohn attended Harry Hillman Academy in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. During this time, he learned his parents had been executed. He studied medicine at George Washington University, then known as Columbian University. In 1890, Jaisohn became the first Korean to naturalize and become an American citizen. In 1891, he married Muriel Armstrong, whose father was the US postmaster general and a relative of President James Buchanan. Jaisohn graduated from Columbian University in 1892.
Life’s Work
With political instability and turmoil increasing in Korea, Jaisohn returned to his homeland in December 1895 to support the country’s development. In April 1896, with the financial support of the Korean government, Jaisohn began publication of the Independent (Tongnip sinmunorDoknip shinmun), which was Korea’s first modern newspaper and the first to use the Korean alphabet rather than Chinese characters. In the same year, he became one of the founding members of the Independence Club, along with Syngman Rhee and Sang-je Li. The club promoted Western ideas, science, and education for Koreans.
Jaisohn went into exile in the United States again in 1898 when conservatives and foreign influences accused him of plotting to overthrow the Korean government. He was tricked into leaving Korea by a fake telegram claiming his mother-in-law in the United States was dying.
Back in the United States, he studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and opened a medical practice in Pennsylvania. Jaisohn continued working on his newspaper, the Independent, and established himself as a printer and stationer in Philadelphia. When he heard the news of the Korean independence movement in March 1919, Jaisohn brought the cause to the attention of the world through a joint publication endeavor with Philadelphia’s Evening Ledger and led the First Korean Congress in Philadelphia.
Jaisohn was one of the leading figures in organizing the League of Friends of Korea, which brought together intellectuals and politicians with pro-Korean attitudes throughout the United States and Europe. Although Jaisohn had not been able to return to Korea for several decades, he maintained close ties to reformists and independence activists in Korea and China and continued to advocate for Korean independence from Japan. In 1925, he participated in a pan-Pacific conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, as a Korean delegate, and he vehemently criticized the Japanese occupation of Korea.
When World War II broke out, Jaisohn served in the US Army as a physical examination officer and received recognition from the US government for his contributions. After World War II, at which point Korea was divided into North and South Korea, Jaisohn traveled to South Korea as chief adviser to the US military government at the invitation of John R. Hodge, general of the US Army. He was the only survivor of the Gapsin conspiracy. He failed to maintain good relations with Syngman Rhee, the president of the newly independent Republic of Korea (South Korea), and so Jaisohn returned to Pennsylvania, where he died in January 1951 at age eighty-seven. His ashes were returned to Seoul in 1994.
In addition to his role as an activist and journalist, Jaisohn is known for his interest in literature. He wrote one of the first works of Korean American fiction, Hansu’s Journey: A Korean Story, published in Philadelphia’s Korean Review in 1922.
Significance
Jaisohn devoted his life to Korean independence and the unification of the Korean peninsula. Based largely in the United States, he struggled to achieve his goals by publishing newspapers, participating in international political activities, and raising funds for independence activists. His contributions to the Korean independence movement have been acknowledged through the establishment of memorials and monuments both in the United States and in South Korea. The Philip Jaisohn Memorial Foundation was established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1975. In 2008, his statue was placed in Washington, DC, and in the same year, the Seo Jae-Pil Memorial Park opened in his hometown in South Korea.
Bibliography
Dixon, Mark E. "Making a Difference from a Distance." Main Line Today, 25 Aug. 2014, mainlinetoday.com/life-style/making-a-difference-from-a-distance/. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
Jaisohn, Philip. My Days in Korea and Other Essays. Seoul: Yonsei UP, 1999. Print.
Liem, Channing. Philip Jaisohn: The First Korean American—A Forgotten Hero. Seoul, South Korea: Kyujang, 2001. Print.
"The Life of Dr. Philip Jaisohn (1864-1951)." Philip Jaisohn Memorial Foundation, jaisohn.org/dr-philip-jaisohn/. Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.
Oh, Se-ung. Dr. Philip Jaisohn’s Reform Movement, 1896–1898: A Critical Appraisal of the Independence Club. Washington, DC: UP of America, 1995. Print.
Oh, Seiwoong. “Hansu’s Journey by Philip Jaisohn: The First Fiction in English from Korean America.” Amerasia Journal 29.3 (2003–4): 43–55. Print.
Parreñas, Rhacel, and Lok Siu. Asian Diasporas: New Formations, New Conceptions. Stanford: Stanford UP, 2007. Print.