Sympathy Principle
Note
Baekbeom Publishing House

commercial district

To In-shin's two sons

1.
Childhood in a remote village in Hwanghae Province
2.
Entering society through trials
3.
Stormy youth
4.
Wandering and searching
5.
The trials of colonialism
6.
The Road to Exile

Volume 2

After writing the second volume

1.
During the Shanghai Provisional Government
2.
The righteous deeds of Lee Bong-chang and Yun Bong-gil
3.
Days of refuge and wandering
4.
Back to the front lines of the national movement
5.
Chongqing Provisional Government and the Korean Liberation Army
6.
The continent before and after liberation
7.
Back in my homeland

My wish

Baekbeom Chronology
Find a person

『Baekbeom Ilji』, which aims for perfect canonization through full-scale original criticism

Textual criticism of historical documents is generally recognized as a very important area of ​​research for readers.
Moreover, in the case of 『Baekbeom Ilji』, which has over 20 different published versions, the need for original text criticism is equally urgent.


『Baekbeom Ilji』 was written intensively over a period of time, without any proper materials or assistants, while tracing past memories in a foreign country.
Therefore, the original does not even have a complete table of contents, and there are cases where the description contains inconsistencies in the time period and many errors in the names of people and places.
In other words, 『Baekbeom Ilji』 is a manuscript before it was refined into a coherent system.
Although these points do not weaken the authority of 『Baekbeom Ilji』, supplementing and correcting them one by one is an essential task that must be accomplished now that 『Baekbeom Ilji』 is being published anew.
This is because only then can we correct the distortions that arise as the plates are repeated and restore the original purity of the text.


The five principles of sympathy that this book uses as the standard for original text criticism

1.
Principles of modernity
: The difficult and complicated old texts using a mixture of Korean and Chinese characters were proofread into easy modern texts.
In the process, not only were existing proofreading errors corrected, but the exact meanings of terms, concepts, and phrases that had been glossed over were carefully identified and translated.


2.
Principle of Purity
: The principle of not damaging the emotion and content of the original text even a little was considered more important than the principle of modernity, so Baekbeom's long-winded style was preserved, each character was thoroughly compared with the original, and in cases where paraphrasing or revision was unavoidable, the original text was indicated in the text or footnotes.


3.
Principle of Criticism
: Because 『Baekbeom Ilji』 is a manuscript written without any other sources, there are many factual errors, such as confusion of dates and names, duplication of sentences, and reversal of order.
This book not only corrects the limitations of the original text, but also makes extensive use of various sources, including documents and memoirs, to supplement and critique the original text.


4.
The principle of on-site presence
: In order to further enhance the realism of 『Baekbeom Ilji』, this book was edited by appropriately utilizing materials such as photographs, documents, and maps in close connection with the flow of the text.


5.
Principle of Complementarity
: In this book, the "Baekbeom Chronology" has been completely revised based on new content organized through tracing of original sources, and the "Browsing of People" has been completely reorganized (the hardcover version additionally includes the "Large Family List," "Annotations on the Baekbeom Ilji Edition," and "References").


In the original 『Baekbeom Ilji』, it was written that "On July 27, only half a day remained until the execution," and then again that "On August 26, Emperor Gojong ordered a halt to the execution by phone," creating a contradiction in the content. In this case, if we trace the data, we see that on August 26 in the lunar calendar (October 2 in the solar calendar), there was a telegram from the Ministry of Justice stating that they would issue an instruction upon receiving the king's order in response to the Incheon Inspectorate's request for speedy processing.
Also, there is a passage that says, “When Baekbeom was imprisoned for the Chihapo Incident, it was the second year of Geonyang (1897), when the Hwangseong Shinmun was founded.” The Hwangseong Shinmun was founded on September 5, 1898, and it was a newspaper that Baekbeom could not read while in prison, as he escaped in March 1898.
Therefore, the 『Hwangseong Sinmun』 mentioned in the original is the 『Independent Sinmun』 founded in 1896 (the first year of Geonyang).


Furthermore, the identity of Tsuchida (土田讓亮), who was killed by Baekbeom in the Chihapo Incident, has not been known at all until now, other than the original mention of "Army Lieutenant?"
However, in this book, 『Baekbeom Ilji』, his identity was first identified by tracing the materials of Kyujanggak and the Tokyo Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archives in Japan.
In other words, he was a trader from Izuhara, Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, and a key member of the Keirin Jangupdan.
The Gyerimjangupdan was a semi-governmental, semi-private organization with strong support from the Japanese government and under the command of the Japanese consulate in Joseon. It was an organization that sought self-defense for Japan's commerce, industry, fisheries, and other 800 other industries, and gathered a wide range of information, including commercial expansion and military relations.


This book faithfully corrects each and every error in the original text and strives to perfection by supplementing important facts that have not been revealed until now.


Newly discovered additional copies of Baekbeom Ilji

The story of the pre- and post-liberation period, which is the latter part of the second volume of 『Baekbeom Ilji』, is based on a book published by the National Institute of Korean History in 1947, which has been published in all editions to date.
Therefore, the content and volume of this part are identical to the original text of the national history book.
However, after liberation, the original version of this content, which was recorded and added by a close associate of Baekbeom's oral statement, i.e., the "additional version," actually existed.
This has been preserved by Baekbeom's bereaved family until now, but was made public at the request of Professor Do Jin-sun, the annotator of this book.


Comparing the original text with the original version of the national history book, it is revealed that the amount of content included in the original text was reduced to about half of the original.
Moreover, the excavated original contains a lot of new information, allowing us to gain a detailed understanding of Baekbeom's activities during the turbulent period after liberation, which could not be traced through newspapers and other sources.


This book contains all of the additional material discovered and supplemented with footnotes.