100 historical puzzles full of twists and shocks

On May 6, 1889, the day the Eiffel Tower, a symbol of modernity, stood tall in Europe, a lowly civil servant in Joseon was appointed as the governor of Gobu County.
The cause of the largest civil uprising in Joseon, the Donghak Peasant Revolution, is Jo Byeong-gap.
The Eiffel Tower changed the world, and so did a single person.
A year before the poor French intellectual Denis Diderot was appointed editor-in-chief of the Encyclopédie, King Yeongjo of Joseon destroyed a telescope that his subjects had obtained with difficulty from the Qing Dynasty.
It is an 'ugly' tool that dares to look straight at the sun.
The 'Encyclopedists' ushered in the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, while the broken telescope brought damp darkness to Joseon, rather than light.
During the majestic 19th century, when the entire world was rushing toward modernity, striving for wealth and a strong military, what was happening in Joseon and the world? When Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation after seeing an apple, and when Edison invented the phonograph, what did Joseon realize and invent during the same era?

At some point, history ceased to be a necessary map for moving forward into the future, but became a tool that was not afraid to be distorted for personal gain.
History exists not just for pride.
Mistakes and failures are also part of our history that we must not forget.
"100 Lost Scenes of Modern History" captures 100 scenes that changed the fate of this land during a time when the world was in turmoil due to explosive "intellect" and intense "exchange."
From the reign of King Yeongjeongjo to liberation and the founding of the nation, all 100 scenes are 'inconvenient' facts that cannot be learned in school.
The moment we properly confront the history that has been 'disappeared' by someone, things that were previously invisible begin to become visible.

The scenes we have witnessed from the beginning of Volume 1 until now have some similarities.
The fact is that the world and Joseon took very different directions in the modern era that unfolded before our eyes.
There were communities that embraced modernity through intellect and exchange, and there were communities that rejected intellect and exchange and thus modernity.
Joseon was generally one that rejected modernity.
But in 1894, modern times exploded in Joseon.
The peasants who had been suppressing their anger took up spears, and the officials who had been bowing to the royal family shouted that they would limit the absolute monarchy.
Even if Japan forced modernization through force, how could something like this happen so suddenly?
If you look back, you can see it.
Abolition of Seowon (1871), Smallpox Law (1879), Gapsin Coup (1884), Donghak (1894).
The new zeitgeist of modernity has been quietly revealing itself little by little.
Man is the master of his own mind.
As the number of people seeking modernity increased, we finally reached the time of great change in 1894.
---「Chapter 4.
From "The Age of Reform"

Immediately after the Donghak Peasant Revolution in 1894, not only Jo Byeong-gap, but also the corrupt Min clan members such as Min Yeong-jun, who was the primary target, Min Hyeong-sik, Min Eung-sik, and Min Chi-heon were all exiled and left Seoul.
His neck was not cut off, but politically it was a death sentence.
Those ghosts were summoned back to the present world by King Gojong.
Come to think of it, the 'crimes' that King Gojong ordered to be 'excluded' five days ago did not include the crime of 'fatting one's own belly with the people's wealth and causing resentment (聚斂歸怨肥己, chwiryeomguiwonbigi)' that they were accused of.
Gojong fills his surroundings with these ghosts.
On December 16, Min Yeong-jun returns to his position as a special envoy to the Imperial Household Agency.
It's ministerial level.
On February 16th of the following year, Min Byeong-seok was appointed as a special envoy to the Imperial Household Department.
All other Mins are returning to ministerial positions one after another.
On January 2, 1898, Jo Byeong-gap, the ringleader of the Donghak Peasant Revolution, returned to his position as the Director of the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice of the Korean Empire.
Even if Kim Hong-jip, full of determination, had a thousand arms, would he be able to break through that concrete wall and achieve the reforms he wants?
The resistance is too strong to break down 500 years of contradictions.
---「Chapter 5.
From "The Age of Reaction"

An unprecedented event in human history occurs where one nation is taken over by another without firing a shot.
A leader who maintained power by shifting his dependence on countries from the Qing Dynasty to Japan, Russia, and the United States, a leader who took bribes from Japan in times of crisis and gave his country's interests away, his subjects withdrew their loyalty.
Many people who upheld the principles of Neo-Confucianism shouted at King Gojong to come to his senses, but he turned a deaf ear.
The reform proposals put forward by the Independence Association were rejected, and the Korean Empire began to decline decisively.
Instead of making himself and his five great-grandfathers emperors and ruling the country, Japan prepares to cast its net as it sees him elevate his Jeonju Yi clan, revive Sungkyunkwan, promote descendants of Zhu Xi, and revert the country to its impoverished pre-modern state.
But before the net could be set, a fish jumped in.
---「Chapter 6.
From "Imperial Age"

If we limit ourselves to the perspective of intellect and exchange, South Korea has not yet achieved modernity.
Morality and good and evil, rather than efficiency and principles, serve as the standards of society.
Even if you kill someone, if there is a just cause, you will be forgiven, but even if the result is good, if the motive is impure, you will be condemned.
No faction bows its head before the nation and nationalism.
The myths of a “single ethnic group” and a “delivery ethnic group” have been erased from textbooks, but we still live shouting “we.”
Even if they are right, they are accused of being wrong because they are the ones who are right.
People who praise King Jeongjo, who suppressed intellect, as the monarch of the Renaissance, praise King Gojong, the selfish monarch who ushered in the colonial era, as an enlightened monarch, and praise the absurd remnants of Joseon, the Kim family of North Korea, as independent egalitarians, are rampant among us.

---「Chapter 7.
From “Colonialism and Liberation”