American Missionary-Scholar Memorialized

I wear many hats. One of my long time interests in Korean history. My second book centered on the first Americans in Korea.

This article interested me greatly, since it talks about Homer Hulbert, one of the first Anglos in Korea.

A memorial service was held Friday for Homer Bezaleel Hulbert, an American missionary and scholar who helped the Choson KingdomÂ’s efforts to regain sovereignty from Japan.

About 200 people memorialized the 57th anniversary of his death at Seoul ForeignersÂ’ Cemetery in western Seoul.

Born in Vermont, the U.S., in 1863, Hulbert came to Korea in 1886 to teach English to King Kojong, ChosonÂ’s second-to-last king, in the royal English school. He also gave counsel to the king about education and foreign affairs as he gained knowledge about Korean culture and history.

As Japan tried to claim Choson in the early 1900s, Hulbert helped KoreaÂ’s efforts to prevent the takeover. King Kojong entrusted him with special messages pleading for foreign assistance against Japan in 1905 to then-U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

Hulbert also encouraged the king to dispatch representatives to the second World Peace Conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1907, to denounce Japanese aggression and stress KoreaÂ’s sovereignty internationally, although the attempt failed to produce meaningful results.

In 1910, after Japan colonized Korea, he was deported from the Korean Peninsula by Japan.

After the colonial rule ended, Hulbert was invited by the Korean government as a national guest in 1949, but died from an illness a few days later. .

He was buried in the cemetery. The epitaph inscribed on his tombstone reads: would rather be buried in Korea than in Westminster Abbey.