In an interview with the New York Times on the eve of his inauguration as president on Feb. 25, 1998, Kim said, ``I learned English from an American Peace Corps volunteer and by tutoring myself, puzzling over the English language daily The Korea Times with a dictionary…’’
Former President Kim Dae-jung
One loyal reader was former President Kim Dae-jung who maintained his reputation as a leader in the democratic struggle against iron-fisted governments. Kim learned English through reading The Korea Times and broadened his internationalized perspectives, thus helping himself become a global leader and to receive a Nobel Peace Prize. In an interview with the New York Times on the eve of his inauguration as president on Feb. 25, 1998, Kim said, ``I learned English from an American Peace Corps volunteer and by tutoring myself, puzzling over the English language daily The Korea Times with a dictionary…’’
In July 1978, President Kim, then a dissident, was confined to a hospital room under tight guard after being released from prison after a guilty verdict was handed down for his role in what was called ``the March 1 declaration for democracy’’ by dissident intellectuals in 1976.
In a note inscribed with a nail on a piece of scrap paper that was secretly delivered to his wife, Lee Hi-ho, Kim said, ``Please send me half a page of The Korea Times, editorials of two other vernacular newspapers, the Hankook Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo, articles of U.S. and Japanese correspondents stationed in Korea as well as important economic articles.’’ The message, released by Chong Wa Dae while Kim was in office, was on display in Stockholm along with personal effects of 30 other Nobel laureates.
Korea's first genuinely modern newspaper came into being on April 7, 1896 with the founding of The Independent by administrator-turned-journalist Philip Jaisohn (So Chae-pil). At first published three times a week as a tabloid, The Independent subsequently became a daily, concurrently providing a ``hangul’’ (Korean alphabet) section with the flag of ``Tongnip Sinmun.’’ April 7 is currently observed as Newspaper Day in celebration of the publication of Korea’s first private newspaper. Effective in January 1897, the bilingual daily was published in two separate editions -- one fully written in hangul without the use of Chinese letters and the other in English.
The Independent and The Korea Times have similarities, including their common editorial policy of seeking independence and equalitarianism. Another similarity is that their founders were both inborn freedom fighters. In this sense, just guess who is really the inheritor of Korea's first private English daily, The Independent.
