Yun Ch'iho

Yun Ch'iho (; 23 January 1865 – 6 December 1945) was a Korean politician. His name is sometimes spelled Yun Tchi-Ho, his art name was Chwaong , and his courtesy name was Sŏnghŭm .

Yun was born a member of a prominent aristocratic (yangban) family. He was the son of General Yun Ung-nyeol, who served as a minister in the Joseon government. Yun's connections earned him the rare opportunity to study abroad, and he did so in China, Japan and the United States. In the United States, he attended both Vanderbilt University

Yun was a prominent politician during the late Joseon and Korean Empire periods. He was a member of a number of reformist organizations, including the Independence Club, the People's Joint Association, and the New People's Association. He was a strong nationalist especially in his early years. He served in various government positions. He was also an ardent Methodist Christian, and an early leader of the Korean YMCA.

Although Yun was widely considered a nationalist for much of his early career, as Japan tightened its grip over Korea and eventually colonized it in 1910, Yun began to support the cause of the Japanese. He notably did not support many of the actions of the Korean independence movement, such as the March First Movement. As such, many recent Koreans remember him as a collaborator ("chinilpa").

Early life Yun Ch'iho was born on 26 December 1864, in a small village in Dunpo-myeon, Asan, Chungcheong Province. His father, Yun Ung-nyeol, was an official in the Joseon government and as a member of the yangban aristocracy saw that Ch'iho received a proper education. Yun Ch'iho excelled in his studies of the Confucian classics at the local seodang and even tried to apply to take the civil-service exams (gwageo) at age twelve. Yun was only sixteen years old at the time, but this experience greatly influenced his thoughts on modernization and opened his eyes to world beyond the isolated "Hermit Kingdom" that Korea had become. He frequently compared the lack of progress in Joseon Korea to the rapid modernization of Japan and often lamented in his diaries that he wanted nothing more than for Korea to become the kind of advanced, modern nation that Japan had become.

Studying in China Yun would later travel to Shanghai, China in 1885 where he would attend the Anglo-Chinese College studying English and mathematics, among other things. While in Shanghai he also converted to Christianity, something that would play a major role throughout the rest of his life. Yun Ch'iho viewed Christianity as a strong progressive philosophy that could help Korea catch up with the advancements of Japan and the West. One such instance was his election to a month-long term as President of the Few Society at Emory, an honorary position. Yun tried to deny accepting this position, in part because of the dissatisfaction of his election by several classmates due to their white supremacist beliefs. While in America he studied English, theology and speech and he gained a great deal of proficiency in the English language; writing most of his diaries in English.

Vice President of the Privy Council and banishment Yun also served as the Vice President of the Privy Council of the Joseon Court from 1898 until he was banished in 1899 due to pressure from opposing factions in the government. While banished to the countryside, Yun served as magistrate for a town called Wonsan in Northern Korea. His banishment was not long lived and in 1903 he was called to serve as the Vice Foreign Minister. Eventually the group was met with pressure from opposing factions in the government that believed the club was gaining too much influence and so in 1899, the club disbanded. Yun was against the signing of Eulsa Treaty, which made Korea as a protectorate of Japan. He said to Durham Stevens who was in Korea that those who sign the treaty will be hated by Koreans like Benedict Arnold as a traitor. However when the treaty was actually signed, Yun was surprised. What baffled him the more was that Pak Chesoon signed the treaty. He praised Han Kyu-seol, who was the only one against the signing of treaty until the end. When Min Young-hwan committed suicide, Yun paid respects to his courage.

Japanese colonial period

From his early years, he was disappointed in the Joseon people for always having an emotional response and frustrated in their irrationality. In January 1910, he participated in the World Missionary Conference in America and that May, he attended the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference in England. In December 1910, he returned to his country.

When the Korean Empire was overrun by Japanese military forces in 1910 (see Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910), Yun Ch'iho joined with others in resisting Japanese occupation. He became an anti-Imperialist speaker and independence activist.

Conspiracy, trial, and imprisonment In 1911 Yun was implicated in assisting with an assassination attempt on Japanese Governor-General, Terauchi Masatake. Sources from within some of the Enlightenment Movement groups that Yun had taken part in had informed Japanese officials that he had a hand in planning this attempted assassination. He was put on trial and given the maximum sentence. However, after a series of retrials his sentence was shortened and he eventually gained amnesty after only six years in jail. According to Yun, the Korean people's part in the Japanese Empire offered them opportunity and access to education and resources they previously never had. Yun said, "The intellectuals of Korea today all realize that destiny of the Korean people can be promoted by becoming one with the Japanese people and that Manchuria and North China have opened up a field for the development of the Korean people never before dreamed of." Yun made a personal guarantee of the members that were related to the incident and all were released. At that time, he endeavored for Ahn Chang-ho's acquittal, and also filed a petition for Ahn Chang-ho. but was refused by the Japanese Government-General of Korea. In 1938, the Incident occurred, and he similarly guaranteed the personality of all the members related to the incident with the promise of no future bad behavior and all of them are released. During the Japanese colonial era, he was strongly against Japanese rule of Korea, and he did not attend Japanese government and Governor-general related events. In 1940, he was brought to book for reason of being absent for the event from the Japanese Government-General of Korea.

In 1939, Japanese Government-General of Korea ordered the implementation of the Sōshi-kaimei policy, a policy that attempted to change Koreans' names into Japanese format. Yun was going to propose a postponement of the order, because of the national sentiment held by the Koreans. The proposal was considered acceptable by the Japanese Government-General of Korea, and the Japanese Government-General of Korea postponed the implementation of the policy to next year. In May 1940, his family was at the Japanese Government-General of Korea conference for the decision regarding his Sōshi-kaimei. His family name was changed Ito and thus Sōshi-kaimei for him (that was done in a coercive fashion) was Ito Chikho.

After the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, he largely boycotted Japanese official events. In the 1940s, he was finally brought to book for Japanese Government-General of Korea. During this time he was under surveillance, and was internally investigated. In 1943, he was appointed to the position of advisor of Japanese Government-General of Koreas Privy Council , as the Japanese enforced their demands.

Death In 1945, he was elected to the Japanese House of Peers. However, Korea achieved independence from Japanese occupation later that year with the Surrender of Japan.

In October 1945, he sent two copies of a letter titled "An Old Man's Ruminations" , one to John R. Hodge and the other to Syngman Rhee and Kim Ku. He did not receive a response from either. In November 1945, he returned to Korea, and died in GoryeoJeong in Kaesong in December (some allege that he committed suicide, although there is no evidence to support this). He was 80 years old.

Yun Ch'iho was the uncle of Yun Bo-seon, who was President of South Korea in 1960 and Yun Il-seon, the first Korean pathologist and anatomist.