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Person1807 – 1877

Park Gyu-su

Grandson of Park Ji-won; as governor of Pyeongan he burned the General Sherman, later urged opening to trade and taught the reformers

He carried on the Northern Learning ideas of his grandfather Park Ji-won. Sent as a special inspector after the Jinju Uprising of 1862, he urged reform of the corrupt three-tax system. In 1866, as governor of Pyeongan, he had officials and townspeople burn the General Sherman, which had sailed up the Daedong River to Pyongyang demanding trade and plundering. He later became Third State Councillor and supported opening relations with Japan in 1876. In his study he taught enlightenment ideas to young aristocrats such as Kim Ok-gyun, Park Yeong-hyo, Yu Gil-jun and Hong Yeong-sik.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    1866General Sherman Incidentcommander

    When the American merchant ship General Sherman sailed up the Daedong to Pyongyang demanding trade and plundering, Governor Park Gyu-su and the townspeople burned it.

  2. 2
    1870 – 1879Rise of Enlightenment Thoughtleader

    Park Gyu-su, O Gyeong-seok, Yu Hong-gi and others, heirs of the Northern Learning school who absorbed knowledge of the West reaching Korea through Qing, argued for opening the country and making it rich and strong. Their students Kim Ok-gyun, Park Yeong-hyo, Yu Gil-jun and others became the Enlightenment Party.

People who appear alongside

  • O Gyeong-seok1831 – 1879

    Interpreter who brought back from Qing books on Western affairs such as the Haiguo tuzhi and Yinghuan zhilüe, a pioneer of enlightenment thought

  • Yu Hong-gi1831

    Daechi. A chungin physician who studied enlightenment ideas with O Gyeong-seok and guided young reformers such as Kim Ok-gyun, earning the name "prime minister in plain clothes"

  • Kim Ok-gyun1851 – 1894

    Radical reformer who led the 1884 coup, fled to Japan and was assassinated in Shanghai

  • Park Yeong-hyo1861 – 1939

    Radical reformer and son-in-law of King Cheoljong who led the Gapsin Coup with Kim Ok-gyun and headed a coalition cabinet with Kim Hong-jip in the second Gabo Reform

  • Hong Yeong-sik1855 – 1884

    Radical reformer and head of the Post Office, at whose opening banquet the Gapsin Coup began; he was killed when the coup failed

  • Yu Gil-jun1856 – 1914

    Studied in Japan and the US after the 1881 inspection mission and the 1883 mission to America; wrote "Observations on a Journey to the West" and took part in the Gabo and Eulmi reforms

Themes this person appears in

  • Pyongyang194 BC – 2007

    From Wanggeom-seong of Gojoseon to the inter-Korean summits — capital of Goguryeo, Western Capital of Goryeo, the great city on the Taedong