When a missionary, spy and friend of opium traders visited Korea
More than a century after Dutch sailor Hendrick Hamel published the first book about Korea in a European language, a handful of Western explorers visited its coasts and recorded their impressions in memoirs. In 1787, French explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse sailed past Jeju Island and Ulleung Island, and 10 years later, Capt. William Robert Broughton of Britain landed near present-day Busan…
A missionary, spy, and friend to opium traders once traveled to Korea in 1832, aboard the British ship Lord Amherst. Born in Prussia in 1803, the German Lutheran minister Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff had a rich background. He was trained as a missionary, learned multiple languages, and served in Java and Singapore prior to his journey to China in 1831.
Gützlaff's primary objective during his visit to Korea was to establish foreign trade and Christianity in the country. His memoirs, which were published later, detailed his interactions with the Korean people and his efforts to achieve his goals.
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- When a missionary, spy and friend of opium traders visited Korea koreatimes.co.kr
