Meeting a Person from the Past: Going Back
in Time for Heungseon Daewongun
Class 3-3
If I could go to the past, I would like to
meet Heungseon Daewongun. Heungseon Daewongun was the father of Emperor Gojong
who was the last king of the Joseon Dynasty period. During that time, the world
was changing rapidly. For example, England had changed through the Industrial
Revolution; as a consequence England became one of the world powers during that
time.
However Heungseon Daewongun went against
the current flow. As he had a closed policy, advanced culture from foreign
countries could not come in Korea. Therefore Korea was left behind in all
departments including military, industry, and economy as compared to other
countries. As a result it set the stage for Japanese colonial era. It’s because
of that reason that I would like to meet Heunseon Daewongun, to ask him to have
an open-door policy. If he accepted to have an open-door policy, Korea would
become a more powerful nation in the world, make progress in culture and not be
ruled by Japan. Furthermore if he encouraged the Catholic Church from France,
Korea would cultivate people of talent by receiving modern education and
interchange friendly cooperation with France. Accordingly, Korea could take diversionary
action against Russia, The Chung Dynasty, Japan and others who wanted to conquer
Korea.
By - Eom Ji
