Korean Empire Aegukga

The Anthem of the Korean Empire (or Korean Empire "Aegukga"; in modern Korean orthography: _ko. 대한 제국 애국가; "hanja": _ko. 大韓帝國愛國歌)) was the first national anthem of Korea. It was used in the early 20th century Korean Empire.

The anthem was first commissioned by Emperor Gojong in 1901 and presented to the Korean court on 1 July 1902 by German composer Franz Eckert, who happened to be the director of the Korean Empire's military band at the time. [http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=032&article_id=0000080448&section_id=103&menu_id=103 Naver News Article (in Korean)] ] It was published in Germany in five different languages (Korean, German, English, Chinese, and French) and performed for the first time on 9 September 1902 during Emperor Gojong's birthday ceremony. [http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=032&article_id=0000079590&section_id=103&menu_id=103]

The soon demise of the Korean Empire's independence, however, meant that the anthem did not become widely available. With the signing of the Eulsa Treaty in 1905, the Korean Empire was well on its way towards annexation by the Empire of Japan.

Alteration of the Lyrics

Although a so-called 'official' version of the Korean Empire's national anthem was made available by the occupying Japanese forces, the original lyrics to the anthem were not rediscovered until after the end of the period of Japanese rule. (See also: Korea under Japanese rule).

Lyrics (Japanese modified version)

Lyrics (Original version)

The original lyrics were re-discovered on 13 August 2004 by curator Lee Dong-guk of the Seoul Calligraphy Art Museum.ko icon [http://cafe.chosun.com/club.menu.pds.read.screen?page_num=4&p_club_id=dreamview&p_menu_id=12&message_id=185206 Chosun.com 카페] ] The surviving specimen was a copy kept by the Korean-American Club of Honolulu-Wahiawa and published in 1910 under the title "Korean old national hymn" in English and _ko. 죠션국가 in Korean. [ [http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=032&article_id=0000079590&section_id=103&menu_id=103 Naver News] ] [ [http://blog.daum.net/7216qkr/5248919 Blog regarding the KBS-TV broadcast of Korean Empire Anthem] ]

The discovery came as a surprise even in South Korea, where the existence of the original lyrics was unknown until then. The finding was later reported in the mass media and has since then been performed by various K-pop artists. Hawaii has been a source for various pre-Japanese annexation heritage investigations by South Korea since many Korean Empire citizens emigrated to Hawaii before the Japanese annexation. One recent incident involved a Korean Empire émigré descendant donating a very rare 100-plus-year-old original passport issued by the Korean Empire to South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun during his visit to Hawaii.

The original lyrics are:

In the romanisation, ː indicates length marks "for singing" that appear in the source; ˉ marks vowels that would have been pronounced as long vowels when "not" singing. While the copy appearing in the source used for this article ( [http://www.scjnet.co.kr/INT/chan/fla/nationalsong.wmv] ) appears markedly newer than the 1900s and calls the anthem “Joseon national anthem” ( _ko. 죠션 국가) instead of “Patriotic song of the Korean Empire” ( _ko. 大韓帝國愛國歌) as one would expect from a 1900s copy, it clearly shows pre-1933 orthography (reproduced in this article) that was not used after the 1940s.

Notable Differences

The Japanese-Protectorate era version was modified to mirror the Japanese anthem Kimigayo ("May your reign last forever"), which is a prayer for the longevity of the Emperor himself. The original version, however, has the word “country; nation” ( _ko. 나라 "nara") instead of “emperor” ( _ko. 황뎨/ _ko. 皇帝 "hwangje") and incorporates a prayer for independence and freedom – ideas which might have conflicted with Japanese ambitions at the time to annex the Korean Peninsula.

References

ee also

* Kimigayo
* South Korean National Anthem

Links