Rhee Dispatched Pro-independence Books to American Supporters to Raise Awareness
Creatrip Team
4 months ago
Newly catalogued documents from the Yonsei University Rhee Syngman Institute show that in 1920 Rhee’s Korean Commission in Washington D.C. mailed books about Korea’s struggle to sympathetic Americans to build support for independence. The list of recipients includes members of the League of the Friends of Korea (한국친우회), such as educators and clergy in Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Boston. The two main books distributed were Jeong Han-gyeong’s The Oriental Policy of the United States, warning of Japanese expansion, and Frederick McKenzie’s Korea’s Fight for Freedom, which documented Korean resistance up to the March 1st movement. Rhee helped edit and provide photos for McKenzie’s book and purchased advance copies for publication abroad; he also awarded McKenzie a medal in 1919. The campaign aimed to inform American public and lawmakers about Korea’s plight and secure moral and political support for independence.
