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Did you know that ... (51) Flattery and lies

By Robert Neff

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One of the earliest Western newspaper correspondents to meet the Korean royal family was Frank Carpenter, a freelance columnist who had managed to convince a number of American newspapers to finance his travels around the world in return for weekly articles describing his adventures.

Carpenter described King Gojong (1852-1919)as "a man that would attract attention anywhere; not over five feet high. He weighs perhaps 125 pounds and his bright, black almond eyes sparkle with intelligence. He has, like most Coreans, a very thin moustache and straggling chin whiskers of black. He has a pleasant smile, good well-kept features and his face is oval and the color of a rich Jersey cream.

His hands are very small and delicate and he has no pompous airs about him. His hair was combed in a Corean top-knot and upon his head was the royal cap of dark blue color. This was of open work and I did not notice that it had the butterfly flaps of his ministers. His costume was a gown of brilliant red or scarlet satin which came up close around the neck and which bore upon the breast a square of embroidery, in gold, of the royal dragon".

Carpenter was especially impressed with Gojong's voice, which he described as "one of the sweetest voices I have ever heard", and with the "simple manner" in which the king spoke, "low but impressive". Judging from the "expressions which came and went across (Gojong's) countenance and from the answers which he made" Carpenter surmised that the Korean monarch was "a man of more than ordinary ability".

Like many Westerners, Carpenter had problems guessing the age of Koreans. He thought that Gojong "did not look to be over 32 years of age" and was mildly surprised when he was informed that the king was 36.

Actually, at the time of the interview, Gojong was 35 by American reckoning.

Carpenter may have thought he was flattering Gojong by describing him as looking younger than he truly was but the Koreans may have not seen it in the same light.

John Sill (the American Minister to Korea, 1894-1897) had an interesting experience in 1894. While waiting for his audience with the Korean monarch, he was entertained by the "principal men of the realm".

Through his interpreters, Sill was asked a series of "questions of all kinds in truly Korean fashion". It was at this point that he learned that the truth was not always the most politically and socially acceptable answer in Korea - even in regards to age.

"(The noblemen) asked questions of all kinds in truly Korean fashion. How did I like Korea? Had I ever been here before? How did the climate suit me? How was the President and how were all the people of the U.S.? Of course I told them that President was in great shape and that the people of the U.S. were every one of them in the best of health, etc. Then, how old was I? And when I said 63 they began to think I was a boastful fraud. It is in Korea a great thing to be old and they looked me over and pointed to my hair and grinned sarcastically. They evidently thought I was doing some tall bragging. The president of the War Office, a venerable white haired man, looked particularly injured and incredulous. He said, 'Why I am only 65 and I am a great deal older than you'. I bet that this suffered exaggerated accounts of my age had brought me into some discredit. So I at once resolved to be quite modest even at the expense of veracity".

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