A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 32. Kunt Ernő emlékére. (1994)

TANULMÁNYOK - FENDLER Károly: A magyar-koreai kapcsolatok száz éve (1892-1992) (magyar és angol nyelven)

in 1915. Besides already known facts, that entry gave a historic overview looking back on two thousand years and contained a special section that dealt with the issues of Korean language and literature. The "TOLNAI ÚJ VDLÁGLEXIKONA" (Tolnai's New World Lexicon) of 1927 was of superior quality with a four-page entry on Korea including several interesting illustrations, for example photograps of Sökkuram, the Namdaemun of Seoul, etc. It is interesting to read the "Katolikus Lexikon" (Catholic Lexicon) of 1932 which briefly described the position of religious missions and gave the numbers of believers, priests and churches, etc. In addition to relatively short entries that appeared in "Uj Lexikon" (New Lexicon) in 1936 and "Uj Idők Lexikona (Lexicon in Modern Times) in 1939, Dr Jenő Cholnoky wrote again a six-page chapter on Korea with his own photographs in the Volume On Asia in the series A Föld és élete" (The Earth and Its Life) from 1936. In general we can say that the lexicons and encyclopedia issued in Hungary in the 19th and 20th centuries published up-to-date facts about Korea comparable by contemporary scientific standards, although they were not fully devoid of errors and mistakes. They include certain erroneous statements about the origin of the Korean people and language, the internal situation and economy, etc. and there are occasionally fictitious and exaggerated elements mainly adapted from Western literature. It is interesting to note that the latter features were temporarily confirmed-and not dispelled-in the wake of travels to the Far East and direct on-site explorations that started towards the end of the 19th century. Such "colourful features" were often reflected even in the otherwise high standard "Földrajzi Közlemények" (Geographical Bulletins) which the Academy's Geographic Society began to publish in the 1870s (e.g., "A Korea hét csodájáról"-On the Seven Wonders of Korea-Volume XX, 1982, pp. 195-160.). The first visit from the Austro-Hungarian monarchy to the Far East, which immediately gained political importance, was made in 1890. On government assignment, Corvette Zrinyi made a cruise in Asia with one of the most important official missions being to establish contacts with Korea with a view to making preparations for a treaty of friendship and commerce. The ship's surgeon, Dr Ferenc Gáspár published an illustrated travel book of 600 pages, "Negyvenezer mérföld vitorlával és gőzzel" (Forty Thousand Miles with Sails and Steam) on the cruise in 1893. In his book, the author devoted about 40 pages to Korea, the "isolated country" (adapted from Griffith). On 21 September 1890, Corvette Zrinyi set anchor in the port of then Chemulp'o from where the captain and his attendants rode on horseback to Seoul. They met several representatives of the Korean government and the Court on negotiations but no agreement was signed because of the funeral of the Queen Mother and the court mourning. Unfortunately, the personal impressions and notes of the ship's surgeon about Korea are rather superficial and inaccurate, some of his statements are unfounded and biased. Apart from the fact of reporting, the publication has therefore hardly any value as a source for research. The first cruise was soon followed by Franz Ferdinand Archduke's journey aboard "Kaiserin Elisabeth" in the Far East in 1892 during which the Monarchy's Ambassador, Baron Rüdiger Biegeleben and Kwong Chee-Hueng, charge d'affaires and interim on behalf of the Korean Kingdom signed the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the two states on 23 June 1892. The Preamble to the Treaty stated this as its objective, "...being sincerely desirous of establishing permanent relations of Friendship and Commerce between Their respective Dominions and of facilitating the commercial intercourse between Their respective subjects, have resolved to conclude a Treaty for that purpose." 159