Yun Il-sun's Studies in Japan and Medical Research during the Colonial Period

HONG, Jong Wook

Abstract

In this article, I looked at the life of Yun Il-sun, a representative medical scientist of modern Korea, and examined the following problems. First, I took note of the position of the Korean people in the academic system of the Japanese colonial empire and restored the life of Yun Il-sun as specifically as possible. Yun was educated among Japanese people from elementary school to university. Although he received the best education at Old System High School and Imperial University and grew to be a prominent medical scientist, he could not overcome his identity as a colonized. Yun Il-sun, who moved from Keijo Imperial University to Severance Union Medical College, involved in activities founding of the Korean Medical Association and the Korean Medical Journal. Second, I the meaning of "˜culture' to the intellectuals in the periphery. Old System High School and Imperial University where Yun Il-sun was educated were the hotbed of "˜culturalism.' Yun's college days were the heyday of Taisho Democracy, and students were attracted to Marxism, Christian poverty movement, Buddhist cultivation movement and so on. Yun sought to overcome the ideological of young people through the acquisition of "˜culture.' The "˜culture' emphasized by Yun had an enlightenment characteristic that emphasized education, but it also functioned as a"˜identity culture of educated elites.' Third, I used the concept of "˜colonial academism' and examined the aspects and characteristics of the colonial-periphery academic field, focusing on medicine. Yun Il-sun was a Korean professor at the Keijo Imperial University. He founded an academic society and published an academic journal for Koreans. He attempted to reproduce scholarship by doctoral dissertations. At the same time, several facts show that he was also in the affected area of "˜colonial academism': the fact that he was kicked out of the Keijo Imperial University, the fact that the Korean Medical Association and the Korean Medical Journal were banned by Governor General, the fact that his students asked for doctoral degrees from Kyoto Imperial University where he studied. Yun Il-sun crossed the limits of "˜colonial academism' and acted as the agent of empire. This was made possible by the characteristics of the academic discipline of medicine, the environment of the Severance Union Medical College, and personal traits of superior ability and indifference to politics. I the postcolonial evolution of the "˜colonial academism' and "˜culturalism.' The mix of continuity and discontinuity from "˜colonial academism' and the hybrid of Japanese academism and American academism, the Korean characteristics of "˜postcolonial academism.' Yun tried to harmonize the American academism with the Japanese academism and the purity of academism. This effort was revealed as an emphasis on basic medicine and natural sciences. As combined with culturalism and indifference to politics, he was recognized as the symbol of ivory tower and academism.