Yu Gilchun

Yu Kil-chun (1856-1914) was a late Joseon official and enlightenment thinker, regarded as Korea's first student to study in the West. Having studied in Japan and the United States, he witnessed Western institutions and culture firsthand and drew on that experience to write his best-known work, Seoyu gyeonmun (Observations on a Journey to the West). Written in a mixed Korean-Chinese script, the book had a lasting influence on modern Korean writing and the spread of enlightenment ideas.