1930 nyŏndae Mun Ilp’yŏng ŭi ‘munhwa minjok chuŭi’ sahak ŭi sidae sasang” [The current ideas in the historiography of the Mun Ilpyŏng’s cultural nationalism in the 1930s]

This article deals with Hoam (penname) Mun Il-Pyong`s life and works. Mun was one of the distinguished modern nationalists in the realm of "Cultural Nationalism." New Points that this article focus on can be summarized as follows. Firstly, Mun was born in Uiju, northwestern border town in Korea where Christianity was strong. He tried to study abroad just after the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. However, he failed and instead went to Japan for study. This shows that he was exposed to western civilization as well as Korean nationalism. Secondly, while staying in Japan and China in his twenties, he met several prominent Korean nationalists such as Hong Myong-hui, Park Un-sik, Chong In-bo, and Sin Chae-ho etc. This contact seems to make him lean toward Korean Studies rather than western culture. Thirdly, Mun did not focus on the origins of the Korean nation or ancient Korean-Japanese relations as Japanese colonial scholars and Korean counterparts did. Rather, he argued that while there were political problems since mid-Koryo up to the Choson dynasty, Korean society did show progress in term of culture. Fourth, he paid attention to Korean foreign relations such as Korean study abroad students and cultural exchanges etc. Fifthly, Mun focused on Korean-American relations as a part of modern foreign relations since the enlightenment period. Specifically, he dealt with American missionary, Korean emigrants, and Korean study abroad students etc. As important factors for Korean progress and cultural transformation, Mun considered these encounters to be very critical. It is meaningful that Mun`s cultural nationalistic works put Korean history as a developing one with incessant encounter with outer world.