Seo Jae-pil

Philip Jaisohn (Korean: Seo Jae -pil, * January 7, 1864 or 1866; † January 5, 1951 ) was a Korean independence activist, physician and journalist. His stage name was Songjae.

Life and work

After the failed coup Gapsin 1884 he emigrated in 1885 with two colleagues in the United States. In San Francisco he joined a Christian community. A Christian patron enabled him to stay and study medicine in Pennsylvania. In 1890, he became the first Korean American citizenship and in 1892 as the first Korean doctoral degrees in medicine an American university. In 1894 he married Muriel Armstrong, a niece of former President of the United States, James Buchanan. The couple had two daughters.

In 1896 he founded the first modern and independent newspaper that explicitly aimed at readers in Korean. The Independent ( Doknip Shinmun ) was printed in English and Hangul. In the newspaper he denounced the corruption in Korea. He was still working as a writer for American- Korean publications, founded in Philadelphia, an information office of the Republic of Korea and wrote for the Korea Review. He was also for a prestigious medical research institute, the Wistar Institute of the University of Pennsylvania worked, and he founded with a partner a publisher, but did not last long.

Publications (selection)

• Hansu 's Journey
• My Days in Korea and other essays
• My compatriots in the home country ( 고국 에 계신 동포 에게 )