This study examines the discourses of justice in the modern times of Korea. More specifically, the discourses of ‘justice’ spread over the late Chosun Dynasty through 1920s are examined, trying to find out the similarities and dissimilarities between Shin Chae-ho's and Lee Gwang-su's discourses of justice. The term ‘justice’ was not used in the late Chosun Dynasty, of which the clue can be seen in the writing of freedom, equality, and rights. The ‘justice’ discourses emerged since non-governmental newspapers accepted the Western liberal thoughts in the late 1890s. In those days, specific 'justice' discourses were talked about in regard to the private property rights, the freedom of bodily movement, the rights of freedom, the freedom of press. With the advent of 1900s, the term ‘justice’ was extended to cover characters or virtues as well as human rights, law, and economic dimension. Specially, in the international state of affairs of those days, the notion of justice was set up as an ethical value toward which Imperial Daehan should be oriented. This tendency went on up to 1920s. Both Shin Chae-ho and Lee Gwang-su also set forth the ethical values which the people of those days were bound to embody. However, Shin Chae-ho set up a field to claim the national sovereignty by elevating the issue of rights up to the national level, whereas Lee Gwang-su removed all the fields of rights by getting nation and politics out of the level of justice, just imposing common duties.

This study examines the discourses of justice in the modern times of Korea. More specifically, the discourses of ‘justice’ spread over the late Chosun Dynasty through 1920s are examined, trying to find out the similarities and dissimilarities between Shin Chae-ho's and Lee Gwang-su's discourses of justice. The term ‘justice’ was not used in the late Chosun Dynasty, of which the clue can be seen in the writing of freedom, equality, and rights. The ‘justice’ discourses emerged since non-governmental newspapers accepted the Western liberal thoughts in the late 1890s. In those days, specific 'justice' discourses were talked about in regard to the private property rights, the freedom of bodily movement, the rights of freedom, the freedom of press. With the advent of 1900s, the term ‘justice’ was extended to cover characters or virtues as well as human rights, law, and economic dimension. Specially, in the international state of affairs of those days, the notion of justice was set up as an ethical value toward which Imperial Daehan should be oriented. This tendency went on up to 1920s. Both Shin Chae-ho and Lee Gwang-su also set forth the ethical values which the people of those days were bound to embody. However, Shin Chae-ho set up a field to claim the national sovereignty by elevating the issue of rights up to the national level, whereas Lee Gwang-su removed all the fields of rights by getting nation and politics out of the level of justice, just imposing common duties.

justice discourses, modern, Gong(the public), freedom, equality, right