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영어

In 1874, History of Korean Church (Histoire de l'Église de Corée) was issued in Paris, written and compiled by french missionaries (Missions Étrangères de Paris),only Westerners at that period having lived and died in Korea before the opening up of the country. This unique work dealing with the "Hermit Kingdom" is promptly detected by a Japanese diplomatic minister in Russia, Enomoto Takeaki (榎本武揚)who will publish Dallet's "Introduction" in double translation (French-Dutch-Japanese), renamed The state of affairs in Korea (朝鮮事情) in 1876, just before the conclusion of The Korean-Japanese Treaty (江華島 條約) in the same year. If Dallet's work established an archetypal image of Korea all over the world, Enomoto's book settled a particular vision of Korea for his compatriot bureaucracy. While the academical and historical values of Dallet's original writings reside generally in the veracity based upon missionaries' actual field experiences, Enomoto's book obtained an extra-authority through modern period in Japan eagering the european civilization with considerable admiration, or even unconditional follow. In brief, Enomoto implanted his political purpose in the translation of Dallet's work, so that his politico-military intention could be legitimated and universalized by "Western imperialist powers" discourses. This is a typical example of historical writings with religious character transformed into politico-military text.