As with any country, however, discussions of Korea often revolve around stereotypes. One of the most frequently appearing is that of the “hermit kingdom.” According to conventional wisdom, Korea obstinately refused to open to the outside world for much of its existence. Historical and literary records, however, demonstrate that such was not always the case; on the contrary, sources reveal that periods in which Korea turned inward were both brief and infrequent. The unfounded designation of Korea as hermit, the motivations for which will be explored below, ultimately amounts to a gross distortion of fact and a facile reduction of Korean history.
Historical and literary materials both bear witness to Korea’s long and meaningful interaction with the outside world, even prior to the twentieth century. What becomes striking, then, is the lack of scholarly attention devoted to exploring the images of those people and places beyond Korea’s borders appearing in premodern texts. In addition, and more importantly for the present study, the relationship between such early images and the later representations of the West has been completely ignored. In this study I will attempt to illuminate this little explored aspect of Korea’s past....
