1920 La Revista Nueva Mujer

In Quest of Modern Womanhood: Sinyŏja, A Feminist Journal in Colonial Korea
Author(s): Yung-Hee Kim

Source: Korean Studies , 2013, Vol. 37 (2013), pp. 44-78
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24575276
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In Quest of Modern Womanhood: Sinyoja,
A Feminist Journal in Colonial Korea
This article appraises the impact and significance of Sinyôja (New Woman; 1920),
the first feminist journal published in Korea after the March 1,1919, movement, in
the development of discourses on the "Woman Question" in colonial Korea. Created
and managed by women—with the pioneering feminist writer Kim Won-ju (1896
1971) as its editor and centrifugal force—the journal provided a public platform
exclusively for women, who publicized feminist ideas, criticism, and visions. The
journal's major goals included: women's awakening, empowerment, and self-realization
through education; stimulation of women's sociocultural and historical consciousness;
reform of oppressive Confucian patriarchal familial and marital institutions; and, ulti
mately, gender equality. This study traces the journal's trajectories, focusing on its
prime movers, editorials, articles, and short stories. In the end, this article sheds
light on Sinyôja's contribution to authenticating modern Korean women's mass media
engagement as well as legitimizing their feminist aspirations for socio-cultural inter
vention and subversion, which was rarely duplicated in colonial Korean journalistic
history.
Introduction
Debuting in March 1920, Sinyôja (New Woman 新女子）was the first

feminist journal puolished in Korea following the March 1919 indepen
dence movement. The journal was the brainchild of a small group of young
Korean Studies, Volume 37. © 2014 by University of Hawai1 Press. All rights reserved.
44

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Fig.1.The founders of Sinyôja (clockwise from top left): Kim Wôn-ju, Na Hye-sôk,
Kim Hwal-lan, Sin Chul-lyô, and Pak In-dok.
elite Korean women who dared to voice their feminist concerns publicly in
the still Confucian-dominant, patriarchal culture of the 1920s. The Sinyôja
circle was the bona fide first generation of women intellectuals and profes
sionals in modern Korea. Led by editor Kim Won-ju (金兀周；1896-1971;
penname Irôp 一葉)，the journal's founders include Na Hye-sôk (羅蕙錫；
1896-1948), Pak In-dôk (or Pahk Induk;朴仁徳；1897-1980), Sin
Chul-lyô (申俊勵；1898-1980; also, Syn Julia), and Kim Hwal-lan (金活蘭;
1899-1970; also Helen Kim), înyoja was one of the earliest periodicals
after Japanese colonial authorities instated their "cultural policy
[munhwa chôngch i 文イ匕政治；bunka seiji in Japanese). The journal pre
dated the appearance of the leading nationalist newspaper, Tonga ilbo (東 W
日報；East-Asia daily; April1，1920-August 10，1940),2 and the influen
tial cultural magazine Kaet?yok (開 Creation; June 2)，1920-August 1，
1926).
Standing at the forefront of contemporary journalism and taking full
advantage of the widening field of mass print media, Sinyoja created a
public forum for debates on the status and role of Korean women, doubly
othered" by Confucian patriarchal constraints and colonial oppression.
Yung-Hee Kim In Quest of Modern Womanhood 45

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sciousness, and womng for gender equality.
to cartoons, Sinyoja connected its reform-or
Korean women and their society at large, wh
and participate in reimagining and reinventi
personhood.3
Sinyoja s radical revision and call for change amid existing gender
ideologies and practices exploded on the cultural scene. In fact, the journal
ignited the spark for Korean intellectuals' debates on pressing social issues,
including their scrutiny of colonialism and in imaging the future of Korea.
Such discussions heated up as the tension and confusion generated by the
competing claims of colonialism and nationalism, Western feminism and
patriarchal Confucianism, individualism and familism, and modernity
and tradition intensified in the 1920s. Soon, any serious interrogation of
Korea's destiny under Japanese rule was incomplete without invoking the
problem of women.4 Thus Sinyoja played a catalytic role in initiating
and fueling the discourses on Korea's "woman question. The journal is
rightly credited with having given popular currency to the term sinyoja
(new woman) itself at the time.5
46 Korean Studies VOLUME 37 | 2013

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Despite the journal's brief life, having fallen victim in 1920 to colonial
censorship after publishing just four issues, Sinyoja s pioneering endeavor
for feminist causes and its vital position in the annals of modern Korean
women's history merits an in-depth study. Given the dearth of research
on Sinyoja in American scholarship, even though study on the subject has
been increasing in Korea in recent years,6 this article provides much-needed
information on the subject for English-reading audiences and adds new
material to research on the modern/new woman in women's and cultural
studies.7 This essay focuses on Sinyôjas distinguishing features, including
its principal players, objectives, and thematic concerns with an eye toward
shedding light on the journal's contribution to the re-conceptualization
and reconstruction of womanhood in 1920s colonial Korea.
The Sinyoja Group
Education and Careers
The founding members of SinyojaKim Wôn-ju, Na Hye-sôk, Pak

In-dok, Sin Chul-lyô, and Kim Hwal-lan一were recipients of the highest
level of education available for Korean women at the time. Except Na, all
were graduates of Ewha Haktang (梨花學堂；established in 1886),8 a
Methodist mission school, the only contemporary Korean woman's insti
tution of higher learning.9 The Ewha graduates were beneficiaries of the
college's progressive educational visions, diverse curriculum,10 highly edu
cated faculty,11 and wide-ranging extracurricular programs.12
Upon graduation, Pak In-dok, Sin Chul-lyô, and Kim Hwal-lan took
teaching positions at Ewha. Kim Wôn-ju went on to the Tôyô Eiwa
Jogakuin Girls' Academy (東洋英和女學院）in Tokyo from 1919 to 1920
and returned to Korea and taught at a public school in Seoul.13
Na Hye-sôk was a graduate of Chinmyông Girls' School(進明女學校;
founded in 1906)，the first non-sectarian institution for girls in Korea,14
as the top student of the class of 1913. Soon thereafter, she entered Tokyo
Women's College of Arts to major in Western painting and in 1918
became the first Korean woman to receive a B.A. in art from a foreign
college. During her sojourn in Tokyo, Na Hye-sôk had risen to fame
with her contributions to an otherwise exclusively male students journal,
Hakchigiuang (學之光；Light of learning; April 1914-April 1930), the
organ of the Association of Korean Students in Tokyo. Later, she played
a major role in publication of iojag)ie (女ナ界；Women's World), a journal
of the Association of Korean Women Students in Japan (organized in

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1915),15 which was considered to be the counterpart of Hakchigwang.
After returning to Korea in April 1918，Na took up a teaching position
in her alma mater and also taught at Chôngsin Girls，school in Seoul.
As the crème of the crop of Korean society of the 1920s, the Sinyôja
group enjoyed privileges of transnational and transcultural education and
travels, paid employment, and the ensuing social status and recognition.
These women collectively constituted a radical departure from kuyosong
(舊女性，tradition-bound women), who were required, by Confucian stipu
lations, to lead their lives exclusively as wives and mothers. The înyoja
women demonstrated alternative female modes of existence for purposes
larger than familial and kinsnip connections. In short, the women of
ôinyoja were concrete examples of the new woman in 1920s Korea.
Political Bonding
The înyoja women were brought together not simply by tneir similar edu
cational backgrounds, personal friendships, alumni connections, or institu
tional affiliations. The founders were closely tied by their participation in
anti-Japanese activities prior to and after the March 1919 independence
movement. Pak In-dôk, în Chul-lyô, Kim Hwal-lan, and Na Hye-sôk
played leading roles in covert resistance activities and some of them took
part in street demonstrations.16 Pak, Sin, and Na were arrested and served
prison terms,17 while Kim Won-ju and Kim Hwal-lan were barely spared
from that ordeal.18
The process from arrest to imprisonment subjected them to terror,

physical suffering, and nightmarish mental and psychological misery•り
These experiences not only affected those fallen prey to the police but also
their mends left outside the prison walls. Kim Hwal-lan, who escaped arrest
and went into hiding, describes her excruciating agony and guilt, as she
pictured the hardship of her jailed mends and collègues, Pak In-dôk
and Sin Chul-lyô:
Especially burdened was my heart as I kept hearing the news of my mends

in prison. They were receiving extra beatings on my account— The mental
agony was almost unendurable. Many a time I sought for the chance to escape
and offer myself to the police. It seemed as though suffering in prison with my
friends would be light compared to my mental anguish because of the physical
comfort I was enjoying at the cost of their added tortures.20
The far-reaching implications of the harrowing experiences of the individual

members of the Sinyôja coterie can be gleaned from their reminiscences
thereafter. For instance, Pak In-dôk recounts her moment or insight as
48 Korean Studies VOLUME 37 12013

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she stepped out of prison: "Freedom at last! To me, or to anyone else,
certainly freedom一physical, mental and spiritual一is one's most precious
possession. That was why my people had started the Independence Move
ment. "21 In the meantime, Na Hye-sôk interpreted the signiticance of her
experience as a turning point to develop new perspectives on life and on
herself:
During my half-year incarceration, I suffered indescribable restrictions, con

straints, detention, and punishment. Still I managed to come up with such
ingenious tricks as writing a message with my fingernail on a piece of rag torn
out of my clothes and throwing it outside the prison [wall] during the physical
exercise period. These direct personal experiences convinced me that where
there's a will, nothing is impossible. This idea, which was engraved in my
mind, has been dominating my whole lite广2
Kim Hwal-lan recognized the independence movement as a watershed

moment that called upon Koreans to fortify themselves and their zeal for
independence:
Early in January [1920] I returned to Ewha, for everyone agreed that conditions
were more normal in Korea and that it would be safe for me to come out of
niding. The work program and the general situation at Ewha remained the
same, but we were not the same persons. We were no longer docile and helpless
people who accepted passively the injustices done to us. We sought indirect
ways of expressing our patriotism We would do everytning well which
would in the long run help us gain independence. Life and work took on a new
meaning We had to do something to express our devotion to the country.23
The ôtnyom coterie belonged to the singular group of Korean women

political dissidents and activists of the 1920s.24 It is highly probable that
their shared experience as freedom fighters joined them in a strong bond of
patriotic camaraderie, sisterhood, and even spiritual solidarity. Avowedly,
this existing, prc-Sinyoja politicized network and support system served
these women as a firm base for their teamwork for their journal project.
The Making of Sinyôja
The Sinyoja group set to work immediately following the release from
prison of Pak In-dok, Sin Chul-lyô, and Na Hye-sôk in August 1919.25
In addition to Na Hye-sok's know-how from her experience in the pro
duction of \ojagye in Japan, the oinyoja group sought assistance from two
men, Pang Chông-hwan (方定煥；1899-1931; pen name Sop'a 小波)

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and Yu Kwang-nyôl(柳光烈；1898-1981).26 Both Pang and Yu were
instrumental in publishing Sinch orison (新靑年；New young man; Jan.
20,1919)，wnich was an organ of the Seoul Young Men's Club.27 The
omyoja group decided to promote women's liberation and women's rights
as its principal objectives.28 rhey called themselves "Ch ongt'aphoe"
(肯塔會；Bluestockings),29 and Simsas article in Sinyoja called Issues
We Face Now (Tangmyôn ui munje; no. 2，April 1920) provides a clue
to the motivation of the group's choice of name:30
We are bluestockings.31 We are bluestockines women, standing face to face

with illustrious male writers. As you well know, the word ch ongt'ap means
blue-colored stockings, that is, bluestockings. The name comes from an episode
that a woman literary scholar, who attended the writers' meeting held in London,
England, in 1750, wore bluestockings, and ever since women writers were nick
named as Bluestockings.32
In Simsa's rousing proclamation, we detect the Sinyoja group's aspiration

to position itself at the level of the West's distinguished intellectual com
munity of women and thereby to authenticate the journal's feminist project
internationally.33 Considering the fact that the BluestocKings had close
interactions with leading British male intellectuals,3"1 the Sinyoja circle's
connection with the Sinch ongnyon group would have meant for them
a parallel with that of the British women's practice. Furthermore, the
sinyoja team's christening the name of their journal Sinyoja underscores
its status as an equal partner with Sinch ongnyon in constructing "new"
(sin 新)gender concepts and identities for Korea's young of both sexes.
Simsas article also announces that one of Sinyoja s major functions is
to provide a literary platform for Korean women and looks up at the
luminaries in Western women's literary traditions as its ideal models to
emulate:
Women Bluestockings include Mrs. [George] Eliot, the famous author of Adam
Bede, who established a new era of morality; Lady Brontë and Lady [Jane] Austin;
Mrs. [Harriet Beecher] Stowe, whose Uncle Toms Cabin became the driving
force of the emancipation of four million black slaves; Mrs. Merezhkovsky of
Russia and the immortal Mrs. [Elizabeth Barrett] Browning; and woman such
as French Madame de Staël.35
In the Korean literary world today, there are a number of Bluestockings
who will become world-femous in the future. We cannot even count how many
of them are buried unnoticed. Korean newspapers and magazines are created and
managed by men, and there are only two or three created by women. But none
of them is wholly penned by women. Out of such need and to fill this lack, the
first issue of Sinyoja was published last month, and its purpose is to help show
the praiseworthy work by Bluestockings, and at the same time, to bring buried
talents to light.36
50 Korean Studies VOLUME 3712013

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The Sinyôja group benefited from advice from Pang Chong-hwan and
Yu Kwang-nyôl.37 Their supportive role is further borne out by the fact that
the Sinyôja inaugural issue included a handful of works by Sinch'ôngnyôn
members.38 The Sinyôja circle's reliance on their male colleagues, however,
ceased soon. From its second issue no works by Sinch'ôngnyôn associates
appear in Sinyôja?^ In the subsequent issues, the journal emphatically
reiterated that the journal was managed by women only.40 At the same
time, the journal repeatedly solicited contributions from other women
outside its circle. In this respect, Sinyôja differs from its predecessors,
such as Ydjagye, purportedly a woman's journal with â strong feminist
bent, which was led by prominent male writers and leaders such as Yi
Kwang-su (李光洙；1892-1950) and Chôn Yông-t'aek (全榮澤；1894~
1968).41 Thus, sinyôja was a reminist journal true to its name一a women
centered and women-directed print medium一the first of its kind in Korean
journal history.
Sinyôja was ftinded by Ewha Haktang,42 and the school's backing for
the journal is clear from its inaugural issue, whicn includes a congratula
tory remark from Alice R. Appenzeller, principal of Ewha Haktang:43
I esteem it a great honor to be asked to write greetings to the women of Korea

through the pages of the first magazine which they can call their very own It
is .my pleasure to endorse this new enterprise, which has as its sole object the
elevation of the women of this peninsula. May this magazine ever present to
its readers only the best and aid in bringing in that good new day when women
of Korea shall have every right and every opportunity which their sisters of other
lands and enjoy.44 [Jan.17，1920]
In addition, a farewell poem is dedicated to Appenzeller upon her leaving

Ewha for the United States on furlough in 1920 (Sinyôja no. 4).45 The
journal also allots space to a detailed report on the Ewha dormitory in
its first issue, and successive issues of Sinyoja are dotted with contributions
from individuals related to the college.46
This fact points to the shortage of qualified women, other than a
small number of Ewha graduates, who would be able to supply manu
scripts for the journal. The core members of the journal must have per
formed multiple tasks and roles to fill up the journal's pages and carry out
other management chores. Theirs was a daunting and onerous burden to
bear, and Na Hye-sok's cartoon illustrates this point in her etching on the
daily routine of Kim Won-ju (fig. 3). A pictorial illustration of an edu
cated Korean woman at the intersection of public and domestic life who
is capable of integrating the challenges from both realms, the cartoon cap
tures in simple but bold strokes Kim's life as wife and editor of Sinyoja.
The caption for panel1 openly expresses Na's admiration and support

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■èA先绣娘裒為逸宠老玢资蝎《夂
成来舄び人欠玄於s爷晷念絮汶au»H令魃
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Fig. 3. Na Hye-sôk's cartoon in Sinydja, no. 4，depicts the daily work routine of Kim
Won-ju.
for Kim's behind-the-scenes work on behalf of the journal, which, Na

believes, is sustained by Kim's dedication to the cause of young women.
Public Reception
With its first issue, Sinyôja immediately drew attention from news media.
Maeil sinbo led the way and faithfully followed the course of Sinyoja s
publication from its first issue to its demise in June 1920.47 The Tonga
ilbo followed suit, highlighting the journal's content, progress, and popu
larity.48 Especially, Tonga ilbo (May 4,1920) reported that Sinyoja s inau
gural issue sold two thousand copies and publicized its success in securing
a wide, commanding basis of readership. The extraordinarily high circula
tion indicates that Sinyoja drew both female and educated male readers.

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esteemed position of public interlocutors on woman's issues. Their opinions
and writings were sought after by contemporary newspapers and magazines.
For instance, Tonga ilbo featured essays by Pak In-dok, Yi Il-jong, and
Kim Won-ju from the second day of the journal's publication.49 In addi
tion, the newspaper reported Kim's public lecture on the mission of new
woman sponsored by the Sinyôja group (May 9,1920). Furthermore,
Tonga ilbo spotlighted Kim Won-ju and Na Hye-sôk by inviting them
to elaborate as a conversation on the topic of women's clothing, which
was serialized from September 10 to 14，1921.50 The dialogue marked
the first public articulation by women on women's fashion and body poli
tics. Thereafter, Na became the mass media's favorite; her writings and
artwork were in great demand by a number of dailies and magazines.51
Censorship
From its beginning, Sinyôja was subjected to Japanese censorship.52

Originally, Kim Wôn-ju was listed as the editor and Mrs. Billings as
publisher.53 From the second issue on, however, only Mrs. Billings is
listed as both the journal's editor and publisher. This development is clear
evidence of censorship and shows that Sinyôja had to take precautionary
measures for its survival. To have Mrs. Billings as the official in charge of
the journal was one such tactic, since under colonial press laws it was easier
to get a permit if the publisher was a foreigner.54
Yung-He Kim In Quest of Modern Womanho d 53

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Although issue four advertised in an upbeat tone its plans to publish

issue five, Sinyôja folded with the publication of its fourth issue in June
1920, banned by Japanese authorities on a charge of "disrupting social
order and morality."55
The journal became the first casualty of Japanese control over Korean

34.192.2.131 on Tue, 10 Nov 2020 04:07:02 UTC
mass print media during the era of the "cultural policy.” The preventive
strategy of using Mrs. Billings's name didn't work. The shutting down of
the journal may have been the censors' preemptive strike to do away with
Sinyôja in view of its general nationalistic tone and growing popularity
and also due to the past anti-Japanese political activities of its founders.
Thus, nipped in the bud was the nascent Korean feminist press, which
had dared to enter the predominantly male domain of mass media to
propagate its emancipatory messages for Korean women.
With the end of Sinyôja, each of its five founders, Kim Won-ju,56 Pak
In-dok,57 Sin Chul-lyô,58 Kim Hwal-lan,59 and Na Hye-sôk,60 dispersed
and went separate ways. They were never to work together again in such a
public enterprise, although their life and career courses crisscrossed over
the years thereafter.61
Thematic Spectrum
Inaugural Message
Kim Won-ju's "Inaugural Message" (Ch'anggan sa) in Sinyoja s first issue

is the journal's mission statement, which spells out its raison d'etre in
forceful and stirring rhetoric:
Reconstruction! This is the cry of humankind, which has been mourning in the
midst of atrocious shelling for the past five years.62 Liberation! This is the cry of
us women, who have been locked up in a dark room for thousands of years.
If the war, motivated by gluttonous ambition and egotistic ideology going
against the will of heaven, is inhuman and resulted in the destruction of the
springtime of peace and the production of mountains of death and seas of
blood, then it is equally inhuman and against the will of heaven to lock women
up in the kitchen by unjustly looking down on them as slaves and by willfully
branding them weaklings——women, who, as human beings just like men, should
be up and about and taking up work
Ah! A new age has arrived. A time has come when all old things crumble
and when we build up things anew. The time has come when all wrong and evil
should disappear. The time has come to reconstruct all that we have.
Where then shall we begin? Above all, we need to completely reconstruct
our society. It goes without saying that to reconstruct society, we must begin
with the home, which is the basic element of society; if we want to reconstruct
our family, we have to liberate the women who are to be its head.
If we aspire to live like other peoples, not to fall behind others, and to live
on par with others and to reconstruct everything, we must first liberate women.
...The rationale behind the creation of Sinyoja is our aspiration to con
tribute, even if only a little, to the task of working for our society, to obtain
liberation, and to make our society better than that of others. [Sinyoja, no.1;
March 1920]

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This impassioned statement declares that women's reform and libera
tion is the journal's foremost and avowed moral task. It aims at restoring
women to their rightful position of gender equality by freeing them from
centuries-old, male-centered oppression and enslavement. What is note
worthy about Kim's argument is that she centers it within the larger context
of international geopolitics. She sees the end of World War I as a beginning
of a new epoch in world history, where a reform spirit is the driving force.
Seen in this light, Kim asserts, Sinyôja is a timely response to the compel
ling Zeitgeist to take part in the creation of a new world order. By position
ing Sinyôja in this lofty international dimension, Kim declares its historic
importance and authenticity. Ultimately, Kim Won-ju elevates Sinyôja s
significance to a national dimension and delivers an unmistakable political
and nationalistic message: It is Korea s nation building and liberation
upon which Sinyôja s project of women's emancipation hinges.
Editorials
As the mouthpiece of Sinyôja, editorials set forth in a straightforward

and self-assured manner the journal's fundamental objectives, guiding
principles, and key agendas. They often recycle the gist of Kim Wôn-ju's
"Inaugural Message" and even its language and tone. Some of their recur
ring thematic leitmotifs are women's consciousness-raising, demanding
liberation of women from patriarchal ideologies and practices, promoting
women's education and gender equality, and alerting women to the current
developments of the world outside Korea to foster their socio-political
consciousness. Basically, Sinyôja is pedagogical in its stance and orienta
tion and betrays a consistent, proselytizing zeal to shape its readers into
informed and enlightened new women.
Kim Wôn-ju's first editorial, "On the New Woman's Social Respon
sibility" (Sinyôja ui sahoe e taehan ch'aegim ul nonham), reiterates the
journal's principal objective—women's emancipation—and links it to the
irrefutable tide of international liberation movements in a similar fashion
to the "Inaugural Message." This editorial provides specific guidelines for

the new woman's personal attributes, behavioral patterns, and attitudes
that would qualify them as responsible participants in this feminist cause,
compelling women to avoid "indulgence in luxury, frivolity, and arrogance
...maintain frugality and good conduct in sexual matters ... submit to
men . •. and put their knowledge into practice" (no.1，March 1920).
Striking about the guidelines is the endorsement of the very traditional
virtues that Sinyôja officially denounces. The author herself acknowledges
the regressive nature of her position. Particularly, she admits that the pre

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scription of "sexual purity" and "submission to men" may "infuriate those
who know about gender equality." Kim goes on to explain that these pro
positions are "temporary strategies in consideration of current standards of
Korean society, until more changes and progress are made.’’ In other words,
the editorial presupposes Kim's awareness of the public's negative perœp
tion of educated women. What the editorial basically attempts to do, there
fore, is to placate such public opinion and to stem the adverse trend from
further escalation by taking a concessionary and gradual approach. Simulta
neously, Kim alerts educated women to exercise discretion in how they con
duct themselves. She underscores that, through the cultivation of women's
respectable inner qualities, which are acceptable to the larger public, women
in the end can "demand gender equality," which is their "legitimate ide
ology, a heaven-given responsibility for modern Korean women.”
The second editorial, “Our Demands and Claims as New Women"
(Uri sinyôja ûi yogu wa chujang), specifies the dual process through which
liberation of women and gender equality would be achieved: dismantling
patriarchal systems that dehumanize women and women's participation in
such reform movement. Author Kim Won-ju particularizes Korean women's
subordination by framing it within the canonical Confucian rule of the
"Three Obediences," which stipulated an absolute submission to males.63
Kim also declares the practice of trafficking female bodies in Korea as one
of the most serious social problems since it is a blatant devaluation of
women and violation of their human rights. Kim states that a woman's
ability to face the appalling status of women and participate in social re
form is what makes a woman a new woman:
...As a result of this male-centered treatment of women and a life of blind and
forced obedience, women have completely forgotten their duties to themselves

as human beings and their original human nature. Therefore, in Korean society,
the barbaric but accepted practice of the sale of women persists, degrading
women to the level of animals and commercial goods.
...This may be due to men's immorality but women brought such insult
on themselves because of their lack of self-knowledge. Therefore, we intend to
break down the age-old conventional morality in its entirety, to carry out self
development, and to lead a better life under new rational morals with no gender
discrimination and amidst the liberty, rights, and duty of equality, and the
enjoyment of liberty.
...As new women of a new age, we have to get rid of all the conventional,
conservative, and reactionary old ideas. Tnis is really the task, mission, and reason
of belonging to Sinyôja.... [No. 2, April 1920]
Editorial number three, "Woman's Self-Awakening" (Yôja ùi chagak),

continues Kim Won-ju's consciousness-raising campaign for women.

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She sensitizes women to their gendered victimization and urges them to
remake themselves as independent, modern women. Noteworthy here is
the editorialist's idea to provide women with educational and job oppor
tunities. She is convinced that women have to have practical means to be
modern, and that is to have economic independence and self-sufficiency.
Thus empowered, they would be able to achieve the goal of liberation for
themselves:
Behold! The Korean population has reached twenty million, but only men, who
comprise but half, work as human beings, while women, the other half, live
under men's command as slaves The very reason for this lies with women's
dependence because of their lack of education and professions. To rescue these
pitiable Korean women, we boldly undertake women's education to get rid them
of their complicity, prepare them for an energetic life, help them get jobs so that
they can change their dependency on man into a spirit of independence and
self-support, and make them realize their responsibility by letting them tackle
jobs by themselves.
...Indeed, Korea is going through a transitional period, when old ideologies
are perishing while new ones have yet to be created, generating a state of confu
sion. Consequently, we women, too, are caught in this vortex. But can we sit
comfortably by leaving ourselves to the whims of destiny? No! Such would be
the path to self-destruction. If we do not come to a full awakening at this point,
the future of women's society will be eternally ruined. The point is that we have
to awaken ourselves and forge our own paths with the power of education, jobs,
and a sense of responsibility. [No. 3, May 1920]
Editorial number four, "First, Demolish the Status Quo” (Mônjô hyôn
sang ul t'ap'ahara), underscores the importance of gender equality and
modernization of women by defining them as human rights. Kim calls
attention to the fact that such tasks can be successfully carried out only
when women take the initiative to recognize their oppression and break
from it. The trademarks of new woman are independence, critical think
ing, and putting one's belief into action:
Today, as we women demand most rationally our rights as human beings equal
to men to fulfill our aspirations, we must first of all take stock of our status quo,
and reconstruct ourselves as new women. We need to cut our ties with the past
as quickly as possible and stamp out the old ideals.
...Therefore, the urgent task facing women today is that of destroying
their mistaken notions and delusions, in short, their status quo. We will never
realize our hopes if we blindly follow others without recognizing our responsi
bilities, our lack of an independent spirit and self-reliance, or if we allow our
selves to be pressured by others to be involved in unwholesome and restrictive
movements
In undertaking such an endeavor, we expect to be the target of much

sorship and a great deal of persecution from bigoted moral leaders. But we

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be unable to achieve a thorough self-awakening and end up perpetuating male
tyranny if we heed such criticism, or begin our women's movement with an
uncritical acceptance of male despotism, or stay spiritually paralyzed by age-old
customs and conventions, or remain in slavish cowardice trying to cater to
men's preferences. [No. 4，June 1920]
What distinguishes this editorial from others is the acute realization that
the feminist movement launched by Sinyoja is far from being an easy task
to accomplish. It underscores the commitment of newly educated women
to gender reform, the exercise of critical acumen to free themselves from
male-oriented ideologies and patterns of thinking, and unswerving determi
nation to overcome obstacles to their self-realization. Kim's writing, as the
last of the Sinyoja editorials, reaffirms the memorial and inspiring roles
that Sinyoja performed.
Articles
The discourses in Sinyôjas articles on new woman were conflicted, con

tentious, and even aivisive in nature, where the traditional and the modern,
Korean gender concepts and Western feminism, co-existed, intersected, and
even clashed. In this sense, these articles add multiplicity, intricacy, and
nuance to the journal's overall thematic configuration. Collectively these
works also serve as an enticing index to the struggle and quandaries that
plagued both women and men of the day with regard to what the new
woman should be, and by extension, what the new man needed to be.
The following selections illustrate some of the competing views on gender
order and the feminist value system.
An article in the first issue, "New Family Demanded by Modern
limes” (Hyôndae ka yogu hanun sin'gajong), written by Chu Un-wôl
(identity unknown), is an example of a viewpoint that moves away from
Sinyoja s basic feminist outlook. It makes sure to remind women readers
of their roles as wives and homemakers一an echo of the "wise mother,
good wife" (hyônmo yangch'o 賢母良妻）slogan, which began to be in
corporatea in the Korean women's school curriculum from the 1910s.64
In a similar fashion as in Japan, the educational motto put emphasis
on training women to manage their homes rather than develop their
intellect.
Chu exalts home as a "haven and paradise," where active members of

society (meaning men) find comfort from the outside world and recharge
their energy for the work in the public arena. It is, therefore, women's
primary responsibility to create these ideal homes. Pointing out the rarity

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of such homes in contemporary Korea, Chu prompts women to become
energetic modern home organizers and managers, exercising their physical
strength and industriousness. In conclusion, she claims that creating the
new home should fulfill women and bring them true happiness. Chu's per
spective signals a call to return to domesticity and the service for men一a
notable deviation from înyoja s fundamental ideological framework.
Chu Un-wôl reinforces her position in her next article, titled "A
Happy Home" (Haengbok suron kajong, no. 2)，in which she reports in
admiring detail the daily routine of a modern-educated young couple. The
home-bound wife willingly and blissfully cares for her husband一an epitome
of the traditional "art of pleasing" others.65 Chu's pieces are reflections
of the "sweet home syndrome rapidly spreading in Korean society in
the early 1920s.60 fhus, it seems Sinyôja had to be accommodating
enough to embrace such contradictory perspectives on women's gender
roles of the day.
In sharp contrast, Kim Hwal-lan, in The Issue of Equality between
Men and Women: A Dialogue between A & B，，(Namnyô p yongdûng
munje: Kap ùi ui taehwa, no. 2), picks up the issue of unsavory perceptions
and the disparagement of the new woman by Korean intellectual males and
presents her counterargument. Framed in a dialogic exchange between
two like-minded female friends who set out to clarify confusions created
by current discussions in newspapers and magazines about gender equality,
the article charges that such misunderstandings derive from "men's pre
judices against and even ridicule of educated women. She censures the
double standard and hypocrisy of men for their accusation of women's
vanity and extravagance, even while they themselves abandon their social
responsibilities by indulging in nighttime outings in fashionable districts of
Seoul, visits to expensive restaurants, and seeking pleasure with prostitutes."
Kim registers complaints about men's lack of support for women's
social advancement and cautions that as long as such Dias in male-female
relationships is maintained, no gender equality will be possible. As a con
clusion, Kim asserts that gender equality is as natural as "the law of grav
ity," and those who deny it, regardless of their sexes, are rejecting natural
law. Kim's article reveals the difficulty of changing society's expectations
of gender roles as women enter public life. At the same time, Kim's article
subtextually indicates Korean men's growing anxiety about educated women
in direct proportion to their feelings of emasculation as the gendered subjects
of colonial imperialist power.07 By "othering women, Korean males may
have tried to recover some measure of masculinity and their sense of
power and control, to which Kim voices her objection.
In "To Young Men" (Ch'ôngnyôn namja ege, no. 3)，Kim Ae-ûn68

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Fig.
Fig. 7. 7.
Comments
Comments
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hello!"
brings in a new strain of indictment against Korean males, focusing on

their "overzealous pursuit of education overseas in countries such as Japan
or the United States." The writer denounces such trends as a manifestation
of men's vanity and lack of consciousness about Korean colonial reality, an
act of "othering" their own nationality and native traditions and shallow,
wasteful deeds that bring about their own financial ruin. Instead, the
writer advises, the priority for Korean men should be learning about
Korea and making contributions to their own country first. In addition,
Kim Ae-ûn aligns herself with Kim Hwal-lan's argument by objecting
to how Korean men criticize educated women as being arrogant and
frivolous. She states that such attacks are unreasonable, as "they close the
eyes to the unwholesome and vain pursuit of fads among Korean men
themselves." The essay's final recommendation is mutual respect between
men and women as equals in the fight for national reform. In a way,
Kim's article represents her motivation to rein in the propensity to trivialize
educated women who didn't fit into the traditional pattern of female be
havior or lifestyles that Korean male intellectuals preferred.
We may find in Na Hye-sôk's cartoon {Sinyoja, no. 2) a parallel pic
torial representation of the controversies surrounding the new woman in
Korea (fig. 7). As the caption shows, the cartoon communicates through
two opposing males' objectifying gazes—traditional and modern—the
quandary of modern Korean women, who provoke simultaneously attraction
and repulsion. The cartoon conveys the troubling presence of Western
educated Korean woman, who became the source of discomfort and strain
for men regardless of their age and educational background.

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Into the midst of this discursive fray about the new woman, Kim
Hae-ji strikes a conservative note in her essay, "Women's Chastity" (Yôja
ûi chôngjo, no. 3).69 Labeling herself a traditionalist, the writer avers that
"female sexual purity is woman's life itself and must be stalwartly pre
served by women." Drawing the grounds of her argument from Confu
cius and Mencius, she advises Korean women to heed the womanly moral
principles expounded by these ancient sages. A special target of Kim's
condemnation is the new women, who, she thinks, sell themselves off
into concubinage for "materialistic gain and comfort." She issues a warn
ing that such women's lifestyle and conduct would exert "immoral, cor
ruptive influences on Korea s young." In a similarly accusatory tone, the
writer levels harsh criticism at Korean women for their alleged indulgence
in foreign fashion and expensive import items. Doubtlessly, the article
reflects the apprehension and even hostility on the part of Korean women
themselves about the growing prominence of educated women in Korean
society, their more open gender relations, and their eager acceptance and
display of Western consumerism. Thus, Kim Hae-jis article signals another
backlash.
Yi Il-chongs "A Tract on the Restoration of Women's Education"
(Yôja kyoyuk hoebongnon, no. 3) is a vehement argument for women's
education as a national mandate. Alerting her readers to the fierce struggle
for survival globally after World War I, the author insists that for Korea to
survive in such an environment, women's education and reform are abso
lute necessities. They would determine Korea's destiny. Yi laments the ob
jection to women's education by the conservative camps in Korean society
and contends that even Confucius didn't discriminate against women."
She also draws her readers’ attention to the new progress made in gender
equality pursued by women's suffrage movements in England, France, and
the United States. Yi's stalwart defense of women's equality in intelligence
is presented in her long list of academic areas that were classically male
domains, including astronomy, mathematics, geography, mining, agricul
ture, engineering, commerce, medicine, physics, psychology, and philoso
phy. Yi concludes by saying that "women's liberation is not liberation but
recovering women's old rights’’ and forcefully justifies and bolsters the
legitimacy of the women's reform movement.
In another article, "We Urge Men's Self-examination" (Namja ui
pansông ûl ch'okham, no. 4)，Kim Hwal-lan posits that the discourse on
the woman question and its relevance to Korean society's reform is not a
matter limited to women alone; it involves both men and women, and
their respective self-improvement is based on thoughtful self-examination.
Now that male leaders have been offering criticism to women regarding

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their enlightenment, it is women's turn to do the same, since, Kim insists,
women have the legitimate right to do as men do. One of her recommen
dations is for men married to old-fashioned women (kuyosonか This recom
mendation obviously stems from Kim's awareness of how, unhappy in
their marriage with tradition-bound women, many educated men set up
new homes with new women.70 Such "domestic tragedies and consequent
‘‘disruption of social order" could be prevented, Kim proposes, if husbands
liberate their wives by providing opportunities to expand their knowledge
outside the home and by taking up the role of teaching their own wives
modern knowledge. Here Kim plays up the husbands' moral responsibility
for their spouses and their families，success, implicitly demanding that new
women should not be considered home wreckers.
In her article, "My Advice for Both Man and Woman" (Namyô rûl
t'ongnonham, no. 4)，Kim Ch'u-dang (identity unknown) provides chal
lenging advice to kuyosong married to modern-educated men. She pushes
them to re-create themselves as informed companions to their husbands
and to modernize their homes; she calls on them to rid themselves of "their
superstitious practice. The writer pleads with men of older generations
not to oppose women's education and to do away with the practice of
early marriage, which would be in keeping pace with modern social devel
opments. Kim's article presents various aspects of the conflict-ridden and
discordant nature of discourses on the new woman that addressed gender
and generational divides across populations of 1920s Korea.
Literary Profiles
Providing a forum for yet another mode of expression, Sinyôja features

creative literary works in each issue, where the authors tested their artistry
by experimenting with a variety of genres, from short stories to essays to
memoirs to poems. Understandably, some of these aspiring writers falter
in execution of thematic concerns and show the need to hone their crafts
manship, as most of these authors had little training in creative writing and
were grappling with the Korean language in the throes of modernization.
Others exhibit sophistication in thematic conception and technical in
genuity. These literary pieces add an emotive dimension to the journal,
even while they reveal the bumpy, early stages of development in modern
Korean literature of the 1920s.71
The majority of Sinyoja s influential literary works are short stories. A
number of these texts illuminate women's experiences of inner turmoil
and trauma as patriarchally gendered beings during the turbulent, transi
tional period of the 1920s.丄 He stories dispute the obscurant patriarchal

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ethos still prevailing in Korean society and offer counter-hegemonic
narratives. Others explore what chayu ツdnae 浪由戀愛 free love) or simply
yônae (falling in love) means for new women in terms of their subjectivity,
gender relations, modernity, and their socio-cultural practice of free love.
A neologism, yônae began to be popularized among Korea's educated
elites only after the March 1 independence movement.72 As a clear marker
of modernity,73 yonae refuted traditional gender arrangements such as
segregation between the two sexes, insistence on women's sexual purity,
and arranged-marriage customs. For women, this concept represented an
affirmation of their ability to make choices as self-determining human
beings, an assertion of their individuality, and acceptance of a new kind
of love based on gender equality. Yônae was one of the hottest and most
controversial topics among educated intellectuals of the 1920s and was
central to discourses on interdynamics of modernity, individualism, and
morality.74 Sinyôja offered a discursive space where these various topics
were thematized and imagined for the audience of 1920s Korea.
All of Sinyôja s fiction pieces have women as their protaeonists or
narrative voices, and the most exploited narrative strategy is the confes
sional mode such as the epistolary format/J diary, memoirs, and reminis
cences.76 Female protagonists or narrators assume the subjective role to
expose women's lived experience in their own voice as narrating suojects.
These arenas of women's lives were traditionally concealed and suppressed
by Confucian stipulations for women to remain silent and uncritical and to
bury their individual thoughts and emotions within themselves.77 Through
their unguarded utterances and open speech acts, female characters, as well
as their authors, freed themselves from the patriarchal control of language
and intelligence and even from their own self-censorship. The authors
bared their souls and what was closest to their hearts. The act of confession
in the cases of Korean women characters can therefore be understood as a
mechanism to fight against their oppression, pursue liberation, and recover

their rights as human beings.78
One clear example that showcases these core feminist themes is â short
story, A Victimized Young Woman: A Sorrowful Story about Marriage—a
Great Tragedy from the Clash between New and Old" (Hùisangdoen
ch'ônyô: honin aehwa一sin'gu ch'ungdol ui taebigùk, no. I).79 In this
first-person, graphic story, a young educated woman laments the death
ot her uneducated but irreproachable older sister at the age of twenty
five after an eight-year, miserable marriage. The narrator, addressing
an unspecified audience (utilizing the plural "you"), voices her own
outrage on her sisters behalf; the dead woman symbolically speaks her

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truth from beyond the grave. The narrative is essentially a public expose
of young children's victimization by early, arranged marriage customs that
literally commodify them; the mistreatment of daughters-in-law by her
in-laws in extended family systems; and the evils of modern husbands,
who abuse divorce laws to abandon their long-suffering, tradition-bound
wives.
Ultimately, the message of the story is that women's education could

prevent such a tragedy, as the dying sisters last words to her younger sister
summarize, "Please make sure you study hard." The narrator demands
that her audience spread her sisters message. By casting the narrator as a
modern, judicious, and observant female, the author presents the pro
tagonist and her sister as "new women" working against the irrationality
and inhumanness of the parent-child hierarchy, gender asymmetry, and
the devaluation of women.
An example of the epistolary mode of storytelling, Kim Wôn-jVs
short piece, "To Older Sister K" (K ônni ege, no. 2), reworks the same
topics as the story above but provides a constructive solution. Addressing
directly an older female friend, the narrator advises her friend, a divorcee,
not to wallow in her misfortune as a victim of her husband's womanizing
and the annulment of her marriage. The narrator encourages her friend
to get a job and restart her life and even assures her that she will check
around to find a place of work for her. Here, we become aware of key
messages of the narrative that women's financial self-sufficiency through
work outside the home and their mutual support and alliance are essential
in overcoming the existing anti-woman patriarchal marriage system.
"Death of a Girl，，(Onû sonyô ûi sa, no. 2)，Kim Wôn-ju's debut
work of fiction, critiques the male-centered sexual politics of concubinage.
Utilizing a third-person narrative, the story highlights the issue of traffick
ing female bodies by foregrounding the suicide of a high school girl in
protest of her parents’ decision to sell her as a concubine, just as they
had with her two older sisters.80 The heroine's drastic choice represents
her refusal to accept her victimization by such a transaction perpetrated
by Confucian-conferred parental authority over the lives of children, espe
cially daughters. The protagonist's attempts to escape her home fail and
she becomes a literal prisoner of her parents. Death is the only way for
her to exit from the amorality of Korean customs that wouldn't allow
her any other options. Before she drowns herself in the river, however, she
addresses her will to a newspaper, asking that her personal misfortune be
made known to the public. This act makes the protagonist the first Korean
female fictional character who proclaims that the "personal is political."

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"Death of a Girl" imagines a new woman一a woman of critical faculties,
self-determining agency, and self-respect, who woulan t allow the violation
of her person, even at the cost of her life.81
Penned by Kim P'yon-ju, "A Young Widow's Victimized Life，，
(Huisaengdoen ilsaeng: ch ongsang ûi saenghwal, no. 4),82 one of the
longest works of fiction in Sinyôja, is a depiction of a kuyosong, a victim
of early marriage and the traditional taboo on widow remarriage, who
embarks on a new course of life by becoming modern. This story is a
mini-memoir narrated by a classic specimen of a widow, a middle-aged
woman, whose marriage at sixteen to a twelve-year-old son of a wealthy
family ended in her widowhood at eighteen without offspring. What is
meaningful in this narrative is that the narrator's life story is her special
contribution to Sinyoja to make her suffering known to the public. Similar
to "Death of a いirl，，，this narrative strategy makes the widow's personal
story political.
The memoir is a long litany of the memoirist's grievances against the
wrongs inflicted on her by the remarriage ban, which decrees a iitetime of
chastity for widows. Confined to her dead husband's home and com
pletely isolated from the outside world, she suffers scorn and belittlement
by her in-laws as a burden, except her father-in-law, who praises her as a
paragon of virtue. Even her own family rejects her because she couldn't
fulfill the role of either wife or mother, blaming her as a disgrace to them.
Her loneliness and despair are so overwhelming that she almost becomes
suicidal. In this sense, the ban on widow remarriage was no less than a
death sentence for women.
In the meantime, a momentary glimpse of a young man sets off in her
an intense, one-sided yearning that soon turns into sexual fantasies, which,
the narrator confesses, were like a "lifeline —an escape from her depressing
existence. However, she soon becomes the captive of sexual imaginings
and guilt as well. Frustrated at her unrealizable erotic desires and weighed
down with deep guilt, she becomes neurotic. The detailed confession
of the narrator's guilt-ridden sexual passion is an insightful study into
the female psyche damaged by sexual repression. At the same time, the
story deconstructs the patriarchal idealization of a virtuous widow, who
is supposed to be an incarnation of sexless, ascetic, and pristine morality,
and exposes its hypocrisy.
Realizing the futility in her fantasies, the protagonist turns her attention
to learning Chinese classics. The surprising twist of the narrative, however,
comes at the end of the story, when the heroine declares that she has
begun her modern education in earnest, tutored by her adopted son, an
American-educated nephew of her in-law family. What inspired her are

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the "awakened" young women she hears about, who have "sacrificially
dedicated themselves to work for their society and country with their
new education, knowledge, and enthusiasm.10 encourage and support
these women, she has taken up her studies. The narrative delivers a final,
inspirational message about the possibility for kuyôsông to remake them
selves as new women, and the narrator declares that the remarriage ban
is an "artificial and cruel convention made up by men to hypocritically
suppress women's natural love and sexual desires.”
"Reminiscences of Love，，(Ae ûi ch'uhoe, no. 2) by Paekhap'hwa
(penname Lily) introduces the theme of yônae. A third-person narrative,
the story traces the experience of the first love of the female protagonist,
Chông-suk, a high school teacher. The story nostalgically revisits her
platonic romance of five years earlier, during her high school days, with
a young student, P, now having gone to the United States to study. As
the Confucian culture of their time didn t allow direct contact between
males and females, their mutual attraction began in public spaces such as
at church gatherings or at students' school debates. The only explicit ex
pression of their interest in each other was P's love letter to Chông-suk a
few days before his departure for the United States. Yet the protagonist
had no chance to reciprocate, as it was socially impermissible at the time.
Since then, there has been no communication between the two with little
promise of reunion. This short story is one of the earliest works that
depict the agitations, yearning, dreams, and frustrations of first love from
a woman's point of view.
An epistolary piece by Kim Wôn-ju, "I Am Going Away" (Na nun
kao, nos. 2-3), is about a young couple's love story also narrated from
a young woman's perspective. The narrative, however, is presented in a
complicated narrative mode. In an indirect confessional,a female narrator
relates to her male mentor about the complicated love affair of her female
friend, Chang Kyong-ja. The plot traces the dramatic vicissitudes of Kyông
jas relationship with a man, Yi Sang-hyôn, from their chance meeting
as students in Japan, to the development of their love, to their agonizing
separation due to personal and financial circumstances beyond their control.
Essentially, the story is a cautionary tale, informing its readers of the reality
of modern free love—not as romantic, blissful, or self-fulfilling as it
is popularly made out to be: it is an affair tangled in a complex web of
parental interference, financial woes, and obstinate social customs. Espe
cially prominent is the decisive role of money in the destiny of the
characters, signaling the necessity of financial sufficiency and economic in
dependence as realistic preconditions for a successful conclusion of yônae.
Ultimately, the story illustrates that Korean society is still unwilling to

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accept modern free love and that yônae is an unforgiving testing ground for
personal integrity, commitment, and willpower of the individuals involved.
Another piece of short fiction, "What Kind of Husband Should I
Get" (Ôttôhan nampyôn ul ôdulkka, no. 4) by Kim Song-wôl83 is a varia
tion on the question of free love and marriage. Told from a third-person
point of view, the story addresses from a woman's standpoint the dilemma
of modern-educated Korean elites' difficulty in marital choices. The story
looks deep into the conflict of a Japan-educated, young female student,
Chong-ok, about her choice of a future husband between two attractive
candidates, "C" and “K，” both of whom are her close acquaintances
attending Japanese colleges.84 A strong proponent of free love and marriage,
the heroine is against the custom of arranged marriage, but she realizes
the difficulty of making decisions on her own. She learns, however, that
passionate free love that rushes into marriage invites tragedy, â lesson she
finds in translation by “K” of a short story by Thomas Hardy.85 After
deeper deliberation, Chông-ok feels more affinity with "K" and decides to
accept him as her future marriage partner. Significantly, the female prot^
onist has to rely on Western literary fiction to come to her own decision一
an indication that Korean young women, so new to and unfamiliar with
these modern ideas on love, still had not developed their own reference
points to guide them. In tnis sense, the short story may have been moti
vated by the author's desire to provide such a primer.
In From My Diary Four Years Ago" (Sanyonjon îlgi chung esô,
no. 4)，Na Hye-sôk divulges her private life during her student days in
Japan. A two-day diary, the text describes Nas first trip from Tokyo to
Kyoto in August 191り to meet with her boyfriend and future husband,
Kim U-yong.86 The diary records the intimate detail of their date with
the beauty of natural landscapes and old historical sites of Kyoto as its
backdrop. Na feels a special sense of gratitude to Kyoto, as she writes,
because it is where Kim, who called her "lover," lives. Their romantic,
leisurely rendezvous is accentuated with Kim's repeated confessions of
eternal love for Na, accompanied by kisses. The diary is the first bold
sketch of these private experiences written by a Korean woman who
embraces Western-inspired expressions of love, which were never before
made public.87 With Nas diary as the final literary piece in Sinyôja no.
4，the journal did not publish again.
Conclusion
Sinyoja was a podium from which its founders and contributors roused
public opinion as Koreas earliest "bluestockings, women or brains, to

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borrow Simone de Beauvoir's expression.88 The pioneering founders of
Sinyôja took a courageous and resolute stand to challenge Korean society
to take women seriously, to restore their innate humanity, to free them
from second-class citizenship, and to recreate them as equal partners
with men in Korea's social reform and nation-building projects. By reject
ing patriarchal ideologies, these women plucked contemporary Korean
women out of domesticity and demanded that the public reimagine Korean
women's personhood. They opened up a new cultural and feminist vista
for everyday Korean women as well as those in leadership positions.
Sinyôja also contributed to establishing new frontiers for female self
representation and to fostering an open literary culture wherein women
could engage in the mutual exchange of ideas, beliefs, and opinions in the
spirit of exploring and expanding their emotional and intellectual horizons.
For the first time, Korean women wrote about their own experiences in
their own voices. Sinyôja provided its aspiring creative writers with oppor
tunities to contribute to the development of the budding modern Korean
literature of the early twentieth century, especially through first-person
confessions.
Ultimately, Sinyôja set the prototypical themes, format, structure, and

perspectives for discourses on gender politics in Korea that would be carried
on from the 1920s throughout the colonial period. Most of all, Sinyôja gave
a public face to Korean women, showcasing their literary and artistic talents
and their potential as leaders in a rapidly modernizing Korean society. In
so doing, the journal intrepidly crossed the divide of gender-segregated
spaces and highlighted Korean women's intellectual power, creative and
regenerative visions, and their will to transcend their difficult historical
reality, not only for their own sake but for Korean society as a whole.
In Korean journalistic history, no such feminist voices would be heard
again for sixty-five years, until the publication of Tto hana ui munhwa
(王許14詞吾群;Alternative culture) in 1985,89 the trailblazing publica
tion of înyoja marks the first critical shift of Korean society toward gender
equality and modernity.
Notes
This article has been revised and enlarged from a presentation at the 9th International
Interdisciplinary Congress of Women, "Women's Worlds 2005，” held at Ewha Womans
University, Seoul, Korea, June 19-24，2005.
1.The "cultural policy" was announced by Saitô Makoto (斎藤実；1858-1936),
Japanese governor-general(1919一1927)，following his arrival in Korea in September
1919. One or its central measures was the relaxation of publication laws, wnich allowed

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Koreans some room for freedom of speech, assembly, and press. See Kim Kùn-su, Hanguk
chapchisa yongu [Study of history of Korean magazines] (Seoul: Han'gukhak Yônguso,

1992)，95.
2. The only newspaper available to Koreans up to that time was Maeil sinbo (Daily
news; 1910-1945)，the colonial administration's mouthpiece, which was published in the
mixed Korean and Chinese script.
3. In this sense, Sinyôja shares a similar spirit and motivation with American femi
nist magazines of the mid-nineteenth century. See Amy Beth Aronson, "Media Makeovers:
Converting the Popular to Politics in America's first Feminist Magazines," in her Taking
Liberties: Early American Women s Magazines and Their Readers (Westport, Conn, and
London: Praeger, 2002), 123-53.
4. For instance, the editorial of no. 2 of Kaebyôk (July 1920) listed women's issues
as the second most important problem of the world, the first being labor issues and the
third, race.
5. Chon Tae-ung, "Sinyosong kwa ku munjejôm" [New women and problems

about them], Yôsông munjeyongu, 5-6 (1976): 351
6. Some of the recent studies on Sinyôja published in Korean are: No Myong-hui,
"Kim Iryôp ui chakp'um segye: Sinyôja sidae ui chakp'um ul chungsim uro" [The world of
Kim Iryôp's works with focus on the period of Sinydja]y Hallim ilbon munhak’ 5 (2000):
51-64; Pak Yong-ok, "1920-nyôndae sinyôsông yôn'gu: Sinyôja wa Sinyosong ul chungsim
ûro” [Study of new woman in the 1920s: Centering on Sinyôja and Sinyôsông in her Yosong:
yôksa wa hyônjae [Woman: History and the present] (Seoul: Kukhak Charyôwôn, 2001),
127-61;Yu Chin-wôl, "Kim Iryôp ui Sinyôja ch'ulgan kwa ku ùiûi" [Kim Iryôp's publica
tion of Sinyôja and its significance], Pikyo munhwayon'gu, 5 (2002): 69-85; Yu Chin-wôl,
uSinyôja e nat'anan kùndae yôsôngdûl ûi kûlssugi yangsang mit t'ùksông yôn'gu" [The
features and special characteristics of writing by modern women reflected in Sinyoja],
Yôsông munhak yôn'gu,14 (2005)：147—73. The most extensive study to date on Sinyoja
is Yu Chin-wôl, Kim Iryôp ui Sinyoja yôn'gu [Study of Kim Iryôp's Sinyôja\ (Seoul: P'urun
Sasang, 2006).
7. See Ann し Aidis and Leslie W. Lewis, eds., Women s Experience oj Modernity
1875-1945 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003); Ann
Heilmann and Margaret Beethan, ed.，New Woman Hyoridities: Femininity, Feminism
and International Consumer Culture, 1880-1930 (London and New York: Routledge,
2004); Alys Eve Weinbaum et al., eds., The Modern Girl Around the World: Consumption,
Modernity, and Globalization (Durham and London: Duke Univ. Press, 2008).
8. Kim Won-ju was a 1918 graduate of Ewha's two-year college preparatory pro
gram. Pak In-dok, ；Mn Chul-lyô, and Kim Hwal-lan were the only graduates of the four
year college program for the classes of 1916, 1917，and 1918, respectively.
9. Ewha Haktang ("Pear Blossom School"), the first gins school in Korea, was
founded in Seoul by Mary Fitch Scranton (1832-1909), a member of the Women's Foreign
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States. See Yung
70 Korean Studies VOLUME 37 丨 2013

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Chung Kim, ed. and trans., Women of Korea: A History from. Ancient Times to 1945 (Seoul:
Ewha Womans University Press, c.1977)，203-204，220.
10. By 1908, the Ewha curriculum included such subjects as Korean, Chinese,
English, Bible studies, history, geometry, physics, chemistry, psychology, and music. From
around 1914, Ewha put emphasis on English and music education, and the college courses
were conducted in English; see Chông Ch'ung-nyang, Ihwa p alsimnyôn sa [Eighty-year
history of Ewha] (Seoul: Idae Ch'ulp'anbu, 1967), 54-55, 69-70, 134-38.
11.See Chông Ch'ung-nyang, Ihwa p 'alsimnyôn sa, 70-71.
12. The most noteworthy extracurricular program was the Imunhoe, which trained
students in piano, singing, writing, conversation, and oratory, all of which aimed at culti
vating leadership qualities. The program became the hotbed for the March independence
movement. See Chông, Ihwa p 'alsimnyôn sa, 450-51.
13. See Kim Won-ju, Miraese ka tahago namtorok [Even after the end of the future
world] (Seoul: Inmul Yon'guso, 1974),1:496-97. The Academy was founded in 1884 by
a Canadian Methodist missionary, Martha J. Cartmell (1845-1945).
14. Chinmyông Girls' School was established by Queen Ôm (or Queen Sunhôn
純獻皇貴妃嚴氏，1854-1911), the second consort of King Kojong, who was keenly
interested in women's education.
15. For details about Yojagye and Na Hye-sôk's role, see Yi Sang-evông, In'gan uro
salgo sipta: yongivonhan sinyosong Na Hye-sôk [I would like to live as a human being: The
eternal new woman, Na Hye-sôk] (Seoul: Han'gilsa, 2000), 149-53.
16. For details, see Chông Ch'ung-nyang, Ihwa palsimnyonsa, 118-23.
17. Pak and Sin were imprisoned from March 10 to July 24,1919. The circum
stances surrounding their arrest and incarceration are detailed in Pak's autobiography, Induk
Pahk, September Monkey (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1954), 59-70. Na Hye-sôk
served nearly five months, from March 8 to August 4,1919; see Sô Chông-ja, ed.,
Chôngivôl Na Hye-sôk chônjip [Complete works of Chôngwôl Na Hye-sôk] (Seoul: Kuhak
Charyowon, 2000), 732-36.
18. The American women teachers at Ewha, who were concerned about Kim Hwal
lan's health, whisked her away into hiding just before she would have been arrested at
Ewha Haktang. See Helen Kim, Grace Sufficient: The Story of Helen Kim by Herself, ed.
J. Manning Potts (Nashville, Tenn.: The Upper Room, 1964), 42—46. Meanwhile, Kim
Won-ju escaped police arrest by getting rid of all her anti-Japanese materials before the
arrival of the Japanese police at her home. See Ch'oe Un-hui, Han'guk kundae yôsônâ
[History of modern Korean women] (Seoul: Chosôn Ilbosa, 1991)2: 373-74.
19. See Induk Pahk, September Monkey, 59-70. Pak personally witnessed the horrific
suffering of one of her Ewha students, Yu Kwan-sun (1902-1920), who died of police
torture later in the notorious Westgate Prison, where Pak had been jailed. Extolled as a
patriotic martyr, Yu was posthumously awarded the Order of Independence Merit in
1962.
20. Helen Kim, Grace Sufficient, 44.

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21.Induk Pahk, September Monkey, 69—70.
22. The reminiscence is part of an article Na wrote after she gave birth to her first
child, llie article, "Mo toen kamsanggi" [My record of having become a mother], was
published in Tongmyông, Jan. 1-21, 1923. See Sô Chông-ja, ed.，Chôngiuôl Na Hye-sôk
chdnjip, 387.
23. Helen Kim, Grace Sufficient’ 47.
24. It is revealing that Pak was re-arrested in December 1919 and served terms in
prison, charged for her involvement in anti-Japanese activities carried on by the Korean
Women's Patriotic Association; see Chông, Ihwa p'alsimnydnsa’ o7l. See Maeil sinbo、
Dec.19，1919.
25. Yu Kwang-nyôl,"Ku kilgo kin sudo ui sewôl一Kim Iryôp" [The long, long
passage of time for ascetic practices一Kim Iryôp], Chubu saenghwal (April 1975)，215.
26. See Kim Won-ju, Miraese ka tahago namtorok’ 1:297. See also Yu Kwang-nyôl,
"しhapchi p yonjip一Kim Iryôp: Sinyôja ui chugan" [Editing a journal: Kim Iryôp—
editor of Sinyoja]y Yowon,12 (Oct. 1966): 136.
27. See Han Ki-hyông, "Kundae chapchi 'Sinchongnyôri kwa Kyôngsông Ch'ôngnyôn
Kurakpu: înch ongnyon yon'gu (1)"' [Modern magazine Sinch ongnyôn and Seoul Young
Man's Club—a study of Sinch 'ongnyôn (1)]，Sôji hakpo, 26 (2002): 167，185. According
to his reminiscences, Yu was impressed and even awed by the women of the Sinyôja group
because they were older than Yu and Pang and far more educated than their male advisors;
see Yu Kwang-nyôl, Kija panseさ[A journalist's half-century] (Seoul: Sômundang, 1969)，

114-15.
28. Yu Kwang-nyôl, "Chapchi p'yônjip一Kim Iryôp: Sinyôja ûi chugan，，，136; see

also, Yu, "Kû kilgo kin sudo ui sewôl—Kim Iryôp," 215.
29. Kim Won-ju, "Chilli rùl morùmnida: na ui hoesanggi [I don't know the truth:
My memoirs] in her Miraese ka tahago namtorok,1:298.
30. The identity or cumsa is not known, but she must have been one of the found
ing members of Sinyoja.りîven that Pak In-dok was responsiole for a number of transla
tions of English materials in the journal, Simsa may have been her penname.
31.The Bluestockings were an influential British club of upper-class women formed
in the 1750s revolving around Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu (c.1720-1800). Its central pur
pose was to nurture female friendship, intellectual pursuits, religious discussion, literary
publishing ventures, and philanthropic projects. See Sylvia Harcstark Myers, The Bluestocking
し ircle: Women, Friendship, and the Life of the Mind in Eighteenth-Century England (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1990)，and Nicole Pohl and Betty A. Schellenberg, eds., Reconsidering the
Bluestockings (San Marino,しali£: Huntington Library, 2003). The Bluestockings, therefore,

is considered to have played a central role in the cultural and social transformations of
the second half of the century ...in England" and "played a crucial part in widening
and redefinition of women's socal roles in the eighteenth century" (Pohl and Schellenberg,
Reconsidering the Bluestocking 2-3). "And—most importam because most revolutionary~

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they believed there should be ‘one moral standard' for men and women" (Alison Adburg
ham, Women in Print: Writing Women and Women s Magazines from the Restoration to the
Accession of Victoria [London: George Allen and Unwin, 1972], 138).
32. The origins of the word "Bluestockings" are attributed to the "coarse blue
worsted stockings" worn by Bishop Benjamin Stillingfleet, a close friend and confidant
of Mrs. Montagu's, who shunned formal dressing for social gatherings. In those times,
black silk stockings were considered formal and fashionable. See Pohl and Schellenberg,
Reconsidering the Bluestockings, 2-3. The writer Simsa may have been confused about the
origins of the Bluestockings' name.
33. Here we note that the Sinyôja group's choice of the name of their journal differs
from Seitô (青踏；1911—191b; Bluestockings in Japanese), the organ of the Japanese feminist
group, the Seitôsha (青鞛社；Bluestockings), spearheaded by Hiratsuka Raichô (平塚雷鳥;

1886-1971) and the renowned poet Yosano Akiko (与謝野晶子；1878-1942), who were
icons or lapanese feminist activism flourishing aunne the 1910s or the Taishô period. See
Sharon L. Sievers, Flowers in Salt: The Beginnings of Feminist Consciousness in Modern
Japan (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1983), 163-88; Hiroko Tomida, Hiratsuka Raichô
and Early Japanese Feminism (Leiden: Brill, 2004); and Dma Lowy，The Japanese “New
Woman”: Images of Gender and Modernity (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers Univ. Press,
2007). While the Japanese women's group used the Bluestockings name in Japanese transla
tion, the Korean women invented a new one for themselves. Hiratsuka Raichô was advised
to adopt Seitô as the title of the journal by Ikuta Chôkô (生田長江；1882-1936), essayist,
translator, novelist, playwright, and teacher. See Hiratsuka Raichô, In We Beginning,
Woman Was the Sun: The Autobiography of a Japanese Feminist, trans, with an introduction
and notes by Teruko Craig (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2006), ix-x, 144—45.
The transliterary and transcultural aspirations of ^tnyoja are also apparent in its large
number of translations of Western works, including short stories, such as Washington
Irving's "The Broken Heart" (no. 3) and Leo Tolstoy's "The Elias" (no. 3; "Il'yas"
[1885] in Russian), and poems, such as "A Woman's Question" by Adelaide Anne Procter
(1825-1864) (no. 2)，and "A Small Foot" by Elizabeth Akers Allen (pseudonym; 1832
191lj (no. 4). All these translations were by Pak In-dok. The pages of dinyoja are also
sprinkled with aphorisms and diaums, anecdotes, jokes, and myths and legends of Western
origin, all functioning to widen the literary and cultural horizons of readers beyond the
narrow confines of Korea.
34. Lord Thomas Lyttelton, Horace Walpole, Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke,
and Sir Joshua Reyolds were frequent guests at Mrs. Montagu's salon. See Pohl and
Schellenberg, Reconsidering the Bluestockings.
35. Mrs. Merezhkovsky refers to Zinaida Gippins (1869-1945), wife of Dmitry

Merezhkovsky (1865-1941),a famous Russian novelist, poet, religious thinker, and literary
critic. Reputed to be one of the most intelligent women or her time in Russia, Gippins was
a poet, playwright, editor, and short-story writer. Anne Louise Germain de Staël-Holstein

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(1766-1817), or more popularly, Madame de Staël, was a French woman of letters during
the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. She was noted for her conversational
eloquence and occupied a central position in the political and intellectual life of her
time.
36. For a comparative study of Sinyôja and Seitô, see Yi Sang-bok, "Seitô to Sinyôja:
Ryôzasshi no sôkanji o chushin ni, [Seitô and Sinyôja: With focus on their inaugural
messages], Ilbon kùndaehakyôn'gu,10 (2005)： 87-104.
37. Yu remarked that he and Pang Chông-hwan even went to the printing shop and
proofread for Sinyôja, see Yu Kwang-nyôl, "Chapchi p yonjip一Kim Iryop," 137.
38. They include a congratulatory poem from the Sinch ongnyôn\ a short story by
Pang Chông-hwan, "A Maiden's Path" (Ch onyo ui kanûn kil); an extended response by
Yang Paek-hwa (梁白華；the pen name of Yang Kôn-sik 梁建植；1889-1938; also known
as Yang U-ch'on 梁雨村）to a questionnaire; and an advertisement announcing the forth
coming third issue of Sinch ongnyon.
39. See Yu, "Chapchi p'yônjip—Kim Iryôp," 137.

40. With the exception of Yang U-ch'on, whom Yu Kwang-nyôl had introduced
as a consultant to the înyoja group; see Yu,しhapchi p'yônjip一Kim Iryôp, 13/. Yang
(also known as Yang Paek-hwa) was a scholar of Chinese studies and â translator of Chinese
works who also was an associate of Sine” onçmôn.
41.See Yu Chin-wôl, "Kim Iryôp ùi Sinyôja ch'ulgan kwa ku uiûi," 82; also Ku
Myong-suk, ôjagye rùl t'onghae pon sinyosong tamnon kwa si [New women's dis
courses and poetry seen through \ojagyé\y \osonç munhakyôn'gu, 4 (2000): 5/—58.
42. Han'guk Yôsôngsa P'yônch'an Wiwônhoe, Ihwa Yôja Taehakkyo, eds., Han'guk
yosongsa [History of Korean women] (Seoul: Idae Ch'ulp'anbu, 1972), 2: 373. Some sources
note that înyoja was financed by Kim Wôn-ju s husband, Yi No-ik, a professor at \ onhui
College (present-day Yônsei University); see Yu Kwang-nyôl, "Ku kilgo kin sudo ui sewôl一
Kim Iiyôp," 216-17; also see Yu Chin-wôl, Kim Iryôp ûi Sinyôjayongn, 39. Based on the
calculation that each issue cost 30 chon, the total expense would have been far more than
60 wonan amount far beyond the monthly salary of a professor at the time. Therefore,
it is more likely that the major financing was borne by Ewha, with Kim's husband chipping
in.
43. Alice R. Appenzeller (1885-1950) was a graduate of Wellesley College and

earned her M .A. from Columbia Teacher's College in 1922. Having started her career at
Ewha in 1915, she served as acting principal from 1919 to 1920 and as its principal from
1922 to 1939. See Chông Ch'ung-nyang, Ihwa p alsimnyôn sa, 765-67.
44. Sinyôja no.1 printed the entire text of Appenzeller's writing in both English
and Korean.
45. The poem is written by Ch'udam, whose identity is not known.

46. For instance, see a poem by Sim Hae-ja, înyoja^ no.1;Sin Chin-sim and Kim
Ae-un each contributed an essay to ^tnyoja, no. 3. Both had been students at Ewha. See
Ch'oe Ùn-hui, Han'guk kaehwa yôsông yôlchôn [sketches of enlightened women of Korea]:

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Ch'ugye Ch'oe Ûn-hùi chônjip [Collected works of Ch'ugye Ch'oe Ûn-hûi] (Seoul: Chosôn
Ilbosa Ch'ulp'anguk, 1991)4: 207, 221-22, 225.
47. For Sinyoja s first issue, Maeil sinbo carried an advertisement emphasizing that
the magazine published women's works only; see March 16,1920. Regarding the second
issue of Sinyoja, Maeil sinbo reported that the journal provided new life to the world of
Korean women; see May 4，1920. For its successive reports on Sinyoja, see Maeil sinbo,
June 3，1920, and July 22,1920.
48. For Tonga ilbos continued coverage on Sinyoja^ see April 9，1920; May 4 and
23，1920; and July 8 and 22,1920.
49. See Pak In-dôk, "Hyôndae chosôn kwa namnyô pyôngdûng ui munje" [Modern
Korea and the issue of gender equality], Tonga ilbo (April 2,1920); Yi Il-chông, "Namnyô
tongkwôn ûn inkyôk ui taerip" [Equal rights between man and woman are about a
confrontation of characters] (April 3,1920); Kim Wôn-ju's two articles, "Yôja kyoyuk ûi
p'ilyo" [Necessity of women's education] (April 6，1920) and "Kûllae ûi yônae munje"
[Recent issues about love relationships] (Feb. 24，1921).
50. Kim's essay was titled "Puin uibok kaeryang e taehan ûigyôn" [My opinion on
the reform of women's clothing], while Na's title was "Puin uibok kaeryang munje: Kim
Wôn-ju hyông ui uigjôn e taehayô" [The issue of reform of women's clothing一my re
sponse respectfully addressed to Kim Wôn-ju's opinion].
51.For details of Na Hye-sôk's newspaper and journal publications, see Yi Sang

gyông, ed.，Na Hye-sôk chônjip [Collected works of Na Hye-sôk] (Seoul: T'aehaksa,
2000), 14-16.
52. The copy of Sinyoja used for this article is housed in the Korean National
Library. Submitted to the Bureau of Police Affairs of the Japanese Government General,
it bears the Bureau's seal.
53. In all likelihood, Mrs. Billings was the wife of the Rev. Bliss W. Billings (1881
1969), an American Methodist missionary and vice-principal ofYônhùi College at the time.
Mrs. Billings may have taught at Ewha, but no official records such as Ihwa p'alsimnyôn sa
have reference to her connection with the college. Pak In-dôk was close to this couple, and
it was the Rev. Billings who had posted bonds for Pak and Sin Chul-lyô for their release
from prison. See Pahk Induk, September Monkey, 69-70.
54. See Yu Kwang-ryôl, "Chapchi p'yonjip一Kim Iryop," 137. Mrs. Billings was
also listed as the editor-w-publisher of the journal Singajông (New home). However,
this journal ended after the puDlication of its first issue (July 17,1921).
))• Both Maeil sinbo and Tonga ilbo reported this event in their issues of July 22，
1920. In light of this information, the observation that the folding of Sinyoja was due to
the financial difficulty caused by Kim Wôn-ju's divorce from her husband, the financial
supporter, has to be rectified. For instance, such remarks are found in Yu Chin-wôl, Kim
Iryop ui Sinyoja yôn 'gu, 39, 47; Ch'oe Hye-sil, Sinyôsôngdul un muôt ùl kkumkkuônnun ga
[What did the new women dream of] (Seoul: Saen路ak ui Namu, 2000)，198.
56. After her divorce in 1922, Kim Wôn-ju became a Buddhist nun in 1933. See

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Yung-Hee Kim, "From Subservience to Autonomy: Kim Wônju's 'Awakening, Korean
Studies, 21(1997): 1-10.
57. Pak In-dok got married in 1921 and obtained her M .A. Ed. from Columbia
University in New York in 1930. She divorced soon after returning to Korea in 1930
and dedicated herself to the education of Korea's youth. In 1941，she founded Tôkhwa
Yôsuk, a vocational school for girls in Seoul, and after a sojourn in the United States in
the 1950s, she returned to Korea and established Induk Vocational High School in 1964.
In 1971，she founded Induk Institute, renamed Induk University in 2009. See Pahk Induk,
September Monkey, The Hour of the Tiger (New York: Harper & Row, 1965); and The Cock
Still Crows (New York, Washington, Atlanta, Hollywood: Vintage Press, 1977).
58. Sin Chul-lyo went to the United States in 1923. There she met her future
husband, Ryu Hyong-gi (1897-1989), who became bishop of the Methodist Church in
Korea. She received her B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1925 and her M .A. from
Boston University in 1927. Upon her marriage in 1927, she returned to Korea and dedicated
her life to rearing three children. See Ryu Hyông-gi, Ùnch 'ong ui p 'alsibonyon: hoesanggi
[Eighty-five years ot bod's grace: A memoir] (Seoul: Han'guk Kidokkyo Munhwawôn,
1983).
59. After teaching at Ewha, Kim Hwal-lan received her B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan
University in 1924, followed by an M.A. degree from Boston University in 1925. She
taught from 1925 to 1929 at Ewha, but went back to the United States to study at Columbia
University, where she earned her Ph.D. in 1931一becoming the first Korean woman to
obtain a doctoral degree. She returned to Korea to continue to teach at Ewha and served as
its president from 1939 until her retirement in 19bl. See Helen Kim, Grace Sufficient.
Also, Kim Hwal-lan, Ku pit sok ui chacun saengmyong: Uwôl Kim Hwal-lan chasojon
[A small life in the midst of the light: Uwôl Kim Hwal-lan's autooiography] (Seoul:
Yôwônsa, 1965).
60. Na Hye-sôk married Kim U-yong (1886-1957), a graduate of the law school at
Kyoto University, in 1920 and became the mother of four children. With her husband, who
had served as a Japanese government diplomat in Manchuria, Na travelled to Europe in

1927 and studied painting in Paris, returning to Korea in 1929. After her divorce in 1930,
she concentrated on her painting, but her artistic career suffered a rapid decline until her
death in 1948. See Yung-Hee Kim, "Creating New Paradigms of Womanhood in Modern
Korean Literature: Na Hye-sôk's 'Kyônghûi'," Korean Studies, 26, no.1(2002): 6-27. See
also Yi Sang-gyong, In gan uro salgo sipta.
ol.For example, Kim Hwal-lan and Sin Chul-lyô met again as students at Onio
Wesleyan University in 1923-1925; Kim Hwal-lan and Pak In-dok were also attending
Columbia University as graduate students, 1930-1931. Na Hye-sôk and Kim Won-ju
renewed their personal friendship in 1933 when Na visited the Sudôk temple, where
Kim was a Buddhist nun.
62. This is a reference to World War I (1914-1918).

63. The Confucian jfhree rules of obedience" (samjom chido ニ道）stipulated

34.192.2.131 on Tue, 10 Nov 2020 04:07:02 UTC
that a woman must follow her father before marriage, her husband after marriage, and her
son after her husband's death.
64. See Hong Yang-hui, "Ilche sigi Chosôn ûi yôsong kyoyuk—hyônmo yangch'ô
kyoyuk ul chungsim ûro" [Korean women's education during the colonial period, focusing
on the "wise mother, good wife" education], Tong'asia Munhwa Yongu, 35 (2001), 219
57. See also, Yôsôngsa Yôn'gusil, Han'guk Yôsong Yôn'guso, eds., Uri yôsong ui yôksa
[Our women's history] (Seoul: Ch'ôngnyônsa, c.1999, 2006), 283-86.
65. See Elaine Showalter, Inventing Herself: Claiming a Feminist Intellectual Heritage
(New York: Scribner, 2001)，28.
66. Kwôn Bodurae, Yônae ut stdae: 1920 ch'oban ui munhwa wayuhaeng [The age of
love: Culture and fads in the early 1920s] (Seoul: Hyônsil Munhwa Yôn'gu, 2003)，67-72.
67. For a discussion on this topic, see Kelly Y. Jeong, Crisis of Gender and the
Nation in Korean Literature and Cinema (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2011), ix-x.
68. Kim Ae-ûn is an Ewha graduate.
69. The writer's identity is not known, but the article has a note that she sends her
contribution from Sinyang Village, Pyongyang province.

70. See Kwôn Bodurae, Yônae ui sidae, 58-61, 73-79.
71.It has to be understood at the outset that in a number of these literary pieces the
authors used pen names, making it difficult to identify whose works they are. Kim Won-ju
was the writer of the most of these literary works.
72. Kim Kyông-il, Yosong ui kùndae’ kundae ui yôsong [Women's modernity, women
of modernity] (Seoul: P'urun Yôksa, 2004), For a detailed study on this topic, see
Kwôn Bodurae, Yônae ui sidae.
73. Kwôn Bodurae, Yônae ui sidae, 129.
74. See Kwôn Bodûrae, Yônae ûi sidae.
75. On the epistolary fiction genre in the 1920s, see Kwôn Boduerae, Yônae ui sidae,
138-45.
76. Yu Chin-wôl,“Sinydja e nat'anan kûndae yôsôngdul ûi kul ssûgi yangsang mit

t'ûksông yôn'gu," 169-70.
77. One of the conditions for divorce during the Chosôn dynasty was women's
talkativeness, which literally called for the silencing of women. Known as ch'ilgo chiak
(七去Z惡；Seven vices for turning women out), the other six conditions are: disobedience
to parents-in-law, childlessness, adultery, jealousy, larceny, and hereditary illness.
78. Yi Sang-gyong, Ingan uro salgo sipta: yônnoônhan sinyôsông Na Hye-sôk, 49. In
this connection, Foucault s concept of confession is illuminating in understanding the im
plications of Korean women writers' use of confessional narrative techniques: "Confession
frees, but power reduces one to silence; truth does not belong to the order of power, but
shares an original affinity with freedom." Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality: An
Introduction, vol.1(New York: Vintage Books, c.1978; 1990), 60.
79. The story is authored by a woman identified only by the pen name Wôlgye
(Moon Laurel).

34.192.2.131 on Tue, 10 Nov 2020 04:07:02 UTC
80. This point was raised in editorial no. 2.
81.For a translation and detailed analysis of the story, see Yung-Hee Kim, "A
Critique on Traditional Korean Family Institutions: ‘Death of a Girl,' by Kim Wônju,"
Korean Studies, 23 (1999): 24-42.
82. The author is listed as Kim P'yon-ju, but in all likelihood, the piece is Kim Wôn
ju's work, judging from its style, content, and feminist thrust. See Yu Chin-wôl, uSinyôja e
nat'anan kundae yôsôngdûl ui kûl ssûgi yangsang mit t'uksông yôn'gu,"153.

83. 丁he woman author's identity is unknown.
84. The story line and the characters point to the personal life of Na Hye-sôk, during
her stay in Japan as a student. See Yi Sang-gyong, In’ミan uro sako sipta, 136—46.
85. The short story in question is Thomas Haray s rhe History of the Hard
comes" (1891). Although the Korean author doesn't mention the title of Hardy's work,
the story involves the tragic end of the marriage of cousins, James and Steve, both farmers,
who choose their marriage partners on the spur of moment.
86. At this time, Kim U-yong was a law student at Kyoto University. Na Hye-sôk
married him on April10，1920, in Seoul.
87. Na often used confessional writings from her earliest experiment with the
epistolary format to the late part of her career. See Yu Hong-ju, "Kobaekch'e wa yosongjôk
kul ssûgi—Na Hye-sôk ùl chungsim ûro [The confessional mode and women's writing—
focusing on Na Hye-sôk], Hyôndae munhak ironyôn27 (2006): 197-216.
88. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans, and ed. H. M. Parshley (New York:
Vintage Books, c.1989), 699.
89. The principal architects of Tto hana ui munhwa were women university professors
in the social sciences, including Cho Hyông, Cho Un, Cho Han Hye-jông (Cho Haejoang),
しho Ong-na, and Cnong Chin-gyong.

34.192.2.131 on Tue, 10 Nov 2020 04:07:02 UTC

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In Quest of Modern Womanhood: Sinyŏja, A Feminist Journal in Colonial Korea

Author(s): Yung-Hee Kim

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24575276

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Debuting in March 1920, Sinyôja (New Woman 新女子）was the first

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Yung-Hee Kim In Quest of Modern Womanhood 45

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The Sinyoja team created the journal to be f

46 Korean Studies VOLUME 37 | 2013

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The Sinyoja Group

Education and Careers

The founding members of SinyojaKim Wôn-ju, Na Hye-sôk, Pak

Yung-Hee Kim In Quest of Modern Womanhood 47

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The process from arrest to imprisonment subjected them to terror,

Especially burdened was my heart as I kept hearing the news of my mends

The far-reaching implications of the harrowing experiences of the individual

48 Korean Studies VOLUME 37 12013

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During my half-year incarceration, I suffered indescribable restrictions, con

Kim Hwal-lan recognized the independence movement as a watershed

The ôtnyom coterie belonged to the singular group of Korean women

The Making of Sinyôja

Yung-Hee Kim In Quest of Modern Womanhood 49

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We are bluestockings.31 We are bluestockines women, standing face to face

In Simsa's rousing proclamation, we detect the Sinyoja group's aspiration

50 Korean Studies VOLUME 3712013

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I esteem it a great honor to be asked to write greetings to the women of Korea

In addition, a farewell poem is dedicated to Appenzeller upon her leaving

Yung-Hee Kim In Quest of Modern Womanhood 51

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for Kim's behind-the-scenes work on behalf of the journal, which, Na

52 Korean Studies VOLUME 3712013

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Sinyôja propelled its contributors to high social visibility and to the

From its beginning, Sinyôja was subjected to Japanese censorship.52

Yung-He Kim In Quest of Modern Womanho d 53

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Although issue four advertised in an upbeat tone its plans to publish

54 Korean Studies VOLUME 37 | 2013

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Kim Won-ju's "Inaugural Message" (Ch'anggan sa) in Sinyoja s first issue

Yung-Hee Kim In Quest of Modern Womanhood 55

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As the mouthpiece of Sinyôja, editorials set forth in a straightforward

to the "Inaugural Message." This editorial provides specific guidelines for

56 Korean Studies VOLUME 3712013

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forced obedience, women have completely forgotten their duties to themselves

Editorial number three, "Woman's Self-Awakening" (Yôja ùi chagak),

Yung-Hee Kim In Quest of Modern Womanhood 57

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In undertaking such an endeavor, we expect to be the target of much

58 Korean Studies VOLUME 37 12013

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2芒0!$せ^致5:女性均衲趣 »1^小.^r 坍 3^話犧神€« ヌ其他漂01ごて記ボガせ甚中小代êè列針e>Jy1-:R番苴明針 Î舣女子 @新女子さ^r rf女子3r*t