100 Years Ago Today · Evening Edition

Friday, October 22, 1926 · Gyeongseong · 10:10 PM KST (1:10 PM UTC)

10:10 – As the clock smiles, reflect on a century of history

1. Hook Opening

As you wind down your day, picture a Friday night in Seoul, then called Gyeongseong, exactly one hundred years ago. Overhead stands a vast new government building, stone and still raw, built inside the grounds of a former royal palace. In a theater not far away, audiences are watching a silent film about a young man and a song. We should be honest about one thing at the start: we could not locate the original newspaper pages for October 22 itself, so tonight we stay with what can be verified from the weeks around it.

2. Korea Under Colonial Rule

On October 1, 1926, the Japanese Government-General of Korea held a completion ceremony for its new headquarters inside Gyeongbokgung Palace. The date was chosen to coincide with its “Anniversary of Administration,” the day the colonial government marked its rule over Korea. Construction had begun in June 1916, and offices moved from the old Waeseongdae site in early January 1926. To make room, Gwanghwamun, the palace’s main gate, was moved east, while Heungnyemun gate, its corridors and the Yeongjegyo bridge were torn down. Sources disagree on whether the building was finished in December 1925 or January 1926.

That same day, in Jongno, the Dansungsa theater premiered Arirang, written, directed and starred in by Na Un-gyu. Silent and black-and-white, it hit audiences hard and is remembered as Korea’s first great box-office success. Whether it was still playing on the 22nd is unconfirmed.

3. East Asia in Turmoil

Earlier that summer, on June 10, students in Seoul had shouted for independence during the funeral procession of the last emperor, Sunjong; roughly 200 were arrested. Colonial police kept watching: records from the Government-General’s police bureau show reports summarizing articles from exiled-press papers such as Hyeokmyeong and Sinhan Minbo. In China, the Nationalist Northern Expedition took Wuchang on October 10 after the walled city held out for over a month.

4. The World Stage

That same October 10, in the United States, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees four games to three to win their first World Series. Elsewhere that month, Dr. Harvey Cushing performed what is described as the first use of an electrosurgical device in Boston. The age of empires was also the age of new machines and new mass entertainment.

5. Colonial Parallels

Korea was not alone in living under a foreign power in 1926. Much of South Asia was ruled by Britain, and Ireland had only recently emerged from British rule as a self-governing state. These comparisons are general context, not reports from that day. What set Korea apart was how close the symbols of power sat to the symbols of the old kingdom: a new administrative headquarters rose directly in front of the royal palace.

6. Person of the Day

Na Un-gyu (1902-1937) wrote, directed and starred in Arirang. We choose him not because he did anything on October 22, which we cannot verify, but because his film, released three weeks earlier, was what Seoul was talking about. And on this Friday, which our series reserves for women and family life, we remember the singer Yun Sim-deok and the playwright Kim U-jin, who died together in the sea off the Busan-Shimonoseki ferry in August 1926. The Dong-A Ilbo reported it on August 5.

7. Understanding Daily Life

We found no confirmed weather report, price list or account of what women did on this particular day, and we will not invent them. What we do know of the setting: a city of tiled-roof houses beside brick offices, trams, and newspapers published in both Korean and Japanese, some of them effectively organs of the colonial government, such as Maeil Sinbo and Keijo Nippo.

8. Century Mirror

A century later, Korean film is watched worldwide, and its first great hit began in that same Jongno theater.

9. Tomorrow’s Preview

Tomorrow is Saturday, when we turn to culture and the arts. Good night, and see you at 10:10.

Sources: National Archives of Korea (Government-General building); Seoul Media Hub and Wikipedia (Arirang, Wuchang, June Tenth Movement, October 1926); Munhwa Ilbo series (Dong-A Ilbo, Aug 5, 1926); Korea University Asia Center police records.