Envisaging East Asia: Korean Daily Newspapers’ Interpretations of Sun Yatsen’s Pan-Asianism Speech

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the coverage of Sun Yatsen’s pan-Asianism speech in November 1924 by three colonial-era Korean daily newspapers (Dong-A Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo and Mai-Il Shinpo), in the context of the events immediately before and after the speech. My interest lies in illuminating how Sun’s message was interpreted differently by these dailies. On the one hand, the Dong-A Ilbo, as a nationalist newspaper, sought to evoke anti-Japanese sentiments and the desire for national independence in its readers through Sun’s voice. For the Dong-A’s Korean readers, Sun was a symbol of anti-colonial nationalism. On the other, the Mai-Il Shinpo, which was published by the Japanese colonial government, reported enthusiastically on Sun’s pan-Asianism speech to promote the idea of Japan–China cooperation and a Japan-centred regional order in East Asia. A closer examination of Sun’s anti-colonial and pro-Japanese political stance and how these newspapers interpreted his pan-Asian vision provides an opportunity to reconsider how political East Asia was envisioned differently from the Korean, Japanese and Chinese perspectives. In addition, analysing Sun’s speech, in which a Sinocentric mindset was incorporated into the newly conceptualised trans-national vision, deepens our understanding of the complicated relationship between nationalist and internationalist thinking in East Asia.