Bak Gyusu was a scholar-bureaucrat, teacher, politician, and a diplomat of the Joseon Dynasty. He was known as a pioneer of the enlightenment group. Bak Gyusu was a grandson of Park Ji-won, the great Silhak scholar of the Joseon. His nickname was Hwanjae, Hwanjae en Heonjae, Hwanjaegeosa.
Life
In 1827, Bak Gyusu met Crown Prince Hyomyeong, who quickly became a trusted friend. The Crown Prince would often ask Bak for his thoughts on the delicate political and social issues of the day. When the Crown Prince died three years later at the age of 20, Bak fell into a deep state of mourning. Due to this, Bak isolated himself from the outside world for twenty years. In 1848, he successfully passed the Gwageocivil service exam, a test required for government work. Doing well on this test allowed Bak Gyusu to acquire a well-paid job early on. Later in his life, Bak became a mentor for a Korean politician Pak Yung-hio during the mid-1870s. Bak decided to instruct Pak Yung-hio in his ways of enlightened thinking after he took the initiative and sought him out. Bak's ideas influenced many people throughout Korea, the most notable being the Korean reformist Kim Okgyun, who went on to incorporate foreign sciences and technologies into Korea in order to help strengthen it against further encroachment and military advances by an increasingly imperialistic Japan. During the period of King Gojong's reign, the Queen actively supported him. Queen Sinjeong had been the wife of Crown Prince Hyomyeong, who was posthumously named King Munjo. Bak Gyusu was the governor of Pyongan province when the General Sherman incident occurred, an event commonly cited as an important catalyst to the ending of Korean isolationism in the 19th century. On the 9th of July, 1866, the General Sherman entered the Keupsa Gatewithout permission. Bak gave the General Sherman's crew a warning to depart from Joseon. The ship's crew ignored his warning and captured the messenger adjutant-general Yi Hyon-Ik, a subordinate of Bak Gyusu. Bak was present during the rescue of Yi and the destruction of the General Sherman on the 24th of July, 1866. In 1872, Bak Gyusu was made the Joseon Chief Envoy to the court of the Tongzhi Emperor.
