Do You Know the 450-Year-Old Commercial Daily Newspaper 'Minkan Insae Jobo'? ... Academic Seminar Held in Yeongcheon

Folk-printed news sheets designated as Gyeongbuk Tangible Cultural Properties.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Koo Dae-sun] Yeongcheon City, Gyeongbuk Province, held an academic seminar related to the Gyeongbuk Provincial Tangible Cultural Property, Minkan Insae Jobo, at the Yeongcheon City Library on the 2nd.

'Minkan Insae Jobo' is Korea's first private commercial daily newspaper printed using the world's first movable type printing method.

It was launched in August 1577 (the 10th year of King Seonjo of Joseon) with permission from the Uijeongbu and Saheonbu, but was shut down by government suppression after just three months.

'Minkan Insae Jobo' allowed common people to share domestic information that was monopolized by the yangban intellectuals at the time, and it is a precious cultural heritage of Korea that predates advanced countries' private newspapers such as Germany and China by about 60 years.

Although the Gyeongbuk Province's materials are incomplete fragments that do not fully conform to the format of a Jobo, considering their rarity and the fact that they are the first materials with the character of a newspaper printed commercially using movable type by private individuals, they were designated as a Gyeongsangbuk-do Tangible Cultural Property in 2018 as important materials for studying private publishing culture. They are currently housed at the Yeongcheon History Museum (Director Ji Bong-seunim).

At the academic seminar, through four presentations, discussions, and audience Q&A, participants reviewed the restoration achievements, characteristics, and value of 'Minkan Insae Jobo' and explored future research directions.

During the seminar's intermission, a book signing event was held by Kang Hyung-won, the first Korean Pulitzer Prize winner and former Reuters journalist, who has been leading efforts to promote Korean history and culture, including Jobo, to the world.

Choi Ki-moon, Mayor of Yeongcheon City, said, "Through this academic seminar, we all realized the importance of Minkan Insae Jobo, and by synthesizing future research achievements, Yeongcheon City will spare no support to have Minkan Insae Jobo designated as a national cultural property and, further, registered as a UNESCO Memory of the World."