The "Patriotic Hymn of the Great Korean Empire" (Korean: 대한제국 애국가; Hanja: 大韓帝國愛國歌; lit.'"Great Korean empire patriotic song"') was the national anthem of the Korean Empire during the 1900s. It was the first and only national anthem of a unified Korean state to date.
History
The national anthem was first commissioned by Emperor Gojong in 1901 and presented to the Korean court on 1 July 1902, by German composer Franz Eckert, who was the director of the Korean Empire's military band at the time.[2] It was published in Germany in five different languages (Korean, German, English, Chinese, and French) and performed for the first time on 9 September 1902, during Emperor Gojong's birthday ceremony.[3]
The imminent demise of the Korean Empire's independence, however, meant that the state anthem did not become widely promulgated or available. With the signing of the Eulsa Treaty in 1905, the Korean Empire was made into a colony of the Empire of Japan and in 1910 was annexed outright by Japan with "Kimigayo" replacing the Korean national anthem.
Lyrics (monarchist version)
Original Korean
English
Modern Korean translation
上帝상뎨는 우리 皇帝황뎨를 도으ᄉᆞ
聖壽無疆셩슈무강ᄒᆞᄉᆞ
海屋籌ᄒᆡ옥듀를 山산갓치 ᄡᆞ으시고
威權위권이 寰瀛환영에 ᄯᅳᆯ치사
五千萬歲오쳔만셰에 福祿복녹이 一新일신케 ᄒᆞ소셔
上帝상뎨는 우리 皇帝황뎨를 도우소셔
May God save our emperor.
Long live the emperor
While hermits raise their houses with yearly coming twigs.
Keeping his power and influence on the world
May his happiness forever be renewed for fifty million years.
May God save our emperor.
(There has been debate over the phrase "fifty millions." '오' might be interpreted as the number 5, or the exclamation "Oh!"
상제여, 우리 황제를 도우소서.
성수무강하사
해옥주를 산같이 쌓으시고
위세와 권력이 천하에 떨치사
오천만 국민에게 새롭게 번영이 있게 하소서.
상제여, 우리 황제를 도우소서.
The republican lyrics were re-discovered on 13 August 2004, by curator Lee Dong-guk of the Seoul Calligraphy Art Museum.[5] The surviving specimen was a copy kept by the Korean-American Club of Honolulu-Wahiawa and published in 1910 under the title Korean old national hymn in English and 죠션국가 (lit.'Korean national anthem') in Korean.[5][3][6]
The discovery came as a surprise even in South Korea, where the existence of the republican lyrics was unknown until then. The finding was later reported in the mass media and has since then been performed by various K-pop artists. Hawaii has been a source for various pre-Japanese annexation heritage investigations by South Korea since many Korean Empire citizens emigrated to Hawaii before the Japanese annexation. One recent incident involved a Korean Empire émigré descendant donating a very rare 100-plus-year-old original passport issued by the Korean Empire to South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun during his visit to Hawaii.
God, help our nation.
Forever and ever
may our nation be peaceful and her people live in comfort;
may her power and influence spread across the world;
may her independence, liberty and wealth be renewed every day.
God, help our nation.
상제여, 우리나라를 도우소서.
영원무궁토록 나라 태평하고
인민은 안락하여
위세와 권력이 세상에 떨치여
독립 자유 부강을 매일 새롭게 하소서.
상제여, 우리나라를 도우소서.
While the copy appearing in the source[7] appears markedly newer than the 1900s and calls it the "Korean national anthem" (Korean: 죠션 국가) instead of "Patriotic song of the Korean Empire" (大韓帝國愛國歌) as one would expect from a 1900s original, it clearly shows pre-1933 orthography (reproduced here) that was not used after the 1940s.
^"Archived copy". www.scjnet.co.kr. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2022.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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