Gutenberg’s invention of metal movable type from Korea?

The Development of a Piece of Faction – <Gutenberg’s Joseon>

Park Hyun-chan / Writer, CEO of StoryLogic

What incident in the last thousand years impacted humanity the most? It depends, but the U.S. magazine <Life> selected the invention of metal movable type as the most influential incident of the history of civilization. The magazine attributed the glory of the invention to Johannes Gutenberg, a printer of Mainz, Germany.

The world, especially westerners think that Gutenberg, who type printed <42-line Bible> in 1455, was the first inventor of metal movable type. But whenever Koreans come across this statement, they are plunged in confusion. This is because it is recorded that in 1234, 200 years before Gutenberg, 『SangjeongGogumYemun』was printed in metal movable type. Furthermore, the oldest print in metal movable type that has been found is 『Jikji』of Cheongju Heungdeoksa, which was printed in 1377. Then who is the real inventor of metal movable type? Is it Gutenberg or a Korean of medieval times?

Of course, the reason the metal movable type is so significant is that its invention gave the masses access to books, which had previously been the sole property of the privileged,thereby triggering a cultural revolution and contributing to the development of civilization. This could be why the world credits Gutenberg for inventing the metal movable type even if a Korean did so earlier, as it was Gutenberg’s accomplishment that initiated an information revolution in Europe which impacted the whole world. Still, most Koreans, including myself, cannot help but feel a twinge of disappointment.

As I was watching “Seoul Digital Forum 2005” on television in October 2005, however, my heart almost stopped. Al Gore, the former vice president of the U.S., delivered the shocking news that “while the West mistakes Gutenberg as the inventor of the metal movable type, the technology was introduced by a papal delegation that had visited Korea.” He had learned this fact in a museum at Switzerland and mentioned that “Gutenberg, around the time he ‘invented’ the metal movable type, talked to the delegation, which had brought back documents on the printing technology of Korea from its journey.” Upon hearing his comment, I had an epiphany: there may have been a link between the metal movable type of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea with that of Gutenberg.

Cultural exchange between the East and the West occurred even before the 15th century; thus, there may have been an interchange regarding the metal movable type that we simply do not know of in the present. After some quick research, I sketched an outline. Its title was “Faction – The Road of the Metal Movable Type”. So a new piece of faction–fact + fiction–was born, consisting of imaginative narrative based on facts.

Faction is filling in the spaces between facts using logical deduction. Nothing should be improbable or radical solely for entertainment, because imagination should, based on logic, reconstruct a new order, not ignore all notions of it. Thus, linking Gutenberg and the Korean inventor of the metal movable type properly would be vital. The publisher, understanding the significance as well as the commercial possibilities of the project, joined in. The author that would best fill in the gaps between facts would be Se Young Oh, who already had the experience of publishing the bestseller “Gaesung Merchant of Venice” which also dealt with cultural exchange between the East and the West.

I met Se Young Oh right away, and soon heard back from her, who said he would participate. We then straightened the frame of the entire work based on the outline, incorporating additional research and design on the way. It was a delightful process, to actualize that which had been a mere figment of imagination. Se Young Oh focused his research on the papal delegation that is said to have visited Joseon, and found out about an actual cardinal named Nicolaus Cusanus. A hometown friend of Gutenberg, Cusanus visited Samarkand, a place of active cultural exchange between the East and the West, as a member of the papal delegation. Furthermore, he was the one who entrusted Gutenberg, his friend, with the printing of <42-line Bible>.

It is highly probable that the papal delegate that visited Joseon was Nicolaus Cusanus. If he did visit Joseon, then who could have taught him the metal movable type technology? It mostly likely would have been Young Sil Jang, the inventor of the Gabinja, one of the finest of metal movable types. However, there is no record that confirms that the papal delegation visited Joseon during the rule of King Sejong, under whom Young Sil Jang worked. Therefore, anything beyond this point can only be fantasy. Yet another obstacle was blocking our way. But then we found in a Vatican record that “an unidentified man” had an audience with Pope Nicholas V in 1452 through the good offices of Nicolaus Cusanus. This man reports the successful printing of the <42-line Bible> and thus confirms the completion of the metal movable type. This unidentified man was the one who linked Cardinal Nicolaus Cusanus, Gutenberg, and printing technology together.

Imagination was spurred once more at this point. Why is this man unidentified? Was it because he was an outsider who did not believe in Christianity? If he was, where did he come from? The only country that had better printing technology than Germany at the time was Joseon and Cardinal Nicolaus Cusanus had visited Samarkand.··· Finally, the link between Joseon’s metal movable type and Gutenberg’s printing revolution was connected again. Two years later, in early 2008, the manuscript was finished. The book’s title would be <Gutenberg’s Joseon>.

In fact, Europe does acknowledge Joseon’s influence on European printing technology. Scholars believe that since the Goryeo Dynasty, Korean printing technology was passed onto China. Europe, in turn, learned of this technology through the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. In October 2005, the Frankfurt International Book Fair held an academic meeting called “A New Discovery to the Road of the Movable Type” between Korean and German scholars. It was an academic approach on the spread of metal movable type. Agreeing upon the likelihood that the technologies of the two countries were linked through the Silk Road, which include historically important medium of cultural transfer, the participants named the route “The Road of the Movable Type.”

Though this is a mere hypothesis, nobody can easily rule out the chance that Gutenberg’s printing revolution, which ultimately led to the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the scientific revolution, may have been begun due to the influence of the printing technology of Joseon, as a result of a cultural interchange between the East and the West.

Translated by Jin Gyu Lee

Jin Gyu Lee is a student of Korean Minjok Leadership Academy.