Ferdinand Krien

Ferdinand Krien was the German consul in Joseon Dynasty Korea from 1887 to 1898.[1]

In Korea

Krien was appointed to his position on 22 May 1887, after having served as an interpreter at the German Legation in Tokyo.[2] In 1888, he became the victim of a malicious rumour, believed to have been spread by the wife of Russian consul Karl Ivanovich Weber, that he held orgies in the German legation; this contributed to his disfavour among foreign missionaries operating in Korea.[3] He was appointed as full consul on 27 May 1889.[2] From 10 July 1889 to 5 April 1891, he took a leave of absence from his position.[4] Around the beginning of his leave, he became the president of the Seoul Club, also known as the German Club, a gentlemen's club headquartered in a building owned by German businessman Carl Andreas Wolter; however, according to American missionary Horace Allen, the club became defunct the following year, possibly due a land dispute in the German community.[3] He set up the Imperial German Language School in Seoul in 1898; it continued operation until 1911.[5] He was succeeded in his consular post by F. Reindorf, and later became the German consul at Kobe.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Allen 1901, p. 52
  2. ^ a b Allen 1901, p. 21
  3. ^ a b Neff, Robert (2010-10-20), "First gentlemen's club in Seoul established in 1889", Korea Times, retrieved 2010-10-21
  4. ^ Allen 1901, pp. 23–25
  5. ^ Kneider 2010, p. 84
  6. ^ Allen 1901, p. 40

References

  • Allen, Horace Newton (1901), A chronological index; some of the chief events in the foreign intercourse of Korea from the beginning of the Christian era to the twentieth century, Seoul: Methodist Publishing House Press, OCLC 4391671
  • Kneider, Hans-Alexander (2010), "Deutsche Persönlichkeiten im Königreich Joseon", Koreana, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 84–85, archived from the original on 2010-11-27
    • Available in English as: Remarkable Germans in the Choson Kingdom (PDF), Seoul: German Embassy in the Republic of Korea, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-18, retrieved 2010-09-02