Imperial Edict on the Opening of Daehan Hospital

On 24 October 1908, the day Daehan Hospital opened, Emperor Sunjong issued this imperial edict (chikseo, a document recording the king's instructions or announcements), stamped with an 11 cm square imperial seal reading "Chingmyeongjibo" ("Seal of Royal Commands"). The edict states that it brings to completion a project begun under the previous sovereign, Emperor Gojong, and expresses the emperor's wish that the benefits of medical care should reach the people; as the highest level of official document proclaiming Daehan Hospital to be a formal institution of the Korean Empire, it has great value both for the history of medicine and as a symbol. The Residency-General, established in January 1906, decided to merge the Korean Empire's existing medical institutions — Gwangjewon, the Government School of Medicine, and the Korean Red Cross Hospital — and opened Daehan Hospital in 1908 after enacting new regulations and constructing a new hospital building. Daehan Hospital subsequently served both as the hospital providing Korea's highest standard of Western medicine and as the central institution of colonial public health.

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Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Registered Cultural Heritage · 국가등록문화유산