Letter to the King

[Anchor Lead]

A Korean documentary team has discovered at the Vatican archives the manuscript of a letter the Catholic pope sent to the Korean king in the year 1333 during the Goryeo Dynasty era. This find is believed to establish the date of the start of Korea's exchanges with Europe some 200 years earlier than previously thought.

[Pkg]

Here at the Vatican Secret Archives of the Catholic church, a letter book over 700 years old is opened. This letter by Pope John XXII(22) begins with the words "To the honorable King of the Goryeo people." The letter written in Latin continues to say the pontiff was pleased to hear the news of the Goryeo king's nice treatment of Christians in Korea. The letter hints at Catholic priests at the time having traveled to Goryeo. Such travels would be 261 years earlier than that of a Spanish priest who came to Korea during the Joseon era in 1594 during the Japanese Invasion of Korea.

[Soundbite] Seong Youm(Former Korean Amb. to the Holy See) : "Cultural and diplomatic contacts are testified in the letter. Its discovery is truly amazing."

The letter was written in 1333 during the reign of Goryeo King Chungsuk. This confirms that Korea had exchanges with Europe before 1377 when the Korean Buddhist document Jikji or the "Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests' Zen Teachings" was published. The letter also lends clues to the probability that Goryeo's printing skills likely had an effect on Gutenberg's printing press.

[Soundbite] Woo Gwang-hoon(Director) : "There's a series of circumstantial evidence regarding the transfer of metal type to Europe. One is the letter's travel route, which is identical with the route through which printing technology was introduced in Europe."

The documentary, completed after four years of extensive travel throughout Europe, is expected to serve as a breakthrough in the research of exchanges made with Europe including the early years of moveable type printing.