[편집자주] 통신의 역사는 인간의 연결을 위한 끊임없는 노력의 역사입니다. 선사 시대부터 사회적 동물인 인간에게 통신의 기능은 소통과 약속의 수단으로 작용했습니다. 우리나라에는 1888년 조선시대 전기통신이 최초 도입됐으며, 해방 후 1980년대 통신사업과 기술의 비약적 발전으로 정보화 시대가 개막했습니다. 이제 5G, 6G 시대를 맞아 차세대 통신이라 꼽히는 위성통신, 양자통신을 바라보고 있습니다. 인공지능(AI)·로봇·클라우드·UAM 등 첨단 기술 발전과 함께 통신은 점점 중요해지며, 끝없이 발전할 것으로 기대됩니다. 통신은 거의 모든 분야에 걸쳐져 있는 가장 기본이 되는 동시에 핵심이 되는 기술입니다. 본지는 이번 기획 시리즈를 통해 통신의 역사부터 소소한 사건, 기술, 트렌드까지 통신과 관련된 이모저모를 다뤄보겠습니다.
▲Post Office (Source: Academy of Korean Studies)
Telecommunications before and after liberation, achievements from the ashes
From Japan's deprivation of telecommunications rights to the birth of domestic telecommunications technology
[Editor's Note] The history of communications is the history of human constant efforts to connect. Since prehistoric times, the function of communications has served as a means of communication and promise for humans, who are social animals. In Korea, telecommunications was first introduced in 1888 during the Joseon Dynasty, and the information age began in the 1980s after liberation with the rapid development of communications businesses and technology. Now, as we enter the 5G and 6G eras, we are looking at satellite communications and quantum communications, which are considered the next-generation communications. With the development of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robots, cloud computing, and UAM, communications are becoming increasingly important and are expected to continue to develop endlessly. Communications is the most basic and core technology that spans almost all fields. In this series, our magazine will cover various aspects of communications, from the history of communications to minor incidents, technologies, and trends.
■ During the Japanese colonial period, the right to communicate was taken away For modern people, it is a given that they can move around and make phone calls and communicate from a distance, but it was not easy 100 years ago. The telephone, invented in the late 19th century, was a privilege. The telephone played an important role in the history of the Korean independence movement. There is a famous anecdote related to a telephone call that saved Kim Gu.
At that time, in August 1896, Kim Gu was arrested for murdering Josuke Suchida, the assassin of Empress Myeongseong, out of anger. Kim Gu was imprisoned in Incheon Prison and was about to be executed by the Japanese. As Japan was tightening its grip on Korea, Emperor Gojong hesitated to execute Kim Gu in order to avoid conflict with Japan, but soon used the first telephone in Korea installed in Deoksugung Palace to call Incheon Prison directly and order them to stop the execution. At that time, the telephone signified that the Korean Empire was beginning to modernize, and it was also symbolic that Kim Gu, who was released and saved his life, became an active leader of the independence movement.
However, when our country was in the midst of the flowering of scientific and technological development, Japan began to secretly infringe on Korea's communication rights even before depriving Korea of its communication rights. In 1876, the ports of Busan, Incheon, and Wonsan were forcibly opened by the Ganghwa Treaty. Japan established Japanese settlements in the three cities and forcibly established Japanese postal offices using extraterritoriality.
In addition, in 1891, the 'Incheon Post Office Gyeongseong Branch' was established in Seoul. As a result of gradually increasing the number of Japanese communication agencies, the number of Japanese post offices in Korea reached 29 in 1984, and increased to about 89 over a period of 10 years. After winning the Russo-Japanese War, Japan forced the conclusion of the Japan-Korea Communications Agency Agreement on April 1, 1905, and occupied the communication agencies. In order to control radio waves, Japan placed wireless communication facilities and organizations under the Postal Bureau of the Government-General of Korea.
Our people, deprived of the right to communicate during the Japanese colonial period, lost the opportunity to develop telephone technology before liberation. Communication agencies were used as tools of exploitation, and after the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident in 1931, they were even operated as communication bases with the continent.
However, if we look at historical records, the postal workers who worked at the post office and telegraph office fought against Japan. For example, when the telecommunications agency was taken over in 1905, all 44 officials at the Hanseong Post Office and Hanseong Telegraph Office resigned, expressing their intention to surrender.
In some regions, most executives resigned from their positions despite promises to raise their salaries. In addition, more than 23% of communication agencies were attacked and shut down by the militia in 1907.
■ When was the first telephone made in our country? ▲Wall-mounted magnetic telephone (Source: Academy of Korean Studies) Since the introduction of telecommunications in the 1800s, rapid developments in science and technology have rapidly changed the means of communication. As electricity began to be used for communication, various communication media were invented, and these inventions became the basis for today's communication media.
The first recorded use of wireless communication in our country was in 1908, when it was communicated with the Japanese Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. It is recorded that the country introduced its own wireless telegraph in September 1910. It began wireless communication by communicating with the government's navigational aid surveillance ship, Gwangjeho, and the wireless telegraph station installed on Wolmido Island.
Since the invention of the telephone in 1876, manual telephones were used, but the use of automatic telephones increased in 1892. Telephones are divided into manual telephones and automatic telephones. Manual telephones are connected by an operator to the other party on the phone. There are magnetic types that call an operator by turning a handle, and static types that call an operator by picking up the receiver. Automatic types are also called rotary or mechanical types because they make calls by turning a dial, and push-button dials are called electronic types.
The first magnetic telephone introduced in Korea by Ericsson had a capacity of 100 lines and was manual. The telephones introduced at Hanseong Telephone Office and Incheon Telephone Office had capacities of 10 lines and 50 lines, respectively. Since then, telephone exchanges have become increasingly larger in capacity and automatic switches have continued to evolve.
The automatic switchboard was first installed at the Najin Post Office in March 1935, and at the Gyeongseong Central Telephone Office in October of the same year. Overseas, as World War II ended in the 1940s, transistors and ICs began to be introduced as replacements for relays, the brains of automatic switches. Advances in semiconductors made it possible to combine computers and switches, which later appeared, and information and communication technology began to flourish.
■ After liberation, full-scale telecommunications began On August 15, 1945, with the establishment of the Republic of Korea government, an independent telecommunications business was launched. However, due to a lack of technology and finances, it was difficult to maintain and was hit hard by the Korean War. After the war, communications facilities were requisitioned for operational use and up to 90 percent of them were destroyed, and were not restored until the late 1950s.
In the 1960s, the government realized the importance of telecommunications and enacted the Telecommunications Act and the Radio Wave Management Act, breaking ground for the introduction of domestic telecommunications. Rather than repeating the laws of the Japanese colonial era, the telecommunications business began in earnest in conjunction with the new five-year economic development plan. Telephone lines were opened with 52 countries, including West Germany and the United States, and television broadcasting began. In 1962, automatic telephone exchanges were produced domestically, and electronic exchanges were installed in 1979.
Along with economic growth, Korea's telecommunications industry has made great strides since the 1980s. Now, people began to devise ways to use the phone while on the move. After the establishment of Korea Mobile Telecommunications Service Corporation in 1984, mobile phone service (1G) was finally launched in 1988.
The next part will cover the history of communications from the launch of mobile communication services to the first generation to the current 5G.