First steam engine car roared through Seoul streets

In early spring 1909, a great beast, 15 feet long, five feet wide and weighing nearly three tons, roared through the streets of Seoul.

Slow-moving oxen, heavily laden with firewood, stately gentlemen out for a morning stroll, peddlers with their ponderous burden of wares, Korean ponies (notorious for their orneriness and biting) and snarling dogs were all forced to scramble for safety as the vehicle passed.

According to the Petite Journal (March 7, 1909) the automobile age had arrived in Korea in the form of a White Motor Company steam car. In its amusing print, we can see Thomas A. Koen, chief engineer in the Korean imperial household, at the wheel, gog- gles protecting his eyes from the dust and wind. Next to him, his expression feigning disinterest, is his fellow American J. F. Manning, an engineer with the American-owned Seoul Mining Company. Sitting in the back, their scarves flying in the air, are two young Italian women — the daughters of the Italian Consul-General to Korea, Luigi Casati.

White Motor Company was well-known in the United States and its steam cars were popular with those who could afford them. The Secret Service used one to follow President Theodore Roosevelt’s carriage through the streets and the first official White House car — under President William Taft — was a White Motor steamer. So, it is not surprising one of these luxurious steamers would eventually wind up on the peninsula.

There are, however, many uncertainties to the claim this was the first automobile in Seoul. We know Koen received the vehicle and, after “mastering its operation,” took a party of distinguished guests (including U.S. vice-consul Gordon Paddock, Casati and a Japan Chronicle correspondent) out for a ride. The correspondent wrote:

“(The) Koreans and Chinese have had the shock of their lives. They are now gradually becoming used to it, but on its first appearance they were possessed with the idea that some strange and weird demon had visited the earth to administer punishment for their various sins.”

But who was truly guilty of sin? According to White Motor Company general sales manager C.A. Hawkins:

“The car was ordered by the manager of a large mining company and he gave us the most explicit instructions as to how we were to make the shipment. It seems that the Koreans are not favorably disposed toward automobiles and they exclude them from the country by imposing a prohibitive import duty. On the other hand, the mining company, by the terms of its concession, was permitted to import mining machinery free of duty.”