Park Eun-sik was a Korean independence activist and an intellectual father of the Korean nation. His contributions are not frequently talked up outside of history and philosophy classes, perhaps. Still, this unassuming patriot was a brother in the struggle to throw off the chains of Japanese colonialism and claim a nation for Koreans by Koreans. Born in the mid-19th century, Park lived in Hwanghae in what is now North Korea until the 1880s, when he went to Seoul. As a person with a conservative mind, his goal as a young man was to foster a deeper understanding of the values of neo-Confucianism as a guide to living and to reforming the Korean Empire. In time, these inclinations would lead him to join independence activities, serving as editor and author of publications that are now considered classics of Korean literature, philosophy and nationalism. His idea was to unify theory and practice and to place value on living out the doctrines of Confucianism, not just studying them. These ideas were derived from his studies of the writings of the Confucian scholar Wang Yangming. Park’s idea