Erigeron canadensis, commonly known as horseweed or Canadian fleabane, is an annual plant native to North and Central America and now widely naturalized elsewhere.WIKIPEDIA
Shin Bok-ryong
The author is a former emeritus professor of history at Konkuk University.
Great powers historically followed a familiar sequence when absorbing weaker states: They seized the telegraph network, the nation’s nervous system; took control of railways, its arteries; then tightened the noose with unwanted loans. Riding the momentum of its victory in the Sino-Japanese War, Japan secured control over the construction of the Gyeongin Line, which was completed and opened in 1899. Korea’s representative in the project at the time was Foreign Minister Lee Wan-yong.
Lee, already wealthy, did not become involved to enrich himself. He did so as a foreign minister, a position that required him to cooperate with Japan.
The process was not merely about transportation. Whoever controlled communications, rail links and finances could erode a smaller country’s ability to act independently, making domination easier before formal annexation occurred. As a result, infrastructure became a symbol of modernization and a tool of power.
But railway construction required sleepers. Although Korea is mountainous, it lacked the giant trees needed for the job. Japan also lacked sufficient timber, so Douglas firs were imported from Oregon in the United States.
Importing raw timber, however, carries hidden risks that remain today as insect larvae and seeds of invasive plants can travel with the logs. Back then, there was little capacity to inspect for pests, but the foreign weeds soon made themselves visible.
Along the tracks, plants nearly a meter (3.3 feet) tall began sprouting white flowers. We now know them as annual plants in the aster family native to North America. But villagers in Gyeonggi, unfamiliar with the species, called them “railroad grass.”
When the railway first opened, Koreans marveled at its novelty and convenience. Over time, however, they came to see the railway as an instrument for extracting grain and learned that Lee had played a role in its construction.
People began calling the flowers “manggukcho,” which literally means “the weed of a ruined nation,” believing that their arrival had coincided with the country’s downfall. The name was later shortened to mangcho and eventually evolved in everyday Korean into the three-syllable mangchotdae.
Countless stories are intertwined with the years in which Korea lost its sovereignty, and even flowers can carry a troubled history.
Today, mangchotdae no longer grows only along railway tracks. It blankets hillsides across the country, and people admire its flowers without much thought.
But this morning, with National Humiliation Day — the Aug. 29 anniversary of Japan’s formal annexation of Korea in 1910 — approaching, the sight of those flowers suddenly fills me with sadness.
이완용과 망촛대
신복룡 전 건국대 석좌교수
강대국이 약소국을 병합하는 데는 선행 절차가 있는데, 신경선인 전신망을 장악하고, 국가의 동맥인 철도를 장악하고, 원치 않는 차관(借款)을 주어 목을 조이는 것이었다. 그런 정책의 일환으로 일본은 청일전쟁에 승리한 기세를 몰아 1896년에 철도부설권을 얻어 1897년에 경인선을 착공하여 1899년에 개통했다. 이 공사의 조선 측 대리인은 외부대신 이완용이었다. 본디 부자였던 이완용이 이 사업에 손을 댄 것은 축재의 목적 때문이 아니라 일본에 협조해야 하는 외부대신으로서의 직무 때문이었다.
철도를 부설할 경우, 순서로 볼 때 먼저 필요한 것은 철도 침목이었다. 한국은 산악국가라 하지만 거목(巨木)이 자라는 나라가 아니고, 일본에도 그만한 재목이 없어 결국 미국 오리건주의 미송을 수입해서 썼다. 지금도 마찬가지지만, 원목을 수입할 경우에 보이지 않는 고민이 생기는데, 곧 원목에 묻어오는 해충의 애벌레와 독초의 씨앗이다. 독초의 폐해는 곧 나타났다.
철로 주변에 키가 1m에 이르고 하얀 꽃이 피는 풀이 돋아나기 시작했다. 인제 와서 보니 북미의 국화과에 속하는 일년초라 하지만, 이름도 모르던 그 시절에 경기도의 촌로들은 이를 ‘철도풀’이라 불렀다.
철도가 처음 개통되었을 때 경이로움과 편익에 생각 없이 즐겼지만, 세월이 흐르면서 한국인들은 철도가 곡물 수탈의 수단이오, 저 짓을 한 인물이 이완용이라는 사실을 깨닫게 되자 저 꽃이 들어와 나라가 망했다는 뜻으로 그 꽃을 망국초(亡國草)라 부르다가 이어서 망초(亡草)라 부르더니 이제는 3음절에 익숙한 망촛대라는 이름으로 국어화되었다.
망국의 세월 속에는 수많은 사연이 얽혀 있지만, 꽃에도 기구한 인연이 있다. 이제는 철도 연변이 아니라 야산에 지천으로 깔린 망촛대를 보며 무심하게 완상하고 있지만, 국치일(8월 29일)을 앞둔 이 날 아침에 문득 서글픈 생각이 든다.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
