[3] Albert Altman wrote in 1984 that the only known extant copies of the paper are held in the Meiji Newspaper and Magazine Library of the University of Tokyo.

[1][7] The Korea–Japan Treaty of 1876 saw the Korean state Joseon cede significant access rights to the port city of Busan to Japan.

[9][10] The scholar Albert Altman wrote of this:[9] In the Chinese language, the paper assumed the role of mentor, knowledgable and wise in the new ways essential for the survival in the contemporary world, instructing a stripling Korean pupil.

Afterwards, the Japanese merchants leveraged the favor they were owed to pressure the Korean owner of the vessel into selling their grain at a lower price.

[1] The Classical Chinese portions targeted reform-minded Korean intellectuals with persuasive essays on how Korea should be reformed in order to avoid being dominated by Japan.

These letters persuaded Korean readers to pursue a number of industries that facilitated trade with Japan or used Japanese technology.

[15] However, some of the articles published in Chinese contained writings from Song Pyŏngsŏn [ko] that was critical of both Japan and foreign influence in Korea.

The sole coin in circulation at the time was the Sangpyeong Tongbo [ko], which was of a small denomination, heavy, and particularly susceptible to exchange rate fluctuations.

For even minor transactions, Korean merchants needed to have a number of servants carry numerous strings that each bore a thousand coins.