Fred A. McKenzie

Frederick Arthur MacKenzie (1869–1931) was a Canadian journalist that covered several geopolitical developments in East Asia in the early 20th century. He was one of the few Western journalists to cover the Russo-Japanese War from the Japanese side and the Korean resistance against Japan during the Japanese occupation of Korea.

He briefly contributed to the Pall Mall Gazette, and then for several years he worked with the Daily Mail as a travelling correspondent in East Asia. His last book was on religious persecution in Soviet Russia.

In 2014, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation by the Korean Government.

Early life

MacKenzie was born in Quebec in 1869, and described himself as "Scots-Canadian", although he would later tell locals abroad that he was English for convenience's sake.

Russo-Japanese War

As a war correspondent for the Daily Mail, Frederick A. MacKenzie registered the Russo-Japanese War. During these years, he travelled to Korea and Manchuria with American writers Jack London and Robert L. Dunn. They were the only Western journalists witnessing the early stages of the conflict on the side of the Japanese army.

MacKenzie exalted the Japanese soldiers that fought in the war. He praised their education and observed the soft treatment given to captured Russian officers. He also remarked about the ability of Japanese soldiers to stand prolonged exertion.

Covering Korean resistance

MacKenzie returned to England after the Russo-Japanese War, but he visited Korea again to cover the Japanese intervention in the peninsula. He stayed in the Korean Empire for almost two years, from the summer of 1906 to the end of 1907. During that time, he wrote about King Sunjong's coronation ceremony in July 1907, the righteous armies, and British journalist Ernest Thomas Bethell's deportation.