The purpose of this study is to identify the patterns in which modern concepts of time is realized in Korean reading textbooks used during Japanese colonial rule. To that end, the study questions were set as follows. What is modern concepts of time? How is it represented in Korean reading textbooks? What significance does modern concepts of time in Korean reading textbooks have within the discourse of education? The findings from the analysis are as follows; 1)The linear and quantitative characteristics of modern concepts of time are related with the formation of a common time zone. As such, 2)in the time-related reading texts, a ‘common concepts of time’ is realized and the principle of laying simultaneous texts can be observed. Concepts of time as a form of ‘progress’ can also be analyzed. 3) This forms part of the uniqueness of the discourse on modernization of Korea. Through such analysis, the point in time when concepts of modern concepts of time was formed was verified to be not during the specific situation of Japanese colonial rule, but during a continuum from the Korean enlightenment period.