BECK index
Korea 1800-1949
by Sanderson Beck
Korea in Isolation 1800-64
Korea in Transition 1864-93
Korea Reforms 1894-1904
Japan's Annexation of Korea 1904-18
March First Movement 1919-20
Colonial Korea under Japan 1921-45
Korea Liberated and Divided 1945-49
This chapter has been published in the book EAST ASIA 1800-1949.
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Korea in Isolation 1800-64
Korea to 1800
King Sunjo (r. 1800-34) was only ten years old when he became king of Korea, and dowager Queen Chongsun acted as regent. The Pyokp’a party used the Catholic issue to increase their influence. They argued that the tolerance during Chongjo’s reign was illegal, and they persecuted Catholics in 1801. Six leaders were arrested; they refused to recant under torture and were executed, including Yi Sung-hun and Chong Yag-yong’s older brother Yak-chong, who had led the laity. The first Korean Catholic priest Chou Wen-mu turned himself in to try to stop the persecution, and he was put to death. Hwang Sa-yong wrote a long message on silk to the French bishop in Beijing, asking for western nations to use a large fleet and many troops to force Korea to grant religious freedom, but he was caught and executed. This aroused more fears, and another three hundred became martyrs. Also in 1801 the massive slave registers were ordered burned, emancipating 66,067 government slaves. Local governments still retained slaves, and private slavery also persisted. In 1802 the dowager Queen Chongsun died, and King Sunjo’s tutor Ch’ae Che-gong opposed the persecution of Christians. Sunjo’s father-in-law Kim Cho-sun of the Andong Kim clan gained the political power and promoted many of his clansmen.
Two Chong brothers were banished to distant islands in 1801. Chong Yak-chon made a detailed study of 155 species of marine life. Chong Yag-yong (1762-1836) wrote Design for Good Government and a Treatise on Land. At first he suggested confiscating the large landholdings and redistributing them to the peasants; land would be owned and worked by each village unit with the harvest apportioned according to the labor of individuals. Later he accepted a private system that guaranteed tenants suitable plots to rent. Chong Yag-yong has been considered the greatest Sirhak scholar. He believed in a reformed Confucianism and wrote 314 volumes and 2,469 poems. Many of the poems portrayed rural life under greedy landlords and officials. He explained how the law enabled petty officials to act badly.
A man may become wicked
when he is overqualified for the post
to which he is assigned,
when he is educated beyond his station in life,
when he is able to reap immediate benefits
with a minimum of effort,
when he stays at the same job for a long time
while his supervisor is changed frequently,
when his superior is not consistently honest and ethical,
when he has many friends
and followers among his subordinates
but his superior is isolated and unsure of himself,
when there is someone who envies him
but that person is weaker than him
and is therefore afraid to expose any of his misdeeds,
when he is guilty of the same crime as someone he dislikes
but they each refrain from exposing the other’s misdeed
for the sake of mutual protection,
when the punishment for an offense is so light that
it would not make him feel
the least bit guilty or embarrassed,
when he sees that some profit by their wickedness
though others do not,
and when he realizes that some who are not wicked
end up being treated as though they were wicked anyway.1
Chong Yag-yong noted that humans are different than other animals because of their ability to make tools. Earlier in their history the Koreans had adopted many techniques from the Chinese, but in recent centuries they had not done so and had fallen behind. Using more advanced tools and techniques would improve agriculture, military defense, medical treatment, and crafts. Yag-yong observed that Japan prospered and become militarily strong by learning from China. From an old book by a Jesuit missionary he read how helpful pulleys could be, and he worked with Pak Chega on promoting the immunization of children against smallpox. Chong Yag-yong also wrote on the importance of music for calming emotions such as anger, and he argued that good music can prevent crime and wars. In his best known work, The Nurture of the People (Mokminsimso), he noted that only three tenths of the interest grain went to the government while the rest was taken by individuals. This book would later influence many revolutionaries, including Ho Chi Minh.
Corrupt officials collected taxes that often amounted to half the harvest. Even abandoned fields were taxed. Ten percent interest was charged on grain loans as “wastage.” Thus what was intended to be relief became a burden, and some officials forced peasants to borrow more than they needed. Most magistrates gained their positions by bribery and then received bribes from the lower functionaries (hyangni), who in turn profited by extorting the taxes. The government tried to limit the corruption by sending out secret inspectors. Ever since the 17th century the yangban status had been declining, and now many fell into the local gentry. Some in the middle class (chungin) became technical specialists in the capital and raised their status. Others acquired fortunes through farming or commerce. Many lost their lands and had to work as wage laborers during the planting and harvests. As the yangban society deteriorated, people formed kye associations in order to pool their resources. As a group they could repair a reservoir, pay the military cloth tax, or purchase an ox or farm tools to share. Cho Om brought sweet potato seeds from Tsushima in 1763, and its cultivation spread. White potatoes were introduced from China in the 1820s and grew even better in Korea. Poor harvests and famines caused many peasants to wander and become “fire-field” farmers. When officials tried to tax them, some migrated across the border into Manchuria or the Russian Maritime Territory.
Drought and famine led to a “Secret Account of Conditions in P’yongan Province” being illegally posted on four gates of Seoul in 1804, and in Hwanghae province a poem denounced government policy. The wandering peasants began robbing, and the roaming bands became larger; “fire brigands” on horses used muskets, and “water brigands” used boats. In 1811 the yangban Hong Kyong-nae, who had failed the exam, led a rebellion in P’yongan province. They appealed to yangban farmers, Kaesong merchants, and hungry peasants. Saying he was organizing laborers for mining, Hong trained a force and defeated government soldiers in Pakch’on county. They fortified Chongju and held out for a hundred days before Hong was killed and the rebellion was defeated. In the 1820s Korea suffered from floods and a cholera epidemic that spread from China in 1821. King Sunjo passed the presidency of the State Council to his son Ikchong in 1827. He tried to appoint officials based on their ability, but he died before his father. Andong Kim continued to be prime minister and sold offices. Practical scholarship continued with Sixteen Treatises Written in Retirement by So Yu-gu and Random Expatiations by Yi Kyu-gyong.
Sunjo was succeeded by his grandson Honjong (r. 1834-49). His mother Cho Man-yong was a leader in the influential P’ungyang Cho clan. Her brother Cho In-yong became chief state councilor. Pope Gregory XVI had designated Korea a separate diocese from China in 1831. The French priest Maubant arrived in 1836, and two more priests came the next year. In 1839 the P’ungyang Cho clan of the Pyokp’a party executed the three priests and eighty Korean converts, of whom fifty were women. King Honjong published a condemnation of Catholicism, arguing its writings contradicted the laws of past kings. He wrote that only the ignorant would ask Heaven to forgive misdeeds or to grant special favors. He thought that the religion belittled reverence for one’s parents and while believing in the soul contradicted itself by not believing in the spirits of the ancestors. Chong Hasang, who was executed in 1839, defended Catholicism, believing it taught the same moral principles as Confucianism such as the fourth commandment to honor one’s parents. He believed they should follow God’s commands rather than the king’s. He asked why Catholics were not granted the same tolerance shown to Buddhists and shamans. The Korean priest Kim Tae-gon had studied at Macao and was ordained in Shanghai in 1845; he entered the country and tried to preach secretly, but he was caught and killed the next year along with eight other Catholics.
When Ch’olchong (r. 1849-63) became king, the Andong Kim clan regained power because of his queen being the daughter of Andong Kim Mun-gun. His kinsmen Kim Hung-gun and Kim Chwa-gun became the chief officials. They stopped the persecution of Catholics, but those in the royal house who attacked the Andong Kim clan were banished. Western priests came to Korea, and Catholic writings were published. Some scholars became Christians, but most of the converts were poor, uneducated, and lived in Seoul. The Catholic creed that all are children of God appealed to the lower classes wanting equality. The second Korean priest, Ch’oe Yang (1821-61), began preaching in 1850 and helped the Catholic congregation grow from 13,638 believers in 1855 to 23,000 in 1865.
Yi Chin-hung was a lower official (hyangni), and in his History of the Clerkly Class he argued that the hyangni and yangban should be treated the same. In 1857 Yu Chae-gon included works by monks and women in the Third Selection of Poems of the People. Fellowships of poets (sisa) were formed. Masked dances and dramas also included shamanistic elements and lampooned the yangban class. In 1859 a book called Sunflowers collected the writings of men who suffered from discrimination because they were the sons of a yangban and a concubine. Ch’oe Han-gi wrote Personnel Administration in 1860 to suggest that government could be improved by employing the most talented and well educated from all social classes. He also recommended that Korea end its policy of isolation so that it could join the community of nations. P’ansori tales were sung to outdoor audiences. Sin Chae-hyo (1812-84) was especially skilled at satirizing the yangban class.
The Chinju uprising of 1862 was led by yangban farmer Yu Kye-ch’un using bamboo spears against the rapacious army commander Paek Nak-sin. The rebels killed local officials and burned government buildings, but they were suppressed. A few weeks later peasants rose up in Cholla and three southern provinces. Even the fishermen of Cheju Island rebelled against local authorities. Including the northern provinces of Hwanghae and Hamgyong, forty cities and towns experienced upheavals.
Ch’oe Che-u (1824-64) founded a religious movement that was called Tonghak (Eastern Learning) because it drew from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism as well as from shamanism and Christianity. He was the son of a yangban but could not qualify for the exams because his mother was a peddler and had been married before. He studied Confucian books until he was twenty, then Buddhism, Daoism, and Christianity. For five years he had religious experiences as he went on long retreats. To raise money to open a hardware store, he sold his land to seven persons. In the ensuing scandal an old woman was believed to have died of anger before being revived by Ch’oe. On April 5, 1860 while trembling he conversed with a supernatural voice that claimed to be the Lord of Heaven. He was given a round symbol containing the opposites of yin and yang for healing people, and he was told to teach people. At first his wife thought he was mad, but soon he attracted many disciples and was called the Great Godly Teacher. During the uprisings of 1862 Tonghak became a church and spread in Kyongsang province. In August 1863 while Ch’oe Si Hyong (1829-98) was having a mystical experience, Ch’oe Che-u transferred consciousness to him and appointed him head of the northern churches.
Ch’oe Che-u wrote the Eastern Scripture and the Yongdam Hymns, teaching that God and humans are one and the same. He prayed that the Ultimate Energy be conscious in him that he may serve the Lord of Heaven. The Ultimate Energy is God, and to serve God is to be one with God, which is present in all things. The spirit of God is in humans, and to serve humanity is to serve God. Ch’oe proclaimed social equality and welcomed oppressed peasants, lifting them to the highest class in the Heavenly Way of the Tonghak religion. The chanting of magical formulas and the acceptance of mountain deities appealed to shamanistic traditions. Ch’oe called for reform of the corrupt government and prophesied that the “welcome tidings” would come in 1864. So the government had him arrested in December 1863 for sedition. Ch’oe Si-hyong visited him in prison and was told that he would “fly high and run far.” In March 1864 Ch’oe Che-u was beheaded. His followers fled into the mountains to hide, and Ch’oe Si-hyong led an underground movement that would revive a generation later.
Korea in Transition 1864-93
Since Kojong (r. 1864-1907) was only twelve years old when he became king, his father Yi Ha Ung was named Taewon’gun (Grand Prince) and governed as regent. His reforms aimed to create a strong monarchy. He appointed officials from all four colors (factions) based on merit, especially the Southerners and Northerners who had been neglected by the Andong Kim clan. The Taewon’gun was the first in the Yi dynasty to appoint anyone from the royal Wang family of Koryo, and he promoted able commoners. He converted the military cloth tax to a household tax that the yangban class also had to pay. To reform the collection of the grain taxes he sentenced corrupt officials to death or exile. However, a land surtax, a gate tax, and much labor were needed for the reconstruction of the Kyongbok palace that began in 1865 and took two years. Large contributions by the royal family and others were rewarded with official titles and entertainment. He also had debased coins minted that caused inflation and counterfeiting. Cho Tu-sun (1796-1870) led the team that revised the administrative code of the Choson dynasty in 1865.
Because of its isolation the Choson dynasty became known in Europe as the “hermit kingdom.” Giving information to foreigners was a capital crime, and travel abroad was forbidden. An English merchant ship was turned away in 1832, and a British warship spent a month in Korean waters in 1845. The next year three French warships left a letter for the court demanding that amends be made for the killing of the French priests. In 1854 two Russian warships killed some Koreans. The German merchant Ernest Oppert twice asked permission to trade in 1866. That year the American schooner Surprise was stranded, and the crew was helped by the local Koreans. In July the trading vessel General Sherman sailed up the Taedong River to P’yongyang; after they abducted three Koreans, a battle erupted in which twelve local people were killed. Then Korean soldiers and a mob burned the ship and killed all on board—three American officers, a Protestant interpreter, and the mostly Chinese crew. The Korean government rejected western demands for trade because of China’s unfortunate experiences in the Opium Wars and because of the concern that Catholicism would spread. Korea would not trade with Japan either.
The Taewon’gun may have learned of French missionaries from a proposal by the Catholic Nam Chong-sam that France help Korea against the Russians on the northern border. The Taewon’gun ended his toleration in 1866 when he had nine French missionaries and about 8,000 Korean believers executed; even more were imprisoned. Three French missionaries were in the provinces, and Felix Ridel escaped to China. There he contacted Admiral Roze, who promised to punish Korea with his French Asiatic Squadron. After sending three steamships to reconnoiter Seoul, seven warships attacked Kanghwa Island, carrying off weapons, silver, and 3,000 books that went to the French National Library. However, Koreans led by Han Song-gun defeated another French force at Munsu-san Fortress opposite Kanghwa, and Yang Hon-su’s troops drove the French from Kanghwa. In reaction to the foreign attacks, the conservative Confucian, Yi Hang-no (1792-1868), proposed forming a militia; he led the opposition to western trade and religion. In 1867 his disciples published his writings as Reflections of the Master Hwaso. Yi Hang-no urged Koreans not to use Western goods so that trade would not be necessary.
In 1868 the French priest Feron persuaded Oppert and his crew to try to steal the bones of the Taewon’gun’s father in order to bargain for open trade. This venture was financed by the American Jenkins, but they only managed to desecrate the tomb. A response from the United States to the loss of the General Sherman came in 1871 when their ambassador to Beijing, Frederick Low, and Admiral John Rodgers with five warships and 1,230 marines tried to force open ports for trade by attacking Kanghwa. At least 53 Koreans and three Americans were killed, but once again stubborn Korean defense drove the westerners away. The Taewon’gun had monuments inscribed in various places declaring that they must fight against the barbarian invasions to deter further attacks.
By this time hundreds of academies (sowon) had acquired large agricultural estates with slaves to work on them along with exemptions from taxes and corvée labor. Their economic and political power threatened the government, and in 1864 the Taewon’gun banned unauthorized repairs or construction of academies and shrines. In 1868 he began taxing the sowon, and in 1871 he closed down all but 47 that served as shrines to famous scholars. Confucian scholars objected, but police beatings drove the demonstrators from the capital. The reductions in officials’ corruption increased the government’s revenue, which accumulated after the costly palace was completed. Eventually the Confucians drove the Taewon’gun from power in 1873.
King Kojong had fallen in love with Lady I, and in 1868 she bore him a son, whom the Taewon’gun proclaimed as crown prince. When Queen Min had a son, the Taewon’gun sent rare ginseng; the five-day-old baby became ill and died. When Ch’oe Ik-hyon impeached the Taewon’gun, the Queen got his regency terminated. Kojong was old enough to rule. The Taewon’gun retired to his estate at Yangju but in 1874 may have sent the bomb that killed his political enemy, Min Sung-ho. After the Meiji restoration the Japanese had been trying to establish diplomatic relations with Korea since 1870, but their efforts were rebuffed three times as improperly advanced by an emperor. In 1875 the Japanese warship Unyo landed twenty men on Kanghwa, and Korean defenders fired on them. Japanese ships also landed men at Pusan and demanded negotiations. They sent the minister Kuroda Kiyotaka with two warships and three troop transports, and Korea accepted a friendship treaty at Kanghwa in February 1876, ending Korea’s period of isolation. Korea ended China’s claims to suzerainty and granted Japan trade and extraterritorial rights in its first unequal treaty. In addition to Pusan, which was already open to Japanese trade, the Bay of Wonsan would open in 1880 and Inch’on in 1883. Japan would not have to pay any taxes “for several years.”
Kim Ki-su was sent to Japan as a special envoy, and he wrote his Record of a Journey to Japan and let King Kojong order copies. Kim Koeng-jip, who later became known as Kim Hong-jip, brought back even more information about Japan’s advances in 1881. “A Policy for Korea” was written by the Chinese diplomat Huang Zunxian and recommended Korea develop a close relationship with Japan and China and form an alliance with the United States as a defense against Russian aggression. Another treatise, Presumptuous Views by Zheng Guanying, advised Korea to adopt China’s policy of self-strengthening by importing western technology and political ideas. Also in 1881 a technical mission of “sightseers” went to inspect Japan’s modern facilities. That year King Kojong reorganized the army into two garrisons instead of five.
Traditional Confucians opposed the Japanese treaty, and Ch’oe Ik-hyon wrote “Five Reasons Against,” warning against Japanese aggression and Catholicism. In March 1881 Yi Man-son submitted the “Memorial of Ten Thousand Men in Kyongsang Province” that defended the orthodox views against the new “enlightenment.” Most of the leaders were banished, but some of the more radical, such as Hong Chae-hak, were executed. The Taewon’gun tried to regain power through his oldest son Yi Chae-son by a secondary wife; but the plot was discovered, and Yi and more than thirty conspirators were executed. As father of the King, Taewon’gun was not investigated.
Because of the recent reform the traditional military units went thirteen months without pay or rations. When these soldiers were given rice mixed with sand and pebbles in 1882, they attacked the ration clerks. The superintendent Min Kyom-ho had the ringleaders arrested and sentenced to death, but soldiers stormed Min’s house and appealed to the Taewon’gun. The mutineers seized weapons and freed their comrades from prison. They killed the Japanese officer Horimoto Reizo and threatened the Japanese legation. The minister Hanabusa fled to Japan as the legation was burned down. The soldiers attacked the palace and killed Min Kyom-ho, but Queen Min escaped. King Kojong restored the Taewon’gun to his position of deciding all governmental matters. He dismissed the two new garrisons and revived the five old garrisons, abolishing the Office for Extraordinary State Affairs.
Hanabusa came back from Tokyo supported by soldiers and the Japanese navy, but on August 20, 1882 Chinese forces also arrived in Seoul led by General Wu Changqing. He seized the Taewon’gun and sent him to Tianjin in China. On August 29 the Korean army and citizens attacked the Chinese forces; 376 Koreans were killed; 173 were arrested, and ten mutiny leaders were executed. Korea and Japan negotiated the Treaty of Chemulp’o in October that punished the leaders of the mutiny. Korea paid Japan’s government 500,000 yen in reparations and 50,000-yen indemnities to the families of the Japanese victims. The Min family took control of the Korean court and favored China, which sent the diplomat Ma Jianchang and the German advisor Paul Georg von Mollendorff. General Yuan Shikai trained the new Four Barracks Commands. The Chinese urged the Koreans to make commercial treaties. Korea made unequal treaties with the United States in 1882, with England and Germany in 1883, with Italy and Russia in 1884, and with France in 1886. In 1883 the Korean government developed a factory for manufacturing arms, a mint, and a facility that published Hansong Sunbo, Korea’s first newspaper. In 1885 the government supported the Kwanghyewon Hospital that was founded by Horace N. Allen and developed a medical school. In the 1880s the Bible and some western literature were translated into Korean.
The disciples of Yu Hong-gi formed the Progressive party to support the enlightenment policies with the help of China. Pak Yong-hyo was sent to Japan as a special envoy with Kim Ok-kyun and So Kwang-bom, and they persuaded King Kojong to adopt reforms. They modernized the postal service and the army, but the Min clan began to block their efforts. Kim Ok-kyun brought back gunpowder, but his effort to get a loan was rejected at home. While China was in a conflict with France over Annam in 1884, the progressives planned a coup with support from 140 Japanese soldiers. On December 4, 1884 they gathered at a banquet to celebrate the opening of the Postal Administration. Kim Ok-kyun went to the palace and told the King that the Chinese were causing a disturbance and asked for Japanese protection. They called in conservative officials and Barracks commanders, killing them as they arrived. Kim later wrote in his Journal of 1844 that they had 14 reforms to implement. The first was to return the Taewon’gun, and the second was to abolish class privileges and establish equal rights. They wanted to revise the land laws to end extortion by officials. A State Council would submit proposals to the King. However, the Chinese had 1,500 soldiers and quickly suppressed the coup attempt. Kim, Pak, and a few others managed to escape to Japan; the Japanese minister Takezoe set fire to his legation as he fled. Families of the traitors were executed. Foreign minister Inoue Kaoru negotiated the Treaty of Hansong that paid for rebuilding the legation and provided indemnities for the Japanese civilians killed.
Japan’s prime minister Ito Hirobumi went to China and signed the Convention of Tianjin with Viceroy Li Hongzhang on April 18, 1885. Japan and China both agreed to withdraw their troops from Korea within four months and to notify each other if they were to send troops to Korea. Yuan Shikai remained in Seoul as a diplomat and was influential, forming a settlement that became Seoul’s Chinatown. China sent the Taewon’gun back, but Mollendorff and his replacement, the American Owen N. Denny, both urged the court to make an agreement with the Russian minister Karl Waeber. England became concerned and in 1885 sent a naval force to occupy Komun-do at the gateway of the Korean Strait. Russians objected, and China persuaded the English to remove these forces in 1887. The Russians pledged that no nation would be allowed to seize Korean territory. Pak Chong-yang was sent as an envoy to the United States. In 1888 Russia and Korea agreed to an Overland Trade Agreement. Yu Kil-chun visited the United States and Europe, and in 1889 he wrote the influential Observations on a Journey to the West. He favored a constitutional democracy and a free-enterprise economy, but for Korea he was willing to accept a constitutional monarchy.
Meanwhile the peasants were still suffering from extortion, and armed bandits were raiding public markets more often. Japan increased their share of Korea’s exports to more than 90%, but by 1893 their proportion of the imports to Korea had fallen to 50% from 81% in 1885. Korea exported mostly rice, soybeans, gold, ginseng, and cowhides. Peasants eager to import tools, utensils, cotton goods, and other useful items from Japan often mortgaged most of their crops. The Korean government banned the export of rice from Hamgyong province in 1889 and from Hwanghae in 1890, but the Japanese protested and got around them.
Japan had laid undersea cable from Pusan to Nagasaki in 1883 and built the Pusan-Inch’on telegraph line in 1885. The next year they established a coaling station on Yongdo off Pusan, and in 1888 they gained coastal fishing rights. In 1891 Japan put a coaling station on Wolmi Island off Inch’on and gained fishing rights off Kyongsang province. In 1894 they built a railway from Seoul to Pusan.
Korea Reforms 1894-1904
Ch’oe Si-hyong compiled the Bible of Tonghak Doctrines and Hymns from the Dragon Pool and developed the Tonghak (Eastern Learning) into a religion with churches. In 1892 a movement grew in Cholla province to clear the name of their founder Ch’oe Che-u. They petitioned the throne in Seoul, and 20,000 assembled at Poun in Ch’ungch’ong province. They wanted the Japanese and Westerners expelled from Korea. In 1894 these revolutionary peasants began military operations by rising up against the tyranny of Cho Pyong-gap, the magistrate in Kobu county. He had forced peasants to build a new reservoir and then extorted rice from them too. Led by Chon Pong-jun, the peasants entered the county office, grabbed weapons, distributed the rice to the poor, and then destroyed Manokyo reservoir. An official arrested some Tonghak members, executed a few, and burned their homes. The Tonghaks aroused the peasants to seize more weapons, and thousands joined their army. They defeated the government troops in Kobu county and then captured Chongup, Koch’ang, Mujang, Yonggwang, and Hamp’yong. Seoul dispatched Hong Kye-hun with 800 well armed men; but half of them deserted before they reached Chonju, where they were defeated by the Tonghaks.
Korea appealed to China for military help. When they sent 3,000 men, Japan sent 7,000 troops to Inch’on. Chon Pong-jun tried to negotiate to stop the yangbans from extorting crops from the peasants and to block the foreign merchants. The Tonghaks spread out to establish more congregations in villages and to reform the abuses of local governments. Chon established the directorate headquarters at Chonju. Their 12-point program included punishing corrupt officials and wealthy extortionists, burning slavery documents, permitting young widows to remarry, banning arbitrary taxes, ending class discrimination in employment, canceling debts, and distributing land equally to cultivators.
In late July 1894 China and Japan went to war, and the Japanese drove the Chinese out of Korea by October. That month the Tonghak army marched north, but the Japanese defeated them at Kongju and again at T’aein. The Northern Assembly of Tonghak led by Ch’oe Si-hyong had denounced the armed revolt as treasonous and a betrayal of Tonghak teachings, but the peasants in the Southern Assembly were determined to fight. The Northern Assembly joined the second uprising against the Japanese, but, lacking modern weapons, the peasants were crushed by Japanese imperialism and the yangban power. Chon Pong-jun was arrested in Seoul on December 28, and he and other leaders were executed. Japan proposed that with the Chinese they could reform Korea’s administration, but China rejected this as outside interference. China lost the war, and in the April 1895 Shimonoseki Treaty they acknowledged the independence of Korea.
The Korean government demanded that the Japanese withdraw before they instituted reforms; but their forces restored the Taewon’gun to power. The Japanese minister Otori Keisuke and Kim Hong-jip’s Deliberative Council began implementing the reforms on July 26, 1894. In the first three months 208 reform laws were enacted, but after six months the Taewon’gun abolished this council. The new department of the Royal Household separated the palace affairs from the administration of the government. New ministries of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry were added to the traditional ministries of Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, Finance, Justice, Education, and Defense; but Industry did not last long.
The old examination system was abolished, and the new exams were on Korean, Chinese, calligraphy, mathematics, political science, international relations, and composition. There were special tests in scientific and technical subjects. Class distinctions were eliminated, and despised butchers and leather-workers were given equal rights. The eight provinces were organized into 23 prefectures and then into thirteen provinces as two in the north and three in the south were divided into northern and southern parts. The administration of justice was separated from the executive as a system of courts was established. All fiscal matters were put under the ministry of Finance, and taxes had to be paid in cash. Peasants had difficulty paying taxes with money. Slavery had no longer been hereditary after 1888, but now it was completely abolished. Legislation ended torture and the punishment of relatives of criminals. The minimum ages for marriage became 20 for men and 16 for women. Any widow could remarry, and illegitimate sons could inherit. Social dress codes were relaxed, and practical clothing was encouraged.
The Taewon’gun opposed the reforms and tried to replace King Kojong with his own grandson Yi Chun-yong, but the plot was discovered and stopped. The Japanese sent Inoue Kaoru, and with Japanese forces in P’yongyang he forced the Taewon’gun to retire. Inoue persuaded Kojong to appoint Pak Yong-hyo to work with Kim Hong-jip’s cabinet as a coalition government. In a ceremony on January 7, 1895 the fourteen articles of the “Guiding Principles of the Nation” were proclaimed at the Royal Ancestral Throne by the King and his family. They have been summarized as follows:
1. Korea is a sovereign nation completely independent of China.
2. The rules of succession to the throne are to be legally determined.
3. The King alone heads the government, and the Queen and other relatives are excluded from political power.
4. The finances and other affairs of the royal family are to be administered separately from those of the government.
5. The powers and functions of each official post are to be clearly defined.
6. Taxation is to be imposed solely according to law.
7. All government financial affairs without exception are to be controlled by the Ministry of Finances.
8. The expenses of the various offices are to be reduced.
9. Annual budgets are to be prepared to regularize finances.
10. The functions and jurisdictions of local administrations are to be clearly defined by law.
11. Talented persons are to be sent abroad for study in order to develop and apply modern science and technology.
12. An army is to be established on the basis of conscription.
13. Reformed civil and criminal law codes are to be enacted.
14. Appointments to government posts are to be made on the basis of merit only, without regard to social status.2
The reforms were completed by April 1895, and 16,000 of the 22,300 district officials were dismissed. When Queen Min learned that Pak Yong-hyo wanted her to abdicate, she forced him to flee with the pro-Japanese faction. Her faction led by Yi Pom-jin and Yi Wan-yong were pro-Russian and took control. The Japanese minister Miura Goro approved the assassination of Queen Min, and she was killed by Japanese civilians who accompanied a training unit and Japanese guards into the palace on October 8. The Korean commander of the training unit was also killed, and the minister of the royal household was beaten to death. Japanese troops seized King Kojong and restored the pro-Japanese government. Japan recalled Miura for trial, but he was acquitted. Kim Hong-jip once again led the cabinet and continued the reforms—adopting the Western calendar, smallpox vaccinations, and elementary schools. The military was restructured, and men were ordered to cut off their topknots. Some guerrilla groups rose up against this and the Japanese, but they were suppressed by the capital guards.
After their minister Waeber brought one hundred Russians to guard their legation in Seoul, Yi Pom-jin and others moved King Kojong into the Russian legation on February 11, 1896. Armed uprisings broke out in Korea during the first half of 1896 against the foreigners and the five Korean traitors. Kim Hong-jip and Chong Pyong-ha were arrested at a palace gate and were killed by an angry crowd. A mob also killed O Yun-jung, but Yu Ku-chun and Cho Ui-yon escaped to Japan. Yi Pom-jin and Yi Wan-yong became the leaders in the pro-Russian cabinet. Russian arms were procured, and a Russian language school was established. Japanese advisors and military trainers were replaced by Russians. In 1896 Russians were given mining rights in Homgyong province and timber rights in the Yalu River basin and permission for a coaling station on Wolmi Island off Inch’on. The Japanese owned 210 of the 258 foreign commercial companies in Korea, and 42 were Chinese.
The United States also gained economic concessions—gold mining rights in P’yongan province and the Seoul-Inch’on railway line. France built the Seoul-Uiju railway, and in 1897 Germany gained mining rights in Kangwon province. In 1898 Russia also established a coaling station on Yongdo off Pusan, and they were authorized to establish the Russo-Korean Bank. Japan was given exclusive rights to purchase coal from P’yongyang and bought the Seoul-Inch’on railway concession from the Americans, who laid electricity and water mains in Seoul. The Standard Oil Company had an oil storage depot on Wolmi Island. England was given gold mining rights in P’yongan province. Japanese banks had twenty branches in Seoul and treaty ports, and the Daiichi Bank of Japan acted as a central bank for Korea.
These foreign concessions disturbed many Koreans. So Chae-p’il had fled to Japan after the failed coup in 1884. He became a medical doctor in the United States, where he used the name Philip Jaisohn and married an American. In 1895 Pak Yong-hyo visited So and persuaded him to return to Korea. So founded the Independence Club in 1896, and within three months they had ten thousand members. Many government officials joined the Club but dropped out as it grew and became more radical. Confucian reformers such as Namgung Ok and Chong Kyo also joined. Their first project was to change the gate and hall where Chinese envoys were welcomed by renaming them Independence. So Chae-p’il started The Independent newspaper on April 7, wrote its editorials, and sponsored weekly debates. The Confucians had their own paper, the Capital Gazette (Hwangsong Sinman). The Independence Club favored a neutral foreign policy and democratic political rights. They also promoted the self-strengthening movement that was popular in China.
On February 20, 1897 King Kojong moved from the Russian legation to the Kyongun Palace, where he was protected by other legations as well. In October he announced that Korea was to be known as the Great Han Empire, and on October 12 he was crowned emperor in order to be equal to the monarchs of Japan and China. On February 9, 1898 the Independence Club organized a mass rally at the Chongno intersection in Seoul, and public opinion persuaded the government to dismiss Russian advisors and close the Russian bank. So Chae-p’il was deported and went back to the United States.
In October 1898 another mass demonstration submitted six proposals to the King recommending that Korea not rely on foreign aid, that all agreements must be approved by state ministers and the president of the Privy Council, that offenders should have public trials, that the King’s appointments must be approved by a majority of the cabinet, that the Finance ministry should have exclusive control over revenues and taxes, and that laws should be enforced. Kojong immediately agreed, and the Independence Club even elected half the Privy Council; but on November 4 the King ordered the Club dissolved and arrested seventeen of its leaders. They responded with a continuous protest meeting. Cho Pyong-sik organized the conservative Imperial Association, and hooligans from the Peddlers Guild attacked the demonstrators. Troops were called in to clear the streets, and protests were banned.
Meanwhile Russia had gained Chinese ports at Port Arthur and Dairen and was advancing in Manchuria with its Trans-Siberian Railway. In 1898 Korea had 15,062 Japanese, 2,530 Chinese, and 220 Westerners. In April 1898 Russia and Japan agreed that neither would interfere with Korea’s internal administration, but in 1900 Russia built a naval base in Masan between Vladivostok and Port Arthur. While China was preoccupied with the Boxer Rebellion, Russia moved troops into Manchuria. In January 1902 Japan formed an alliance with England to counter the Russian threat. Japan recognized English interests in China while the British accepted Japanese influence in Korea. The United States joined them in demanding that Russia withdraw from Manchuria; but the Russians only kept part of their promise, and in July 1903 they crossed the Yalu River and built a settlement in Yongamp’o, which remained a trading port after they withdrew under Japanese pressure. Japan and Russia tried to negotiate but could not agree. On February 8, 1904 the Japanese attacked Port Arthur by surprise, and two days later both sides declared war.
Japan's Annexation of Korea 1904-18
Korea had declared its neutrality in January 1904, but Japanese troops landed at Inch’on and marched to Seoul. King Kojong let the Japanese occupy strategic points and canceled all Korea’s agreements with Russia. Japan built railways from Seoul to Uiju and Pusan, took over the telegraph network, and used Korean rivers and coastal waters. Koreans especially complained when they opened up uncultivated land to Japanese colonists. Song Su-man organized the Korean Preservation Society to oppose the Japanese seizure of Korea’s uncultivated land. Japanese advisors influenced key ministries, especially Megata Tanetaro who moved into Finance in August. The American Durham W. Stevens became Foreign Affairs advisor, and he was later assassinated by two Koreans in San Francisco in 1908. Korea’s ministers to Japan, China, Germany, France, and other nations were recalled.
Japan had delayed this war until they were strong militarily and won a series of victories over the Russians, astounding the world. US president Theodore Roosevelt offered to mediate, and envoys met at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In July 1905 Japan and the United States made the secret Taft-Katsura Agreement in which Japan recognized American control over the Philippines in exchange for US acceptance of Japanese influence in Korea. The next month England made a similar deal in which Japan recognized British domination in India. Then in September the defeated Russians agreed that Japan was paramount in Korea. Japan gained Port Arthur, Dairen, and the equal right to move into Manchuria. The sovereignty of Korea was not to be recognized by any treaty as Japan took control of its foreign policy.
Japan sent Ito Hirobumi with troops to establish Korea as a protectorate in November 1905. Korean officials who opposed the treaty were forcibly removed from the chamber by Japanese gendarmes. The negotiations were kept secret because King Kojong and the government feared the independence movement. The pro-Japanese organization Ilchinhoe was led by Songo Pyong-jun and Yi Yong-gu, who were paid by the Japanese. The King’s military aide Min Yong-hwan committed suicide in protest, and several others followed his example. Hundreds of scholars petitioned at the palace gates; some committed suicide, and others joined the guerrilla forces in the countryside that called themselves “righteous armies” and fought the Japanese. Min Kung-ho led a garrison that grew into thousands and defeated the Japanese at Wonju and other places in central Korea. The Kanghwa garrison led by Yu Myong-gyu moved into Hwanghae province. Ho Wi had resigned a high position and commanded disbanded soldiers in Choksong. Ito was appointed Resident-General, and all of Korea’s army was disbanded except one battalion of palace guards.
Korean newspapers led public opinion against the treaty. The Capital Gazette published the emotional editorial “Today We Cry Out in Lamentation,” and to avoid censorship the newspaper was free and delivered to houses. Ernest T. Bethell had founded the bilingual Korea Daily News that year, which was protected from censorship because he was English; but he was deported. Missionaries generally opposed the Japanese, and in 1906 Homer B. Hulbert began publishing the Corea Review. Yi Chun and Yang Han-nuk had organized the Society for the Study of Constitutional Government, and in 1906 it became the Korea Self-Strengthening Society.
The second Tonghak patriarch Ch’oe Si-hyong had been arrested and executed in 1898, and he was succeeded by Son Pyong-hui. In 1901 Son went to Japan, visited Shanghai, and returned to Japan with 64 students. He wrote about the doctrines of the church, including personal hygiene in 1904. That summer their political organization, the Unity Association, became the Neutral Association, and they called for political reforms and independence under the King. In December 1905 Son Pyong-hui appeared in public and announced that Tonghak was renamed Ch’ondogyo (Religion of the Heavenly Way). In September 1906 Son excommunicated the collaborator Yi Yong-gu, and that year they began publishing the Independence News. Most of the Ch’ondogyo were anti-Japanese, and they claimed 310,000 believers by 1910.
In February 1906 King Kojong sent a letter to a newspaper to announce that he had not agreed to the treaty with Japan. The next year he secretly sent Yi Sang-sol, Yi Chun, and Yi Wi-jong to the second world peace conference at The Hague. Their credentials were not accepted by the conference even though they explained that Korea had not agreed to the treaty. However, Yi Wi-jong spoke at a meeting sponsored by the International Press Club, and Korea gained worldwide publicity. The Japanese blamed Kojong and forced him to abdicate in favor of his son Sunjong on July 19, 1907. An angry Korean mob destroyed the building of the Ilchinhoe newspaper. The Japanese were attacked and reacted with military force. The Japanese Resident-General formally took control of the Korean government and appointed Japanese vice-ministers in every department, replacing the “government by advisors.”
