A History of Korea (62 page)

In 1895 Japan had won the Sino-Japanese War decisively, but the triple intervention of Russia, Germany, and France had forced it to give up many of the spoils gained in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. In 1896 Russia signed a treaty with China to extend its trans-Siberian railway across China’s Manchurian provinces. In 1900, in response to the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Russians occupied Manchuria and then refused to withdraw. In January 1902, determined to prevent another European revision if it went to war again, Japan signed an alliance with Great Britain. By the terms of the treaty that was aimed at containing the Russian threat, Japan recognized British rights and interests in China in exchange for Great Britain’s acknowledgment of Japan’s special interests in Chos
ŏ
n. If one of them became involved in a war with another power in East Asia, the other would remain neutral. If one of them found itself at war with more than one enemy, however, the other would fight on its behalf. Thus the Anglo-Japanese Alliance meant that when the Russo-Japanese War began, Japan could have greater assurance that France would not intervene on behalf of its Russian ally for fear of Britain coming to the aid of Japan. Emboldened by the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Japan launched a surprise attack on Russian naval forces at Port Arthur on the tip of the Liaodong peninsula on 10 February 1904, heralding the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.

One month earlier, as war between Japan and Russia became imminent, Chos
ŏ
n had formally proclaimed its neutrality. Japan ignored this, however,
and sent troops into Seoul to occupy a number of government buildings. On 23 February, by threat of force, Japan compelled Chos
ŏ
n to sign a protocol seriously infringing on the latter’s sovereignty. Under the cloak of a rhetorical provision that Japan would respect Chos
ŏ
n’s independence and territorial integrity, Japan could interfere in Chos
ŏ
n’s internal affairs and occupy strategic points throughout the country. On 18 May 1904 Chos
ŏ
n was forced to declare that all its agreements with Russia were void. Japan now started construction on the Seoul-Pusan and Seoul-Sin
ŭ
iju railroads necessary to wage war with Russia. As the Japanese requisitioned Korean lands and labor, the Korean people violently protested. In June Japan demanded the right to open up all state-owned uncultivated lands, amounting to one-third of Chos
ŏ
n’s entire territory, to development by Japanese colonists. In the face of the Koreans’ stiff opposition, however, Japan dropped its demand.

To further interfere with Chos
ŏ
n’s internal administration, on 21 August 1904 Japan forced Chos
ŏ
n to sign a new agreement stating that foreign advisers should be installed in strategic government ministries. By its terms, Chos
ŏ
n agreed to employ a Japanese financial adviser named by Japan and to follow his advice in all matters related to fiscal administration. A foreign affairs adviser recommended by Japan was also to be hired to handle all diplomatic affairs. Megata Tanetaro, a high-ranking official of the Japanese Ministry of Finance, was named as the financial adviser, and an American, Durham W. Stevens, was selected as the foreign affairs adviser. Megata assumed full authority over Chos
ŏ
n’s financial administration and immediately devalued the Chos
ŏ
n currency, absorbing it into the Japanese monetary system. Stevens served as the “hands and feet” of the Japanese government between 1904 and 1907. When he went to the United States to justify and propagate Japanese control of Chos
ŏ
n in March 1908, he was assassinated in San Francisco by two Korean expatriates, Ch
ŏ
n My
ŏ
ng-un and Chang In-hwan. Later the Chos
ŏ
n government was forced to employ four additional advisers not stipulated in the agreement: an adviser in the Ministry of Defense, a police adviser, an adviser on royal household affairs, and an adviser in the Ministry of Education. In April 1905 Japan took control of postal, telegraph, and telephone services in Chos
ŏ
n. Although Japan had created a “government by advisers” in Chos
ŏ
n, the actual administrative authority was completely in Japanese hands, and Chos
ŏ
n’s sovereignty and independence were in name only.

In a series of land and naval engagements, Japan scored startling victories against Russia. The Japanese navy destroyed the Russian Baltic fleet at the Tsushima
Strait in May 1905. Great Britain helped Japan by blocking the passage of the Russian fleet at the Suez Canal, which forced the Baltic fleet to circle the African continent, sapping its fighting power. Despite their victories, the financially and militarily overextended Japanese were poorly positioned to carry out a lengthy war. The war nearly bankrupted Japan, while, on the Russian side, popular discontent and revolutionary outbreaks threatened the government’s very survival. Eventually, as the war dragged on, the United States stepped in to mediate the conflict. President Theodore Roosevelt, responding to a Japanese request, was eager to see a settlement that would restore peace and the balance of power in East Asia. Offering to be a mediator, he invited Japanese and Russian diplomats to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for negotiations. Ultimately, a peace was reached, the Treaty of Portsmouth, that signaled victory for Japan and defeat for Russia.

Shortly before the final discussions in Portsmouth were to begin, Roosevelt dispatched his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, to the Philippines by way of Japan. During his stopover in Tokyo, Taft spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro on 29 July 1905 and reached a secret understanding that would become known as the Taft-Katsura Memorandum: the United States would recognize Japan’s paramount interests in Chos
ŏ
n in return for Japan’s recognition of U.S. special interests in the Philippines. Hence the United States was prepared to sacrifice Chos
ŏ
n’s independence to strengthen its position in the Philippines. The United States was not alone; on 12 August 1905 Great Britain also agreed to recognize Japan’s special interests in Chos
ŏ
n. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on 5 September 1905, officially ending the Russo-Japanese War. As a result, Japanese rights in Manchuria were extended to include the lease of Port Arthur and Darian and their adjacent territories and the lease of the Changchun–Port Arthur Railroad with all its branches. The southern half of Sakhalin and all the islands adjacent to it (the Kuril Islands) were ceded to Japan. The most important terms in the treaty were Russia’s acknowledgment that Japan possessed predominant political, military, and economic interests in Chos
ŏ
n, and Russia’s pledge not to prevent Japan from taking whatever actions it deemed necessary for the direction, protection, and supervision of Chos
ŏ
n. Japan finally succeeded in removing the last threat posed by Russia to its control of Chos
ŏ
n. Soon after the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, Kojong quietly dispatched the American Homer B. Hulbert, a longtime friend of Chos
ŏ
n, to the United States to plead the Chos
ŏ
n case to President Roosevelt. The plea fell on deaf ears. Now Chos
ŏ
n was left to the mercy of Japan.

Having won firm recognition from Russia, Great Britain, and the United States of its paramount interests in Chos
ŏ
n, Japan immediately proceeded to make the kingdom a protectorate, with a semi-colonial government. Aware of the intense anti-Japanese feelings among the Korean people, Japan first employed its front organization in Chos
ŏ
n, the Ilchinhoe, or Integration Promotion Society, to justify the need for a protectorate treaty and spread the lie that the Koreans, not the Japanese, demanded a protectorate status. The Ilchinhoe was formed and headed by Song Py
ŏ
ng-jun, an interpreter for the Japanese army in Seoul, and Yi Yong-gu, a Tonghak apostate. It was supported financially by the Japanese and directed by Japanese advisers. Japan’s attempt to mislead the Korean people through this pro-Japanese body was foiled by the patriotic activities of several anti-Japanese organizations, which condemned the Ilchinhoe’s treachery to the nation, and by the Confucian literati who filed protests against Japan’s scheme to establish a protectorate. In response, Japan sent its elder politician, Ito Hirobumi, to force the protectorate treaty on Chos
ŏ
n. Ito was assisted by Hayashi Gonsuke, the Japanese minister to Chos
ŏ
n, and Hasegawa Yoshimichi, commander of Japanese forces in Chos
ŏ
n. On 17 November 1905 Ito and Hayashi entered Kojong’s palace with Japanese troops and forced the king and his eight ministers into a meeting to accept the treaty that Japan had drawn up. Kojong entrusted each minister with the power to evaluate the fateful treaty. Prime Minister Han Kyu-s
ŏ
l violently opposed the treaty and was supported by Minister of Finance Min Y
ŏ
ng-gi and Minister of Justice Yi Ha-y
ŏ
ng. Supporters included Minister of Education Yi Wan-yong, Minister of Defense Yi K
ŭ
n-t’aek, Minister of Home Affairs Yi Chi-yong, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pak Chesun, and Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry Kw
ŏ
n Chung-hy
ŏ
n. The supporters have been recorded in history as the “Five National Traitors of 1905.” Soon Japanese soldiers went to the Foreign Ministry to deliver the seal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs so that the Japanese themselves could affix it to the treaty. Reportedly Kojong refused to sign the treaty to the end. As the king had the right to enter into a treaty with foreign nations, the protectorate treaty that did not obtain his sanction was legally invalid. The Japanese insisted it was valid, however. Referred to in English as the Protectorate Treaty, the Koreans simply call it the Treaty of 1905. The treaty created the Office of the Resident-General and invested it with full authority over Chos
ŏ
n’s diplomacy and foreign affairs, eliminating almost all aspects of Chos
ŏ
n’s sovereignty.
⁷
Ito
Hirobumi, the chief mastermind of Japanese imperialism in Chos
ŏ
n, became the first Resident-General in March 1906. He was shot and killed on 26 October 1909 by a Korean, An Chung-g
ŭ
n, at the Harbin railroad station in Manchuria while inspecting Russian troops.The Treaty of 1905 triggered bitter anger and opposition from the Korean people in general. In his 20 November 1905 editorial, “Siirya pangs
ŏ
ng taegok,” or Today We Cry Out in Great Lamentation, in the
Taehan maeil sinbo,
or Great Korea Daily News, Chang Chi-y
ŏ
n inflamed the Koreans’ resentment of the treaty. Countless memorials, including that of the former prime minister Han Kyu-s
ŏ
l, denouncing Japanese aggression were presented to the king. In his indignation and grief, Min Y
ŏ
ng-hwan, military aide-de-camp to Kojong, left an impassioned testament to the nation and took his own life. Many other outraged officials followed suit including Cho Py
ŏ
ng-se, a former left state councilor; Hong Man-sik, a former vice minister; and Song Py
ŏ
ng-s
ŏ
n, a former inspector-general. At the same time
ŭ
iby
ŏ
ng militia forces revolted throughout the country against Japan’s ruthless aggression. Min Chong-sik and his some 1,000-man army killed more than 100 Japanese troops, seizing Hongs
ŏ
ng in Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province. Ch’oe Ik-hy
ŏ
n and Im Py
ŏ
ng-ch’an raised armed forces at T’aein, Ch
ŏ
lla province, but they were defeated by the Japanese and sent into banishment on the Japanese island of Tsushima. Sin Tol-s
ŏ
k’s forces grew into more than 3,000 men and took action in Ky
ŏ
ngsang and Kangw
ŏ
n provinces. But none of these efforts could halt Japan’s domination of Chos
ŏ
n.

In April 1907, as a last-ditch effort to save his country’s independence, Kojong dispatched secret envoys to the Second World Peace Conference, to be held in June, in the Hague, the Netherlands. The envoys would plead to the world body that Chos
ŏ
n should regain independence, as Japan had forced the Treaty of 1905 on the kingdom. Yi Chun and Yi Sang-s
ŏ
l, who were joined by Yi Wijong in St. Petersburg, Russia, carried Kojong’s sealed letter to the conference. Upon their arrival, however, the Japanese delegates fiercely lobbied to obstruct the envoys’ admittance, and the conference rejected Chos
ŏ
n’s delegates on the grounds that Chos
ŏ
n did not have authority over its own foreign affairs. The three Chos
ŏ
n envoys then visited the representatives of each country and the press club, asking for their help in the Chos
ŏ
n cause. On 8 July Yi Wi-jong spoke before an international meeting of journalists held at the same time in the Hague, assailing Japanese aggression in Chos
ŏ
n and seeking international support
for the restoration of its sovereignty, but all to no avail. The mission failed. Overwrought with grief, Yi Chun died in the city. Because Chos
ŏ
n lacked economic and military strength to preserve its sovereignty, the international effort was ineffective.

Using this incident as a pretext, Japan further strengthened its grip on Chos
ŏ
n, forcing the recalcitrant Kojong to abdicate in favor of his son. On 20 July 1907 Sunjong ascended the throne, and his reign was titled
Yungh
ŭ
i,
or Abundant Prosperity. The abdication of Kojong further enraged the already stricken people, driving them into a series of daily massive protest demonstrations. The Koreans destroyed the building housing the
K
ŭ
ngmin sinbo,
or National News, the official voice of the pro-Japanese Ilchinhoe, and attacked the Japanese everywhere.