Enlightenment vs. Anti-foreignism

– Anti-foreignism• Led by Neo-Confucian literati outside the capital• To reject heterodoxy in defense of orthodoxy• Support Taewŏngun

– Enlightenment (the progressive )• Led by scholars/officials who visited Japan• Should learn from Japan:

modernization/westernization

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Enlightenment party: the Progressives

– Returning from Japan proposed reforms

• 40 students to Japan to study military and technical subjects

• Modern army was formed• Postal Administration was established• For the preservation of Korea’s

independence, seeking foreign contacts

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Modern Army

• Special Skills Force (from yangban class)

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Soldiers’ Riot of 1882– Discontent of the traditional military units– King Kojong and Queen Min favored the elite

Special Skills Force– Traditional military units received salary with

rice ration with chaff => outraged soldiers assaulted the ration clerks => the leader was sentenced to death => riot occurred

– The return of the Taewŏngun

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Enlightenment party: the Progressives

– 1884 Coup d’Etat by the Progressives

• Coup was led by Kim Okkyun • Aim to establish an independent and

efficient modern state with an egalitarian social order

• Lasted three days

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Tonghak (Eastern Learning) Uprising in 1894

– Founder: Ch’oe Cheu (1824-1864) – Government was Queen Min’s hand: Pro-Qing– Better organized a large-scale armed peasants

uprising – Against Queen Min, driving out all foreign intruders– Under the leadership of Chŏn Pongjun (1853-1895),

a Confucian village teacher– Slogan: sustain the nation and provide for the

people– Ch’oe Cheu was arrested in 1863 and executed in

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The Kabo Reform in 1894

– The first objective was to fully establish Korea’s independence as a nation

– Organizing the modern police force and military establishment

– Reform in educational system => abolished the civil service examination => modern elementary schools, high schools and colleges established

– Social reform => the social status system totally abolished in 1894

– Adoption of the western calendar– Male’s traditional topknot (sangtu) be cut off

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What’s a top-knot (sangtu)?

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What’s in a top-knot?

“Cut my head off, but not my hair.” Ch’oe Ikhyôn, 1895

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Rise of nationalismQueen Min: pro-Russia/ pro-America government => Removed pro-Japanese from the government => Japanese minister plotted to assassinate Queen

Min

King Kojong returned to the palace in 1897 and proclaimed to the world the establishment of the independent “Great Han Empire.”

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The Great (?) Han Empire

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c. 1895 c. 1903

From Kingdom to Empire

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Keyword Presentation

Sŏ Chaep’il (Philip Jaisohn)

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Keyword Presentation

Shin Ch’ae-ho

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The Independence Club (Tongnip Hyŏphoe)

Founded by Sŏ Chaep’il (Philip Jaisohn) in 1896• Lived in exile in America since 1884• American citizen with a medical degree

– New intellectual class: exposed to Western liberalism

– Secure the nation’s independence and the “rights of the people”

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The Independence Club (Tongnip Hyŏphoe)

Principle goals– Opposed the granting of economic concessions;

Urged to adopt an independent and neutral foreign policy, favoring none

– Promote a self-strengthening movement: education system, building textile and paper mills, and ironworks, modern national defense => Korea for the Koreans

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The Independence Club (Tongnip Hyŏphoe)

Initiated a democratic people’s rights movement in order to increase popular participation in the political process => Asserting the right of the individual to the security of his

person and property, the rights of free speech and assembly, the full equality of all people, and the doctrine of popular sovereignty

Tongnip sinmun (The Independent)

Kojong strict suppression => the Club closed

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Tongnip sinmun(The Independent)

• 4/7/1896-12/4/1899• Korean script (Hangûl)

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Modernization movementTrolley lines, city lighting plant, waterworks, and

telephone networks in Seoul: by American, James R. Morse (1895)

First railroad: from Seoul to Inch’ ŏn (1899)Bilingual newspaper (Korean and English):

Tongnip Sinmun or The Independent (1896)Hwangson Sinmun (Capital Gazette): forum for

Confucianist reform

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Hwangsông sinmun

• 9/5/1898 – 9/14/1910• Mixed script

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Hansông sunbo

10/31/1883-12/4/1884• Government

bulletin/newspaper• Chinese script (Hanmun)

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The Protectorate Treaty of 1905• Japanese statesman, Ito Hirobumi entered the palace

with an escort of Japanese troops => demanded that they accept the draft treaty Japan prepared => opposition were dragged from the chamber => sealed without Kojong’s consent

• Five officials agreed including Yi Wanyong (Ŭlsa Five Thieves)

• Gave full authority over all aspects of Korea’s relations with foreign countries to the Japanese foreign office

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• Kojong’s opposition to the Treaty => published in Korea Daily News in 1907

• In 1907, Kojong secretly sent delegation to the Netherlands (The Second Hague Peace Conference) to expose the injustice done by Japanese

=> the conference refused to seat the Korean delegates or accept their petition => Japan demanding that Kojong accept the responsibility

=> relinquishing the throne in 1907 => crown prince Sunjong became emperor => new

agreement signed

• The new agreement: the Japanese resident-general formal authority to intercede in all matters of internal administration

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Kojong sent letters to… • King Edward VII of the United Kingdom• President Armand Fallières of France• Emperor Nicholas II of Russia• Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary• King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy• King Léopold II of Belgium• Emperor Kuang-hsu of China• Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany 

• Gojong sent three secret emissaries to the second international Hague Peace Convention to protest the unfairness of the Eulsa Treaty

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Kojong’s Letter

PD-OLD-70. [Gojong of Korea]]'s retraction of the [[Eulsa Treaty]], sent to England in 1905. Retrieved from [http://www.kyosu.net/ ?news/view/id=8969]

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• In 1907, the association for Redemption of the National Debt was organized => campaign to repay the immense debts => seen as anti-Japanese movement =>suppressed

• Ito Hirobumi was assassinated in 1909 by a Korean patriot, An Chunggŭn

• Terauchi Masatake, the war minister in the Japanese cabinet => suspended the publication of Korean newspapers => he worked out the terms of the annexation treaty with the Korean Prime Minister Yi Wanyong => Korea was colonized in 1910.

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Keyword Presentation

• An Chunggûn 안중근 (1879-1910)

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An Chunggûn 안중근(1879-1910)

Ito Hirobumi arrives in Harbin (1909)

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The most famous handprint inKorean history

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Modern Nationalistic Culture– Modern schools:

• Government schools: primary, middle normal and foreign language schools

• First modern private school: Wŏnsan Academy in 1883

– Seoul Young Men’s Christian Association found in 1903 => led many organizations for the Korean youth

– Taejonggyo (Religion of Tangun Worshippers) founded in 1909

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– Standardization of Korean writing– Scholars of Korean history active during this

period => foster a sense of national pride and self-respect

– Great interest in world history– New novel (sin sosŏl) was born => a bridge

between the old fiction and modern Korean literature

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