Korea

by A. Hamilton

A MOMENT OF LEISURE

Korea is an extremely mountainous country. Islands, harbours, and mountains are its most pronounced natural features, and nearly the whole of the coast consists of the slopes of the various mountain ranges which come down to the sea. There are many patches upon the west, where the approaches are less precipitous and rugged than upon the east. The coast seems to follow the contour of the mountains. It presents, particularly from the east, that lofty and inaccessible barrier of forest-clad country, which has won the admiration of all navigators and struck terror into the hearts of those who have met with disaster upon its barren and rocky shores. From Paik-tu-san to Wi-ju there is one mighty and natural panorama of mountains with snow-clad, cloud-wrapped summits, and beautiful valleys with rich crops and quaintly placed, low-thatched hovels, through which rivers course like angry silver. Everywhere in the north the mountains predominate; monstrous in shape and size. They are rich in minerals; they have become sepulchres for the dead and mines for the living—for in their keeping lies the wealth of the ages, coal and iron and gold; upon their summits, resting beneath the sky or within some nook hewn from their rugged slopes, are the graves of the dead. Mining and agriculture are almost the sole natural resources of the kingdom. There are great possibilities, however, in the awakening energies and instincts of the people, which may lead them to create markets of their own by growing more than suffices for their immediate requirements. As yet, notwithstanding the improvements which have been inaugurated, and the industrial schemes, which the government has introduced, the reform movement lacks cohesion. Indeed the nation is without ambition. But the prospect is hopeful. Already something has been accomplished in the right direction.

At present, however, Korea is in a state of transition. Everything is undefined and indetermined; the past is in ruins, the present and the future are in the rough. Reforms are scarce a decade old, and, while many abuses have been redressed, the reform movement suffers for lack of support, comprehension, and toleration. The aspirations of the few are extending but slowly to the nation. Progress is gradual and the interval is tedious. The commercial phase of the movement is full of vitality, and the factories which have been established show the evolution of enterprise from aspiration. Foreigners are introducing education, while the present commercial activities are attributable to their suggestion and assistance. The small response, which these efforts elicit, make the labour of keeping the nation in the right direction very difficult. The people can scarcely relapse into the conservatism of ancient days, but they may collapse altogether, owing to the unfortunate circumstances which are now making Korea an object of ironical and interested observation among the Western Powers. She may be absorbed, annexed, or divided; in endeavouring to remain independent, she may wreck herself in the general anarchy that may overtake her. She has given much promise. She has constituted a Customs service, joined in the Postal Union and opened her ports. She has admitted railways and telegraphs, and shown kindness, consideration and hospitality to every condition of foreigner within her gates. Her confidence has been that of a child and her faults are those of the nursery. She is so old and yet so infinitely young; and, by a curious fatality, she is now face to face with a situation which again and again has occurred in her past history.

The introduction of Western inventions to Korea has gradually eliminated from contemporary Korean life many customs which, associated with the people and their traditions from time immemorial, imparted much of the repose and picturesqueness which have so far distinguished the little kingdom. Korea, in the twentieth century, bears ample evidence of the forward movement which is stimulating its people. Once the least progressive of the countries of the Far East, she now affords an exception almost as noticeable as that shown by the prompt assimilation of Western ideas and methods by Japan. Chemulpo, however, the centre in which an important foreign settlement and open port have sprung up, does not suggest in itself the completeness of the transformation which in a few years has taken place in the capital. It is twenty years since Chemulpo was opened to foreign trade, and to-day it boasts a magnificent bund, wide streets, imposing shops, and a train service which connects it with the capital. Its sky is threaded with a maze of telephone and telegraph wire, there are several hotels conducted upon Western principles, and there is, also, an international club.

At the threshold of the new century, the port presents an interesting study. With the adjoining Ha-do, a hamlet of military pretensions, it has grown in the twenty years of its existence from a cluster of fishermen’s huts behind a hill along the river at Man-sak-dong into a prosperous cosmopolitan centre of twenty thousand people. Its growth, since the first treaty was negotiated with the West upon May 22, 1882, by the American Admiral Shufeldt, has been extraordinary. Its earlier years gave no promise of its rapid and significant advance. Trade has flourished, and a boom in the trade of the port has sent up the value of local properties. There is now danger of a decline in this state of affluence which may, in view of the chaos and uncertainty of the future of the kingdom, retard the settlement and disastrously affect its present prosperity. From small and uncertain beginnings four well-built, well-lighted settlements have sprung up, expanding into a general foreign, a Japanese, a Chinese, and a Korean quarter. The Japanese section is the best located and the most promising. The interests of this particular nation are also the most prominent in the export and import trade of the port, a position which is emphasised still further by the important nature of its vested interests, among which the railroad between Seoul, the capital, and Chemulpo, with the trunk extension to Fusan, is paramount. The Japanese population increased by nearly five hundred during 1901. It then numbered some four thousand six hundred, of whom a few hundred were soldiers constituting a temporary garrison for the settlement. However, since the modification by the Japanese Government of the emigration laws with reference to China and Korea, under which, in the first weeks of 1902, the necessity for travelling passports was abolished in the case of these two countries, there has been a great increase in the number of Japanese residents at the treaty ports. The settlement at Chemulpo now embraces one thousand two hundred and eighty-two houses, and possesses a population of five thousand nine hundred and seventy-three adults. The census of the Chinese settlement fluctuates with the season; considerable numbers of farmers cross from Shan-tung to Korea during the summer, returning to their native land in winter. In the period of exodus from China, the Chinese population exceeds twelve hundred. The complete strength of the general foreign settlement is eighty-six, of which some twenty-nine are British. The one British firm in Korea is established in Chemulpo.

AT THE WELLS

There are many nationalities in Chemulpo, and the small community, excluding the Japanese and Chinese, is made up as follows: British, twenty-nine and one firm, the remaining twenty-eight being attached to the Vice-Consulate, the Customs, and a missionary society; American, eight and two firms; French, six and one firm; German, sixteen and one firm; Italian, seven and one firm; Russian, four and two firms; Greek, two and one firm; Portuguese seven, Hungarian five, and Dutch two, the last three possessing no firms in the port.

If British interests are not materially represented in Chemulpo, other nationalities are less backward. By means of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the journey from London to Chemulpo can now be accomplished within twenty-one days. When the Seoul-Fusan Railway is finished, communication between the East and the West will be still further facilitated. It is intended that less than two days shall suffice for the connection between Chemulpo and Tokio. Meanwhile the service of the Chinese Eastern Railway Company’s steamers between Port Arthur, Dalny and Chemulpo has been accelerated. In addition, also, imposing new offices have been erected at the port. It is much to be regretted that there is no regular service of British steamers to the ports of Korea. In singular contrast to the apathy of British steamship companies is the action of the Hamburg-America Company, which has now arranged for the periodic visits of its steamers to Chemulpo. From a commercial standpoint the port has become an important distributing centre. Foreign trade with the capital and its environs passes through it, and the administrative officers of the more important gold-mining concessions, of which there are now four, American, Japanese, French, and British, have settled there. A cigarette factory, supported by the Government, is now in operation in the port. During 1901 ninety-three men-of-war entered Chemulpo, of which thirty-five were Japanese, twenty-one English, fifteen Russian, eleven French, five Austrian, four German, one Italian, and one American. Of steamers and sailing-vessels there were 1036, of which 567 were Japanese with 304 steamers, 369 Korean junks and steamers, twenty-one Russian steamers, eight American sailing-ships and one American steamer, four English steamers, three German steamers, sixty-two Chinese junks, and one Norwegian steamer—forty-seven more men-of-war and seventy more merchant vessels than in 1900. The shipping which entered and cleared at the port during 1900 was 370,416 tons, realising a small increase upon previous years; of these, 500 steamers with 287,082 tonnage were Japanese, 261 steamers with 45,516 tons were Korean, forty-one steamers of 27,999 tons Russian, two steamers of 4416 tons British, four steamers of 2918 tons German. The complete return of all shipping entered at the open ports of Korea during the year 1902—the latest under review—is added as a separate table at the end of this book.