The History of Korea (vol. 2 of 2)

by Homer B. Hulbert

Since the year 1456 Buddhist monks had been forbidden to enter Seoul. This was part of the general policy of this dynasty to give Buddhism no political foothold. Now the Japanese secured from the government a reinstatement of the Buddhists in their original position and for the first time in four centuries and a half the mendicant monk with his wooden gong and rosary begged on the streets of Seoul.

In April a great misfortune overtook the house of the ex-Regent. His grandson, Yi Chun-yong, nephew to the king, was arrested and charged with having connived with tonghaks and others to depose the king and assume the reins of power. It was not shown that Yi Chun-yong had been a main mover in the scheme or that he had even favored the idea, but the very fact that his name had been used in such a connection was enough to send him into banishment on the island of Kyo-dong, off Kang-wha. Four other men connected with this affair were executed. This was a severe blow to the ex-Regent and did much to bring him to the point which made possible the terrible events of the following October.

The sixth of June witnessed a great celebration in Seoul, which has gone down in history as Independence Day. A fete was held in the “Old Palace” which exceeded in brilliancy any similar demonstration since the opening of Korea to foreign relations.

It was inevitable that, from the moment of his arrival in Korea, Pok Yong-hyo should be at sword’s points with the Tă-wŭn-gun, for the returned refugee represented the radical wing of the reform party, which the ex-Regent had always bitterly opposed; and besides the presence of such a strong man would necessarily subtract from the influence of the aged but autocratic prince. It is probable that the Japanese brought Pak Yong-hyo back to Korea under the impression[impression] that he would prove a willing instrument in their hands, but they soon discovered that he had ideas and opinions of his own and that he was working rather for Korea than for Japan. He failed to fall in with some of the plans which would help the Japanese but at the expense of Korea and, in fine, he became something of an embarrassment to his former benefactors. Meanwhile the king and queen were both attached to him, and this for several reasons. He was a near relative of the king and would have no cause for desiring a change in the status of the reigning house; in the second place he was a determined enemy of the Tă-wŭn-gun, and in the third place he was sure to work against a too liberal policy toward the Japanese. This attitude of increasing friendliness between him and the Royal family was a further cause of uneasiness to the Japanese, although Count Inouye himself had done much to win the good will of the queen. Finally Pak Yong-hyo had won the lasting gratitude of the king and queen by exposing the machinations of Yi Chun-yong.

The ex-Regent was determined that Pak Yong-hyo should be gotten out of the way. To this end he concocted a scheme which, with the probable sanction of the Japanese, seemed to promise success. He laid before the king certain grave charges of treason against Pak, which, though not believed either by the king or the queen, convinced them that it would be impossible to shield him from probable destruction; for the people still called him a traitor, the ex-Regent would spare no pains to see him put out of the way and it was evident that the Japanese would not take any strong measures to protect him. The queen called him up and advised him to make good his escape before action could be taken on the charge of treason. He complied and forthwith escaped again to Japan. He had not as yet broken with the Japanese and they were doubtless glad to help him away. It was early in July that he passed off the stage, perhaps for ever, and thus there were lost to Korea the services of one of the most genuinely patriotic Koreans of modern times. If the Japanese could have determinedly put the ex-Regent in the background and allowed Pak Yong-hyo to work out his plans on terms of amity with the Royal family all the evils which followed might easily have been averted. It was this act, as we believe, of allowing the ex-Regent to carry out his scheme of personal revenge that caused the whole trouble and there never was a time, before or since, when brighter hopes for Korea were more ruthlessly sacrificed.

But progressive measures kept on apace and during July the government issued new and important mining, quarantine and army regulations and organized a domestic postal system. A valuable mining concession in the district of Un-san in the north was granted to an American syndicate, a transaction that has proved the most profitable, at least to the foreigner, of any attempt to open up the resources of Korea.

Near the end of the month Korea suffered the misfortune of seeing Count Inouye retire from the Legation in Seoul and return to Japan. Never did the Japanese have such need of a strong and upright man in Seoul and never had a Japanese Minister in Seoul opportunity for greater distinction. There are those who believe that he despaired of accomplishing anything so long as the two opposing factions in Seoul were led by personalities so strong and so implacable in their mutual hatred as the queen and the ex-Regent. It is not unlikely that he felt that until one or other of these should be permanently removed from the field of action there could be no real opportunity for the renovation of Korea. This by no means implies that he desired such removal to be effected by forcible means but it is not unnatural to suppose that he must have given expression to the conviction as to the futility of doing anything under existing conditions in the peninsula. There have been some who have believed that the Japanese authorities in Tokyo determined upon the removal of the obstacle in Seoul by any means in their power. Subsequent events gave some color to this surmise but we cannot and do not believe that the Japanese government was a party to the plot which ended in the tragedy of the following October but that a fanatical and injudicious Japanese Minister to Korea privately gave his sanction to an act which the Japanese government would have sternly forbidden had they been consulted.

THE AMERICAN MINES AT TA-BA-WI.

The summer of 1895 witnessed the first serious epidemic of cholera in Korea since the far more destructive one of 1886. Special plague hospitals were erected in Seoul and in spite of their temporary and inadequate nature the foreign protestant missionaries of Seoul, who were in charge, accomplished very much in the way of local relief. It is impossible to say what the total mortality in Seoul was, to say nothing of the country at large, but it is probable that ten or twelve thousand people died in the Capital before the subsidence of the epidemic.