The History of Korea (vol. 2 of 2)

by Homer B. Hulbert

From the time when the Russians retired beyond the Yalu warlike operations between the two belligerents were[were] confined to northeast Korea though even there very little was doing. The Vladivostock squadron was still in being and on April 25 it appeared at the mouth of Wonsan harbor. Only one small Japanese boat was at anchor there, the Goyo Maru, and this was destroyed by a torpedo boat which came in for the express purpose. Of course this created intense excitement in the town and there was a hurried exodus of women and children, but the Russians had no intention of bombarding the place and soon took their departure[departure]. Only a few hours before, the Kinshiu, a Japanese transport with upwards of 150 troops on board, had sailed for Sŭng-ju to the north of Wonsan but meeting bad weather in the night the torpedo-boats that accompanied her were obliged to run for shelter and the Kinshiu turned back for Wonsan. By so doing she soon ran into the arms of the Russian fleet and refusing to surrender she was sunk, but forty-five of the troops on board effected their escape to the mainland.

It was only a few days before this that a force of Cossacks had made a dash down the eastern coast as far as Ham-heung which they entered after a two hours’ skirmish with Korean troops. They burned about 300 houses in the suburbs of the town and also fourteen kan of the celebrated “Ten Thousand Year Bridge,” the longest in Korea. After this they retired to the north. But from that time on the whole northeast has been scoured by parties of Russians and the Japanese have paid no attention to them except to place troops at Wonsan and Ham-heung to hold these places. On August 8th a small Russian force penetrated south to the very suburbs of Wonsan but were speedily repulsed by the Japanese who had thrown up intrenchments and were quite ready to meet any assault. The Russians worked with great energy in repairing the road from the Tuman River down to Sung-su, and even south of that place. They even built good graded roads across two of the high passes south of Sung-jin until they came in contact with the Japanese outposts twenty miles above Ham-heung. Neither side seemed to desire to assume the offensive and so matters stood until the end of the year, and the coming of the northern winter put a stop to active operations. The only other incident worthy of mention in this connection was the wanton attack upon the town of Wonsan by the Russian fleet on the last day of June. On that morning seven Russian torpedo-boats entered the harbor and after inquiring where the Japanese barracks and other public buildings were situated began shelling the town. In a panic the peaceful denizens of the place fled to the shelter of the hills. The Russians gave no warning of the attack even though many foreigners of various nationalities resided there and might easily have been injured. After firing over 200 shells without doing any considerable damage the torpedo boats withdrew.

We must now go back and inquire into important civil matters. We have seen that no strong attempt was made by the Japanese to secure reforms in the administration of the Korean Government and for this reason many of the best Koreans were[were] dissatisfied with the way things were going. Therefore it was doubly unfortunate that on the seventeenth of June the Japanese authorities should make the startling suggestion that all uncultivated land in the Peninsula as well as other national resources should be thrown open to the Japanese. This appears to have been a scheme evolved by one Nagamori and broached by him so speciously to the powers in Tokyo that they backed him in it; but there can be no question that it was a grave mistake. There is no other point on which the Korean is so sensitive as upon that of his land. He is a son of the soil, and agriculture is the basis of all his institutions. The mere proposal raised an instant storm of protest from one end of Korea to the other. The Koreans saw in this move the entering wedge which would rive the country. It was the beginning of the end. This excessive show of feeling was not expected by the Japanese and it is probable that their intentions were by no means so black as the Koreans pictured them. The very general terms in which the proposal was worded and the almost entire lack of limiting particulars gave occasion for all sorts of wild conjectures and, it must be confessed, left the door open to very wide constructions. The time was unpropitious, the method was unfortunate and the subject-matter of the proposal itself was questionable. The all-important matter of water supply and control, the difficulties of jurisdiction on account of the extraterritorial rights implied in the proposal and other allied questions immediately presented themselves to the minds of Koreans and they recognized the fact that the carrying out of this plan would necessarily result in a Japanese protectorate if not absolute absorption into the Empire of Japan. The Japanese do not seem to have followed the logic of the matter to this point or else had not believed the Koreans capable of doing so. But when the storm of protest broke it carried everything before it. The Japanese were not prepared to carry the thing to extremes and after repeated attempts at a compromise the matter was dropped, though the Japanese neither withdrew their request nor accepted the refusal of the Korean Government. It is a matter of great regret that the Japanese did not quietly and steadily press the question of internal reforms, and by so doing hasten the time when the Korean people as a whole would repose such confidence in the good intentions of the neighbor country that even such plans as this of the waste lands could be carried through without serious opposition; for it is quite sure that there is a large area of fallow land in Korea which might well be put under the plow.

During the weeks when the Japanese were pressing for a favorable answer to the waste land proposition the Koreans adopted a characteristic method of opposition. A society called the Po-an-whe was formed. The name means “Society for the Promotion of Peace and Safety.” It had among its membership some of the leading Korean officials. It held meetings at the cotton guild in the center of Seoul and a good deal of excited discussion took place as to ways and means for defeating the purpose of the Japanese. At the same time memorials by the some poured in upon the Emperor, beseeching him not to give way to the demands. The Japanese determined that these forms of opposition must be put down, so on July the 16th the meeting of the society was broken in upon by the Japanese police and some of the leading members were forcibly carried away to the Japanese police station. Other raids were made upon the society and more of its members were arrested and its papers confiscated. The Japanese warned the government that these attempts to stir up a riot must be put down with a stern hand and demanded that those who persisted in sending in memorials against the Japanese be arrested and punished. If the Korean government would not do it the Japanese threatened to take the law into their own hands. The Japanese troops in Seoul were augmented until the number was fully 6,000.

The agitation was not confined to Seoul, for leading Koreans sent out circular letters to all the country districts urging the people to come up to Seoul and make a monster demonstration which should convince the Japanese that they were in dead earnest. Many of these letters were suppressed by the prefects but in spite of this the news spread far and wide and the society enrolled thousands of members in every province.

The effect of this was seen when, early in August, the Japanese military authorities asked for the services of 6,000 Korean coolies in the north at handsome wages. The number was apportioned among different provinces, but the results were meager. Disaffected persons spread the report that these coolies would be put on the fighting line, and it was with the greatest difficulty that two thousand were secured. There were sanguinary fights in many towns where attempts were made to force coolies to go against their will. It was perfectly[perfectly] right for the Japanese to wish to secure such labor, but the tide of public sentiment was flowing strong in the other direction because of the attempt to secure the waste land and because of the suspension of the right of free speech.

The cessation of Japanese efforts to push the waste land measure did not put an end to agitation throughout the country, and the Il-chin society continued to carry on its propaganda until on August 22nd a new society took the field, named the Il-chin Society[Society]. This was protected by the Japanese police who allowed only properly accredited members to enter its doors. This looked as if it were intended as a counter-move to the Il-chin Society, and as the latter was having very little success a third society took up the gauntlet under the name of the Kuk-min or “National People’s” Society. The platforms promulgated by all these societies were quite faultless but the institutions had no power whatever to carry out their laudable plans and so received only the smiles of the public.

During the summer the Japanese suggested that it would be well for Korea to recall her foreign representatives. The idea was to have Korean diplomatic business abroad transacted through Japanese legations. Whether this was a serious attempt or only a feeler put out to get the sense of the Korean government we are unable to say, but up to the end of the year the matter was not pushed, and the nomination by the Japanese of Mr. Stevens, an American[American] subject as adviser to the Foreign Office would seem to indicate that the existing diplomatic arrangements will be continued for the time being.

The various societies which had been formed as protests against existing conditions stated some things that ought to be accomplished but suggested no means by which they could be done. The difficulty which besets the country is the lack of general education, and no genuine improvement can be looked for until the people be educated up to it. For this reason a number of foreigners joined themselves into the Educational Association of Korea, their aim being to provide suitable text books for Korean schools and to help in other ways toward the solution of the great question. About the same time the Minister of Education presented the government with a recommendation that the graduates of the Government schools be given the preference in the distribution of public offices. This had no apparent effect upon the Government at the time, but this is what must come before students will flock to the Government schools with any enthusiasm. Later in the year a large number of Koreans also founded an Educational Society. It made no pretensions to political significance but went quietly to work gathering together those who are convinced that the education of the masses is the one thing needed to put Korea upon her feet, in the best sense.

In September there was celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Protestant Christian missions in Korea. A great convention had been arranged for and leading men were to attend it but the war interfered[interfered] with the plan and the convention was postponed till 1909, when the quarter-centennial will be celebrated. In spite of this a memorable meeting was held and the results of Christian[Christian] work in Korea were set forth and discussed. We need say no more here than that this field is rightly considered as being one of the most successful in the world and as giving promise of great things in the future.