At the close of 1897 the king assumed the title of emperor, and changed the official designation of the empire to Dai Han—Great Han. By 1898 the imperial will, working under partially new conditions, produced continual chaos, and by 1900 succeeded in practically overriding all constitutional restraints. Meanwhile Russian intrigue was constantly active. At last Japan resorted to arms, and her success against Russia in the war of 1904-5 enabled her to resume her influence over Korea. On the 23rd of February 1904 an agreement was determined whereby Japan resumed her position as administrative adviser to Korea, guaranteed the integrity of the country, and bound herself to maintain the imperial house in its position. Her interests were recognized by Russia in the treaty of peace (September 5, 1905), and by Great Britain in the Anglo-Japanese agreement of the 12th of August 1905. The Koreans did not accept the restoration of Japanese influence without demur. In August 1905 disturbances arose owing to an attempt by some merchants to obtain special assistance from the treasury on the pretext of embarrassment caused by Japanese financial reforms; these disturbances spread to some of the provinces, and the Japanese were compelled to make a show of force. Prolonged negotiations were necessary to the completion of the treaty of the 17th of November 1905, whereby Japan obtained the control of Korea’s foreign affairs and relations, and the confirmation of previous agreements, the far-reaching results of which have been indicated. Nor was opposition to Japanese reforms confined to popular demonstration. In 1907 a Korean delegacy, headed by Prince Yong, a member of the imperial family, was sent out to lay before the Hague conference of that year, and before all the principal governments, a protest against the treatment of Korea by Japan. While this was of course fruitless from the Korean point of view, it indicated that the Japanese must take strong measures to suppress the intrigues of the Korean court.
At the instigation of the Korean ministry the emperor abdicated on the 19th of July 1907, handing over the crown to his son. Somewhat serious émeutes followed in Seoul and elsewhere, and the Japanese proposals for a new convention, increasing the powers of the resident general, had to be presented to the cabinet under a strong guard. The convention was signed on the 25th of July. One of the reforms immediately undertaken was the disbanding of the Korean standing army, which led to an insurrection and an intermittent guerrilla warfare which, owing to the nature of the country, was not easy to subdue. Under the direction of Prince Ito (q.v.) the work of reform was vigorously prosecuted. In July 1909, General Teranchi, Japanese minister of war, became resident-general, with the mission to bring about annexation. This was effected peacefully in August 1910, the emperor of Korea by formal treaty surrendering his country and crown. (See [Japan].)
Authorities.—The first Asiatic notice of Korea is by Khordadbeh, an Arab geographer of the 9th century A.D., in his Book of Roads and Provinces, quoted by Baron Richthofen in his great work on China, p. 575. The earliest European source of information is a narrative by H. Hamel, a Dutchman, who was shipwrecked on the coast of Quelpart in 1654, and held in captivity in Korea for thirteen years. The amount of papers on Korea scattered through English, German, French and Russian magazines, and the proceedings of geographical societies, is very great, and for the last three centuries Japanese writers have contributed largely to the sum of general knowledge of the peninsula. The list which follows includes some of the more recent works which illustrate the history, manners and customs, and awakening of Korea: British Foreign Office Reports on Korean Trade, Annual Series (London); Bibliographie koréanne (3 vols., Paris, 1897); Mrs. I. L. Bishop, Korea and her Neighbours (2 vols., London, 1897); M. von Brandt, Ostasiatische Fragen (Leipzig, 1897); A. E. J. Cavendish and H. E. Goold Adams, Korea, and the Sacred White Mountain (London, 1894); Stewart Culin, Korean Games (Philadelphia, 1895); Curzon, Problems of the Far East (London, 1896); Dallet, Histoire de l’église de Korée (2 vols., Paris, 1874); J. S. Gale, Korean Sketches (Edinburgh, 1898); W. E. Griffis, The Hermit Nation (8th and revised edition, New York, 1907); H. Hamel, Relation du naufrage d’un vaisseau Halindois, &c., traduite du Flamond par M. Minutoli (Paris, 1670); Okoji Hidemoto, Der Feldzug der Japanir gegen Korea im Jahre 1597; translated from Japanese by Professor von Pfizmaier (2 vols., Vienna, 1875); M. Jametel, “La Korée: ses ressources, son avenir commercial,” L’Économiste française (Paris, July 1881); Percival Lowell, Chosön: The Land of the Morning Calm (London, Boston, 1886); L. J. Miln, Quaint Korea (Harper, New York, 1895); V. de Laguerie, La Korée indépendante, russe ou japonaise? (Paris, 1898); J. Ross, Korea: Its History, Manners and Customs (Paisley, 1880); W. H. Wilkinson, The Korean Government: Constitutional Changes in Korea during the period 23rd July 1894—30th June 1896 (Shanghai, 1896); A. Hamilton, Korea (London, 1903); C. J. D. Taylor, Koreans at Home (London, 1904); E. Boudaret, En Corée (Paris, 1904); Laurent-Crémazy, Le Code pénal de la Corée (Paris, 1904); G. T. Ladd, In Korea with Marquis Itō (London, 1908); Dictionaries and vocabularies by W. F. Myers (English secretary of Legation at Peking), the French missionaries, and others, were superseded in 1898 by a large and learned volume by the Rev J. S. Gale, a Presbyterian missionary, who devoted some years to the work. On geology, see C. Gottsche, “Geologische Skizze von Korea,” Sitz. preuss. Akad. Wiss. (Berlin, Jahrg. 1886, pp. 857-873, Pl. viii.). A summary of this paper, with a reproduction of the map, is given by L. Pervinquière in Rev. sci. Paris, 5th series, vol. i. (1904), pp. 545-552.
(I. L. B.; O. J. R. H.)
[1] Named after William Robert Broughton (1762-1821), an English navigator who explored these seas in 1795-1798.
KOREA, a tributary state of India, transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces in 1905; area, 1631 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 35,113, or only 22 persons per sq. m.; estimated revenue, £1200. It consists of an elevated table-land, with hills rising to above 3000 ft. Such traffic as there is is carried by means of pack-bullocks.
KORESHAN ECCLESIA, THE, or Church Archtriumphant, a communistic body, founded by Cyrus R. Teed, a medical practitioner, who was born at Utica, New York, in 1839. Teed was regarded by his adherents as “the new Messiah now in the World,” and many other extravagant views both in science and economics are held by them. Two communities were founded: in Chicago (1886) and at Estero, in Lee county, Florida (1894), where in 1903 the Chicago community removed. Their name is derived from Koresh, the Hebrew form of Cyrus, and they have a journal, The Flaming Sword.