to send troops was a violation of the Tientsin Convention. Japanese troops in Seoul seized the king, and China acknowledged the opening of hostilities after the Japanese sank a ship carrying Chinese troops.
The resulting Sino-Japanese War ended in quick victory for the Japanese. The treaty of Shimonoseki seemed innocuous as far as Korea was concerned, since China was forced to recognize, as Japan already had, the full independence and autonomy of Korea. The Hermit Kingdom’s close relations with China had irritated the Western powers, and they viewed Japan’s victory in the Sino-Japanese War as having provided a needed clarification of Korea’s status.4
But the dangers of “independence”—in fact, the absence of Chinese protection—became immediately apparent in Seoul, where the king continued a virtual prisoner of the Japanese. In addition, the successful conclusion of the war with China brought increased influence to Japanese militarists unsympathetic toward those moderates who advocated the gradual development of Korea as a Japanese sphere of influence.
An acerbating factor was Queen Min, who had retained her Chinese advisors and was vigorously opposed to the Japanese. On October 8, 1895, Japanese soldiers—apparently in connivance with Korean followers of Tae-won—attacked Duk Soo Palace, threatened the king, and then murdered the queen and the head of the household. The body of the queen was drenched in kerosene and burned.
For months after the murder of Queen Min, the king remained a prisoner in the palace. On February 11, 1896, however, he escaped in disguise to the protection of the Russian Embassy, an action which prompted the Russians to reassert their interest in Korea and which effectively postponed Korea’s assimilation by Japan until the obstacle represented by Russia could be removed. Proclaimed the king:
“On account of the unhappy fate of our country, traitors have made trouble every year. Now We have a document informing Us of another conspiracy. We have therefore come to the Russian Legation.
“Soldiers! Come and protect Us! You are Our children. . . . When you meet the chief traitors . . . cut off their heads at once, and bring them here.”5
To Syngman Rhee, the tug-of-war between the Japanese and the Russians over Korea was less important than the mounting evidence of Korea’s inability to defend its own sovereignty. At the Paichai School, Rhee began writing editorials which castigated the government for its failure to implement court reforms and provide for national defense. Then, with a number of fellow students, Rhee bought a printing press and began his own newspaper, the Maiyil Sinmun.
At Paichai, therefore, Rhee was doing more than learning of the West. At a time when his education had scarcely begun, he was plunged into the unequal struggle to maintain Korean independence.
2 : The Twilight
BY THE mid-1890’s, Korea’s chances of maintaining her independence were precarious. She turned from one of her neighbors to another, but each provided protection only in exchange for sovereignty-eroding concessions. It was now Russia’s turn to surround the king with its own advisors, and to obtain from the court long-term leases on railroads and mines. The king turned again to the American minister for support, but U.S. interest in Korean independence would be fifty years in coming.
The murder of the queen had heightened the king’s fears for his personal safety, and turned him into a virtual recluse. Into the void created by the absence of royal leadership, however, stepped a representative of Korea’s increasingly nationalistic middle class.
So Jae-pil, known by his anglicized name Philip Jaisohn, had made common cause during the early 1880’s with the Japan-oriented Korean “progressives” who, led by Kim Ok-kun, attempted to induce the Korean court to follow Japan’s example in Westernization. In 1884, however, an unsuccessful coup discredited both theJapanese and the Korean progressives and forced Jaisohn to flee to the United States.
In America, Jaisohn earned his M.D. from Johns Hopkins University, the first Korean to do so. He returned to Korea in 1895, however, hoping that the king’s escape from the Japanese would provide an opportunity for the reform and strengthening of the monarchy. He joined the staff at Paichai School, which soon became a focal point of Korean nationalism. In 1896 he formed the Independence Club, with Syngman Rhee as one of his lieutenants.
The alleged purpose of the club was “to discuss matters concerning official improvements, customs, laws, religion, and various pertinent affairs in modern lands.”1 In practice, Jaisohn sought to Americanize the Korean government by making it responsive to public opinion. But before tackling the task of creating public opinion, the Independence Club sought to bolster the independence of the feeble monarchy. To the king they petitioned:
“We, Your Majesty’s humble servants, desire to state that two important factors constitute an independent and sovereign state, namely: first, it must not lean upon another nation nor tolerate foreign intervention in the national administration; secondly, it must help itself by adopting a wise policy and enforcing justice throughout the realm. The power of establishing these two great principles has been invested to Your Gracious Majesty by Heaven above. Whenever this power is destroyed there is no sovereignty. . . .
“Recently we, your humble servants, have observed that the condition of the nation is on the verge of destruction; great disappointment and constant discontent prevail in the heart of every citizen. The reason for this state of affairs is the giving away of the authority of administering the national finance . . . [and] the military departments. . . . Even the power of appointing and dismissing government officials has been taken from our own authorities.
“The only way to maintain order and achieve improvement in national life is to enforce just laws and apply proper rules and regulations to all institutions of the government. But of late the authorities disregard both the old and the new laws and the rules and regulations have become worthless dead letters. Under such circumstances how can we expect other nations to consider us capable of self government? . . .
“Alas! . . . The consequence is that the most powerful neighbors have been treating us as if we are nobody, and even Your Majesty’s position has become perilous.”2
3. Syngman Rhee (left rear) with a group of classmates and professors at Harvard University in 1908. This was the year in which Rhee was granted a master’s degree for his studies in international relations and in which conditions in Korea influenced him to the decision to continue his education abroad. (Pacific Stars and Stripes Photo)
Although the king regarded it with distrust, the Independence Club increased in influence. When, in March 1898, the czar demanded virtual control of the government on penalty of withdrawing his advisors, the club was among the first to urge the king to call Russia’s bluff. When the timid king complied, and the Russians indeed withdrew, Korea seemed ready for reforms which Jaisohn hoped would strengthen its prestige abroad. The king hired Jaisohn as a special advisor and appointed a forward-looking new cabinet which included considerable representation from the Independence Club. But the reformists’ ascendancy was short-lived. The king’s reactionary advisors fed him tales of plots against the monarchy, and in May the king paid Jaisohn for the balance of his contract and dismissed him. On November 5 the king ordered the Independence Club disbanded and its members arrested.
The members of the club scattered, many seeking sanctuary in foreign compounds. Syngman Rhee found refuge in the American Methodist Hospital near South Gate,
