Anglo-Korean Relation in the Period of the Korean Empire, 1895-1905
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Pawn on a Chessboard: Anglo-Korean Relation in the Period of the Korean Empire, 1895-1905 By: Euy Suk Kwon A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Social Science School of East Asian Studies 17 January 2020 1 2 To my parents 3 4 Table of Content Introduction 11 Chapter 1: Britain’s Response to the Korean Problems, 1895-6 20 Chapter 2. Anglo-Korean Relations after Kojong’s Refuge at the Russian Legation, 1896-7 57 Chapter 3: The Russo-Japanese Rivalry in the Empire of Korea, 1898-1900 93 Chapter 4 The Deterioration of Anglo-Korean Relations, 1899-1902 132 Chapter 5 Britain and the Question of Korean Independence, 1903-1905 163 Conclusion 187 Bibliography 191 5 6 Summary This thesis examines Anglo-Korean relations between 1895 and 1905, when Korea was independent of both Qing China and Japan. This thesis mainly uses official archival documents from both governments to study their high-level diplomacy and policy-making. In 1895, when Britain and Korea faced the change of the international order of Northeast Asia as a consequence of the First Sino-Japanese War, both nations shared that Korean independence would be desirable for their interests. However, both countries had different approaches to achieve it. Britain preferred the self-strengthening and the modernisation of the Korean administration, whereas Korea focused on diplomacy due to its incapacity to oppose foreign aggression by its own forces. Therefore, Anglo-Korean relations gradually deteriorated through a series of political crises in Korea and eventually reached a point where Britain gave up its hope in Korean independence. Meanwhile, Korea became a new battlefield for rivalry between Russia and Japan. Having confronted Russian advance together, Britain and Japan found that they shared the same interests in Korea. By 1900, both countries closely worked together to deter any Russian attempts to obtain concessions on the Korean Peninsula, which would potentially damage their interests in the region. Afterwards, British and Japanese representatives in Seoul worked not only for the defence of their shared interests, but also for the other’s own interests in the country. Thus, when the Russo- Japanese War broke out, British Legation in Korea helped Japan facilitate the occupation of Korea and eventually agreed with Japan’ establishment of a protectorate over Korea. 7 8 Acknowledgement My Ph.D. programme was a long and lonely journey and I could not have finished this without assistance and support from other individuals and organisations. First of all, I would like to thank all academic and administrative staff members of the School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield. I was able to have completed the course and become a better researcher thanks to their help at every step. I am especially grateful of my supervisors Dr. Hiro Watanabe and Dr. Markus Bell for their excellent intelligence and warm support. I especially thank Professor Seung-Young Kim, who supervised my doctoral research from the beginning and helped me shape my research with his expertise in Korean History and International History. I would also like to thank my master’s supervisor Dr. Antony Best at the London School of Economics who interested me in the field of International History and Asian History particularly in the Age of Imperialism. My journey to become a dedicated historian started at the Department of Asian History (now the Department of History) at Korea University, Seoul, where I could fortunately learn and study under the teaching and guidance of excellent professors Min Kyoung-Hyun, Cho Myung-Chul, Park Won- Ho, Kim Taek-min, You Hee-Soo, Kim Kyung-Hyun, Shin Seung-Ha, Lee Sang-Sin and Lee Chun-Sik. Thanks to them, I learned the joy of understanding humanity through history. Not many friends or classmates from the History Department continued studying at a Ph.D. level so there were some difficult times when other people could not really understand what I had been doing with my research programme, which made me feel lonely and isolated. It was always other Ph.D. students and colleagues that encouraged and put me back on track. I would like to thank Dr. Li Qiunan for being such an amazing friend and inspiring colleague. One of privileges I had during my Ph.D. programme was meeting many young talented researchers from across the world. I sincerely hope I can be a valuable part of this network in the near future. I must say thank Dale Kitchen for helping me overcome very tough times I had to face while doing my Ph.D. programme. In the end, it was valuable time to look back at myself and try to become a better person, but I could not have done it without her help. Finally, it was all possible thanks to love and support from my parents and my wife, Myunghae Seo. They were always besides me when I had this long journey and the ones who congratulated and celebrated the most. 9 10 Introduction In the middle of the 19th century, Northeast Asian states had to cope with an unprecedented threat: Western Powers. For centuries, the international politics of Northeast Asia was based on Sino-centric world order, where a Chinese Empire claimed the Mandate of Heaven and placed itself above every known nation in the world. Those other countries must recognise the Chinese Empire’s nominal suzerainty to partake in the China-led international network of trade and diplomacy. Britain was one of many other countries who eagerly hoped to trade with China. In 1793, King George II appointed George Macartney as the first ever envoy to Qing China in hope of establishing a legation in Beijing and gaining access to more Chinese ports than just Guangzhou, the only Chinese city where Western merchants were allowed to visit and trade. Qianlong Emperor, who only saw Britain’s Macartney Mission as an envoy of tribute who should recognise Qing China’s traditional suzerainty, declined Britain’s requests for the relaxation of trade and the concession of a territory for the residence of British merchants.1 Britain eventually achieved the objectives – the relaxation of trade and the concession of Hong Kong Island – in 1842, after their victory over Qing China in the First Opium War of 1839-1842 obtained further privileges, including the opening of more treaty ports and missionaries’ rights to travel freely, after winning in the Second Opium War of 1856-1860.2 Meanwhile, Japan also faced a challenge from a Western Power demanding an end to Japan’s long-lasting isolation. American Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, whose mission was the establishment of a diplomatic relationship between Japan and the United States, led his fleet to Edo Bay in 1853 and 1854. After a series of hostile presentations and continuous threats to achieve the objective by violent means, The Kamakura Shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, Japan’s first unequal treaty with the Western Power which included several privileges such as most favourable nation clause and extraterritorial jurisdiction. It eventually led to the signing of the 1 For an account of Macartney Mission, see James Louis Hevia, Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793 (Durham, N.C.; London: Duke University Press, 1995). 2 For an account of the Opium Wars and the opening of Qing China, see James Louis Hevia, English Lessons: The Pedagogy of Imperialism in Nineteenth-century China (Durham, N.C.; London: Hong Kong: Duke University Press; Hong Kong University Press, 2003); John K. Fairbank, Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast; the Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854 (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press) 1964; James M. Polachek, The Inner Opium War (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992); Timothy Brook and Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, Opium Regimes: China, Britain, and Japan, 1839-1952 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000); Peter Ward Fay, The Opium War, 1840-1842 : Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which They Forced Her Gates Ajar (New York: Norton, 1976) 11 United States – Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1858, which stipulated the opening of various treaty ports, the exchange of diplomats and the establishment of foreign settlements.3 Korea was no exception to gunboat diplomacy as well. Unlike China or Japan, Korea managed to defend its nation from two western invasions; Pyŏnginyangyo (The French Invasion of 1866) and Shinmiyangyo (The American Invasion of 1871).4 Neither country succeeded in negotiating a treaty with Korea because both Powers only expected to impose a military threat in hope that Korea would voluntarily give up further resistance and accept the offered deal. However, when Japanese gunboat ‘Un'yō’ deliberately entered the Korean water near Kanghwa Island and attacked fortresses on the island in 1875, Japan coerced that Korea should come to a negotiation table or Japanese troops would march towards Seoul, the capital of Korea. Therefore, Korea was forced to sign the Treaty of Kanghwa of 1876, Korea’s first treaty with any foreign country. Considering the fact that it was Japan that forcefully opened Korea to the outer world for the first time in 1876 and eventually annexed the country later in 1910, it may seem as Japan’s consistent penetration and colonisation of Korea in this period between 1876 and 1910. However, international pressure and domestic unrest, caused by the modernisation and the Westernisation of the country, often initiated political crises that dramatically changed the balance of foreign influence and even dragged them into the domestic politics of Korea. Japan’s penetration into Korea was soon challenged by Qing China, who wanted to change Korea from its traditional tributary into a vassal in the new Western world order.