뉴스레터

The Korean Empire did not last long (1897-1910), but its history is important because the empire set the prototype of the modern history of Korea, completely different from that of the traditional era in those short thirteen years. This study started from the critical mind that the “Korean Crisis” in the middle of that prototype has continued to this day in a greater magnitude in connection with scientific and technological advancement.

Why the International Relations History of the Korean Empire?

The Korean Empire was the product of national transformation, which changed the foundation of the country for Joseon in the traditional era to survive in the imperialist international environment. The urgent task of the Korean Empire, which was founded in 1897, was to complete the modern reform to “Eliminate the old and promote the new.” Nevertheless, as the Korean Empire was annexed to Japan in 1910, the modern reform policies that the empire ambitiously pursued remained incomplete. There are few cases in which an empire was destroyed in such a short period of time.

The differences between the history of the Korean Empire and the history of Korea in the traditional era are closely related to changes in the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula. Korea was on the edge of China in the traditional era, but the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula changed as railways and steamships equipped with artificial power emerged with the industrial revolution. The history of the Korean Empire was geared toward the international relations of great powers such as Russia, which started the construction of the Siberian Railway, and the USA, which dreamed of having a maritime empire in the Pacific, paid attention to the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula. This is the reason why the current “crisis on the Korean Peninsula” is connected to the global crisis between the USA, China, Japan and Russia.

Although the Korean Empire was a sovereign state and declared neutrality (1904), international laws did not work against the illegal acts of the Japanese Empire that invaded the Korean Empire. Japan, which violated international law, was also not subject to sanctions. Why? This is the reason why the methodology of the history of international relations was called in to clear up how the Korean Empire collapsed.

Reason for Revitalizing Research on the History of the Korean Empire

There were periods in Western history called the Dark Ages. They refer to a millennium-long medieval period from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. The economic, cultural, and intellectual decadence during medieval times was regarded as darkness in contrast with the Greek and Roman civilizations, which were considered to be a brilliant light.

Today, the trend of calling medieval times the Dark Ages in the West has disappeared. It is because the achievements and inventions during that era were widely known through the interest in and research on medieval times. It was the universities in medieval times where young people full of intellectual desires gathered freely and led the institutionalization of academics. Universities became the grounds for cultivating intellectuals who would build up the modern world.

In addition, the sons of poor peasants, who could not inherit enough land, became merchant adventurers and participated in expeditionary voyages. They ushered in the Age of Exploration and grew into the bourgeoisie. The clergy and feudal aristocrats, who had monopolized academic power based on theology, noticed the threat of medieval intellectual system when they saw the emergence of humanists and merchant adventurers. The autumn of the Middle Ages ripened so. With new intellectuals graduating from universities, merchant adventurers became the driving force in dismantling medieval times. This is the reason there are many more studies that interpret medieval times as the dawning of modernity rather than the age of darkness.

There was a period in Korean history when the monarch ruled in the dark. It is the period of King Gojong in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, when the king, impervious to reason, and foolish, stayed in power. The Gojong government, which was established in response to the invasion of Korea by three US warships in 1871, turned Korea's international status from a dependent state to an independent state through the establishment of diplomatic ties with the USA in 1882. A system of mutual control was established between Japan and Russia after the Sino-Japanese War and the Triple Intervention, making it impossible for one country to monopolize the Korean Peninsula, and King Gojong established the Korean Empire. Nevertheless, the image of Hongun (foolish king) was painted over King Gojong during his reign because people were trying to find the cause for the failure of the Korean Empire in him. While the reinterpretation of Western medieval history is considered, the history of the Korean Empire would also be re-evaluated through the promotion of empirical studies.

Significance of the Study of the International Relations History of the Korean Empire: Reflection on the Divided System

The period of the Korean Empire was a transitional one. Western Empires became a model for King Gojong, who lived in both the traditional and modern eras, in pushing out the old and reconstructing a new system. The Western powers were the mirror for Joseon to reflect on itself and were the objects of emulation to learn and follow. This is why talented Koreans who prepared the country for the modern era while leading the modernization of the Korean Empire had the experience of studying in foreign universities and military schools.

The difference between the intellectuals of the traditional era and those of the Korean Empire was the experience of the West. Due to the characteristics of the times when knowledge was the source of power, the map of power in the Korean Empire changed as the intellectual orientation turned from China to the West. The characteristic of the power map is that the geopolitics of the Korean Peninsula and the areas where the intellectuals of the Korean Empire studied were related. This was proven through the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) that broke out on the Korean Peninsula during the age of the Korean Empire.

Intellectuals who studied in Japan and the United States served in the Japanese army during the Russo-Japanese War or predicted Japan's victory. Those who studied in Russia were called up as interpretation officers of the Russian army and supported Russia. In the period of the Korean Empire, the grounds for the division were already forming according to the intellectual sources, continent against the ocean.

The reason the Korean Peninsula is still divided even after the end of the Cold War, is clearly seen in the history of the Korean Empire. It shows that the history of the division of Korea was neither an ideological battle nor a product of the Cold War. The examination of the interrelationship between the Korean Empire and neighboring powers is also a process of finding a solution to the division system on the Korean Peninsula.