Created by shinyena21 on Nov 3, 2010
Last updated: 11/09/10 at 12:49 AM
KOREAN HISTORY 1810-1910 has no followers yet. Be the first one to follow.
By 1909, prisons, courts, and police units in Korea were officially turned over to the Japanese government. In response to the increased Japanese activity, Ahn Joong Gun led his guerilla army on a raid in Kando.. The raid was a success, resulting in many Japanese deaths. Despite such guerilla activities, Japan signed a treaty with China, which allowed the Japanese to build a branch line to the Southern Manchurian Railway to exploit the rich mineral resources in Manchuria. In return, the Japanese turned over to the Chinese the territorial rights to Kando. This brazen act of selling Korean territory to another country was the last straw for Ahn Joong Gun. Thus, he set out for his base of operations in Vladivostok, Siberia, to prepare for his assassination of Hirobumi Ito.
Ito, who had officially become the president of the Japanese Senate, arranged to meet with Russian representatives at Harbin, Manchuria. Knowing that he would never escape alive, and that torture awaited him if captured by the Japanese, Ahn Joong Gun shot Ito after he stepped off the train.
Unfortunately, the assassination of Hirobumi Ito seemed to only serve to fuel the fires of Japanese oppression. The office of resident general, with Ito's successor now in charge, was changed to governor general to allow a more dictatorial approach to the total control of Korea. Akashi Genjiro was named as the commander of the Japanese military and police superintendent in Korea. He launched an extremely harsh campaign to harass the Korean population: He closed all newspapers, disbanded all patriotic organizations, arrested thousands of Korean leaders, and enforced a strict military rule of the capital city of Seoul by crack Japanese combat troops. This type of rule under the Japanese continued in Korea until Japan surrendered at the end of World War II.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ito_Hirobumi
Gabo Reform describes the sweeping reforms that took place during the reign of King Gojong in response to Donghak Peasant Revolution. When the revolution was raging through the country, the government sought help from China's Qing Dynasty, but Japan reacted by intervening in this issue. The revolution waned and the troops were no longer needed, but the two countries went through a power struggle regarding the retreat of their troops. Qing and Joseon governments disagreed with Japan's demands of political reform, which led the Japanese trops to invate and occupy the royal palace. This set up a new progressive government led by pro-Japanese public officials named Hongjip Kim and Kilchun Yu.
Gabo reforms were exceptionally influential because they almost entirely reconstructed the traditional feudal system in Joseon Dynasty. The reforms resulted in the following changes: reconstruction of central government by greatly reducing the king's responsibilities, centralization of the administration of financial affairs, new monetary and measurement systems based on those of Japan, banning of discrimination based on the class system, slavery, and underage marriage, renewal of the military system, severance of the subordinate relationship with China, new courthouse and judiciary laws, the introduction of primary schools and a new educational system, creation of a postal service, and proclamation of the "Short Hair Act" that triggered many protests among the people.
Although the Gabo Reforms were initiated by Japanese forces, it is seen as a composite effort from liberal scholars and officials who had constantly tried to solve the drawbacks of the traditionally feudal society of Joseon Dynasty in the 19th century. The main objective of the reforms may have been to establish a strong and modernized nation, but in fact, the reforms led the way for Japanese imperialism to set itself in Korea on a solid legal foundation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabo_Reform
Sino-Japanese War is a war fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan over control of Korea from 1894 to 1895. Provoked by a dispute over control of Korea, the Sino-Japanese War came to symbolize the degeneration of the Qing dynasty. It demonstrated how successful modernization had been in Japan since the Meiji Restoration as compared with that in China. Japan feared Russian expansion into northern China and Korea, and sought foreign conquests in line with nationalistic Meiji ideology. Yi dynasty of Korea sought to preserve its traditional seclusion and tributary relationship with China, which in turn strove to protect its principal vassal.
Since 1875, China had allowed Japan to recognize Korea as an independent state. Then, as China tried to reassert influence over its former tributary, it provoked rivalry with Japan and a split in Korean public opinion between modernizing reformists and inward-looking conservatives. In 1894 a pro-Japanese Korean reformist was assassinated in Shanghai and a Korean religious sect, the Tonghak, began a rebellion. The Korean government appealed to China for assistance and the Japanese encouraged Chinese intervention, only to send an expedition ostensibly in support of Korean reformists, reaching Seoul by June 8 and seizing the royal palace a fortnight later.
The Japanese army defeated the Chinese in a series of battles around Seoul and Pyóngyang, forcing them to retreat north. Later, the Chinese were forced to surrender and sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki in April 1895. Though nominally recognized as a sovereign state, Korea effectively became a Japanese protectorate, and China had to cede Taiwan, the Liaodong Peninsula, and the Pescadores to Japan. In addition, China had to pay a war indemnity of 200 million taels, and open four more treaty ports to external trade. This outcome enraged Chinese students and intensified pressure for more radical modernization. Shortly afterwards, Sun Yat-sen founded the revolutionary republican movement which later became the Kuomintang.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Sino-Japanese_War
Following the opening of Japan to western trade and modernization, the Enlightenment Party group of reformers led by Kim Okgyun sought to initiate rapid changes within Korea. They launched a coup d'etat attempt (Gapsin Jeongbyun) with Japanese support, seizing the royal palace in Seoul.
Facing this threat, Queen Min secretly requested Chinese military intervention, and after 3 days, the revolt was quickly suppressed by Chinese troops led by General Yuan Shikai. There were many Japanese casualties during the battle, and therefore the Japanese government demanded an apology and reparations from the Korean government over the incident. This resulted in the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1885, which restored diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabsin_Coup
While Korea was struggling with great political instability, Japan developed a plan to open and exert influence on Korea before a European power could. A small Japanese warship named Unyo was dispatched to survey coastal waters without Korean permission. When the ship reached Ganghwa Island, the Koreans opened fire without any hesitation. The Un'yō attacked some Korean ports and withdrew back to Japan.
Japan pressed Joseon Dynasty to sign this unequal treaty, which evened up Korea; it ended Joseon's status as a tributary state of Qing China and opened three ports to Japanese trade. When the negotiations were concluded, the ports of Busan, Inchon and Wuson were opened for trade. The Treaty also granted Japanese many of the same rights in Korea that Westerners enjoyed in Japan, such as extraterritoriality. The Korean government decided to accept the demand, in hope of importing some technologies to defend the country from any future invasions.
However, the treaty came out to be the first unequal treaty signed by Korea; it made Korea independent from tribute to China so Japan could take Korea without intervention from Qing Dynasty. With the signing of its first unequal treaty, Korea became another easy hunt for many imperialistic powers; and later the treaty led Korea to be annexed by Japan, who defeated Russia as rival nation in annexing Korea in Russo-Japanese War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JapanâKorea_Treaty_of_1876
In 1860, Choi Jeu creates a movement called Donghak, whose ideology was a mixture of various elements such as Confucianism, Buddhism, modern humanistic, and class-struggle ideas. The cause of this movement was the miserable reality in which farmers suffered from extreme poverty, political unrest, and social instability. Choe Jeu thought that the best way to counter foreign influence in Korea was to introduce democratic and human rights reforms internally, and took actions according to his philosophy.
Inspired by nationalism and the need of social reform, poor farmers later organized peasant guerrillas with the help of progressive revolutionaries. Donghak spread all across Kora and eventually attracted enough followers to pose a serious threat to the Chosun Dynasty. Instigating the Donghak Peasant Revolution in 1894, it became a major contributor to nationalistic resistance against Japanese colonial rule.
Donghak is now seen both as the oldest indigenous organized religion in Korea and an enduring political ideology.
http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/history/challenges_of_modernization.htm
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