Japan forced Korea to introduce the far-ranging Kabo reforms, intended to modernize the country along the Japanese model and to safeguard Japanese interests in Korea. The popularity and effects of the reforms were seriously undermined by the Japanese murder of Korean queen Min in 1895, and Korea aligned itself with Russia after 1896 and retreated from the reforms.
By the early 1890’s, Japan had strong commercial and political interests in Korea. These were suddenly threatened by the Korean Tonghak Rebellion, which demanded not only better government but also expulsion of the Japanese from Korea. The quasi-religious Tonghak (“Eastern learning”) movement (known as Ch’ōndogyo, or “religion of the heavenly way,” after 1905) arose in Korea during the mid-nineteenth century. Its founder, Cho’oe Che-u, was executed in 1864. By 1893, the movement petitioned the Korean king Kojong to exonerate its dead leader. Kojong refused in spite of mass appeal, and the Tonghak rose in rebellion.
Reforms Begin Modernization of Korean Government[5940]
In spring, 1894, the Tonghak brought much of southwestern Korea under their control. On May 31, their new leader, Jung Bong-jun, captured the town of Chŏnju, south of Seoul. Alarmed, the Korean government secretly requested Chinese help on June 3. Japan decided also to send troops to Korea. Between June 8 and 10, Chinese warships brought twenty-five hundred soldiers to the Korean town of Asan, south of Seoul. On June 9, the Japanese minister to Korea,Ōtori Keisuke, arrived at Inch’ŏn and marched into Seoul with three hundred marines. On June 10, while Japanese warships landed more soldiers, Korean officials made peace with the Tonghak. They agreed to the Tonghak’s reformist demands, aimed at ending misrule and despotism and bestowing more rights to common people. Jung
With both Japanese and Chinese troops in Korea, Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi proposed that Korea be forced to modernize. China refused and argued for mutual troop withdrawal, which would return the Korean status quo. On June 26,Ōtori met King Kojong and demanded reforms. Two days later, he inquired if Korea still considered itself a vassal of China, as it had most recently expressed in October, 1882. On June 30, Korea declared its independence from China toŌtori.
On July 3,Ōtori met Kojong and demanded sweeping administrative, economic, social, military, and educational reforms, modeled on Japan’s modernization under the Meiji Emperor. Intimidated by the Japanese military, on July 8 Kojong set up a committee for reform that was to consult with Japanese advisors. This was the beginning of the Kabo reforms, named after the Korean name for the year 1894. The Korean committee considered the reforms, some of which were similar to those demanded by the Tonghak, as well as those demanded by the progressive party behind the failed Kapsin coup of December, 1884.
While it was still considering the reforms,Ōtori demanded that Korea break off relations with China. Faced with refusal, on July 23 Japanese troops arrested King Kojong and Queen Min and empowered the king’s father, Yi Ha-ung, as the Taewon-gun
The Taewon-gun appointed Prime Minister Kim Hong-chip
With the king and queen released, the pro-Japanese reformer Pak
Many Koreans associated the Kabo reforms with Japanese imperialism. Queen Min leaned toward Russia. Fearing for his life, reformer Pak
As light broke, the Japanese seized Kojong and his son and demanded the king identify his queen. When he refused, the gangsters seized court ladies. Finally breaking into the queen’s chambers, they saw a woman of royal stature and composure and mortally stabbed her. The Japanese stripped naked the dying woman, who was indeed Queen Min, and ogled her nude body before covering her in a bed sheet. They dragged the dying queen outside, killed three of her court ladies, and burned their bodies.
Miura pronounced the incident a coup of the Taewon-gun
On February 11, 1896, Kojong escaped with his new consort, Lady Om, to the Russian legation in Seoul. From safety, he deposed Prime Minister Kim
Japan forced the Kabo reforms on the Korean government in order to safeguard its own economic and political interests. Even though the reforms were of a progressive nature, often along the lines previously demanded by Korean intellectuals, popular leaders, and rebels also seeking reform, they were forever associated with the Japanese invaders. The murder of the conservative Queen Min turned her into a Korean martyr. This further blemished the Kabo reforms.
Progressive Koreans tried to reap the benefits of the Kabo reforms by instituting the Independence Club (Tongnip Hyophoe) in Seoul in 1896. Kojong vacillated between promoting reform and insisting on royal prerogatives. In a desperate attempt to upgrade Korea’s international standing, he pronounced himself emperor Kwangmu and turned the kingdom into the Taehan (Great Han) Empire on October 12, 1897. With members of the Independence Club pushing for democratic reforms, the emperor at first sought to accommodate them, but in December, 1898, he turned against the club and imprisoned many of its leaders.
The Kabo reforms failed to modernize Korea. During the early twentieth century, after defeating Russia in 1905, Japan finally annexed Korea in 1910. Any possible alliance of reformist Koreans and Japan failed in the face of naked Japanese imperialism.
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Hatada, Takahashi. A History of Korea. Translated by Warren Smith and Benjamin Hazard. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 1969. Chapter 6 treats the Kabo reforms in the light of Korea’s lost autonomy. Appendix, index, maps, and tables. -
Joe, Wanne. A Cultural History of Modern Korea. Elizabeth, N.J.: Hollym Press, 2000. Includes a passionately pro-Korean, very detailed rendition of the reforms. Focuses on Korean nationalism. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. -
Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Biography of the Meiji emperor of Japan. Chapters 44, 45, and 47 give a detailed account of the Kabo reforms from a Japanese point of view. Notes, index, bibliography, illustrations. -
Oliver, Robert. A History of the Korean People in Modern Times. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1993. Chapters 3 and 4 treat the reforms and give biographies of Korean progressives. Notes, references, indexes. -
Shin, Yong-ha. Modern Korean History and Nationalism. Translated by N. N. Pankaj. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Jimoondang, 2000. Chapter 3 deals with the Kabo reforms in light of the failed Tonghak Rebellion and focuses on Korean nationalism. Bibliography, glossary, index. -
Tennant, Roger. A History of Korea. London: Kegan Paul International, 1996. Chapters 30 and 31 deal with the Kabo reforms. Notes, bibliography, index.
Japan’s Meiji Restoration
Japan Expands into Korea
Korean Military Mutinies Against Japanese Rule
Japan Adopts a New Constitution
Sino-Japanese War
Mutsuhito.