In relation to the book reviews I’ve done here at GI Korea’s on the Russo-Japanese Conflict, I thought I’d post a look into the free New York Times Archives on events broadly from this time period.

With Google Books, Google Image, and things like the NY Times archives — anybody can be an armchair-historian/researcher…

Unfortunately, unlike the Google Books archives — which allow you to very easily cut & paste quotes from free online books, the NY Times uses pdf files.  So, I have to type out quotes…

From the day of Queen Min’s assassination (8 Oct 1895) – with a dateline – Yokohama:

A dispatch from Seoul, the capital of Corea, says that Taiwon-kun, the father of the King, and leader of the anti-reform party, has entered the royal palace at the head of an armed force, and that the Queen’s life is in danger.

That is the whole article.

The next is also the entire post – again from Yokohama, Japan – on Oct. 12th 1895:

Advices from Seoul, the capital of Corea, report that quiet has been restored there.  The palace is being guarded by Japanese, and the Queen, whose life was menaced, is entirely safe.

Which is why a historian looking at the past — and people reading today’s news — should keep in mind — the news media offers a window into events of a given day — not a definition of them…

The next article, from the Oct. 12, is datelined Washington:

Rear Admiral Carpenter telegraphs from Nagasaki…that it is reported there that affairs in Seoul, Corea’s capital, are much disturbed.

He heard reports that the Queen had probably been assassinated and that officers of the King’s party had taken refuge in the United States Legation.

At the urgent demand of the Charge d’Affairs the marine guard of the Yorktown was sent to the legation to protect the property and persons there.

[The image is from this article which says this is the American Legation built in Seoul in 1883.]

(USS Yorktown)

This gives a small flavor of events from the view of the American officials on the ground at the time – and how confusing things were – with Koreans fleeing Japanese during a period of Russo-Japanese contention for Korea – heading for the American government’s compound in the capital…

By the way – thanks to the wonders of the internet age – I can tell you that the Old American legation is in Jung-gu of the Jeong-dong part of Seoul – and is listed as Tangible Cultural Property #132.  (Marmot might have some photos of it….)

With the street address:  10-1, Jeong-dong, Jung-gu — my internet connection isn’t fast enough to warrant Google Earthing it or to look it up on the subway map for you….It’s in downtown Seoul…

I did find this link which is to a video feed off the YTN Building which is apparently in this the same -gu (I love the internet…)

The first real glimpse into actual events of Oct 1895 in Seoul – as history has recorded them – is introduced in the NY Times with the Oct. 13th headline:  Murder of Corea’s Queen…

…..which is somewhat muted by the size of the article (two paragraphs) and the headline of equal size for the next story:  Another Brooklyn Trolley Victim………….(which of course does not relate to Queen Min…… )

The Korea-related article is datelined:  Paris

The Paris edition of The New-York Herald has a dispatch from Seoul…confirming the reports that the Queen was murdered while the Japanese troops were at the palace gates.

There is nothing to show…that the Japanese Minister was aware of the plot.  The King is now prisoner, and his father, the Tai-Won-Tun, the leader of the reactionary element, has been proclaimed Dictator.

The new Cabinet will be made up of pro-Japanese elements….A Japanese named Soshi has been arrested for the murder of the Queen.

Here is the Wikipedia entry for Queen Min – the New World Encyclopedia has this entry for the assassination itself…

Apparently, thanks again to the wonders of the internet, the “Soshi” listed in the article as the arrested assassin isn’t actually the name of a person – but a Japanese term for “Japanese civilian toughs” – as defined by the really good 1995 book – The Abacus and the Sword:  The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910 – which unfortunately isn’t available for free at Google Books…

The next New York Times article – from Oct. 14, 1895 – brings the events closer to home for Americans:  dateline – Washington

The news from the Hermit Kingdom makes Prince Pak, recently Prime Minister of the Government, the central figure of interest in Washington, where he has been for the last few weeks.

I was unable to locate an image of Prince Pak…maybe if I had his full name in Korean…???…

One thing that hampers googling is how the spelling of names changed over the years.  In this period, the NY Times calls Korea “Corea” — this problem is complicated even more by the more recent change of the Romanization system by the South Korean government…

I’m thinking this might be Prince Pak Yong-Hio – since the NY Times will soon – as I’ll show – describes him as a leader of the “reformists” — and a google for “Prince Pak” and “Prime Minister” – turned up this gem – from Google Books – which is unfortunately a preview rather than free version – which also means I can’t easily cut & paste from it…

It is from a collection of documents related to Korean-American Relations – and is a letter written by Horace Allen of the American Legation to the Sec. of State in July 1898 about an attempt to overthrow the government.  Here is how Allen describes this “Prince Pak”:

Prince Pak Yong Hio has been a refugee in Japan most of the time during the past 14 years, since his connection to the bloody emeute of 1884 [better known to many of you as the Kapshin Incident]. He was brought back to Korea by the Japanese after the Japanese-China War [which ended the same year as this Queen Min murder], and was forced into high office……

Another google search for this Prince Pak located this paragraph from the Journal of Unification Studies:

after the Japanese victory in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. The Japanese helped organize a new (pro-Japanese) Korean cabinet to ‘advise’ the king. Bent on modernizing the country by force (as it had done previously to its own people), the Japanese forced new customs on the Korean people, most notably forcing all Korean men to cut off the ‘top-knot’ hairstyle.[16] In this way, Japan caused great resentment throughout the country. The Japanese installed Prince Pak Yong Hio, the son-in-law of the former Korean monarch, as Korea’s Home Minister and Premier.[17] Prince Pak resisted the queen’s efforts to buttress an absolutist monarchy as well as the Japanese attempt to create a limited monarchy under the sway of a puppet cabinet. However, his fellow countrymen distrusted him as an agent of the Japanese who had installed him. The Japanese also disliked him because he would not yield to their wants.[18]

Though this journal might not be the most stellar academic source, from later paragraphs, it is clear that this Prince Park was Prime Minister in the assassination period – so it is most surely the same one from Horace Allen’s intra-US government document.

Now — back to the New York Times article from shortly after the assassination, we’ll read how they describe the man:

The United Press representative, who had a long conversation with him this morning…found him highly cultivated and remarkably intelligent man…evidently adapted by his versatile ability to bring order out of the chaos which resulted in Corea when the Chinese were driven out a year ago…

Of course, below is how Sec. of State Albright found Kim Jong-Il when  she got to shake hands with The Dear Leader (and one of the world’s worst mass murderers):

In an interview with ABC television, Albright said Kim is ”not the kind of peculiar person, I think, that has been described by many people who have never seen him before,” said Albright, who met with him during her landmark trip to Pyongyang last week.

Kim is ”somebody that I had quite a logical and pragmatic discussion with,” the secretary said.

Well……..Isn’t that special…..

I’m not saying this Prince Pak was a bad guy.  I know nothing about him beyond what you have just read…

…I’m just saying……don’t let the news media define your understanding – whether we’re dealing with ABC 2008 or 1895 NY Times reporters…..

The NYT article further confirms that these are all the same Prince Pak references when it goes on to say:

Up to that time he had spent 12 years in Japan, exiled because of his alleged complicity in an attempt to overthrow the reigning monarchs.

Tomorrow, I might NYT Archive that event as well..

The current article goes on to explain that:  he was a Prince thanks to a marriage with a daughter of the previous king.

You might want to take a look at the full pdf version of this article I linked to above.  There is a long section describing the “Tai-Won-Kun” and the mess of conflicting interest in the Korean royal court of this time. —- It wouldn’t be worth it for me to type it all out here…

The general tone of the review by the United Press reporter – is in line with the general American view of the time – that was pro-Japanese for the reform of Korea.

It describes how Prince Pak was “establishing numerous reforms” that sought to do away with the old forms of “absolutism and misrule” and other such things “by which the country was crushed.”

But — and this is important — Horace Allen told us that Prince Pak was unpopular with the Korean people for his dominating reforms in the government and society —– but ALSO — that the Japanese didn’t like him either because he did not follow their orders as well as they wanted….

…..which for me brings up the whole idea of “collaboration” during the eventual colonial period — that is so frequently debated in contemporary South Korean society and the K-blogsphere of expats….

….I’ll leave that there……

I’ll get back to the article by typing out a couple of interesting paragraphs – that are interesting in terms of how “news” was reported by American reporters back then too….

[These reforms] dissatisfied the Queen, as her soldiers were prevented from robbing the people for her benefit, but not until [Prince Pak] insisted upon the punishment of members of her family, was the opposition of him effective.  Finally, when he imprisoned several of her relatives for gross violations of the new laws, a plot was hatched against him, and a Japanese favorite at the Court circulated the report that he was concocting a plot to murder the Queen and declare himself Dictator.

Considering the Queen was later murdered……..eh….

The Prince denies the truth of this accusation in the strongest terms, and claims that he never had any designs against the persons of the royal family.  He wished, in curtailing their powers, to do their own and their country’s good.

See.  England was lucky in curtailing the power of the monarchy much earlier.  Interestingly, if you look around the world of 1895 when these events are taking place – France had not too distantly just gone through the revolution and Napoleon and Russia was not yet to move against the Tsar…

The article goes on to describe how Prince Pak fled after his arrest was ordered:

It was a furious race four miles up the Hongkong River until they reached the dock of a Japanese boat that was soon to leave for Tokio.  There were forty mounted police and seventy cavalrymen in the pursuit.  They hurried on board, and learned that the boat, the Huji-Kawa-Maro…would sail at once.

It goes on to describe how the man ended up in Washington…

The Prince then goes on to tell the UP man how the Taewongun in charge, now that the Queen was dead, would have all his reforms wiped away.  And he vowed to return to Korea and take on the old man….

The article from Oct. 16th – unfortunately – again shows how little the American press thought of the events in Korea at the time.  The pdf file from the NYT Archives captures two short articles – one with the headline – Murder of Corea’s Queen Proved – and the other – Trucks Blockaded Broadway Cars….oh well….

The article on Korea says the body of the Queen has been found and:

The Japanese Minister to Corea, M. Komoura, has been ordered to punish her murderers, if it shall be proved that Japanese killed her.

The image is from this Wikipedia article about the man – Komura Jutaro (1855-1911).  He was a graduate of Harvard Law School – which shows it must be must like the School of the Americas – since he later went on to be an imperialist pig….

The entry does not tell how he died…

(a little more on the obscure reference involving Harvard Law School and the other school — it is a petpeeve I have with the stuff by the likes of Chompsky — here is a short note on what people like him “argue” concerning the School of the Americas:

“The School of the Americas has been criticized for the participation in human rights violations by some of its graduates.”)

The next article – coming on 21 Oct 1895 – is a short report on two articles in Japanese newspapers concerning the Queen’s murder:

It is currently reported that the Russian Minister has protested against the Tai-Won-Kung, the King’s father, administering Corean state affairs, and demanding that they be administered by the King himself.  It is believed that if the protest is unheeded an ultimatum will be issued.

That brings the Russians, with whom Japan would tens years later go to a war over Korea, into the picture more clearly.

The 2nd Japanese newspaper reported in part:

Japanese officials are returning from Seoul escorted by gendarmes.  It is reported that the foreign representatives in Seoul have demanded protection for their legations.  They all denounce the Japanese soshi, the murders of the Queen.

Which clears up the earlier NYT mistake that reported the actual assassin’s name was “Soshi”.

The 24th shows a short article highlighting even more clearly the clash of these two outside powers: Headline — Russia and Japan in Corea – Naval Vessels Ordered from Vladivostock and from Formosa [also known as Taiwan]

[The Globe dispatch from Shanghai] stated that the Japanese Government has replied to Russia’s demand for the evacuation by Japan of Corea protesting against undue dictation by Russia in Corea’s affairs.  It is regarded as certain, the dispatch says, that Russia will occupy permanently the port of Fusan [better known today as Pusan - I mean - Busan]

The NY Times article also relates a dispatch from St. Petersburg:

The Noveoe Vremya says that the belted cruisers Dmitry Donskoy and Rurik and the armored gunboat Grosiastchy have been ordered to join the Russian Pacific squadron, which has received instructions to cruise along the coasts of Corea, ready for any emergency.

And thanks to the wonderful internet – here is the Dmitry Donskoy

If you look at the results of the Google Image search I did to find that picture – you’ll see that the third image hit was from the site www.dokdo-takeshima.com….

The cruiser Rurik has a Wikipedia page

In 1904, in the Russo-Japanese War battle off Ulsan, the Rurik was damaged and scuttled rather than surrendered.

On 26 Oct 1895 – a short article in the NYT reports that the Daily News was going to say the next day that

…the gravity of the situation in Corea and the movements of the Russian fleet is much exaggerated……the Russian Pacific squadron was arranged before the recent outbreak of disorder in seoul.

A very short article appears also on the 26th:

Count Inouye has been appointed Special Japanese Ambassador to Corea….36 Japanese Soshi from Corea were arrested upon their arrival at Ujina yesterday.

This might be Count Inoue Kaoru..

Which is most likely so — after reading this Chosun Daily article that notes Inoue Kaoru was the Charge d’Affaires in this 25 Jan 1895 illustration that also pictures the not-too-soon-to-be-dead Queen Min.

Very interestingly, the Wiki- entry for the Count says:

He was a leader of the antiforeigner movement in his native Ch?sh?. Desiring to rid Japan of foreigners, he and Takasugi Shinsaku set fire to the British legation in Edo in January 1863.

Recognizing Japan’s need to learn from the western powers, he joined the Ch?sh? Five and was sent to study at University College, London in 1863.

See.  That is the great thing about the internet age — you can quickly clear up simple questions that — were so time-consuming using traditional library research methods with printed articles and books – it wasn’t worth doing….

This speed of research will ultimately bring about a fundamental smartening of societies.  We are witnessing the dawning of a new age…

The next New York Times article is apparently an editorial by the paper — which is — a strong condemnation of Russia in the Far East – rather than the Japanese involvement with the murder of the Queen:

[Start of the editorial] – It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the news from the far East.  There seems to be no doubt that the Russians have ordered the Japanese out of Corea and have made preparations to enforce the order.

See.  This was before the communist revolution in Russia that set up the Soviet Union — which means – to American journalists – Russia was not yet the leading light of progress but actually still mired in some of Europe’s worst despotism — even of the medieval feudal variety.

We’d have to wait until the 1930s in America before the press would likely be champions for Russian imperialism over the Japanese variety….

In 1895, they were more in tune with Washington and President Teddy Roosevelt’s ideas about Far Eastern policy…

The NYT editorial quickly mentions that Russia had just signed a treaty with China that gave Russia use of Port Arthur – which this book The Russo-Japanese War:  Causes and Issues explains set off a diplomatic fire storm.

Which puts the Queen Min assassination in further global context…

If you really want to get the flavor of US (and I am guessing British) social opinion about the Russia-Japanese rivalry in the Far East, you should read the whole editorial I’ll link again.

Specifically, the editorial, which is wholly about Russia in the Far East, says that the Russian Empire is “still the state of “militancy” and not of “industrialism” — where Chompsky would see no difference….

Another interesting quote from the editorial:

Undoubtedly the “men of light and leading” in Great Britain…are reproaching themselves for the huge blunder which has vitiated that policy in the far East.  Misled by mere numbers, British statesmen have acted upon the assumption that China was a valuable and powerful ally, while Japan was a little nation that it was quiet safe to bully and oppresses.  It was a blunder that all the world made…

It is remarkable – to me at least – that this was in a 1895 editorial – 10 years before Japan proved its power to the world by defeating the Russians so dramatically…

Queen Min’s murder is nowhere mentioned in the piece…

An interesting short article on the 27th says the Japanese Minister to Korea was arrested in connection with the assassination:

Newspapers here [Yokohama, Japan] state that Miura, formerly Japanese Minister to Corea, and some other Japanese…were arrested on landing at Ujina, near Hiroshima.

It is charged in certain quarters that Miura was in a measure responsible for the Queen of Corea [getting hacked up].

Again – a quick google leads to this Wiki- entry that explains much:

In 1895, Miura was appointed Japan’s resident minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary in Korea, succeeding Inoue Kaoru. As the political situation in Korea became increasingly unsettled, it is alleged that Miura ordered the assassination of Empress Myeongseong of Korea for her pro-Russian and anti-Japanese stance, and assisted in giving the assassins safe passage back to Japan from Incheon. Due to the international outrage over the murder, Miura was recalled and put on trial with the involved military personnel at the Hiroshima District Court where they were found not guilty on the grounds of lack of evidence.^[1]

That clears up a question I was hoping the New York Times archived articles would answer:  what happened to the guys arrested (by the Japanese) for the Queen’s murder….

2 Nov has a somewhat lengthy article about the Japanese Minister in Washington laying out for publication Japan’s view of its dealings in Korea:

Japanese troops are now stationed in Corea to insure tranquillity as well as to protect our legation, consulates, and subjects, and also to maintain the indispensable lines of communication with our army, which is still in occupation of the Liao-Tung Peninsula…

Remember, this was at the end of the Sino-Japanese War…

The Japanese Minister also says those troops will be returning to Japan soon enough…

Japanese Government, having no other designs, is not desirous to prolong the maintenance of our troops in Corea; furthermore, we should be extremely gratified if we were relieved from such obligation.  In our relation with Corea, the policy of our government is one of non-interference, and our Government will gladly share equally with other powers in the same line of action.

So, I guess, just like with the US, the Japanese (at this time, at least) would say, if it were not for Russia refusing to butt out, greater involvement with Korean internal affairs would not have been necessary….

(I don’t think the US ever formally annexed South Korea, though….)

On the 7 Nov 1895, about a month after the Queen’s murder, the NYT quoted as an article a longer piece from The London Spectator:

The Japanese have not shown either much power of government or much tact in their management of Corea.

So, it seems everybody wasn’t on board with President Roosevelt’s overall opinion of Japan’s ideas on Korea…

They are in deadly conflict with all classes of the population; they have allowed the Queen to be murdered by Japanese roughs….They have as yet no hold on any part of Corea, beyond the range of their rifles, and have not suppressed the brigand patriots, though they have repeatedly defeated them.

The next bit is interesting – from a historical perspective:

We fancy, too, that for Japanese to govern well, they must always annex.  Otherwise, their grand quality of thoroughness in minutiae does not come into play, while their serene and rather cruel contempt for intellectual inferiors excites a profound hostility.  [Ouch]

The annexation eventually took place in 1910…15 years after this article was printed.

Apparently, the American press didn’t do much original reporting in Asia, because the majority of these articles are reprints from British  sources.  The next – from 10 Nov 1895 – speaks rather ill of the recently dead:

The late Queen of Corea does not seem to have had a very happy life, and if all reports be true she did not quite deserve one.

Ouch….

She ruled the King with a rod of iron, and sold every office in  the realm to the highest bidder.  She oppressed the people so that she was in constant fear of assassination.

So, at least, it wasn’t a surprise….

It was her custom to sit up all night, and she never went to bed until 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning.  [Like Yasar Arafat] she had several bedrooms, so that no one knew where she slept, except for her intimates.

Under her bedchamber there was a trap door, with steps leading down to a room below, where she kept always on guard fleet-footed couriers [who utterly fucking failed on the night she was killed], with a vehicle in readiness so that she could fly at a moment’s notice.

Although the NY Times, my nation’s paper of record, doesn’t seem to have had much going on in the Far East at this period, the American Christian community had information streams in the form of missionaries —- which a 19 Nov NYT article shows in reprinting a letter from one:

It is dreadful here [in Korea], and has been so for the past two weeks.  We feel safe on the streets in the day, but do not dare to go out in the evening.  The palace was taken by the Japanese, and the King is a prisoner in his own house.

His father is the one who has made the trouble.  The Queen was killed, rolled up in a mat, and burned.  [Kinda like Hilter]

The Japanese will not tell it, but it is true.  They killed four of the higher women there in order to be sure that they had the Queen.

From ten to thirteen of the officials are killed.  The King does not dare to eat anything except what is brought in a locked box from the foreigners.   [which consists of Hohos and a couple of Tweenkies]

The Prince lives with Mr. Underwood.  I dined with him the other day.  They are hoping to get him off to America.  His grandfather is trying to kill him, but does not dare to enter the American houses.

We are expecting at any time to be called into the American Legation for protection.  We are afraid that Russia will step in and take the whole country.  If so, it will be hard with us.

And that is about all I’ll cover here.  It is the first month’s reporting after the Queen’s murder.

Here are headlines and links through the month of December 1895:

1. Japanese Evacuation of Corea. [PDF]

   December 1, 1895 – Article

2. Corean Prince on American Mission. [PDF]

   December 4, 1895 – Article

3. BOOKS FOR ONE’S FRIENDS; Some of the Scenes the Up-Town Shops Now Offer. VOLUMES OF BOTH USE AND BE… [PDF]

   December 7, 1895 – Article

4. A Brave Chinese Officer. [PDF]

   December 8, 1895 – From Blackwood’s Magazine. – Article

5. COREA DEMANDS LI HAN SHIN; Russians and Americans Accused of Plotting Against the King. [PDF]

   December 8, 1895 – Article

6. Japanese Must Evacuate Corea. [PDF]

   December 14, 1895 – Article

7. Japan and Corea Report Denied. [PDF]

   December 15, 1895 – Article

8. Vladivostok. [PDF]

   Vladivostok has the aspect of an inferior Hongkong, of about a quarter the size. Hills crowned with forts rise round it up to a height of 800 feet. It lies on the south side of a peninsula 20 miles long, called Maravief Amursky, in 43 degrees 6 minutes 51…

   December 27, 1895 – From The Fortnightly Review. – Article

9. Russia Before She Swallows. [PDF]

   Naturalists tell us that the boa-constrictor, when preparing its victim for food, breaks the bones and kneads the hard substances into pulp before swallowing the delicacy. An analogous process is that pursued by Russia toward her southern neighbors in the…

   December 29, 1895 – From The National Review. – Article

10. In Far Eastern Siberia. [PDF]

    The patient, bovine-natured peasants of Corea perform the office of packhorse in this region, and three Coreans quickly presented themselves to me, on my landing from the steamer in a sampan, and carried up my traps to the Zolotoe Rog, or Golden Horn Hote…

    December 29, 1895 – From The Fortnightly Review. – Article

1. Russian Troops on the Frontier. [PDF]

   December 31, 1895 – Article

2. COREA’S CONDITION SERIOUS.; The King Surrounded by Japanese Spies and Guarded by Americans. [PDF]

   December 31, 1895 – Article

The search term I used in the NY Times Archives search was simply “Corea”