The End of Joseon： Uprisings, Reforms and Collapse of the Dynasty (Part 2) (Korean History

The year is 1882. Joseon has engaged in skirmishes with foreign powers and signed treaties with Japan and the United States. Joseon has dealt with unrest at home and Heungseon Daewangun, the king's father, has left his mark on Joseon politics. I have explored these events and much more in my previous video. I recommend you watch it to get further context behind the events that we will discuss in this video. On July 23rd, 1882, the Imho incident occurred. It was a violent uprising by Joseon soldiers and citizens. There are many reasons for the revolt. Gojong's attempt at modernizing the country, having Japanese military advisors at his sides, unpopular reforms and The formation of the Byolgi-gun, the first modernized military force of Korea, was formed a year earlier and trained by Japanese officers. This special army was treated better than the old Korean army who grew resentful. Many were let go and not paid. Gojong heard of this and rectified the situation by giving them their allowance of rice, a legitimate form of payment at the time. The problem is that the rice never made it to the soldiers due to corruption by many officials, namely Min Gyeom-ho, Queen Min's nephew. The rioters destroyed many homes of government officials and even occupied Jangdeok-gun. They killed several Japanese including a military advisor. It is said that they even tried to abduct Queen Min and she had to escape disguised as a court lady. Dae-won-gun received the rioters who asked him to expel the Japanese. Soon after, Gojong received his father alongside some rebels and he told his father to take care of this matter. One big problem for him was that both Japanese and Chinese forces were headed to Korea to quell the rebellion. Japanese weren't happy and sent forces to Je-mul-po, called Incheon nowadays. They demanded justice for the killing of Japanese. Until that happened, they would occupy Je-mul-po. China sent soldiers to the capital and arrested Dae-won-gun. They accused him of wanting to remove the Min clan from power, including the Queen. The Min clan was pro-Qing. They accused him of bringing Japanese troops to Korea through his past actions. They also accused him of taking actions that would undermine Korea's dependency on China, basically trying to make Korea independent of China. Chinese officials charged them of disrespecting the Chinese emperor by usurping the power which the emperor had given to the king of Korea. He was sent to Tianjin and put on house arrest. He was, without a doubt, not treated too badly considering that he was the father of the king of Joseon. He was returned to Joseon in 1885 and placed under house arrest there as well. The Inmo rebellion and the destruction it brought with it was quite catastrophic, but it made things so much worse for the kingdom because, after this, China had troops on the peninsula and reasserted their dominion on Joseon. Gojong couldn't appoint any diplomats without China's approval. In October 1882, Joseon signed a treaty with China explicitly stipulating that Joseon was a dependency of China. Chinese were given diplomatic immunity and were handed the concession of Incheon. This explains why modern-day Incheon has a fairly big Chinese community and Korea's only Chinatown. In the case of Japan, as we have seen earlier, they didn't send troops to the Korean capital, mostly because their army wasn't powerful enough to afford this. They saw how China reacted, sending a big contingent of troops to Seoul, so the Japanese government, from that point on, started to spend much more money on their military. This incident essentially helped in the build-up of the imperial Japanese army. Joseon was in turmoil. In December of 1884, an event that will be remembered as the Gapshin coup occurred. The Gyehwa party, enlightenment party, was against Joseon's dependence on Qing China. It sought to abolish the Yangban class as well. Members of the party, supported by Japan, attempted a coup. Japan was a country which the Gyehwa party was impressed with, especially when looking at the speed and extent of its modernization compared to Joseon. They seized Gyeongbok Palace as well as King Gojong. They killed several members of the Sa Daedang, the opposing pro-Chinese party. Even though many Chinese troops left Korea at that time, there were still more than 1,500 Chinese soldiers garrisoned in Seoul. The Gyehwa party put forward a 14-point reform, which included putting an end to Joseon's tributary relationship to Qing China, abolishing the Yangban class and equal rights for all, free commerce and trade, and severe punishment for corrupt officials. This all looked very interesting on paper, but their coup failed, lasting only a few days. They were supported by around 140 Japanese troops versus 1,500 Chinese troops who were under the command of General Yuan Shikai. It seems like Joseon's own army was powerless to prevent these events. Queen Min asked for the support of the Chinese and they suppressed the insurrection. The Korean leaders of the coup exiled themselves to Japan, to the United States, or were executed. Gojong demanded the repatriation of the leaders of the failed coup. Japan refused and sent warships and soldiers to Korea instead. Another treaty was signed in 1885 between both countries, called the Treaty of Hansong. Japan and China signed a treaty, the Convention of Tianjin, where both countries promised to remove their troops from Korea. Yuan Shikai stayed in Seoul and continued to interfere with Joseon politics. Ten years later, in 1894 and 1895, the Donghak Peasant Revolution also called the Gabo Peasants' War began. First off, Donghak, meaning Eastern Learning, was a Korean Neo-Confucian academic movement. It was founded by Choi Je-woo. They were against Western ideas and Christian theology. Their ideology combined elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Neo-Confucianism, and, paradoxically, elements taken from Christianity. It was seen as a dangerous ideology by the Joseon government. The Donghak Peasant Revolution was violent, with many battles fought against government troops. The leaders of the movement were believers in the Donghak ideology, but many peasants probably weren't. John Bong Joon and Kim Gye-nam were two important leaders. Gojong asked Qing China for help, and they sent soldiers. Japan was quite annoyed by this because in the Treaty of Tianjin, it just signed with China, it stated that both countries should notify the other before sending troops to Korea. This started the First Sino-Japanese War, which Qing China lost badly because of its lack of a modernized military. Following this, Japan assumed its dominance on Korea by installing a pro-Japanese government and occupying Gyeongbok Palace. Later, in 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki ended the war between Japan and China and ended Korea's tributary relationship with Qing China, thus making Joseon independent. The interference of both powers in Joseon affairs made the peasant even more furious. The peasant army captured Jeonju Fortress. They had 12 requests sent to the government. Free all slaves, legalize the remarriage of widows, lower the taxes, pick officials based on abilities, not family background, punish Japanese sympathizers, make theft illegal, redistribute land to the peasants, punish corrupt officials, young men and scholars, and those who made their money illegally, stop the persecution of the Donghak movement, and free members of the Chunmin class like butchers and kissing. Southwestern Korea, which includes Jeolla and South Chungcheong provinces, was controlled by the rebels in the summer of 1894. In the end, the rebels were defeated by government forces with the help of Japanese soldiers and their modernized weapons. The rebel leaders were hanged. The Donghak peasant revolution led to the Gabo Reform. These reforms were originally presented to the court by the Japanese ambassador at the time, Otori Keisuke. When Japan unconditionally won the Sino-Japanese War, they were able to put in place a cabinet in that was heavily in their favor, thus expanding their sphere of influence. It's worth taking a look at the main points of the Gabo Reform. We notice that many of these points have been present in earlier demands to the government. Korea is an independent country, not dependent on Qing China. Social classes are eliminated, and because of that, the young ban would lose their social privileges. Anybody can study and take examination in order to get a government position. It should be based solely on one's merit. The army should be conscripted, and conscripts would be from any background. The police and army should be modernized. All official documents should be in Hangul, not Chinese characters. Actors, leather workers, butchers, etc. should no longer be seen as degrading professions. The government's treasury should be better managed, and decisions should be taken to make the country wealthier, not to make officials wealthier. Guilt by association and torture is banned. Monopolies of powerful merchant families would be abolished. Slavery of any kind is banned. The legal age for marriage is changed to 16 for women and 20 for men. Child marriage isn't allowed anymore. The right for widows to remarry was granted. The government bureaucratic system was replaced by Japanese bureaucratic system. The yen became legal tender in Joseon. The Gabo reforms were a close copy of the Meiji restoration main provisions in Japan. The reforms were not accepted by all. The prime minister at that time, Kim Hong-chip and Park Yong-hyo, who was a royal prince, were for the reforms and in favor of collaborating with Japan. In October of 1895, the Japanese resident minister in Korea, Miura Goro, orchestrated the murder of Empress Myeongseong. Around this time, Russian influence was growing in Joseon. The Japanese saw her as an obstacle to their influence, especially since she and her court were anti-Japanese. So, on October 8, 1895, over 50 Japanese soldiers entered Gyeongbok Palace, killed the queen, desecrated her body, and burnt it. Only a finger bone was later found. This incident is known as the Ulmi incident in Korea. Many court ladies were also killed trying to protect the empress. This barbaric event was decried internationally and it goes without saying that the Korean population was enraged. On top of that, Imperial Japan held a trial in Hiroshima. Miura Goro and 55 other men were all acquitted due to lack of evidence, further enraging Joseon's population. Gojong and his son, future emperor Sunjong, took refuge in the Russian legation. A year earlier, in 1894, sensing Daewon-gun's appetite for power, the Japanese approached him. In exchange for his release from house arrest, they asked him for his help in making the Gabo reforms go forward. Daewon-gun agreed to help and only asked for one thing, that the Japanese do not violate Joseon's territorial integrity if the Gabo reforms succeeded. Things didn't go as the Japanese wanted and they felt that Daewon-gun wasn't pushing the reforms hard enough and was only working on purging his opponents in the government. So, the Japanese pushed him aside. We know that Daewon-gun didn't like his son's wife, Empress Myeongseon, and didn't agree with her views as well as her clan's views. It is suspected that he might have had a role to play in the assassination of the Empress. The third round of reforms took place after the Empress's assassination. It discarded the lunar calendar in favor of the Gregorian, a postal service was created, a new educational system was introduced, substituting the Confucian school system, and the military would be modernized. The short hair act was introduced. Married men had to cut off their topknot, sangtu. Gojong himself had his hair cut by a Japanese barber because no Korean at the time would agree to do that. This was seen as emasculating and there were protests. The decree lasted two weeks. It was then decided that it would not be mandatory. In February of 1897, Gojong left the Russian legation and returned to Gyeongbok Palace. Later that same year, he moved to Deoksu Palace and on October 13th, he took a radical decision, declaring himself Emperor of Korea at Hwagudan and performing the rite of heaven which was reserved for Chinese emperors, thus ending Korea's dependence on China. The era name Gwangmu was declared and Gojong made his son Sunjong the imperial crown prince. Joseon would now be known as the Korean Empire, Daehan Jaeguk. Heungseon Daewangun died on February 22nd, 1898. Gojong didn't attend his father's funeral. On August 17th, 1899, the constitution of the Korean empire was declared by Gojong. It gave him absolute power, thus achieving his father's dream. For now, Korea was independent of China but increasingly dependent on Imperial Japan. Things would rapidly change for the worse for the newly declared Korean Empire. Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please leave a like and subscribe to my channel. Stay tuned for more videos on the rich history of Korea.