Open Korea

Korean Identities Beyond Borders

Gojong’s 1905 letter to US president found after 121 years

in ,
Gojong's 1905 letter to US president found after 121 years

The original copy of Korean Emperor Gojong’s 1905 letter to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was found last month at the U.S. Library of Congress, 121 years after it was written, the Hulbert Memorial Society said Wednesday.

The letter, written in Chinese, was recovered on April 20 along with a six-page handwritten English translation by U.S. missionary and educator to Korea Homer Hulbert (1863-1949), whom the emperor had appointed as a special envoy to deliver it to the U.S. president.

On Oct. 16, 1905, Gojong wrote the letter amid mounting pressure from Japan to turn Korea into a protectorate, appealing to Washington in a diplomatic effort to keep Japan at bay.

“Japan has assumed the position of an enlightened power and she cannot thus break her pledged word and revert to purely oriental methods without losing in the minds of all thoughtful people the moral prestige which her avowed principles would secure for her if strictly adhered to,” the letter read. “For the sake of the Korean people we beg of you to use your powerful influence in this direction and to refuse to become a party to the further degradation of this Empire and the extinguishment of our last hope.”

The appeal, however, didn’t arrive on time. On Nov. 17, about a month after the letter was written, the Eulsa Treaty was signed, depriving the Korean Empire of its diplomatic sovereignty and making it a protectorate of imperial Japan. Hulbert did not meet U.S. Secretary of State Elihu Root and deliver the letter until Nov. 25, and was unaware at the time that the treaty had already been signed.

While historians have long been aware of the letter, the whereabouts of the original copy had remained unknown.

Hulbert later described the episode in his memoir, “Hulbert Manuscript,” writing that Gojong deliberately composed the letter in Chinese to evade Japanese surveillance. In addition, rather than carrying the letter himself, Hulbert arranged for an American acquaintance in Seoul to include it in a diplomatic pouch bound for Washington.

Kim Dong-jin, chairman of the Hulbert Memorial Society, said the discovery offers an opportunity to reassess Gojong’s diplomatic efforts in the face of his country in peril.

“The fact that Gojong sent a letter to the U.S. president proves that he did not remain idle in the face of Japan’s growing pressure,” Kim said. “Gojong deserves reexamination.” Scholars are divided in their assessment of Gojong, with critics portraying him as an ineffective leader who failed to resist Japan’s encroachment.

An author and longtime advocate of Hulbert, Kim also said the letter sheds light on Hulbert’s role in Korea’s struggle for independence.

“Not many people in Korea know that Hulbert served as Gojong’s special envoy in 1905,” he said. “This letter shows the extent of his efforts for Korea. Hulbert deserves greater recognition, and I urge the government and academia to take a closer look at his contributions to Korea’s fight for independence.”

submitted by /u/Ok-Huckleberry5836
[link] [comments]

Related Posts

Yunho of ATEEZ: The Fox at the Frontier Union wants foreign language teachers to know their rights The Japanese Occupation of Korea: A Struggle for Independence and the Korean War

Latest News from Korea

Latest Entertainment from Korea

Learn People & History of Korea