A group of pro-American reformer-officials, collectively identified as the "Chdngdong Party"(Cho˘ngdong-p'a) during 1895-1897, played an important role in the reform movements of the late nineteenth-century Korea. There are, however, limited studies...
A group of pro-American reformer-officials, collectively identified as the "Chdngdong Party"(Cho˘ngdong-p'a) during 1895-1897, played an important role in the reform movements of the late nineteenth-century Korea. There are, however, limited studies concerning their activities in the current Korean historiography. This study aims at exploring how the pro-American reformer-officials emerged as a loosely organized faction in the Yi dynasty Korean government and what role they played in the Kabo Reforms of 1894∼1896 and the Independence Club movement of 1896∼1898.
The core of the pro-American faction under consideration here was composed of a such progressive-minded officials as Pak Cho˘ng-yang, Yi Wan-yong, Yi Ch'ae-yo˘n and Yi Sang-jae, who shared the experience of living in the United States as the members of the Korean legation in Washington D.C. in 1888. Some of them had participated in the Gentlemen's Observation Mission (Sinsa yuramdan) to Japan in 1882 and the Special Korean Mission (Pobingsa) to the United States in 1883. They participated actively in the "enlightenment" (kaetwa) and "self-strengthening" (chagang) projects of the Korean government with their knowledge on Western civilization and modern ideologies from the mid-1880s to the early 1890s. With favorable perception of the United States in mind, they helped King Kojong in charting an independent diplomatic course vis-a-vis China during the decade of 1885-1894 when China threatened Korean independence by appointing an all-powerful "Imperial Chinese Resident," Yuan Shih-k' ai, in Seoul.
The pro-American reformer-officials were referred to as the "Cho˘ngdong Party" during 1895∼1897 because they frequented the Cho˘ngdong Club, a social club located in the Cho˘ngdong district of Seoul and operated by a German hostess (Miss Antoinette Sontag), where many Western diplomats and missionaries congregated. At this time, the leadership of the Chongdong Party was held by Yi Wan-yong, So˘ Kwang-bo˘m, Yun Ch'i-ho. and Yi Po˘m-jin, high-ranking officials who adopted a pro-American and pro-Russian diplomatic stance as a means of resisting the imperialistic Japanese pressure. The influence of the Cho˘ngdong Party expanded after the birth of a pro-Western cabinet headed by Pak Cho˘ng-yang on June 2, 1895. But this influence evaporated following the murder of Queen Min on October 8, 1895.
The Chongdong Party reemerged as the major political force in Korean politics following King Kojong's flight to the Russian legation on February 11, 1896. The cabinet composed of the Cho˘ngdong Party members tried to continue the Kabo ("1894") Reform movement, which had been undertaken during Sino-Japanese War (1894∼1895) mainly by the pro-Japanese officials in alliance with pro-Western ones, in the face of mounting pressure against the reform from the conservative officials and people. In reorganizing the Korean central government, it attempted to strike a balance between traditional royal prerogatives and the power of modem cabinet by restoring the name of the State Council (U˘ijo˘ngbu) for the Cabinet (Naegak), a new institution which had come into being in 1895.
The Cho˘ngdong Party contributed to a series of other institutional reforms during the years from 1896 to 1898. They included an expansion of modem education, transportation, and communication systems. The members of the Chongdong Party supported the publication of the modern vernacular newspaper, Tongnip sinmun (The Independent), as welll as the constructions of the Independence Arch and Independence Park. With the purpose of bringing the progressive people together, they helped found the Independence Club (Tongnip hyo˘phoe) on July 2, 1896, With these reform activities, the Chongdong Party tried to fulfill the goals of the the Kabo Reforms while combating the influence of the conservative officials and people who were commiitted to restoring the status quo ante 1894.
The Cho˘ngdong Party lost influence after King Kojong, now called Emperor Kojong, returned to his own palace from the Russian legation on February 20, 1897. The appellation of the Cho˘ngdong Party was no longer in use. Nevertheless, several members of the Party continued making efforts to reform traditional institutions is individual capacities, by participating, for example, in the Imperial Commission for the Revision of Laws (Kyojo˘nso) as its members. Some of the the former Cho˘ngdong Party members, including Yun Ch'i-ho and Yi Sang-jae, engaged in a movement to stop Russian penetration into Korea, and succeeded in closing down the Korean -Russian Bank and expelling Russian military and financial advisers from Korea.
The former members of the Cho˘ngdong Party took control of the Independence Club in March 1898 in an effort to implement reforms which they had been promoting with limited success so far. They concentrated on inaugurating Korea's first parliament as soon as the cabinet of Pak Cho˘ng-yang was established on October 12, 1898, by converting the Privy Council (Chungch'u-won), a traditional office of sinecures, into a proto-modern National Assembly. This movement, however, was thwarted by Emperor Kojong, who now was allied with the conservatives in order to strengthen his own authority in the face of the growing power of the people. Kojong and the conservatives finally disbanded the Independence Club on December 25, 1898 under the excuse that the Club members hatched a plot to establish a republican government at the expense of the monarchy. As a rejoinder, the members of the Club, including Pak Chong-yang and Min Yong--hwan, organized the Assembly of All Castes (Manmin kondonghoe) and staged street demonstrations against the government--all to no avail. The disbandment of the Independence Club in late 1898 meant the effective end of the last major reform movement undertaken by the faction of pro-American reformer-officials before the Taehan ("Great Korean") Empire was transformed into a protectorate of Japan in 1905.