The Korean Empire of 1897

On 12 October 1897 King Gojong performed a rite to heaven at the newly built Hwangudan altar and became emperor; the next day he named the country Daehan.

The 1890s were the most dangerous decade in Joseon's history. Qing and Japan fought a war in 1894 and 1895 partly over influence in Korea, and Japan won. Then Russia moved in as a rival to Japan. In the middle of this contest, King Gojong tried a bold step: he declared that Korea was an empire, equal in rank to China and Japan, and that he was its emperor. This last unit explains why he did it, what the new empire tried to change, and how it ended.

A palace murder and a king in hiding

In 1895 Queen Min, Gojong's wife, was murdered by Japanese agents in the Geoncheonggung residence inside Gyeongbokgung. Fearing for his life, Gojong secretly moved to the Russian legation in Seoul on 11 February 1896 and ruled from there for about a year. This episode is called the Agwan pacheon, the king's refuge at the Russian legation. During that year he had Gyeongungung, the palace known today as Deoksugung, repaired, and in February 1897 he moved into it.

Becoming an emperor

For centuries Joseon kings had held the rank of king within an order headed by the Chinese emperor. After Qing's defeat in 1895 that order had collapsed, and Gojong wanted Korea's independence to be visible to everyone. A new altar for the rite to heaven, the Hwangudan, was built near Gyeongungung, because only an emperor could make that offering. On 12 October 1897 Gojong performed the rite there, wearing a yellow dragon robe, a colour reserved for emperors, and took the title of emperor. The next day he issued his first edict as emperor: the country's name would be Daehan Jeguk, the Korean Empire, and the year would count as the first of Gwangmu, meaning "shining martial strength", an era name the court had already adopted that August. The queen was honoured posthumously as empress and the crown prince became the imperial crown prince.

Reforms of the Gwangmu era

In August 1899 the government issued the Daehanguk Gukje, a short charter declaring the empire independent and placing almost all power in the emperor's hands. Reforms followed under the era name: a national land survey and the issuing of official land deeds, programmes to promote industry and commerce, new streets and services in Seoul, a stronger imperial treasury and the creation of a supreme military command. Historians call these the Gwangmu reforms. The era name was used from 1897 to 1907, but most of the reform work took place between 1897 and 1903.

How the empire ended

The empire's independence did not last. After Japan defeated Russia in 1904 and 1905, it forced the Eulsa Treaty on Korea in 1905, taking control of its foreign affairs and installing a Japanese resident-general. In 1907, using as a pretext the emperor's secret envoys to the peace conference at The Hague, Japan forced Gojong to abdicate, and a new agreement put Japanese vice-ministers in every ministry. On 29 August 1910 Japan annexed Korea. The Korean Empire, and with it the dynasty that began in 1392, came to an end.

Historians still debate how much the Gwangmu reforms achieved and how much room the empire ever had between larger powers. What is clear is that the name Daehan did not disappear. When independence activists formed a provisional government in 1919 they called it the Republic of Korea, Daehan Minguk, and the modern state carries the same name.