Police brutality in 19th-century Joseon (I)

Jemulpo in the late 19th century / Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

• Published Sep 4, 2021 9:29 AM KST
• Updated Sep 4, 2021 9:29 AM KST

By Robert Neff

In the summer of 1884, the streets of the fledgling port of Jemulpo (part of modern Incheon) were awash with violence. British Vice-Consul William Richard Carles reported that clashes between knife-wielding Japanese residents and Koreans were an “almost daily occurrence and on every occasion hundreds of Japanese have hurried to the spot ready to take the part of their countrymen.” Often a single Korean would be surrounded by several hundred Japanese and brutally beaten.

The small “European Community” at the port “were highly excited” at what they perceived to be “motiveless acts of violence of a kind calculated to provoke a great hostility against foreigners.”

These attacks almost always took place in the Chinese and General Foreign Settlements where there were no police (the Japanese had their own police force but they could not be “expected to preserve order outside their own settlement”) and the attackers could not be apprehended or punished.

The Korean prefect, Hong Sun-hak, was powerless to prevent the attacks as he had no police or soldiers ― this changed in September when he was provided with 10 patrolmen. Around the same time, the General Foreign Settlement established its own police force consisting of 4 Chinese patrolmen under the supervision of the British consulate's constable. Soon, the attacks upon Koreans by the foreign population became less frequent and law and order reigned within the port.

However, outside the port, foreigners often became the victims and sometimes their assailants were the Korean police. Such was the case of D.R. Thomas.

Other than his name, nationality and this single incident ― merely a brief footnote in history ― we know nothing about Thomas. Although it is only speculation, he may have briefly worked for the Royal Korean Customs at Jemulpo, but his name is not mentioned in any of the Korean Customs or Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs lists (there were several Korean Customs employees whose names did not appear on the lists but we know them from other sources).

He seems to have had some familiarity with Korea which suggests that he spent at least a couple of weeks here. Perhaps he was a sailor, but, again, he does not appear on any of the crew lists for the two or three steamers that visited the port. In fact, Thomas does not appear in any of the regional directories.

We do know that he was a deadbeat. In early September, he was summoned to appear before Vice-Consul Carles for failure to pay off his debts incurred while at Jemulpo. Rather than answer the summons, Thomas decided to make a run for it.

Considering only a handful of steamships visited Jemulpo each month and sneaking aboard one of them would be no easy task, the only real options Thomas had was to try to make his way to one of the other open ports (Wonsan or Busan) or to make his way to one of the closed Korean ports and convince a Korean captain to smuggle him out of the country. Of course, having very little money made the chances of success very unlikely.

On Sept. 17, Carles learned that Thomas had left the port and was in the vicinity of Namyang (near modern Suwon). Although the consulate had its own constable, it was deemed prudent to ask the Korean authorities to arrest the fugitive and bring him back to Jemulpo. Knowing that the “usual practice in arresting criminal in Corea” was to beat them, Carles made it clear that “no violence should be used towards [Thomas] and especially that his hands should not be bound with cords.”

A few days later, Thomas was discovered about 5 kilometers from Namyang. He was fairly exhausted ― having suffered from the heat and the rough road and having not eaten for some days ― and used a large stick to help keep his balance and probably as a crude defensive weapon.

According to one version of the story, Thomas was hobbling along when a man suddenly approached him and presented him with a document in Chinese. Thomas correctly guessed that it was a warrant for his arrest. The man then indicated that the Englishman was to follow him and the two men made their way into the small town and stopped at a wine shop. Thomas later told another version of the event ― he said that he was resting in the wine shop when a group of men suddenly appeared and presented him with the arrest warrant. One of the men then asked him “for a gratuity” so that they could buy themselves some alcohol ― Thomas complied and “gave the [the police officer] a [Korean coin] or two, all the money he had left on him.”

Thomas and his captors departed the wine shop and proceeded for a short distance before Thomas realized that his captors were gone ― they had all gone back to the wine shop presumably for another round. Tired and unsure of what to do, he “lay down under a small fir tree to rest” with his walking stick beside him.

His peaceful slumber was short-lived. Thomas awoke to a beating. Eight or nine men ― armed with long sticks ― rained blow after blow upon his arms and legs. Fortunately, one of the men shielded the Englishman from the blows that were aimed at his head. Thomas could do nothing to protect himself ― prior to the beating, his walking stick had been carefully removed.

His hands were then tied firmly behind his back and ― despite barely being able to stand due to the severe swelling about his knee ― he was forced to walk to the residence of the magistrate of Namyang.

It was here, according to Thomas, that the Korean “officials treated him will all the kindness in their power; at once released him; and arranged for his being properly sent on to [Jemulpo] under a new police escort.” Thomas specifically mentioned Park Chang-gyo ― a police officer sent from Jemulpo to escort him back ― as being exceedingly kind. His walking stick was returned to him and he and his Korean police escort began the long and painful walk back to Jemulpo.

On Sept. 23, Thomas was turned over to Vice-Consul Carles who was surprised and infuriated by the battered condition of his fellow countryman. Carles immediately reported to his superior in Seoul, Consul-General William George Aston, that the bruises on the fugitive's arms and legs clearly indicated that he had “been very badly beaten, and his knee has been hurt so that it causes him pain to stand or walk.”

Aston was equally infuriated and informed Kim Hong-jip (the governor of Gyeonggi Province) of the “cruel treatment of a British subject by some of the subordinate officials” of Namyang. Aston made it clear that the issue would not be brushed away and stated, “I shall be obliged if you will give me early information of the time and place of the trial of the persons who have been guilty of this senior offence … so that I may have an opportunity of attending the hearing of the case.”

As we shall see tomorrow, the British authorities did not have to wait very long before they witnessed Joseon's judicial system in action.

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books including, Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.