The Korea Times

Marie Antoinette Sontag: “The uncrowned empress of Korea”

The Russian Legation in Seoul circa 1900 / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffAccording to a Korean almanac published in 1895, in the 12th month of the lunar year (Jan. 16 to Feb. 14, 1896):“The wild goose stands with its face to the north and the magpie builds for itself a nest shelter. The crow of the pheasant is heard on the hillside; hens feed on milk and the lake's stomach becomes solid.”What did this mean? Like horoscopes, the interpretation of the almanac's pearls of wisdom depended upon the perspective, gullibility and need of the reader ― its accuracy varied from reader to reader. It is unlikely, however, that the almanac predicted that on the cold morning of Feb. 11, 1896, the winds of politics in Korea would suddenly change when the monarch and crown prince found refuge in the Russian Legation in Seoul. Nor did it predict that this was the day when Marie Antoinette Sontag started on the path to becoming “the uncrowned empress of Korea.” According to Dr. Sylvia Braesel, during King Gojong's year-long stay at the Russian Legation, he “came to a

Jul 31, 2022By Robert Neff

Marie Antoinette Sontag: “The uncrowned empress of Korea”

Opinion

Russians arrive in Korea in 1885

Members of the Korean foreign office in the winter of 1883/84   Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffThe Russian cruiser Razboinik, with its crew of eight officers and 105 sailors, steamed into the harbor of Jemulpo (modern Incheon) on Oct. 3, 1885. The harbor was quite crowded with Chinese, Japanese, British and American warships ― many of them having just arrived ― and an English steamship whose crew was busily engaged in unloading the Joseon government's newly purchased mint.Like many of the recently arrived warships, the Russian cruiser's purpose was to transport a passenger to Korea. The Russian warship's passenger was Carl von Waeber, the newly appointed Russian charge d'affaires. His arrival had been anticipated and, to a degree, feared. About six weeks earlier, the American acting charge d'affaires, naval officer George C. Foulk, had reported to the U.S. State Department that the Russian representative would arrive with an escort of several warships and would build the most imposing legation in Seoul.Although Waeber did not arrive with a large escort of Russian warsh

Jul 24, 2022By Robert Neff

Opinion

The return of Heungseon Daewongun

The port of Jemulpo (modern Incheon) in the late 1880s or early 1890s   Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffWhen Arthur H. Heath (a journalist for the Illustrated London News) and his two companions (Charles Joseph Uren and Lionel F. Gowing) traveled to Korea in late September 1885, they expected a great adventure and were not disappointed.Heath wrote:“It was in very unsettled times that we paid this visit to the Hermit Kingdom, and [on Oct. 3], the day we returned to Jemulpo (modern Incheon) from Seoul, we found the long-expected and notorious “Daewongun” (Prince) had just arrived in a Chinese gunboat. The port was quite lively with British, Russian, American, Japanese and Chinese men-of-war…”While the Daewongun's arrival may have been long-expected and welcomed by much of the general public, many in the Korean court ― including the queen ― opposed it. George C. Foulk, an American naval officer in charge of the American Legation in Seoul, wrote:“The possible return of the Tai Won Kun has for some time been the subject of much speculatio

Jul 23, 2022By Robert Neff

Opinion

The Korean power shovel

Not all “Korean power shovels” used just three or five men ― some used nine. Circa 1900-1910s.   Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffIn the modern age of “ppali-ppali” (a Korean expression that means to do everything quickly) one still occasionally sees what some Westerners over a century ago called “the Korean power shovel.” American missionary George Heber Jones (1867-1919) described the “Korean power shovel” as an “interesting invention [that] occupies a front rank among the labor-saving machines of Korea, for it saves from three to five men a vast deal of work.” He was obviously being somewhat sarcastic as he waxed on almost poetically:“When in operation, the captain [the man holding the shovel's handle] inserts the iron shod point of the shovel as deep into the earth sometimes as three inches, and then the crew of two or four men give a lusty pull and a shout and away will go a tablespoonful of dirt fully six feet, if not more into the distance. This operation is repeated three or four times and then the

Jul 10, 2022By Robert Neff

Opinion

Joseon dragons' great influence over weather, state affairs

Wonju City circa 1910s-1920s   Courtesy of Jan Downing CollectionBy Robert NeffDragons have dwelt on the Korean Peninsula since the beginning of time ― at least according to the legends and folklore. These mystical creatures or entities were also popular subjects to grace the pages of Westerners' letters home or to the editors of their local newspapers.Dr. Albin Garfield Anderson (1882-1971), an American medical missionary, claimed Koreans believed gods were responsible for the weather and that if these gods were properly approached or beseeched, the weather patterns could be changed for the better or worse ― depending on the whims of these divine beings. According to Anderson, residents of Wonju where he spent his first few years in Korea would write prayers for rain on pieces of paper and hang them from branches of trees on the surrounding mountains or paste them to stones. However, there was an easier method than trekking up the steep mountain: all one had to do was go to the market:“Two dragons lie between the market stalls, each about 100 feet long and two feet h

Jul 9, 2022By Robert Neff

Joseon dragons' great influence over weather, state affairs

Opinion

Baseball in Joseon: Part 2

Playing baseball at a park in Busan circa 1920s-40   Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffPhillip Gillett, an American missionary working with the YMCA, is often credited as being the first to introduce baseball to Korea in 1905. He helped popularize it and form a Korean baseball team, the Hwangseong YMCA Baseball Team. The following year, he helped arrange the first official Korean baseball match on Feb. 11, 1906. It would not be the last game. Dr. Alfred Irving Ludlow, an American medical missionary, recalled that when he arrived in Korea in 1912, he pitched against one of the first Korean baseball teams in Seoul. These early games were not well-attended ― only a few passersby who stopped to see what the foreigners and Koreans were doing. But over the next couple of years, the game became quite popular in Seoul. Ludlow explained:“In Korea, a young boy is often required to care for his baby brother or sister who is strapped to his back. Even this, though a handicap, does not deter the boy from playing baseball. I have often seen such a boy at the bat, while the little

Jul 3, 2022By Robert Neff

Opinion

Baseball in Joseon: Part 1

Baseball at the Oriental Consolidated Mining Company (OCMC) in northern Korea circa 1930s   Courtesy of Jan DowningBy Robert NeffOn a beautiful fall afternoon in late October 1894, baseball made its appearance in Seoul. It isn't clear if this was the first baseball game to be played in Korea, but it is the earliest account I could find and clearly predates the popular belief that baseball began in Korea in 1905.The game was held near the East Gate and involved American sailors and Marines stationed in Seoul as part of the Legation Guard. We know that the USS Concord was anchored at Jemulpo (present day Incheon) and part of its crew, under the command of Lieutenant Gile, served as the Legation Guard but there also seems to have been a small detachment of sailors and Marines from the USS Baltimore assigned to the Legation Guard. It doesn't challenge the imagination to assume the game was between the crews of the two ships.Unfortunately, we know very little about the event. Elizabeth Greathouse, who mentioned the game in passing in her daily diary entry noting that her son wen

Jun 25, 2022By Robert Neff

Opinion

The Royal English School's Sports Day

A sports day in the early 1900s.  Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffIn her diary, on June 16, 1897, Elizabeth Greathouse duly noted that it was a cloudy day but it promised to be a good day for the Royal English School's annual athletic sports day. She wasn't quite sure what the students were going to do ― some type of gymnastics, she guessed ― but she looked forward to attending the event with two Korean ladies. They were due to arrive at 3 and they would walk or take their chairs (palanquins) to the old drill ground ― plenty of time to get there before the sporting events began at 4.She had another reason for wanting to go ― one of her young male friends, a Mr. Yuk, was competing and she hoped he would win a prize.The Independent ― the local newspaper published in Korean and English ― described the event:“The arrangements of the campus and decoration of the grand stand deserve favorable comments. The old drill ground of Hunyunan was fenced off in circular form to prevent the spectators from interfering with the exercises, and a temporary entrance to the grand stand was

Jun 20, 2022By Robert Neff

Opinion

The assassination attempt of Heungson Daewon'gun

The beauty of Unhyeongung in April 2022.  Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffOn the morning of June 15, 1892, the residents of Seoul awoke to the booming of thunder. It was a very welcomed sound. One elderly American wrote in her diary, the sky had “every appearance of rain, we all hope it may come.” Indeed, many of the farmers were probably praying fervently knowing that a bountiful rain would help ensure a successful harvest, but others, before the end of the evening, would rue the rain ― perhaps curse it ― for it dampened their Machiavellian plans.Heungson Daewon'gun, the father of the king, had long been a thorn in his son's side. In the recent past, he had been notorious for his plots to undermine his son's authority and was especially nefarious to the queen's whom he considered to be his mortal enemy. However, age had mellowed the elderly man ― he was about 71 years old ― and in recent years he “had remained apparently aloof from the politics, though rumor, in view of his antecedents, often connected his name with suggestive canards.”Throughout the

Jun 18, 2022By Robert Neff

The assassination attempt of Heungson Daewon'gun

Opinion

Secret journey to Daegu in 1875

The fortress at Fusan in the late 19th century   Courtesy of Diane Nars CollectionBy Robert NeffTraveling alone through the Korean countryside in March 1875 was dangerous ― especially if you were a foreigner. However, one young Japanese man from Tsushima Island, likely a student interpreter at Fusan (modern Busan) and possessed by the folly of youth and the mastery of the Korean language, was determined to explore Korea beyond the small Japanese enclave at Fusan. He wrote:“After studying Korean for several years and becoming pretty well acquainted with the language, the idea entered my mind to make a tour of observation through the interior of the country in disguise.”His destination was the great market city of Daegu ― a fairly conservative city that would later gain a seemingly well-deserved reputation as being unfriendly to foreign visitors.In preparation for his journey, he let his hair and beard grow out so that his “general appearance, in [the] course of time, resembled that of a Korean.” Following the advice of his Korean companion, he put on

Jun 12, 2022By Robert Neff

Robert Neff

Read more

Marie Antoinette Sontag: “The uncrowned empress of Korea”

Russians arrive in Korea in 1885

The return of Heungseon Daewongun

The Korean power shovel

Joseon dragons' great influence over weather, state affairs

Baseball in Joseon: Part 2

Baseball in Joseon: Part 1

The Royal English School's Sports Day

The assassination attempt of Heungson Daewon'gun

Secret journey to Daegu in 1875

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