The Korea Times

Police brutality in 19th-century Joseon (I)

Jemulpo in the late 19th century / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffIn 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

Sep 4, 2021By Robert Neff

Police brutality in 19th-century Joseon (I)

Police brutality in 19th-century Joseon (II)

Opinion

Charlotte Christine: shipwrecked on Ulleung Island in 1873

On Aug. 27, 1873, the Charlotte Christine, a German barque, departed Vladivostok bound for Chefoo (modern Yantai), China. We don't know much about the ship save that it was relatively small (286 tons) and apparently arrived in the Far East the previous year or so, mainly transporting goods, including cotton, along the Chinese coast.

Aug 29, 2021By Robert Neff

Charlotte Christine: shipwrecked on Ulleung Island in 1873

Opinion

The difficult choice

A group of children looking at the photographer, circa 1900s / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffPhotographs of Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries often are graced with the images of children. They captivate the viewer. In many pictures, the children are more like accessories ― used as a scale to indicate the size of an object or to breathe life into a rather dull image of a building or artifact. In other pictures, children are the main subject. They gaze curiously out at the viewer ― the interloper ― who has accosted them in the street while they are playing with their friends or are busy with chores.Many photographs were staged, with the children placed to capitalize on their beauty and innocence ― in hopes of appealing to a greater market.These images of Korean children in photographs are flattering but the images portrayed in contemporary books, newspapers, magazines and letters home were not. One of the most frequent comments about Korean children was their lack of clothing. In the late summer of 1888, an American correspondent blushingly described small Korean ch

Aug 28, 2021By Robert Neff

Opinion

The Argonaut's arrival in Korea in 1791

Japanese fishing vessels in the late 19th century / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffOne of the earliest Western attempts to establish trade with Korea took place in the summer of 1791 by the English-flagged Argonaut, commanded by Captain James Colnett. The 400-ton ship had a crew of 19 men (excluding the captain) as well as Thomas Beal, a Prussian and the younger brother of one of the ship's owners, and a Chinese man, “smuggled on board who pretended to be a Japanese interpreter.”The Argonaut departed Macau on July 27 with a cargo of furs. On Aug. 9, Jeju Island was sighted but no contact was made with any of the islanders. They then sailed along the western coast of Japan and had several encounters with Japanese boats. Apparently, the Japanese thought that the Argonaut was a Dutch vessel that had lost its way, and thoughtfully pointed in the direction of Nagasaki, while stressing the importance for the Westerners to leave their vicinity.Nonetheless, the Argonaut continued to explore the coastline, and on Aug. 16, encountered a “small squadron of junks,” w

Aug 22, 2021By Robert Neff

Opinion

Diplomat on the run

A Chinese residence in the late 19th century / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffIn 1888, the vice consul in Shanghai for the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway was an Austrian businessman named S. Krips. In the past, countries that did not have diplomats in a distant port would sometimes assign consular positions to citizens of their own country or to trusted people of foreign nationality, usually businesspeople. Krips, an auctioneer and consignment merchant, was one of these “trusted” foreign businesspeople.We don't know much about his consular activities (nor do we know his full name) but we do know about his business activities and the level of his trustworthiness. He frequently did business with the British merchant enterprise Gibbs, Livingston & Co., and sold their goods on consignment in the Shanghai region. They entrusted him with a great deal of goods and for the most part he always fulfilled his contracts with them, but sometime in the late 1880s, greed ― and perhaps a sense of adventure ― got the better part of him, and rather than follows his instructi

Aug 21, 2021By Robert Neff

Opinion

Yanks welcomed on their arrival in newly liberated Korea

The Port of Incheon, circa 1945-49 / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffOn Sept. 8, 1945, American soldiers began arriving in Incheon. Everett Shipley informed his parents in a letter home that his unit arrived in the port at about 3 p.m. and were greeted by the Japanese who provided them with trucks and other logistical support to off-load their equipment. The following morning, American soldiers were transported by train to Seoul, where, upon arrival, they marched in silence to their positions at Bando Hotel and the Japanese headquarters in Yongsan. Donald Clark, in his book “Living Dangerously in Korea,” notes that while the soldiers marched in silence, American “planes roared overhead 'providing striking demonstrations of power that could hardly have failed to impress both Japanese and Koreans.'” Later that afternoon, at around 4 p.m., General Hodge and Admiral Kincaid arrived at the Government-General Building and, after a short speech ― “listened glumly to by the Japanese” ― Hodge accepted Japan's surrender. Welcoming the Allied Forces, The

Aug 15, 2021By Robert Neff

Yanks welcomed on their arrival in newly liberated Korea

Opinion

An emperor delivers 'a Great Declaration' of Aug. 15, 1945

Namdaemun in Seoul during the Japanese occupation / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffOn Aug. 14, 1945, Koreans and Japanese on the Korean Peninsula were surprised by notices in the newspaper and radio broadcasts that on the following day, at noon, there would be “a great declaration.”This caused great excitement and many rumors began to circulate, but few thought the proclamation would amount to much ― perhaps a declaration of new restrictions or increased rationing.An Hong-kyoon, at that time a 12-year-old schoolboy, recalls that the morning of Aug. 15 was just like any other hot sultry morning ― he got up, ate breakfast and went to school. His classmates gathered pine needles (which were used for oil) from the nearby mountain and then returned to the school courtyard with their teacher to await the great proclamation. Nearly seven decades later, An recalled: “Exactly at noon, a radio announcer stated that his majesty the emperor would read an edict to his subjects. The Japanese national anthem streamed through a loudspeaker as we stood at straight attention. Th

Aug 14, 2021By Robert Neff

An emperor delivers 'a Great Declaration' of Aug. 15, 1945

Global Community

Joseon Images Streetcars: A time for change in Joseon

A streetcar passes through the West Gate, circa the early 1900s. / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffIn 1899, streetcars began operating in Seoul. This was a time of great change, and one of the biggest problems facing their operator, Seoul Electric Street Railroad, was time.Clocks and watches made abroad were highly valued in Korea, and sometimes given as expensive gifts. In July 1883, a Korean official visiting Japan bought several diamond-studded gold watches from an American merchant as gifts for the Korean monarch and his queen.In 1892, one American observed:“A curious penchant of Koreans is for cuckoo clocks. The cuckoo is a native of the peninsula, and the people seem never tired of entering a store and listening to the cry of the birds which come out of the clocks and tell the hour. Dozens of these are kept in the Chinese stores, and they sell readily at a good profit.”However, those who could not afford a clock or watch were forced to make do with other time-keeping methods, such as the large bell used to signal the opening and closing of the city gates (a prac

Aug 10, 2021By Robert Neff

[Joseon Images] Streetcars: A time for change in Joseon

Opinion

Tale of two ships at Gunsan in 1847: Gloire and Victorieuse

Often when we think of early Western-Korean interactions we think of Seoul, Jemulpo or Busan but an early ― and potentially violent ― encounter took place near Gunsan City in 1847. On July 12, 1847, two French warships, the 54-gun frigate Gloire (command by Captain Augustine de Lapierre) and the 24-gun corvette Victorieuse, sailed out of Macau bound for Korea. The two warships and nearly 600 marines and sailors were to demonstrate the might of the French navy and exact an explanation from the Korean government as to why three French missionaries had been executed. This would not be the first time these ships had been used to show the French government's displeasure with the treatment its priests had received. Three months earlier, on April 15, these two warships ― seeking redress for the ill-treatment of French priests ― sank five Vietnamese corvettes in Da Nang. Albeit, the Vietnamese ships appear to have attacked first, but there seems to be no doubt that Captain Lapierre was not hesitant to use force. Arriving off the southern coast of Korea, the two warships made their way slowly

Aug 8, 2021By Robert Neff

Tale of two ships at Gunsan in 1847: Gloire and Victorieuse

Opinion

The dangers of making money

A postcard from 1912 / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffOn July 10, 1883, Korean authorities arrested an international ring of counterfeiters on a small island off the coast of Jemulpo (the former name of today's Incheon). The seven men ― four Koreans and three Japanese ― were found with several thousand units of counterfeit money (in Korean coins) and the tools of their nefarious trade.The four Koreans accused of the crime were sent to Seoul where, after a summary investigation, they were beheaded. Their corpses were left in the streets for several days, a gruesome example of the fate awaiting anyone else foolish enough to commit a similar act.As for the Japanese, they were held at the Japanese consulate until they were transported to Nagasaki aboard the British steamship Nanzing. Their arrival was duly noted by the editor of the local English-language newspaper who speculated that, “Probably the Korean government will press for a heavy sentence to be passed upon the offending Japanese.”It isn't clear what punishment ― if any ― the Japanese counterfeiters received. I

Aug 7, 2021By Robert Neff

Robert Neff

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Police brutality in 19th-century Joseon (I)

Charlotte Christine: shipwrecked on Ulleung Island in 1873

The difficult choice

The Argonaut's arrival in Korea in 1791

Diplomat on the run

Yanks welcomed on their arrival in newly liberated Korea

An emperor delivers 'a Great Declaration' of Aug. 15, 1945

Joseon Images Streetcars: A time for change in Joseon

Tale of two ships at Gunsan in 1847: Gloire and Victorieuse

The dangers of making money

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