The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-20
THE SITUATION IN KOREA.
Beginning to Feel the Influence of
the Chinese Uprising.

7
ginning to feel the influence OF the upris
ing in China 1t would be hard to imagin
the CONSERVATION of the Koreans as the
learn day by day of the events which ar
surely leading to the overthrow of Chin:
For 1000 years Korea has looked up I
China as the pattern in almost everything
The very clothes that the Koreans wea
are more Chinese than those the Chimes
themselves wear; the literary language I
Older and purer Chinese than the Chimes
themselves use; the ConfucIanism of 10
rea is less overgrown by other beliefs tha
is that of China. And to see the grea
Middle Kingdom, the centre of all enlight
i eminent. breaking up in the face of foreigl
| pressure is a matter of most poiznan
grief to the Korean.
To be sure, the Japanese in 1894 wrench
ed asunder the political ties which boun,
Korea to China and attempted to force
! the Koreans TO adopt alien customs, but
though the outward bond was severed, tn,
| actual bond was welded the frmer VIII,
should Korea not revere her great patron
| Far back, over twelve hundred years be-
! lore christ, the Sage Kija came from Chi
| ma with his followers and founded the mos
successful colony the world has ever seen
basing it on principles that, even in the
twentieth century, might be taken as Z
model without the modification of 4 single
item in its regime. When the Emperor
Chin 81 began the hereulean task of build
ing the Great Wall of China two hundred
years before Christ, thousands of Chinese
refugees fled from his CONSUMPTION and
threw in their lot with the dweilers of
southern Korea, and in cooperation with
them established the Kingdom of Sifla
which. in its day, was one of the most
brilliant OF any in Eastern ASH 1t fur
nished Japan with a race OF nobiemen who
to this day dominate the policy of that
vigorous Empire. Arab merchants traded
with her. She lourished in the useful arts
as well as in the ornamental, as is proved
by the fact that il the little town of Ky
onS-Ju, in southern Korea, which was for
merly the capital of Silla there hangs to
this day one of the largest bells in the
world, surprising in size even the enor-
nous bell in Seoul, the present capital
When the Empire OF Genghis Khan was
founded. 700 years ago the King OF Korea
took as his Queen Mongol princess, the
daughter of the Emperor himself. The
richest work of art in Korea is highly
carved marble pagoda OF ten stories which
the Mcngol Emperor sent all the way from
China at the request of his daughter. For
100 years 1t has stood in the centre OF the
present capital Of Korea. When, in 1892,
the Japanese armies invaded the peninsula
and brought Korea to the verge of de-
struetion, the Chinese interfered ard
helped her drive them back
Whether this subserviency to China has
been good thing or not, the fact Is I'M
questioned, and what has been said will
suffice to show why the Koreans should
lcok upon the possible dismemberment OF
China with such dismay. And this anxiety
is not unwarranted. for in this weigaty
eataclysm who can foresee the fate of lit |
Korea? A Korean proverb says that when
two whales fight the shrimp gets crushed
between them, and the Koreans are astute
enough to see that in the settlement o. such
9 stupendous problem as that which China
now presents the fate Of small Korea will
be but drop in the bucket
But If one looks carefully at all sides of
the question ne will discover that 1t ought
to cause little uneasiness in Korea Their
is only one country to which the fate of
Korea is Of vital interest. and that is
Japan. When IN 1868 Japan came out
from her seclusion and Joined the sister
hood of nations Korea looked upon il as
an acs OF sacrilege-an abandonment of all
that Is worth while in national life. But
the time is likely to come when Korea
will bless the day that Japan took steps
to make herself a genuine world power.
for 1t is that power alone xnich stands
Between Korea and absorption in the
great northern empire which has now
reached the Korean frontiers OF. the north.
As Korea was for centuries the bone of
contention between Japan and China. so
ii the future she is likely to become the
rock of offence between japan and Russia.
This autagonism is in all probability to be
accumulated and hasiened by the present
a rftIrf -,
d hand in the game. as she surely will.
and the time ever comes when the spoils
are to be divided. and that: too. q beyond
reasonable doubt. Japan is almost sure TO
claim paramount influence in the PENN
sula OF Korea as part OF her reward
Ii has been confidently affirmed BY SONIC
tnat the Empire of China will not be dis
membered. but that the treaty powers will
settle upon some method of joint control
OF that vast people But we hear that
Germany, in view of the murder Of her
Minister in Pekin. has declared that she
Will settle this affair with China without
reference to the other powers. Here 1t
the very start We find bar to any slxh
plan or joint control of an unbroken China
Every day makes il clearer and clearer
that ACKNOWLEDGMENT will ensue, and IN
that case the fate of Korea is more th.n
likely to be involved. This is not because
the powers consider Korea q part OF China
nor because Korea is in any sense ac-
cessory to the inhuman work going on
across the Yellow Sea hut simply because
when China is partitioned between the
powers, Korea will be the only remaining
portion of Eastern Asia that still olings
to the old way OF doing things, and the
situation Will be an unsettled and pre-
,arious one. II Korea were such a power
IS Switzerland, with an enlightened gov
to act a buffer State" between
the greater empires on either side. 1t
might be possible To continue the status
luo: but the trouble is that Korea is so
situated that she is necessary to both
Russia and Japan. Both of those powers
need to control the peninsula in order to
secure their own ends. Here is where the
peril lies.
Viewed from any standpoint the situa-
lion in the Far East bids fair to tax tn
ingenuity of the statesman as few events
If the last century have done. Fifty ar
ago the great central plains of the United
States were so sparsely settled that a.
,ould be served with land who came: but
Nhen at last the good soil was all pre-
.mpted. behold what a grand rush oc-
,urred when Oklahoma was thrown open
o the settler. So here. on a Thousand
lines gIander scale, the terri tory throSn
,pen is an immense Empire, containing
lmoSt one-third OF the human race, and
territory incomparably rich. both in
agricultural and mineral wealth, ard the
sttlers who are preparing TO rush in and
axe the territory are the most pc iul
Governments in the world. Does it seerl
probable that in this event all friction
will be avoided? 1t is to be sincerely no ed
o. but il so it will prove that there
lever was an age in the world when
was more astute, when
omty between empires was more perfect,
rhen International obligations were more
expected than today.