NORMAL TRIBUTARY PRACTICE: THE NATURE OF KING KOJONG’S POLICY TOWARD THE UNITED STATES IN THE 1880s

Abstract

In the 1880s King Kojong, ruler of the Korean Kingdom of Chosŏn, implemented balance-of-power politics, seeking to attract American aid to free Chosŏn from the interference and control of Qing China. This study seeks to demonstrate how his decade-long effort conformed to the logic of balance-of-power politics in keeping with traditional East Asian tributary interstate practices. Kojong looked to the United States for assistance to counterbalance Qing in Chosŏn. His policy of playing the “American card” against the heavy-handed Chinese government was typical balance-of-power politics. Kojong’s American policy of the 1880s was characterized by the following features. First, in order to achieve his goals, Kojong employed the classical Chinese maxim of befriending a distant state and engaging in conflict with a neighboring state. Second, Kojong employed “soft balancing,” by which he actively sought to win the goodwill and friendship of the American government and create closer Chosŏn-United States ties short of a military alliance. Third, Kojong conducted balance-of-power politics within the framework of the East Asian tribute system. His goal was to achieve full autonomy in the domestic and foreign affairs in his kingdom while continuing the ritual practices and conventions of the Qing-Chosŏn tributary relationship. In sum, Kojong’s American policy of the 1880s conformed to the logic of balance-of-power practices under the East Asian tribute system.