The Gyeongbok Palace, Seoul, as a Barollleter of Korea’s Political Fortunes in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

The Gyeongbok Palace, Seoul, dates from the fourteenth century. By the nineteenth century it had long been disused, until the threat of Sino-Japanese imperialism prompted the Daeweongun, father of the young King Gojong, to have it rebuilt in 1865 as a symbol of national prestige. It then became the focus of international rivalry for control over the peninsular kingdom. During the Japanese colonial period it was largely destroyed, but in 1995 the South Korean government began its second reconstruction, underlining the revival of the nation’s economic and political fortunes.