The King’s Gambit: Kojong’s Initiative to Set Up Chosŏn Legations in Japan, the United States, and Europe in 1887

Abstract

This paper examines the Chosŏn government’s first attempt to establish legations abroad, carried out in July–November of 1887. Taking that time’s geopolitical and internal situation into account, the author analyzes such events as the anti-Foulk campaign (early 1887) and the coup d’état rumors (summer of 1887) as factors that ensured the smooth dispatching of the Chosŏn (Korea) embassy to Japan in early August 1887. The geopolitical situation that surrounded the Korean Peninsula in late summer–autumn of 1887 will be analyzed as a factor, complicating the dispatch of Chosŏn diplomats to the United States and Europe later that year. In order to achieve these, and to reveal the deception and manipulation behind King Kojong’s actions at the time, the author relies on the analysis of Russian, Korean, and English primary sources.