Gyeongsul National Humiliation

Overview

The Gyeongsul National Humiliation (庚戌國恥) refers to the event in which the Korean Empire was ruined and became a Japanese colony when the "Treaty on the Annexation of Korea" (Korea–Japan Annexation Treaty) was promulgated on August 29, 1910 (Yunghui 4). The name means "the national shame suffered in the year Gyeongsul," and it is also called the "loss of national sovereignty." The treaty was signed on August 22 at the Resident-General's residence on Namsan, but Japan concealed it for a week out of concern for backlash, and announced it on the 29th. The name of the Korean state was changed to "Joseon," and the Office of the Governor-General of Chosen was established.

Background

Having taken diplomatic rights through the Eulsa Treaty (1905) and internal administrative rights through the "New Japan–Korea Agreement" (1907), Japan disbanded the Korean army in August 1907, and in July 1909 it also took judicial power and prison affairs through the Giyu Memorandum of 1909. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, the Japanese cabinet secretly resolved on July 6, 1909 to annex Korea, and from September for two months carried out the "Great Pacification of Southern Korea" to suppress the righteous armies.

In October 1909, Itō Hirobumi was killed in the An Jung-geun Incident, and in December Yi Jae-myeong stabbed Prime Minister Yi Wan-yong, seriously wounding him. In the same month, Yi Yong-gu and Song Byeong-jun of the Iljinhoe announced a "Petition for Union" drafted by the Japanese Kokuryūkai, attempting to create public support for annexation, but it met strong opposition from the forces of the Patriotic Enlightenment Movement.

Course of Events

• May 30, 1910: Japan appointed Terauchi Masatake, active-duty army general and Minister of the Army, as the third Resident-General, replacing Sone Arasuke.
• June 24: An memorandum entrusting Korea's police power to Japan was concluded, and the gendarmerie police system was implemented.
• July 23: Terauchi, having arrived in Seoul, suspended the publication of the Daehan Minbo and banned the sale of the Daehan Maeil Sinbo, thereby suppressing the press.
• August 16: Terauchi summoned Prime Minister Yi Wan-yong and Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry Jo Jung-eung to the Resident-General's residence, showed them the draft annexation treaty, and obtained their acceptance.
• August 18: The Yi Wan-yong cabinet agreed to the draft treaty at a cabinet meeting.
• August 22: With Japanese gendarmes deployed throughout the streets of Seoul, a formal imperial council was held before Sunjong at Changdeok Palace, and on the same day Yi Wan-yong and Terauchi signed the treaty at the Resident-General's residence.