Collection: Willard Dickerman Straight and Early U.S.-Korea Diplomatic Relations, Cornell University Library

Title: [King Kojong and King Sunjong]

Date: ca. 1904

Place: Asia: South Korea: Seoul

Type: Photographs

Description: King 'Kojong' (left) and his son his heir (the future king)' Sunjong' are shown in full ceremonial dress of the Great Han. This western style attire was begun in 1895 by King Kojong's order. The headwear cannot be traced to any particular (imported) tradition. 'Kojong' ruled from 1864-1907. In late 1895, he and the crown prince, 'Sunjong', fled to the Russian legation after the assasination of Queen Min by the Japanese forces present in Korea. Upon his return in early 1897, 'Kojong' proclaimed the independent 'Great Han Empire' and thus he became Emperor of Korea. Kojong's opposition to the Protectorate treaty was well known as an imperial letter, which condemned the treaty and appealed for intervention from the Hague, was published in the popular Korea Daily News (Taehan Maeil Sinbo). The Japanese used this beligerent act as a pretext to tighten control and forced 'Kojong' to abdicate the throne to his son. In 1907, 'Sunjong' became emperor, but it became clear very quickly that he was actually just a puppet of the Japanese military command. Source: ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~korea/kojong.html (viewed May 9, 2003) [need more research on headwears]

Identifier: 1260.57.28.01

Persistent URI: hdl.handle.net/1813.001/5xkm

There are no known U.S. copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.