Abstract
Northeast Asia, which constitutes virtually the major terrain of East Asia, is a unique world in itself. It has been a birthplace of exotic civilizations and legendary kingdoms and empires as well as an epicentre of “great European rivalries and Asiatic antagonisms.”1 It is a centripetal axis around which all the four regional powers – China, Japan, Russia, and the United States – have been revolving together since a long time and “interact quite closely” even today.2 Very recently, it has also emerged as one of the most dynamic and vibrant regions of the world and a “natural economic territory” of the East.3 As a matter of fact, Northeast Asia may be regarded as the heartland of East Asia when the spotlight is turned specifically on the Korean peninsula , Japan, and “greater China area.”4
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Notes
- 1.
W.L. Langer (1935, p. 168).
- 2.
R.A. Scalapino (2002).
- 3.
Ibid.
- 4.
Wikipedia, free encyclopedia, accessed on March 10, 2009.
- 5.
E.H. Parker (1887).
- 6.
H.B. Hulbert (1905, p. 199).
- 7.
J.H. Longford (1911, pp. 106–07).
- 8.
The Mongols in Korea (1898).
- 9.
Before invading the Korean peninsula, Japanese General Hideyoshi offered Korea to join in his expedition to conquer China. But the Korean government refused. Cf., Y.S. Kuno (1937, pp. 303–04).
- 10.
G.H. Jones (1892, pp. 10–16, 46–50, 116–21, 147–52, 182–88, 217–22 and 308–11).
- 11.
M.F. Nelson (1945, p. 77).
- 12.
N. Peffer (1968, p. 123).
- 13.
F.A. McKenzie (1920, p. 16).
- 14.
W.E. Griffis (1905, p. 48).
- 15.
Perhaps, Korea was the last target of Western gunboat diplomacy in East Asia. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, there were only some occasional visits of European ships around the Korean coasts. In 1796, a British vessel was sighted near Tongnae on the eastern coast. In 1816, two ships belonging to the British East India Company conducted a survey along the western coast. In 1845, a British warship invaded the southern island of Cheju but retreated herself soon. In 1847, a French vessel attempted to reach the Kogunsan Islands of Cholla province but ran aground. According to the Korean historians, the sight of these foreign ships aroused excitement among the Korean people as well as at the Korean court. Cf., P.-k. Sohn et al. (1970, p. 184); Captain Basil Hall’s Account of His Voyage to the West Coast of Corea in 1816 (1920, pp. 1–37); H. Hamel (1918, pp. 91–148).
- 16.
A Korean measurement of land approximately equal to 1/3rd of a square mile.
- 17.
Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1871 (1876), pp. 130–31.
- 18.
H.-h. Lee et al. (2005, pp. 102–257).
- 19.
F. Foo Chien (1967, p. 13).
- 20.
S. Shin (1978, p. 23).
- 21.
Cf., G.A. Lensen (1964, pp. 1–7).
- 22.
S.L. Poole and F.V. Dickens (1894, p. 194).
- 23.
G.N. Steiger (1936, p. 730).
- 24.
Nelson (1945, pp. 257–58).
- 25.
W.W. McLaren (1914, p. 63).
- 26.
Steiger (1936, pp. 200–12).
- 27.
- 28.
W.L. Langer (1935, pp. 405–07).
- 29.
T. Tatsuji (1935, p. 169).
- 30.
Cf., The Editorial Comment (1906).
- 31.
Cf. the article “The Religion of the Heavenly Way” (1906, pp. 418–24).
- 32.
Cf., J. Rob’t Moose, “Korea’s Greatest Need,” The Korea Review, Vol. V, 1905, p. 456, and the phrase “the disciple of Gautama” as a derogatory remark in The Korea Review, Vol. VI, p. 453.
- 33.
During the First World War, Japan fought on the side of Allied powers of Great Britain, France, and America. As a reward for safeguarding the Anglo-American interests in the Asia-Pacific region, she acquired the German islands in the northern Pacific as well as the leased territory of Kiaochow in China. By that time, Japan had also developed her naval power almost equal to Britain and America. Takeuchi Tatsuji (1935, p. 169).
- 34.
E.H. Carr (1977, pp. 19–21).
- 35.
Ibid., p. 22.
- 36.
W.-k. Han (1970, pp. 204–05).
- 37.
The Relations Between Korea and India (2004, p. 2).
- 38.
Facts About Korea (1984, p. 6).
- 39.
G.H. Jones (1896).
- 40.
For example, in 1866, when a Russian ship appeared near Wonsan on the eastern coast of Korea and the commander of the ship asked for trade and residence rights for the Russian merchants, the Koreans replied that they had no authority to grant such concessions to other nations as their country was tributary to China.
- 41.
H.K. Thomas (1973).
- 42.
D.B. Krishna (1973, pp. 84 and 142).
- 43.
During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when other powers sought a clarification from China regarding her relations with Korea, China repeatedly stated that although Korea was a dependent country of China, she is not a territorial possession and as such was self-governing in domestic and external affairs. Cf., M.C. Wright (1958).
- 44.
C.-J. Lee (1996, p. 2).
- 45.
T.F. Millard (1906, pp. 107–10); The History of Later Years of Korea (Seoul: National History Compilation Committee, National History Material Series, No. 2), pp. 266–69.
- 46.
Cf. Poll shows Koreans back presence of U.S. (2004).
- 47.
S.G. Hishida (1905, p. 164).
- 48.
A.J. Grajdanzev (1944, p. 25).
- 49.
F. Foo Chien (1967, pp. 9–16).
- 50.
C.I. Eugene Kim and H.-k. Kim (1967, p. 13).
- 51.
- 52.
Chien (1967, p. 56).
- 53.
Ibid., p. 59.
- 54.
T.-c. Lin (1936).
- 55.
Chien (1967, p. 78).
- 56.
H. Chung (1919, pp. 197–204).
- 57.
D.G. Tewksbury (1950, p. 4).
- 58.
Cf., G.M. McCune and J.A. Harrison (1950a).
- 59.
Grajdanzev (1944, p. 26).
- 60.
G.M. McCune and J.A. Harrison (1950b, p. 19).
- 61.
This army revolt was the first explosion of resentment against increasing foreign influences on the affairs of the country in the aftermath of Kanghwa and US–Korea treaties as well as against corruption and graft prevalent among the high officials of the government The immediate cause of eruption was nonpayment of salaries to soldiers continuously for 13 months and mixing of sand in the rice being disbursed in compensation while, at the same time, giving special care and facilities to a “Special Skill Force” organized under the command of a Japanese military officer Lt. Horimoto in order to train a group of selected young Korean army officers. The embittered soldiers killed Lt. Horimoto, burned the Japanese legation, and entered the palace in search of Queen Min who was considered responsible for “bringing wrath of gods on the nation by admitting foreigners.” The short-lived mutiny resulted in far-reaching political and diplomatic consequences. Contrary to what was intended by the mutineers, it opened the way for greater armed interventions by China and Japan in Korea. The Korean government was compelled to pay indemnity to Japan and allow the stationing of Japanese troops in Seoul as legation guards. Later on in 1905, these guards were used by Japan to impose the Protectorate Treaty on Korea. Cf., McKenzie (1920, p. 25); Longford (1911, pp. 307–08); T.F. Tsiang (1933); and T. Hatada, Chosen-shi (History of Korea), (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1956), translated into English by Benjamin and Smith (University of Columbia Press, 1969), pp. 93–95.
- 62.
P.J. Treat (1935, p. 296).
- 63.
G.N. Curzon (1894, p. 224).
- 64.
F.H. Harrington (1944, pp. 26–29).
- 65.
“Foote to Frelinghuysen, September 2, 1884,” in McCune and Harrison (1950a, pp. 95–96).
- 66.
Cf., The Official Gazette issued on December 17, 1894 and published in the Korean Repository, Vol. II, No. 1, 1895, pp. 35–37.
- 67.
“The History of the Russian–Korean Treaty,” North-China Herald, August 5, 1885.
- 68.
The King at the Russian Legation (1896).
- 69.
Cf., the editorial “Russian Ascendancy in Korea,” Korean Repository, Vol. IV, 1897, pp. 231–35.
- 70.
R. Rosen (1922, pp. 125–26).
- 71.
A.J. Brown (1921, pp. 143–44).
- 72.
W.G. Beasley (1963, p. 171).
- 73.
H.B. Hulbert (1906, pp. 185–88).
- 74.
Treat (1935, p. 369).
- 75.
R.H. Akagi (1937, pp. 235–36).
- 76.
Curzon (1894, p. 85).
- 77.
Cf., McKenzie (1920, pp. 77–78).
- 78.
A. Gupta (1977, pp. 2–3).
- 79.
Z.A. Corneille (2002, p. 297).
- 80.
W.L. Langer (1935, p. 168).
- 81.
At Teheran Conference, Roosevelt stated that the Koreans “need some period of apprenticeship before full independence might be attained, perhaps 40 years.” Stalin concurred with Roosevelt. Robert E. Sherwood (1948, p. 777).
- 82.
Y. Nagai and A. Iriye (1977, p. 125).
- 83.
Corneille (2002, pp. 298–99).
- 84.
“Meltdown brings rivals together: Japan, China, S. Korea put aside decades of animosity to tackle crisis,” Sunday Times of India, New Delhi, December 14, 2008.
- 85.
People’s Daily, December 16, 2008.
- 86.
A. Sharma and S. Chakrabarti (2007, p. 1).
- 87.
J.D. Negroponte (2008).
- 88.
- 89.
North Korea, Japan seeking diplomatic ties (2004).
- 90.
Koreas catch up with reconciliatory mood (2004).
- 91.
Koreas take small steps to lessen tensions (2004).
- 92.
B.C. Koh (2002, pp. 1–15).
- 93.
B.S. Agrawal (2004).
- 94.
S.-H. Kim (1999).
- 95.
Seoul Downplays US Rhetoric on NK Nukes (2004).
- 96.
Cf., M. Khaled (2004).
- 97.
- 98.
Seoul Sticks to Silent Diplomacy for NK Rights (2004).
- 99.
North Korea calls U.S. plan unrealistic (2004).
- 100.
The Indian Express, December 14, 2008.
- 101.
“Visiting the Kaesong Industrial Complex,” Special Report by Prof. Kim Suk, Hanns-Seidel-Foundation Newsletter, Seoul, December 2008, received through e-mail.
- 102.
Sunday Times of India, April 26, 2009.
- 103.
The Times of India, June 9, 2009.
- 104.
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Agrawal, B.S. (2011). Korea as a Focal Point of the Security Concerns of Northeast Asia: A Geopolitical and Historical Perspective of the Present Scenario. In: Seliger, B., Pascha, W. (eds) Towards a Northeast Asian Security Community. The Political Economy of the Asia Pacific. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9657-2_4
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