Style or Substance : A Reexamination of the Kabo Reforms from a US Perspective

Abstract

In 1894 at the end of the Chosôn dynasty, the Korean government initiated a sweeping program of reforms known as the Kabo Reforms. This was an attempt to make unprecedented political, economic, and social changes that would modernize the country and establish an independent and sovereign state. However, there are conflicting depictions of the Kabo Reforms in contemporary scholarship, some describing the effort as a result of Japanese pressure and others portraying the incipient rise of a modern nation-state. This paper examines the reform efforts through American eyes of the time with the hope that a third-party perspective will provide insight on the issue. Did Americans feel that the reform program was led by Japanese “advisers” or did they believe this was a substantive development in Korea’s modernization and self-strengthening movement? Did it even matter who initiated the process, or was the outcome the most important issue? Missionaries, diplomats, political advisers, and journalists in Korea wrote about the reforms and their aftermath, and newspaper coverage in the U.S. informed the American public about events in the Far East, contributing to the formation of an image of a turbulent Korea in dire need of reform. Understanding the nature of the Kabo Reform movement from eyewitness accounts will demonstrate that the most important aspect of the reforms was their permanence and certitude. Regardless of the Japanese role in the reforms, there was overall agreement that Korea required a modernizing reform program that would actuate substantive and lasting change.