Court Paintings During the Taehan Empire (1897-1910) : Conflict Between Identity and Modernization

Abstract

The reigns of King Kojong 高宗 (1864-1905), the 26th king of the Choson dynasty(1392-1910), and his son King Sunjong 純宗 (1905-1910) span the so-called period of Enlightenment. During this period, King Kojong implemented various measures directed at the modernization of political and social structures. Also during this period, fullscale exposure to Western civilization resulted from a series of reluctant port openings, the first of which took place in 1876, and subsequent unequal trade and commerce treaties. Experience with foreign imperialist aggressions called for theC'enrichment of nation and consolidation of militarymtermed puguk kangbyong 富國强兵 , which became the basis of national policy. When Korea became the battle field for Russia and Japan and Queen Min 閔 was tragically assassinated by the Japanese, King Kojong fled to the Russian legation in February 1896. Resuming his main residence a year later at the subsidiary Kyungwun Palace (the present Doksu Palace), Kojong took from these disturbing events the belief that the most important self-defense measure was to project a strong sense of sovereignty and therefore made himself the first ever emperor in Korean history. In October 1897 Kojong declared himself the emperor of Taehan cheguk 大韓帝國 "Taehan Empire".