THE REORGANIZED KOREAN GOVERNMENT[43]
The old system of Government in Korea, which, with but a few
alterations and additions, prevailed from the founding of the present
dynasty until the second half of 1894, was modelled on that of the
Ming Emperors of China. The King was absolute as well in practice as
in theory, but to assist him in governing there was a _Eui-chyeng
Pu_, commonly translated Cabinet, composed of a so-called Premier,
and Senior and Junior Ministers of State, under whom were Senior and
Junior Chief Secretaries, and Senior and Junior Assistant Secretaries,
with certain minor functionaries, the Government being conducted
through Boards as in China, viz. Civil Office, Revenue, Ceremonies,
War, Punishment, and Works, to which were added after the opening
of the country to foreigners, Foreign and Home Offices. During the
present reign the Home Office, under the Presidency of a powerful and
ambitious cousin of the Queen, Min Yeng-chyun, began to draw to itself
all administrative power, while Her Majesty’s and his relations, who
occupied the chief positions throughout the country, fleeced the people
without restraint. Of the remaining offices which were seated in the
Metropolis the chief were the Correctional Tribunal, an office of the
first rank which took cognizance of the offences of officials, and the
Prefecture of Seoul which had charge of all municipal matters.
Korea was divided into eight Provinces, each under the control of
a Governor, aided by a Civil and Military Secretary. Magistrates
of different grades according to the size of the magistracies were
appointed under him, five fortress cities, however, being independent
of provincial jurisdiction. The principal tax, the land-tax, was paid
in kind, and the local governments had very considerable control over
the local revenues. There were provincial military and naval forces
with large staffs of officers, and Boards, Offices, and Departments
innumeral under Government, each with its legion of supernumeraries.
The country was eaten up by officialism. It is not only that abuses
without number prevailed, but the whole system of Government was an
abuse, a sea of corruption without a bottom or a shore, an engine of
robbery, crushing the life out of all industry. Offices and justice
were bought and sold like other commodities, and Government was fast
decaying, the one principle which survived being its right to prey on
the governed.
The new order of things, called by the Japanese the “Reformation,”
dates from the forcible occupation of the Kyeng-pok Palace by Japanese
troops on the 23rd of July, 1894. The constitutional changes which have
subsequently been promulgated (though not always carried out) were
initiated by the Japanese Minister in Seoul, and reduced to detail by
the Japanese “advisers” who shortly arrived; and Japan is entitled to
the credit of having attempted to cope with and remedy the manifold
abuses of the Korean system, and of having bequeathed to the country
the lines on which reforms are now being carried out. It was natural,
and is certainly not blameworthy, that the Japanese had in view the
assimilation of Korean polity to that of Japan.
To bring about the desired reorganization, Mr. Otori, at that time
the Japanese Minister, induced the King to create an Assembly, which,
whatever its ultimate destiny, was to form meanwhile a Department for
“the discussion of all matters grave and trivial within the realm.”
The Prime Minister was its President, and the number of its members
was limited to twenty Councillors. A noteworthy feature in connection
with it was that it invited suggestions from outsiders in the form of
written memoranda.
It met for the first time on the 30th of July, 1894, and for the last
on the 29th of October of the same year. It was found impossible,
either by payment or Royal orders, to secure a quorum; and after the
Vice-Minister of Justice, one of the few Councillors who took an active
part in the proceedings, was murdered two days after the last meeting,
as was believed, by an agent of the reactionary party, it practically
expired, and was dissolved by Royal Decree on the 17th of December,
1894, and a reconstituted Privy Council took its place. Those of its
Resolutions, however, which had received the Royal assent became law,
and unless repealed or superseded are still binding.
These Resolutions appeared in the _Government Gazette_, an institution
of very old standing, imitated, like most things else, from China. This
was prepared by the Court of Transmission, a Palace Department, the
senior members of which formed the channel of communication between
the King and the official body at large, and who, while other high
officials could only reach the throne by means of personal memorials
or written memoranda, were privileged to address the King _viva voce_,
and through whom as a rule his commands were issued. Each day this
Department collected the various memoranda and memorials, the Royal
replies and the lists of appointments, copies of which when edited
by it formed the _Gazette_, which was furnished in MS. to officials
throughout the kingdom. The Royal Edicts when published in this paper
became law in Korea.
In July, 1894, Mr. Otori made the useful innovation of publishing the
_Gazette_ in clear type, and in the following January it appeared in
a mixture of Chinese hieroglyphs and _En-mun_, the “vulgar script” of
Korea, and became intelligible to the common people. No special change
was made at that time, except that the Resolutions of the Deliberative
Assembly were included in it. Later changes have assimilated it farther
to the Government _Gazette_ of Japan, and it has gained rather than
lost in importance. Gradually a diminution of the power of the Court
of Transmission began to show itself. Its name was changed to the
Receiving Office, and members of the Cabinet and the Correctional
Tribunal began to enjoy direct access to the King. In April, 1895, a
farther change in a Japanese direction, and one of great significance
in Korean estimation, was made, the date of the _Gazette_ being given
thus:--
“No. 1.--504th year of the Dynasty, 4th moon, 1st day, Wood-day.”[44]
Two months later farther changes in the official _Gazette_ were
announced, and the programme then put forward has been adhered to,
paving the way for many of the changes which have followed. It is
difficult to make the importance of the _Gazette_ intelligible, except
to foreigners who have resided in China and Korea. The reason for
dwelling so long upon it is, that for several centuries the publication
in it of Royal Edicts has given them the force of law and the currency
of Acts of Parliament.
In the pages which follow a brief summary is given of the outlines of
the scheme for the reorganization of the Korean Government, which
was prepared for the most part by the Japanese advisers, honorary and
salaried, who have been engaged on the task since 1894, and which has
been accepted by the King.
The first change raised the status of the King and the Royal Family
to that of the Imperial Family of China. After this, it was enacted,
following on the King’s Oath of January, 1895, that the Queen and
Royal Family were no longer to interfere in the affairs of State, and
that His Majesty would govern by the advice of a Cabinet, and sign all
ordinances to which his assent is given. The Cabinet, which was, at
least nominally, located in the Palace, had two aspects--a Council of
State, and a State Department, presided over by the Premier.
I.--AS THE COUNCIL OF STATE
The members of the Cabinet or Ministers of State were the Premier, the
Home Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Finance Minister,
the War Minister, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Justice,
and the Minister of Agriculture, Trade and Industry. A Foreign Adviser
is supposed to be attached to each of the seven Departments.
Ministers in Council were empowered to consider--the framing of laws
and ordinances; estimates and balance-sheets of yearly revenue and
expenditure; public debt, domestic and foreign; international treaties
and important conventions; disputes as to the respective jurisdictions
of Ministers; such personal memorials as His Majesty might send
down to them; supplies not included in the estimates; appointments
and promotions of high officials, other than legal or military;
the retention, abolition, or alteration of old customs; abolition
or institution of offices, and, without reference to their special
relations to any one Ministry, their reconstruction or amendment;
the imposition of new taxes or their alteration; and the control and
management of public lands, forests, buildings, and vessels. All
ordinances after being signed and sealed by the King required the
countersign of the Premier.
The second function of the Cabinet as a Department of State it is
needless to go into.
A Privy Council was established at the close of 1894 to take the place
of the Deliberative Assembly which had collapsed, and is now empowered,
when consulted by the Cabinet, to inquire into and pass resolutions
concerning:--
I. The framing of laws and ordinances.
II. Questions which may from time to time be referred to it by the
Cabinet.
The Council consists of a President, Vice-President, not more than
fifty Councillors, two Secretaries, and four Clerks. The Councillors
are appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the Premier, and
must either be men of rank, or those who have done good service to
the State, or are experts in politics, law, or economics. The Privy
Council is prohibited from having any correspondence on public matters
with private individuals, or with any officials but Ministers and
Vice-Ministers. The President presides. Two-thirds of the members must
be present to form a quorum. Votes are given openly, resolutions are
carried by a majority, and any Councillor dissenting from a resolution
so carried has a right to have his reasons recorded in the minutes.
In the autumn of 1896 some important changes were made. A Decree
of the 24th of September condemned in strong language the action
of “disorderly rebels, who some three years ago revolutionized the
Constitution,” and changed the name of the King’s advising body.
The decree ordained that the old name, translated Council of State,
“should be restored, and declared that new regulations would be issued,
which, while adhering to ancient principles, would confirm such of the
enactments of the previous three years as in the King’s judgment were
for the public good.” The Council of State was organized by the first
ordinance of a new series, and the preamble, as well as one at least
of the sections, marks a distinctly retrograde movement and a reversion
to the absolutism renounced in the King’s Oath of January, 1895.[45]
It is distinctly stated that “any motion debated at the Council may
receive His Majesty’s assent, without regard to the number of votes in
its favor, by virtue of the Royal prerogative; or should the debates
on any motion not accord with His Majesty’s views, the Council may
be commanded to reconsider the matter.” Resolutions which the King
approves, on publication in the _Gazette_, become law.
Thus perished the checks which the Japanese sought to impose on the
absolutism of the Crown, and at the present time the Royal will (or
whim) can and does override all else.
This _Eui-chyeng Pu_ or Council, like the _Nai Kak_, its predecessor,
is both a Council of State, and a State Department presided over by the
Chancellor. The members of the Council of State are the Chancellor, the
Home Minister, who is, _ex officio_, Vice-Chancellor, the Ministers
of Foreign Affairs, Finance, War, Justice, and Agriculture, five
Councillors, and the Chief Secretary. As a State Department under the
Chancellor, the staff consists of the “Director of the General Bureau,”
the Chancellor’s Private Secretary, the Secretary, and eight clerks.
The Council of State, as now constituted, is empowered, to pass
resolutions concerning the enactment, abrogation, alteration, or
interpretation of laws or regulations; peace and war and the making
of treaties; restoration of domestic order; telegraphs, railways,
mines, and other undertakings, and questions of compensation arising
therefrom; the estimates and special appropriations; taxes, duties,
and excise; matters sent down to the Council by special command of the
Sovereign; publication of laws and regulations approved by the King.
The King, if he so pleases, is present in person, or may send the
Heir-Apparent to represent him. The Chancellor presides, two-thirds of
the members from a quorum, motions are carried by a numerical majority,
and finally a memorial stating in outline the debate and its issue is
submitted by the Chancellor to the King, who issues such commands as
may seem to him best, for, as previously stated, His Majesty is not
bound to acquiesce in the decision of the majority.
The _Eui-chyeng Pu_ as a Department of State through the “Director
of the General Bureau” has three sections--Archives, Gazette, and
Accounts, and is rather a recording than an initiating office.
The scheme for the reconstruction of the Provincial and Metropolitan
Governments has introduced many important changes and retrenchments.
The thirteen Provinces are now divided into 339 Prefectures, Seoul
having a Government of its own. The vast _entourage_ of provincial
authorities has been reduced, and a Provincial Governor’s staff is
now limited, nominally at least, to six clerks, two chief constables,
thirty police, ten writers, four ushers, fifteen messengers, eight
coolies, and eight boys. Ordinances under the head of “Local
Government” define the jurisdiction, powers, duties, period of office,
salaries, and etiquette[46] of all officials, along with many minor
matters. It is in this Department that the reforms instituted by the
Japanese are the most sweeping. Very many offices were abolished,
and all Government property belonging to the establishments of the
officials holding them was ordered to be handed over to officers of
the new _régime_. A Local Government Bureau was established with
sections, under which local finance in cities and towns and local
expenditure of every kind were to be dealt with. An Engineering Bureau
dealing with civil engineering and a Land Survey, a Registration Bureau
dealing with an annual census of the population and the registration
of lands, a Sanitary Bureau, and an Accounts Bureau form part of the
very ambitious Local Government scheme, admirable on paper, and which,
if it were honestly carried out, would strike at the roots of many of
the abuses which are the curse of Korea. The whole provincial system as
reorganized is under the Home Office.
An important part of the new scheme is the definition of the duties and
jurisdiction of the Ministers of State. The Cabinet Orders dealing with
the duties and discipline of officials at large so far issued are:--
Order 1. General rules for the conduct of public business.
“ 2. Memorabilia for officials.
“ 3. Resumption of office after mourning.
“ 4. Reprimand and correction.
“ 5. Obligation to purchase the _Gazette_.
“ 6. Memorials to be on ruled paper.
The management of public offices under the new system is practically
the same as the Japanese.
The _Memorabilia for Officials_ are as follows:--
(_a_) No official must trespass outside his own jurisdiction.
(_b_) Where duties have been deputed to a subordinate, the latter must
not be continually interfered with.
(_c_) A subordinate ordered to do anything which in his opinion is
irregular or irrelevant should expostulate with his senior. If the
latter holds by his opinion, the junior must conform.
(_d_) Officials must be straightforward and outspoken, and not give
outward acquiescence while privately criticising or hindering their
superiors.
(_e_) Officials must not listen to suggestions from outsiders or talk
with them on official business.
(_f_) Officials must be frank with one another, and not form cliques.
(_g_) No official must wilfully spread false rumors about another or
lightly credit such.
(_h_) No official must absent himself from office without permission
during office hours, or frequent the houses of others.
Resolution 88, passed some months earlier, was even more explicit:--
Officials are thereby forbidden to divulge official secrets even when
witnesses in a court of law, unless specially permitted to do so;
or to show despatches to outsiders. They are not allowed to become
directors or managers in a public company; to accept compensation from
private individuals or gifts from their subordinates; to undertake,
without permission, extra work for payment; or to put to private use
Government horses. They may receive honors or presents from foreign
Sovereigns or Governments only with the special sanction of His
Majesty.
An ordinance restored the use of the uniforms worn prior to the
“Reformation,” whether Court dress, full dress, half-dress, or undress,
and announced that neither officials nor private persons were to be
compelled any longer to wear black.
Each Department is presided over by a Minister, who is empowered to
issue Departmental Orders, as Instructions to the local officials and
police, and Notifications to the people. His jurisdiction over the
police and local officials is concurrent with that of his colleagues,
who must also be consulted by him before recommending to the Throne the
promotion or degradation of the higher officials of his Departmental
Staff.
Under the Minister is a Vice-Minister, empowered to act for him
on occasion, and, when doing so, possessing equal privileges. The
Vice-Minister is usually the head of the Minister’s Secretariat, which
deals with “confidential matters, promotions, custody of the Minister’s
and Departmental Seals, receipt and despatch of correspondence, and
consultation of precedents, preparation of statistics, compilation and
preservation of archives.”
In addition to the Secretariats, there are a number of Bureaux, both
Secretariats and Bureaux being, for convenience, subdivided into
sections, each of which has its special duties.
The Departments of Government are as follows:--
HOME OFFICE
The Home Minister has charge of matters concerning local government,
police, jails, civil engineering, sanitation, shrines and temples,
surveying, printing census, and public charity, as well as the general
supervision of the local authorities and the police.
FOREIGN OFFICE
The Foreign Minister is vested with the control of international
affairs, the protection of Korean commercial interests abroad, and the
supervision of the Diplomatic and Consular Services.
THE TREASURY
“The Minister for Finance, being vested with the control of the
finances of the Government, will have charge of all matters relating
to accounts, revenue, and expenditure, taxes, national debts, the
currency, banks, and the like, and will have supervision over the
finances of each local administration” (Ord. 54, § I).
Under this Minister there is a Taxation Bureau with three
sections--Land Tax, Excise, and Customs.[47] The ordinances connected
with the remodelled system of taxation and the salaries and expenses of
officials are very numerous and minute. The appropriation actually in
money for the Sovereign’s Privy Purse was fixed at $500,000.
WAR OFFICE
The Minister for War, who must be a general officer, has charge of
the military administration of an army lately fixed at 6,000 men, and
the chief control of men and matters in the army, and is to exercise
supervision over army divisions, and all buildings and forts under his
Department. The new military arrangements are very elaborate.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
In this important Department, besides the Minister and Vice-Minister
and heads of Bureaux and Sections, there are three special Secretaries
who act as Inspectors of Schools, and an official specially deputed to
compile and select text-books.
Besides the Minister’s Secretariat, there are the _Education Bureau_,
which is concerned with primary, normal, intermediary, foreign
language, technical and industrial schools, and students abroad; and a
_Compilation Bureau_, concerned with the selection, translation, and
compilation of text-books; the purchase, preservation, and arrangement
of volumes, and the printing of books.
Under this Department has been placed the Confucian College, an
institution of the old _régime_, the purpose of which was to attend to
the Temple of Literature, in which, as in China, the Memorial Tablets
of Confucius, Mencius, and the Sages are honored, and to encourage the
study of the classical books. The subjects for study are the “Three
Classics,” “Four Books and Popular Commentary,” Chinese Composition,
Outlines of Chinese History--of the Sung, Yüan, and Ming Dynasties.
To meet the reformed requirements, this College has been reorganized,
and the students, who must be between the ages of twenty and forty,
“of good character, persevering, intelligent, and well acquainted with
affairs,” are in addition put through a course of Korean and foreign
annals, Korean and foreign geography, and arithmetic.
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
The Minister of Justice has charge of judicial matters, pardons
and restorations to rank, instructions for public prosecution, and
supervision over Special Courts, High Courts, and District Courts; and
the Department forms a High Court of Justice for the hearing of certain
appeals.
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, TRADE, AND INDUSTRY
The Minister of Agriculture has charge of all matters relating to
agriculture, commerce, industries, posts, telegraphs, shipping, and
marine officers.
In this Department, besides the Minister’s Secretariat, there are
Bureaux of Agriculture, Communications, Trade, Industry, Mining, and
Accounts. The Bureau of Agriculture contains Agricultural, Forest, and
Natural Products sections; that of Communications, Post, Telegraph,
and Marine sections; and that of Trade and Industry deals with
Commerce, Trading Corporations, Weights and Measures, Manufactures, and
Factories. The Mining Bureau has sections for Mines and Geology, and
the Bureau of Accounts deals with the inventories and expenditure of
the Department.
THE VILLAGE SYSTEM
Besides the Reorganization of these important Departments of State, a
design for a “Village System,” organized as follows, is to supersede
that which had decayed with the general decay of Government in Korea.
The country is now divided into districts (_Kun_), each _Kun_
containing a number of _myen_ or cantons, each of which includes a
number of _ni_ or villages. The old posts and titles are abolished,
and each village is now to be provided with the following officers:--
1. _Headman._--He must be over thirty years of age, and is elected for
one year by the householders. The office is honorary.
2. _Clerk._--He holds office under the same conditions as the Headman,
under whom he keeps the books and issues notices.
3. _Elder._--Nominated by the householders, he acts for the Headman as
occasion demands.
4. _Bailiff._--Elected at the same time as the Headman he performs the
usual duties of a servant or messenger, and holds office for a year on
good behavior.
The corresponding officers of the canton (commune) are a _Mayor_, a
_Clerk_, a _Bailiff_, and a _Communal Usher_ who is irremovable except
for cause given, and is, like the other officials, elected by the
canton.
A Village Council is composed of the Headman and one man from each
family, and is empowered to pass resolutions on matters connected with
education, registration of households or lands, sanitation, roads and
bridges, communal grain exchanges, agricultural improvements, common
woods and dykes, payment of taxes, relief in famine or other calamity,
adjustment of the _corvée_, savings associations, and by-laws. The
Headman, who acts as chairman, has not only a casting vote, but the
power to veto. A resolution passed over the veto of the Headman has
to be referred to the Mayor, and over the veto of the Mayor to the
Prefect. If passed twice over the veto of the Prefect, reference may be
made to the Governor. All resolutions, however, must be submitted twice
a year to the Home Office, through the Prefect and Governor; and it is
incumbent on the Prefectural Council to sit at least twice in the year.
Taxes are by a law of 13th October, 1895, classified as Land-Tax,
Scutage, Mining Dues, Customs Dues, and Excise. Excise is now made to
include, besides ginseng dues, what are known as “Miscellaneous Dues,”
viz. rent of glebe lands, tax on rushes used in mat-making, market
dues on firewood and tobacco, tax on kilns, tax on edible seaweed, tax
on grindstones, up-river dues, and taxes on fisheries, salterns, and
boats. All other imposts have been declared illegal. The first Korean
Budget under the reformed system was published in January, 1896, and
showed an estimated revenue from all sources of $4,809,410.
The Palace Department underwent reorganization, nominally at least,
and elaborate schemes for the administration of Royal Establishments,
State Temples, and Mausolea were devised, and the relative rank of
members of the Royal Clan, including ladies, was fixed--the ladies of
the King’s Seraglio being divided into eight classes, and those of the
Crown Prince into four. The number of Court officials attached to the
different Royal Households, though diminished, is legion.
Various ordinances brought the classification of Korean officials into
line with those of Japan. Every class in the country, private and
official, has come into the purview of the Reorganizers, and finds its
position (_on paper_) more or less altered.
Among the more important of the Edicts which have nominally become law
are the following:--
Agreements with China cancelled. Distinctions between Patrician and
Plebeian abolished. Slavery abolished. Early Marriages prohibited.
Remarriage of widows permitted. Bribery to be strictly forbidden.
No one to be arrested without warrant for civil offences. Couriers,
mountebanks, and butchers no longer to be under degradation. Local
Councils to be established. New coinage issued. Organization of Police
force. No one to be punished without trial. Irregular taxation by
Provincial Governments forbidden. Extortion of money by officials
forbidden. Family of a criminal not to be involved in his doom. Great
modifications as to torture. Superfluous Paraphernalia abolished.
School of Instruction in Vaccination. Hair-cropping Proclamation. Solar
Calendar adopted. “Drilled Troops” (_Kun-ren-tai_) abolished. Legal
punishments defined. Slaughter-Houses licensed. Committee of Legal
Revision appointed. Telegraph Regulations. Postal Regulations. Railways
placed under Bureau of Communications. These ordinances are a selection
from among several hundred promulgated since July, 1894.
Of the reforms notified during the last three and a half years
several have not taken effect; and concerning others there has been a
distinctly retrograde movement, with a tendency to revert to the abuses
of the old _régime_; and others which were taken in hand earnestly,
have gradually collapsed, owing in part to the limpness of the Korean
character, and in part to the opposition of all in office and of all
who hope for office to any measures of reform. Some, admirable in
themselves, at present exist only on paper; but, on the whole, the
reorganized system, though in many respects fragmentary, is a great
improvement on the old one; and it may not unreasonably be hoped that
the young men, who are now being educated in enlightened ideas and
notions of honor, will not repeat the iniquities of their fathers.
FOOTNOTES:
[43] The chapters on the Reorganized Korean Government--Education,
Trade, and Finance--and Dæmonism are intended to aid in the intelligent
understanding of those which precede them. The reader who wishes to
go into the subject of the old and the reorganized systems of Korean
Government will find a mass of curious and deeply interesting detail
in a volume entitled, _Korean Government_, by W. H. Wilkinson, Esq.,
lately H.B.M.’s Acting Vice-Consul at Chemulpo, published by the
Statistical Department of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs at
Shanghai in March, 1897. To it I am very greatly indebted.
[44] Wood-day is the term adopted by the Japanese for Thursday, their
week, which has now been imposed on the Koreans, being Sun-day,
Moon-day, Fire-day, Water-day, Wood-day, Metal-day, and Earth-day.
[45] See p. 250.
[46] _Official Intercourse._ Ord. 45 amends some old practices
regulating the intercourse and correspondence of officials. The
etiquette of the official call by a newly-appointed Prefect on the
Governor, on the whole, is retained, although it is in some respects
simplified. The old fashion obliged the Magistrate to remain outside
the _yamen_ gate, while a large folded sheet of white paper inscribed
with his name, was sent in to the Governor. The latter thereupon gave
orders to his personal attendants or ushers to admit the Magistrate.
The _t’oin_, as they were commonly styled, called out “_Sa-ryeng_,”
to which the servants chanted a reply. The Governor being seated, the
Magistrate knelt outside the room and bowed to the ground. To this
obeisance the Governor replied by raising his arms over his head.
The Magistrate was asked his name and age, given some stereotyped
advice, and dismissed. The Governor is for the future to return the
bow of the Prefect, and conversation is to be conducted in terms of
mutual respect, the Magistrate describing himself as _ha-koan_ (“your
subordinate”), and addressing the Governor by his title.
[47] The finances of Korea are now practically under British
management, Mr. J. M’Leavy Brown, LL.D., of the Chinese Imperial
Maritime Customs, and Chief Commissioner of Customs for Korea, having
undertaken in addition the post of Financial Adviser to the Treasury,
and a Royal Edict having been issued that every order for a payment out
of the national purse, down to the smallest, should be countersigned by
him.