Itō Hirobumi Serves as Resident-General in Korea

Japan’s November 1905 protectorate agreement removed Korea’s independent diplomacy. Itō Hirobumi had traveled to Seoul as a special envoy and pressed Korean ministers to accept it while Japanese troops were present. Gojong refused his consent. The signatures were those of Hayashi Gonsuke and Pak Che-sun, not Itō or the emperor.

Itō was appointed Resident-General on December 21, 1905; the administration began operating in 1906. The agreement placed Korean foreign relations under Japan and gave the Resident-General direct access to the emperor. Korean government offices continued, but could no longer conduct independent agreements with other states.

In 1907 Gojong sent envoys to the Hague Peace Conference to challenge the protectorate. Japanese pressure and Korean ministerial action forced his abdication. Sunjong succeeded him. The July 24 agreement then required the Resident-General’s approval for laws, major administrative measures and senior appointments. Japanese officials entered Korean administration; its secret memorandum reorganized courts and prisons and dissolved the army apart from a palace battalion.

These measures met diplomatic protest and armed resistance, including resistance by disbanded soldiers. Itō left the post in June 1909. The Cabinet approved annexation policy on July 6, before his assassination that October. His tenure had already transferred substantial governing powers to Japan; annexation in 1910 replaced this protectorate arrangement with direct colonial rule.