This is a mirror post of one on my blog:

I was reading the chapter “The Subjugation of Korea” in the 1909 book America and the Far Eastern Question, when I came across an incident I had never heard before.

I’ve never studied the colonial period, because I realized long ago my own feelings and emotions can get in the way of good academic work - but since I am no longer aspiring to be a “scholar” I can let my reading fly wide open, and I don’t need to steer clear of issues that still make contemporary waves.

Anyway, I’ve been reading up one a handful of texts from and about the early colonial period when Japan took over Korea. In the book noted above, on page 145, I read about the assassination in SF of a D. W. Stevens who had been put in place as a legal advisor in Korea.
The name didn’t ring any bells in my head. None whatsoever.

This was surprising given what the book says and how much time it spends on this issue:


Now, technically, I’m breaking the timeline here…

Stevens doesn’t seem to become a big player until after the Russo-Japanese War and the first major, official power grab by Japan in 1905 - where Japan took over the direction of many Korean government prerogatives. The book the above quote is from wasn’t written, too, until 1909 when Japan was making preparations for a full annexation of Korea into colony status (which occurred in 1910).

But, since the war news in March 1904 is a little thin, and Mr. Stevens bit the bullet in March 1908, and since I was curious enough to dig for this information, I want to share it now…


Well, there is the Radical Student Myth again — wait…..probably different a hundred years ago….

The part below describes an attack on Stevens by 4 other Koreans the night before:


The article says Stevens was quoted as having said things that pissed Koreans off, but it didn’t offer information on what he said.


Now, we can jump back almost to the Russo-Japanese War coverage I started for 1904. Below is a letter Stevens wrote to a friend, but my wild guess it was one of those texts that he wanted put into the public record.


Now, that doesn’t seem to be entirely true…Below is from the book noted above:


Stevens continued in his letter:


In America and the Far Eastern Question, the author describes the resistance movement in stronger terms than Stevens, but I can’t tell if the other author is talking about the reality as far back as 1905 (when Stevens was writing his letter) - or - whether he means the situation from the 1907 disbanding of the Korean army or not….so I won’t quote it here….

Also, there are a serious of articles and editorials that followed the assassination of Stevens in 1908 - with some Americans calling Korea a lawless nation while others fire back that Japan is colonizing them and the Koreans are trying to resist like anybody else would……..but I’m going to wait to cover those items at a later date…..I don’t want to use up all of my monthly limit in the NY Times archives, because my primary focus is on the Russo-Japanese War news…

Great info. Where do you find all the time to research? Thanks for you putting this and all the other articles i read them and enjoy & Learn.

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Just my humble opinion!

I haven't had time much at all for about year. I started a grad school program to be certified as a teacher here in the US last summer, and with student-teaching and 4 night classes at a school an hour from my home, I was beyond busy.

But, my father is ill and not going to be around much longer, so I stopped courses and student-teaching this semester (I should start back with classes this summer).

That means I have a lot of time on my hands and one way to deal with the family issues is to occupy my mind with other things.

And, I like to read. As long as I do not have all my free time occupied (thus making it not free), I try to find time to read and such.

And Google's new book section has opened up a LOT of material related to Korea - and anything else - if you don't mind reading books written before about 1930, and I love history and love these old books.

I also started a subscription to the New York Times archives online - so I can get 100 articles a month for about $8 ---- which is cheaper than copies at a library and much more convienent.