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Description

War Memorial of Korea (Seoul).

Even after foreign interference increased in the 1860s and 1870s, and the government was forced to reopen the country, Joseon dynasty Korea was slow to reform. King Gojong and Queen Min led the Enlightenment Movement beginning in the 1880s and hired military advisors from Japan, China, the USA, and other countries to make Korea stronger (hopefully strong enough to look the foreigners who had imposed unequal treaties in the eye) but had to contend with an extremely conservative bureaucracy and aristocracy. The king created a "special skills army" (Byeolgigun) trained by foreign advisors, but the prince regent (Daewongun) dissolved it after its preferential treatment made the rest of the army resentful. Also, the foreign powers began to clash with each other for influence both in Korea itself and in Asia more generally, as seen in the 1885-1887 British occupation of the Geomundo Islands in the Jeju Strait to counterbalance possible Russian advances. The Korean army was again further modernized, but it would face even more challenges soon. In this exhibit of the museum, a British soldier and the Royal Navy warship HMS Pegasus are contrasted with a Byeolgigun soldier -- their uniforms looked different, but at least in principle their training doctrines were equally modern.

Description

War Memorial of Korea (Seoul).

Even after foreign interference increased in the 1860s and 1870s, and the government was forced to reopen the country, Joseon dynasty Korea was slow to reform. King Gojong and Queen Min led the Enlightenment Movement beginning in the 1880s and hired military advisors from Japan, China, the USA, and other countries to make Korea stronger (hopefully strong enough to look the foreigners who had imposed unequal treaties in the eye) but had to contend with an extremely conservative bureaucracy and aristocracy. The king created a "special skills army" (Byeolgigun) trained by foreign advisors, but the prince regent (Daewongun) dissolved it after its preferential treatment made the rest of the army resentful. Also, the foreign powers began to clash with each other for influence both in Korea itself and in Asia more generally, as seen in the 1885-1887 British occupation of the Geomundo Islands in the Jeju Strait to counterbalance possible Russian advances. The Korean army was again further modernized, but it would face even more challenges soon. In this exhibit of the museum, a British soldier and the Royal Navy warship HMS Pegasus are contrasted with a Byeolgigun soldier -- their uniforms looked different, but at least in principle their training doctrines were equally modern.