Yi Du-hwang (李斗璜, 11 January 1858 – 9 March 1916) was a military officer and soldier of Joseon and the Korean Empire, as well as a painter and calligrapher, and was involved in the Eulmi Incident; during the Japanese colonial period he was an official, painter, and writer. He also served as commander of the Second Battalion of the Capital Training Corps at the time of the Eulmi Incident, and was one of the high-ranking Korean collaborators in the assassination of Queen Min. His family seat was Incheon (仁川), and his courtesy names were Gongchil (公七) and Seolak (雪嶽).
He began in 1883 in a low-ranking military post, passing through posts such as palace gate guard (Sumunjang) and Second Lieutenant of the Hunryeonwon (Training Office), and in 1889 became magistrate of Heunghae and then Heunghae magistrate, Heungyang livestock inspector, in 1891 Naju livestock inspector, and Judge of the Hunryeonwon; in 1894 he was appointed to the Chotoyeong Army, the Army Colonel (Chamnyeong), Jangwiyeong Colonel (Senior Third Rank), and Chief Officer, among other posts, gaining recognition for his ability. In 1895 he took part in the Eulmi Incident, then fled to Japan, returned home the following year, fled again in January 1897, and returned in 1904. During the Korean Empire he served as Deputy Councillor of the Joongchuwon and as Governor of North Jeolla Province, and immediately after the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty became Director-General of North Jeolla Province.
During the Donghak Peasant Revolution, he fought and won against Donghak peasant forces in Naepo in South Chungcheong Province, Sinchang, Haemi, Jeonju, Ugeumchi in Gongju, and elsewhere. He also sided with the Japanese Army in the First Sino-Japanese War, accompanying it as a combatant, and in 1895, at the time of the Eulmi Incident, he supported and took part in the plan to eliminate Queen Min. As a calligrapher and painter, he painted orchids and ink wash paintings.
Life
Early life
He was born on 11 January 1858 (9th year of King Cheoljong), the son of Yi Myeong-heup (李命洽) and Lady Jo (趙氏). He came from Banggyo-dong (芳橋洞, near present-day Sajik-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul) in the Seobu (西部) district of Hansung-bu, and was born into a commoner family. His year of birth is uncertain, with theories of 1858 and 1856. From around February 1865 (2nd year of King Gojong), he studied Neo-Confucianism and Chinese classics at home. He himself declared his religion to be Confucianism.
His ancestral line traces to Yi Heo-gyeom, Lord of Incheon, and Yi Ji-jeo (李之氐), Lord Yean (禮安君) or Lord Seungan (承安君), who served as Chief Minister of Cheomui in the late Goryeo period, was his direct ancestor. Among his ancestors, Yi Mun-hwa (烏川 李文和, posthumous name Gongdo, 恭度公) of Ocheon, in the late Goryeo period, served as Right Remonstrance Official, Right Chief Editor, and Vice Director of the Yemunkwan, and later took part in the founding of Joseon, serving as Gyeongsang Provincial Inspector, Minister of Rites, and Jeolla Provincial Military Commissioner. However, his family line later declined; his great-grandfather Yi Jeong-chu (李廷樞) was a Confucian scholar in Gyeonggi Province, and his paternal grandfather Yi Ik-u (李益祐) served as Hengbu Hogun.
The posthumous titles of Gyujanggak Director (直閣) for his great-grandfather Yi Jeong-chu, Gyujanggak Deputy Director (副提學) for his grandfather Yi Ik-u, and Gyujanggak Provost (提學) for his father Yi Myeong-heup were conferred after he rose to prominence.
In February 1882 (19th year of King Gojong), after the Imo Incident, he passed the military examination, and in March 1883 became Junior Officer of the Left Camp of the Royal Guard (親軍左營哨官). In 1883 he began in a low-ranking military post, becoming a palace gate guard, and soon after became Junior Officer of the Hunryeonwon (訓練院 哨官), serving at the Hunryeonwon. It is said that in his youth he was full of youthful spirit and enjoyed speaking frankly without hesitation. However, in his later years he became an affable man who did not incur criticism, censure, or resentment from those around him, and became of an easygoing character.
Early military career
On 27 December 1884 (21st year of King Gojong) he became a palace gate guard, and on 30 January 1886 became Secretary of the Hunryeonwon, but resigned after three days. On 29 July 1886 he served as Judge (判官) of the Hunryeonwon, and on 28 December he served as Senior Official (僉正) of the Hunryeonwon, among other posts.
In 1887 he again became Senior Official of the Hunryeonwon, and on 1 September 1889 went out as magistrate of Heunghae, then on 19 September was appointed livestock inspector (監牧官) of Heungyang. On 28 March 1891 he became livestock inspector of Naju, and from 1893, by royal order, he was concurrently appointed as Donghak Bandit Suppression Commissioner (東學黨 討捕使) of South Jeolla and North Jeolla Province.
In 1894 (31st year of King Gojong) he became Central Army Commander (中軍). On 10 March 1894 he was appointed to the Chotoyeong Army (剿討營軍), and on 8 June he resigned and withdrew. On 3 July 1894 he was promoted to Senior Third Rank, and in July he was appointed Jangwiyeong Colonel (Senior Third Rank), Jangwiyeong Commander (壯衛營領官), and on 8 August Deputy Commander of the Jangwiyeong (壯衛營副領官), gaining recognition for his ability. During the Donghak Peasant Revolution, he took part in suppression operations and succeeded in subduing Donghak peasant forces in battles at Naepo, Sinchang, and Haemi, earning merit.
Donghak Peasant War and First Sino-Japanese War
Suppression of Donghak peasant forces
When the Donghak Peasant Revolution broke out in 1894 (31st year of King Gojong), in March of that year he was appointed to the Chotoyeong Army and took the lead in suppressing the Donghak peasant forces. He was appointed commander of the suppression force and marched out to suppress the Donghak peasants as Commander of the Jangwiyeong (壯衛營領官). He was subsequently appointed Central Army Commander of the Chotoyeong (剿討營中軍), and was appointed Magistrate of Juksan concurrently Right Vanguard of the Yangho Provinces Pacification Command (竹山府使兼兩湖都巡撫營右先鋒), and fought with Donghak peasant forces. In mid-1894, when the Northern Donghak (北接) gathered at Boeun Jangnae in Boeun County to join the third uprising, he learned of their assembly in advance, raided them, and won a decisive victory.
Furthermore, he defeated the Donghak army of the Southern Donghak leader Kim Gae-nam (金開南), which was advancing into South Chungcheong, at Seseong Mountain in Mokcheon, thereby foiling a plan for joint attack with the Donghak army of Jeon Bong-jun, which was also moving north toward Gongju. He then pursued the retreating Donghak armies of Kim Gae-nam and Seo In-ju, and fought and annihilated many Donghak troops at Seosan, Haemi-hyeon, Yugu (維鳩), Gongju, Nonsan Noseong (魯城), Nonsan-eup, and other places, then went down to Jeonju in North Jeolla Province, assisted the Jeonju government forces, fought the Donghak peasant forces that had regrouped at Jeonju Fortress, routed them, and helped the government forces recapture Jeonju Fortress.
In September 1894 he took up his post as Magistrate (府使) of Juksan in Gyeonggi Province, and even after taking up the Juksan post, he concurrently served for some time as Deputy Commander of the Jangwiyeong. On 5 October he was appointed Right Vanguard General of the Yangho Provinces Pacification Command (兼任兩湖都巡撫營右先鋒將) concurrently, and again participated in the suppression of the Donghak peasant forces.
From 8 to 14 November 1894 he fought the Donghak peasant forces at Ugeumchi in Gongju, annihilating them in six days. On 26 November he was again appointed Right Vanguard General (右先鋒將).
Participation in the First Sino-Japanese War
He also took part in the First Sino-Japanese War: serving as Jangwiyeong Colonel, he was dispatched with the Japanese Army, which intended to attack the Qing forces in Pyongyang, to carry out reconnaissance and provide intelligence, and he went to the field as commander of the Second Battalion of the Korean Troops, accompanying Nozu Michitsura (野津道貫), Lieutenant General (中将) of the Imperial Japanese Army and commander of the 5th Infantry Division. At this time he also took on the task of supporting the logistics supplies of the Japanese Army's 5th Division. He also mobilized the people of Pyongyang for labor to dispose of the corpses of Qing soldiers.
With the advance into Pyongyang alongside the Japanese Army during the First Sino-Japanese War serving as the turning point, he began to act as a military officer pro-Japanese. As the pro-Japanese cabinet of Kim Hong-jip was formed, he was promoted to Magistrate of Yangju, and under Japanese influence he took command of the First Battalion of the Training Corps, which was newly established. Around this time, as Queen Min came into conflict with Japan, and after neutralizing the Gabo Reform she employed the pro-Russian faction and attempted to disband even the Training Corps, Japan used this as an occasion to assassinate Queen Min. Yi Du-hwang sided with and took part in the killing of Queen Min in Gyeongbokgung, and together with Woo Beom-seon and others personally led troops and acted.
Eulmi Incident and life in exile
Before and after the Eulmi Incident
On 2 April 1895 (32nd year of King Gojong) he resigned from both the posts of Magistrate of Juksan and Right Vanguard General of the Yangho Provinces Pacification Command.
On 10 April 1895 he was appointed Magistrate (牧使) of Yangju, and in June that year became Army Colonel, and on 5 July became commander of the First Training Corps Battalion.
At that time, the forces that plotted to assassinate Queen Min included a faction led by Park Yeong-hyo, and a faction in which Heungseon Daewongun, Yi Jun-yong, and Yu Kil-chun took part; it is somewhat unclear at what point Yi Du-hwang joined the plan to eliminate Queen Min.
On 25 September 1895, just before the Eulmi Incident, he applied for leave (休職), then withdrew the application, and in October was appointed commander of the Second Battalion. At the time of the Eulmi Incident he was appointed to the palace guard post of Gyeongbokgung. However, on 7 October he was notified of the disbandment of the Training Corps, which was pro-Japanese in orientation.
On 8 October 1895 (32nd year of King Gojong), he, as commander of the Second Battalion of the Training Corps and palace guard commander of Gyeongbokgung, together with Yu Kil-chun, Woo Beom-seon, Yi Ju-hoe and others, supported Japanese rōnin and took part in the elimination of Queen Min; before and after the Eulmi Incident he was in charge of guarding Gwanghwamun.
Exile in Japan
After the Eulmi Incident, when the queen was deposed as a commoner and then restored, an arrest order was issued against those who had participated in the Eulmi Incident. He, together with his son Yi Jin-baek (李鎭白) and others, fled to Busan with the help of the Japanese legation, and in Busan, evading the eyes of Korean officials, hid empty-handed in the house of a Japanese man; with his help he cut his hair, changed clothes, and then with the help of Japanese people at Busan Port, escaped to Japan by ship with his son Yi Jin-baek.
After arriving in Japan, he separated from his party, went to Hiroshima, then moved to Kyoto, and then went into hiding in Tokyo, requesting personal protection. He traveled around various parts of Japan accompanied by Japanese bodyguards. During his exile in Japan, he became especially close to Yu Kil-chun and formed an intimate relationship with him, and he converted to Japanese Buddhism and practiced it devoutly.
In November 1895, when the Ministry of Justice tried all those involved in the Eulmi Incident as rebels, he was tried in absentia. Meanwhile, Park Seon, Yi Ju-hoe, and others present at the scene were sentenced to death in the Ministry of Justice's final trial on 14 November.
On 11 February 1896, by royal order of Gojong, an arrest order was issued against Yu Kil-chun, Jo Hui-yeon (趙羲淵), Jang Bak (張博), Gwon Yeong-jin (權濚鎭), Yi Du-hwang, Woo Beom-seon, Yi Beom-rae (李範來), Yi Jin-ho (李軫鎬) and others. On 15 February Gojong issued an order for their beheading.
Second exile
In 1896 (1st year of Geonyang) he temporarily returned home again, but from June of that year, Jinsa (進士) Jeong Seong-u (鄭惺愚) and others continued to petition that the figures involved in the Gapsin Coup and the Eulmi Incident be designated as traitors and executed. Gojong had already issued an order for his arrest and beheading, but later withdrew it.
Since he had already been identified as a state criminal related to the Eulmi Incident, in January 1897 (2nd year of Geonyang) he evaded arrest, slipped out through Dongdaemun, fled to Geumgangsan, and while hiding in the mountains along the east coast, traveled on foot to Busan, and then re-emigrated to Japan. Afterward he lived for eight years in Tokyo. In Tokyo he set up a temporary residence in Dan-goza (團子坂) and lived in hiding, learned Japanese, and with the help of Japanese enlightenment intellectuals studied the military and industrial promotion (Shiksan Heungeop). He traveled around various parts of Japan whenever he had time, and being affable and sociable, he interacted widely with intellectuals and local notables in each region.
During his stay in Japan in 1897, Kim Un-rak (金雲洛), Chae Gwang-muk, Kim Seok-gu and others continued to submit petitions demanding the execution of Yi Du-hwang, Yu Kil-chun, Park Yeong-hyo and others. He disguised himself and hid in a place in Tokyo where Korean people would not notice him.
In March 1904 (7th year of Gwangmu), Gojong, when the special envoy of Japan Itō Hirobumi visited Korea, proposed expelling the important figures among the exiles overseas or detaining them at the borders, and obtained his agreement.1 The important figures designated by Gojong were 14 people including Yi Jun-yong, Park Yeong-hyo, Yi Gyu-wan, Yu Kil-chun, Jo Hui-yeon, Jang Bak, Yi Beom-rae, Yi Jin-ho, Jo Hui-mun, Gu Yeon-su, Yi Du-hwang, Sin Eung-hui, Gwon Dong-jin, and Jeong Nan-gyo. However, Japan did not carry out the disposal of the exiles that it had promised Gojong.1
In mid-April 1904 (7th year of Gwangmu), Gojong requested the Japanese Legation in Korea to expel from Japan 14 people among the Korean political refugee applicants, namely Yi Du-hwang, Park Yeong-hyo, Yu Kil-chun, Jang Bak, Jo Hui-yeon, Yi Jin-ho, Gwon Dong-jin, Gu Yeon-su, Jeong Nan-gyo, Yi Gyu-wan, Yi Beom-rae, Sin Eung-hui, and to repatriate the other exiles. The Japanese Minister to Korea reported this to the Japanese Foreign Minister on 14 April, but the Japanese government refused to repatriate them.
During his exile in Japan he flaunted himself freely around Japan, to the extent that Fukuzawa Yukichi rebuked him for having murdered his national mother yet not behaving with restraint.
Life after returning home
Immediately after returning
Among those involved in the Eulmi Incident, Yi Ju-hoe and Park Seon and others were executed, while Yi Du-hwang, Woo Beom-seon, and Gu Yeon-su fled to Japan. Of these, Woo Beom-seon was assassinated by an assassin, while Yi Du-hwang and Gu Yeon-su survived their twelve years of exile and returned home in 1907 after the accession of Emperor Sunjong of the Korean Empire. Under the protection of Itō Hirobumi, he was appointed Deputy Councillor of the Korean Empire Joongchuwon and Governor of North Jeolla Province, and from 1910 until around 1915 he held the post of Director-General of North Jeolla Province.2
He returned home in 1907 (10th year of Gwangmu), and after the accession of Sunjong, on 6 September 1907 (1st year of Yunghui) an amnesty was issued and he was pardoned and restored to civil rights. In the Korean Empire's official gazette of 6 September, an amnesty order (special decree No. 3666) was published pardoning the crimes of Yi Du-hwang.
On 8 October 1907 (1st year of Yunghui) he became Deputy Councillor of the Joongchuwon (Junior Official Rank 5), but resigned on 7 November. On 21 January 1908 he was appointed Governor of North Jeolla Province and concurrently given Chimnim-gwan rank 3. On 26 February 1908 he concurrently held the post of judge of the North Jeolla Provincial Court (全羅北道裁判所判事). In 1908 the righteous army campaigns were fierce, and while serving as Governor of North Jeolla and judge of the North Jeolla Provincial Court, he took the lead in suppressing the righteous armies. Besides that, he concurrently held the post of Joongchuwon Chanui while serving as Governor of North Jeolla and judge of the North Jeolla Provincial Court.
While serving as governor, he tried to apply the political theories of Itō Hirobumi within his jurisdiction. According to personnel materials of the Government-General of Chōsen, he, even in old age, practiced and utilized them, using them widely as a means of winning the people's hearts, and recorded that he received good reviews from Japanese people within his jurisdiction.
Later life
On 2 October 1910 (4th year of Yunghui), at the same time as the conclusion of the Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty, he was retained as Director-General of North Jeolla Province. While serving as Director-General of North Jeolla, he actively promoted industrial promotion policies, such as developing various industries, establishing manufacturing and sericulture factories, establishing livestock farms, and introducing various machinery and sanitation facilities, and sought to apply the policies for industrial and production promotion he had studied in Japan to reality. From 1914 until March 1916 he concurrently served as chairman of the North Jeolla Provincial Land Survey Committee, cooperating with the Government-General of Chōsen's land survey project.
Besides that, he participated in various social organizations, and served as Vice-President of the North Jeolla branch of the Imperial Rural Support Association (帝國在鄕後援會朝鮮支會全羅北道部會長) and others. In 1916 he was also awarded the Order of the Precious Crown, 3rd class, and the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Japanese government. From his time in Japan he came to believe in Japanese Buddhism, and he had his own funeral conducted by cremation (火葬), and left a will that the funeral be simple.
His cremated urn was buried facing west (卯坐) beneath Girinbong near Pungnam-dong and Nosong-dong in Jeonju-bu (present-day Jeonju), North Jeolla Province, and a stele was erected. The inscription on the stele was written by Kim Yun-sik, Jeong Byeong-jo, then a Joongchuwon Chanui, wrote the text, and it was inscribed in the calligraphic style of Terauchi Masatake, Governor-General of the Government-General of Chōsen.
Posthumous
He painted orchids and ink wash paintings well and left several works, but most were lost or destroyed.
His grave was forgotten for a long time, but later it became known that his tomb was near Girinbong. After the establishment of the Republic of Korea in 1951, the police officer Cha Il-hyeok, a former independence activist, dug up the grave in an attempt to carry out posthumous decapitation (부관참시), but found the urn containing his remains, and the posthumous decapitation failed.
He was included in the List of 708 pro-Japanese collaborators announced in 2002, and in the list of candidates for inclusion in the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators compiled by the Minjok Munje Yeonguso in 2008 for inclusion in the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators. He is also included in the List of 195 pro-Japanese collaborators announced in 2007 by the Presidential Committee for the Investigation of Pro-Japanese Collaborator Activities.
His field diary <Diary of the Right Vanguard of the Two Provinces (兩湖右先鋒日記)>, written from 1894 to 1895 while he was suppressing the Donghak Peasant Revolution, was discovered.3
Works
- <Diary of the Right Vanguard of the Two Provinces (兩湖右先鋒日記)>
- Seolak Yugo (雪岳遺稿)
- Go Seolak Yi Du-hwang Ong Chuhoerok (故雪岳李斗璜翁追懷錄)
Family
He is said to have had several concubines, some of them former gisaeng.
- Grandfather: Yi Ik-u (李益祐)
- Father: Yi Myeong-heup (李命洽)
- Mother: Lady Jo (趙氏)
- Wife: Chunchon Park clan (春川朴氏), daughter of Park Seung-jo (朴承祚)
- Son: Yi Jin-baek (李鎭白), a son born to his principal wife of the Chunchon Park clan.
- Grandson: Yi Yang-ho (李養浩)
Character and other notes
According to personnel materials of the Government-General of Chōsen, his character was formed in hardship and poverty; he suffered all kinds of hardships from an early age, and in the meantime disciplined his mind and body. He possessed outstanding intelligence and wise qualities. It was evaluated that he was originally deeply versed in Chinese studies and very skilled in the Classics (詩書).
Among some Korean high officials there were those who disliked or discriminated against Koreans. However, it was said that he lacked the arrogance and disrespectful attitude toward subordinates common among Korean high officials, and that he had no vice of distinguishing between Koreans and Japanese or arbitrarily liking, disliking, or discriminating. As a provincial magistrate, he heard no outcry of blame or attack from the people within his jurisdiction. There is also an evaluation that in old age he dealt with superiors and looked after subordinates with great tact and ease, and that he had not the slightest angularity or sharpness and still had vigor.
According to personnel materials of the Government-General of Chōsen, he is also said to have enjoyed women and gambling. He was fond of women and had many relations with gisaeng. He was fond of gambling and is said to have contested wins and losses through gambling several times. On this, the Government-General gave him the evaluation of 肄儀妄行, meaning that his manners or habits were somewhat reckless. At the same time, it was said that his good fortune with women remained and that he drew the jealousy of colleagues.
On the other hand, he also left the contrasting evaluation that frugality and thrift were ingrained in him. It was said that recently he had become increasingly stingy and extremely frugal even in what he ate and wore. People whispered that his white beard and increasingly thin frame, so that only bones remained, were due precisely to this stinginess. It is also recorded that his body was so emaciated that he looked like a crane.
References
- Presidential Committee for the Investigation of Pro-Japanese Collaborator Activities (December 2007). <Yi Du-hwang> (PDF). <2007 Investigation Report II - Reasons for Determination of Pro-Japanese Collaborator Activities>. Seoul. pp. 1048–1057. Publication registration number 11-1560010-0000002-10.
- Minjok Munje Yeonguso (1 February 1993). <Yi Du-hwang: The Pro-Japanese Military Officer Favored by Itō Hirobumi (Kang Chang-il)>. <99 Pro-Japanese Collaborators 1>. Seoul: Dolbegae. ISBN 9788971990117.
Footnotes