Yi Jun, Yi Sang-Seol, and Yi Wi-Jong (from left).

Hague Secret Emissary Affair (Heigeu teuksa sageon, 헤이그 특사사건) resulted from Korean Emperor, Gojong, sending confidential emissaries to the Second Peace Conference at The Hague, Netherlands in 1907.^[1] But the great powers of the world refused to allow Korea to take part in this conference.

[edit] Background

Following the Taft-Katsura Agreement and Japan's victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, Japan sought to formalize its control over the Korean peninsula. Japan assumed hegemony over the Empire of Korea in conformity with the Eulsa Treaty.

Following this, the Korean Emperor Gojong sent three secret emissaries, Yi Jun (이준, 李儁), Yi Sang-Seol (이상설, 李相卨) and Yi Wi-Jong (이위종, 李瑋鐘) to the Second Hague Peace Convention to declare the invalidity of the Eulsa Treaty and assert his own rights to rule Korea independent of Japan. However, the great powers didn't allow the emissaries to take part in the conference and the emissaries were unable to gain entry into the convention hall. Korea was no longer viewed as an independent nation by the great powers, and Japan was seen as representing her on the international stage.

[edit] References

1. ^ Carter J. Eckert, Ki-baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson, and Edward W. Wagner, Korea Old and New: A History (Seoul: Ilchokak / Korea Institute, Harvard University, 1990), 245.

[edit] See also

• Eulsa Treaty
• Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of 1907

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