러일전쟁 이전 ≪제국신문≫에 나타난 국제정세인식의 기반과 전개

The Perspectives on International Relations Appearing in the Imperial Post(Cheguk Sinmun)

In 1898, the ‘Independence Club(Dongnip hyeophoe)’ published the Imperial Post (Cheguk Shinmun) after being expelled from the ‘HyubSeong Club’. From 1896 to 1904, the balance of power between Russia and Japan allowed Korea to have independent statehood. However, Korea failed to take proper actions against Japan. Finally it was colonized by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War. In this regard, Korea’s perspective on international affairs during the period is worthy to be studied. Most of the research have not focused on the diverse perspectives on international relations that each news paper has. This paper concentrates on the Imperial Post to investigate its view point on international relations and provide the ideological topography of news papers during the period. This paper analyzes the perspective of the Imperial Post at three aspects: world-view, political view, and religious orientation. Based on the distinction between civilization and savage, the Imperial Post believed that the international peace will be achieved when all countries are civilized by the gradual spread of civilization throughout the international system. In terms of the political view, it supported constitutionalism that Korea should be governed by a constitutional republic or a constitutional monarchy. It perceived that a constitutional government would bring national prosperity, while a despotic monarch threatens the independence of a state. Lastly, this study argues that the Post leaned on Protestantism which was considered as the religion of freedom and civilization. On the contrary, it assumed that Catholics and Greek Orthodox suppress the people’s freedom. There were three critical moments -the Boxer Rebellion, the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and the Russo-Japanese War -which shows the Imperial Post’s perspective on international affairs. The Imperial Post expressed profound distrust of the despotic monarchy and the intention of Russia after the Boxer Rebellion. Thus it addressed that Russia’s withdrawal from Manchuria after Japan allied with the Great Britain is beneficial for Korea to keep its independence. Likewise, the Post expressed concerns about the independent statehood of Korea after the Russo-Japanese War.