고종 커피독살 기도사건의 역사적 의미

The historical significance of the coffee poisoning attempt on King Gojong

This thesis examines the coffee poisoning attempt against King Gojong that occurred on September 12, 1898. This incident was a symbolic event that reflected the circumstances of the time as a whole, clearly revealed the attitude of leader Gojong, and surfaced all the elements of conflict that our society was experiencing in the process of handling the incident. From the beginning of the incident, it spread into a political debate, and there is an aspect that has flowed in a direction that is not related to the essence of the incident. The means of the incident was a new and unfamiliar drink coffee. Nevertheless, there was no direct debate about the new beverage called coffee. Whether this drink is a healthy drink or a harmful drink, the coffee that the emperor drank was produced in which country and by what route was it imported, and how did it come up on the emperor's dessert table? Whether it is appropriate to use it for entertaining foreign guests, whether or not foreign food should be completely excluded without such a debate, whether or not people who want to follow foreign food or foreign institutions should remain around the emperor. It was used only as an opportunity for conflict. In the process of handling the case, the key issue was whether to maintain the modern-oriented system symbolized by coffee, or whether to discard it and return to the old system. Conservative forces insisted on the revival of the implicative system and beheading system, which were abolished due to the Gabo Reform, and were persistent. Despite persistent and repeated demands, King Gojong chose to maintain the modern system. In the process of handling this case, it is true that King Gojong expressed indecisiveness rather than determination. Nevertheless, choosing to defend the modern system rather than returning to the past showed the ultimate consciousness of King Gojong. In the process of handling this case, the People's Association and the publicprivate association were held, and a public opinion was formed on the necessity of a kind of representative politics that reflects the will of the people in politics. This was a very valuable experience in the history of our country's politics. Although the institutionalization of representative politics was not achieved, it was very meaningful in the history of Korean politics to have the experience of discussion in that direction. In the early modern period of Korea, coffee was more than a simple foreign product, it was at the center of political debate, and it was a product that symbolized the transition period.