these being sub-divided into 339 kün, or districts. There is a separate government for the capital, while each of the nine treaty-ports, Ping-Yang, Chinnampo, Chemulpo, Fusan, Wonsan, Kunsan, Mokpo, Masampo, and Songchin, and the Russo-Korean trading mart Kyenheung, is under a Superintendent or Kamni, who ranks with a Consul. Area and Population. Estimated area, 82,000 square miles; population estimated at from 8,000,000 to 16,000,000. Native statistics (1900) give 5,608,151 inhabitants (3,102,650 males and 2,505,501 females), liable to taxation. The capital, Seoul, has 196,646 inhabitants, according to native census taken in June 1902; Ping-Yang, about 40,000. The foreign population (including Japanese troops) is about 45,000, consisting of 40,000 Japanese, 4,000 Chinese, nearly 300 Americans, 140 British, nearly 100 French, and about 50 Germans. Many of the Americans, British, and French are missionaries. Emigration, on a small scale, has been set on foot. In 1903 over 1,000 Koreans left for Hawaii. The language of the people is intermediate between Mongolo-Tartar and Japanese, and an alphabetical system of writing is used to some extent. In all official writing, and in the correspondence of the upper classes, the Chinese characters were used exclusively, but in official documents a mixture of the native script is now the rule. Religion and Instruction. The worship of ancestors is observed with as much punctiliousness as in China, but, otherwise, religion holds a low place in the kingdom. The law forbidding temples and priests in the city of Seoul has been repealed; in the country there are numerous Buddhist monasteries. Confucianism is held in highest esteem by the upper classes, and a knowledge of the classics of China is the first aim of Korean scholars and aspirants for official station. There are about 42,000 Catholics and 6,000 Protestants. In 1890 an English Church mission was established, with a bishop and 20 other members. A hospital is attached to the mission with an English doctor and trained nurses. The American missionaries have also two hospitals in Seoul. There are about 180 Protestant missionaries (British and American), 60 Roman Catholic. In Seoul there is a school for English with 2 English teachers and 100 pupils. There are, besides, schools for teaching Japanese, French, Chinese, German, and Russian (suspended), an American Mission School, and 10 or 11 schools for little boys, where Chinese and Korean are taught. All these schools, excepting the American, which is subsidised, are under the Education Department. In Seoul there are now two daily newspapers with a combined sale of 5,600 copies, and a tri-weekly issue with a circulation of 2,600 copies; there are also several Japanese papers in Seoul and Chemulpo, and, in June, 1904, an English paper was started in Seoul. Finance and Defence. The estimated revenue for 1903 was 10,766,115 nickel dollars (the nickel dollar in 1904 was worth about one shilling), and the estimated expenditure, 7,585,877. For 1904 the revenue was estimated at 14,214,573 nickel dollars, and the expenditure at 14,214,298. The chief sources of revenue in 1904 were the land tax, 9,703,591 nickel dollars; the house tax, 460,295; customs, 850,000. The chief branches of expenditure were war, 5,180,614 nickel dollars; finance, 2,741,999; interior, 990,948; posts and telegraphs, 637,648; the Imperial household, 1,200,000. The budget, however, is not trustworthy. For example, the 850,000 nickel dollars, stated as the customs revenue, is a fixed estimate, the actual yield being nearly 3,000,000. Another standing item of revenue is 'taxes from previous years,' put at 2,790,687 nickel dollars. The finances of Korea are, in fact, quite unorganised. Of the Japanese loan of 1895, 2,750,000 yen has been repaid, 250.000 yen beiog still outstanding. The customs department is in the hands of a cosmopolitan staff of officials, while the position of chief commissioner of customs has, for the past 10 years, been held by a British subject, J. McLeavy Brown, C.M.G. The Japanese-Korean agreement of August 12, 1904, provides for a Japanese financial adviser. A The standing army, which used to consist of about 5,000 men, badly armed, drilled, clothed and fed, now contains about 17,000 men poorly trained, though with European methods. In 1896 it was taken in hand by a Russian colonel with 3 commissioned and 10 non-commissioned officers. Royal Body Guard of about 1,000 men was formed and armed with Berdan rifles obtained from Russia. The Russian officers retired in April, 1898, but the guard has been drilled, and periodically a draft of trained men is transferred from it to the other regiments of the standing army. There is thus a fair proportion of drilled troops in the ranks of this force. A police force of about 2,000 men has also been formed, and is under the Police Department. A small vessel was fitted up as a war-ship in Japan, but has been used by the Japanese for other purposes. Production and Commerce. Korea is a purely agricultural country, and the methods of cultivation are of a backward and primitive type, the means of communication being few and difficult. In the south rice, wheat, beans, and grain of all kinds are grown, besides tobacco; in the north the chief crops are barley, millet, and oats. Rice, beans, and ginseng, are now exported in large quantities. Whale fishing, before the present war, was carried on in Korean waters by 1 Japanese and 2 Russian companies which have obtained privileges from the Korean Government. The Russian whaling fleet has, however, been seized by the Japanese. The Japanese, who already had fishing rights off a large part of the Korean coast, had these rights extended to include the north-west coasts by an agreement on June 9, 1904, which provides for reciprocal rights off Japanese coasts. An American company is working a gold mine at Wunsan, to the North of Ping-Yang, under a concession granted in 1895. A similar concession has been granted to a Russian subject in Ham-heung, another to a German company at Teng Ko Kai, near Kim-song in the province of KangIwên, and Japanese mines are being worked in the region south of Seoul. In 1901 a mining concession was granted to a French subject. In September, 1898, a gold mining concession was granted to an English company, and work was commenced at Unsan (Gwendoline) in January 1900. Copper, iron and coal are abundant in Korea. In 1876 Korea concluded a treaty with Japan; in 1882 China (Trade and Frontier Regulations) and the United States; in 1883 Germany and Great Britain; in 1884 Italy and Russia; in 1886 France; in 1892 Austria; in 1899 China; Belgium concluded a treaty in 1901; and Denmark in 1903, There was an overland Trade Convention with Russia, whose frontier is separated from that of Korea by the Tumen River, but on May 20, 1904, an Imperial Edict was published annulling all treaties between Korca and Russia, including the Russo-Korean Timber Concession of 1896. By virtue of treaties Seoul and the three ports of Chemulpo Fusan, and Wonsan are open to foreign commerce. The ports of Chinnampo and Mokpo were opened to foreign trade on October 1, 1897, and have attracted Japanese and Chinese settlers. Kunsan, Masampo, and Songchin were opened to foreign trade on May 1, 1899; the inland city of Ping-Yang is considered open by the Foreign Representatives. Wiju and Yong Am Po have been declared open ports by the Korean Government, but the date of opening is not yet settled. The total value of the trade (merchandise only) at the open ports has been as follows in yen (value about 28.) : 10,227,340 10,940,460 14,696,470 13,541,409 18,219,183 (ex Imports. Exports cluding gold) 4,997,845 9,439,867 8,461,949 8,317,070 9,477,603 Imports include: bags and ropes (packing), 319,954; clothing, &c., 277,841; coal and coke, 112,292; dyes and colours, 103,390; machinery, 345,377; paper, 119,818. Exports include: cattle and live stock, 283,089; raw cotton, 171,844. The imports in 1903 were: cotton goods, 5,781,541 yen; woollen goods, 77,605; metals, 786,079; kerosene, 590,563; silk piece goods, 817,910; mining supplies, 425,928; grass cloth, 597,668; railway plant, 1,748,439. Exports included beans and peas, 1,675,975 yen; ginseng, 986,988; cowhides, 982,633; rice, 4,224,721. The actual trade is much greater than that stated. The statistics refer only to the open ports, at which a customs service has been established. No account is taken of the trade at non-treaty ports, or of that on the Russian and Chinese frontiers, or of the under-valuation of imports owing to "ad valorem" duties. Nearly half the imports of cotton goods and about 60 per cent. of the railway material were British. In addition to the exports mentioned above gold was exported to China and Japan (exclusive of clandestine shipments) to the amount of 2,933,382 yen in 1899; 3,633,050 yen in 1900; 4,993,351 yen in 1901; 5,064, 106 yen in 1902; 5,456,397 yen in 1903. The direct imports from Korea into the United Kingdom in 1903 amounted to 301. The value of exports from the United Kingdom to Korea was in 1899, 30,4477.; in 1900, 28, 2807.; in 1901, 56,9427.; in 1902, 50,0987. in 1903, 119,3887. (metal goods, 81,6597.). The number of vessels entered at the open ports was, in 1903, 7,159 of 1,746,005 tons (3,548 of 1,643,963 tons being steamers), against 5,462 of 1,241,434 tons in 1902. Under the Japanese flag there were 4,363 vessels, of 1,365,701 tons, Korean 1,764 of 160,894 tons, Russian 146 of 173,666 tons, and British 7 of 15,115 tons. Transport in the interior is by porters, pack-horses and oxen. Improvements in road-making are being carried out in and about Seoul. The railway (26 miles) from Chemulpo to Seoul (gauge, 4ft. 8in.), in the hands of a Japanese company, is being worked. A concession for a railway from Seoul to Fusan (300 miles) was granted to a Japanese company in September, 1898; work, which is being rapidly prosecuted (more especially since the outbreak of war), was begun at the Seoul and Fusan ends of the line in the autumn of 1901, and it is thought that the line may be open to traffic by the end of 1904. Work on the Seoul-Wiju railway, with Songdo as the first objective, was begun in May, 1902. The work, under the direction of French engineers, was progressing very slowly, owing to the small amount of funds allotted by the Korean Government. On the outbreak of war, however, the Japanese took the work in hand and are proceeding with it with great rapidity, using military engineers for the purpose. It is anticipated that the line may be open as far as Ping Yang about November, 1904. A street electric railway in Seoul has been extended to the river port of Riong-San (3 miles). In Korea there are 2,170 miles of telegraph line open. All the open ports and most of the mines are in telegraphic communication with Seoul, and the Korean lines connect with the Japanese and the Chinese systems. The telephone has been introduced at Seoul and Chemulpo, and these towns are to be brought into telephonic communication. A Korean post-office has been established, and letters are sent to any part of the country. There is, however, little native correspondence, and foreign correspondence is conducted mainly through the Japanese post offices at Seoul, Chemulpo, Fusan, Chinnampo, Wonsan, and Mokpo. Korea has entered the International Postal Union. Money. In 1900 a law was issued for the establishment of a new silver coinage based on a gold unit, but nothing has been done to carry out the terms of this enactment. Korean coins in active circulation are the nickel 5 cents (depreciated value less than d.), copper 5 cash (one cent), and to a less degree the brass 1 cash. The silver dollar and silver 20-cent piece are practically not used. The amount of coin in circulation is totally inadequate, and is supplemented by the Japanese paper yen which has recently become practically the currency of the country. This consists mainly of Bank of Japan notes (legal tender in Japan) and partly of notes issued by the Dai Ichi Ginko (First Bank) which circulate only in Korea. There is said to be over 3,000,000 yen of Japanese paper money in circulation in Korea, of which about 1,250,000 yen are in Dai Ichi Ginko notes. At present (August, 1904), the Korean dollar is at 52 4 per cent. discount on the Japanese yen (1 yen = 2.10 Korean dollar.) Chargé d'Affaires in London.-Yi Hang Eung. Consul-General in London.-W. Pritchard Morgan, 1900. Books of Reference concerning Korea. Annual Series. London. 3 vols. Paris, 1897. Foreign Office Reports on the Trade of Korea. Description of Korea (in Russian). Compiled at the Office of the Minister of Finance. 3 vols. St. Petersburg, 1900. Bishop (Mrs. Isabella), Korea and her Neighbours. 2 vols. London, 1898. Brandt (M. von), Ostasiatische Fragen. Leipzic, 1897. Campbell (C. W.), Report of a Journey in North Corea. Blue Book. China No. 2. 1891. Cavendish (A. E. J.) and Goold-Adams (H. E.), Korea and the Sacred White Mountain. London, 1894. Courant (M.), Bibliographie Coréenne. 3 vols. Paris, 1896. Culin (Stewart), Korean Games. 4. Philadelphia, 1895. Curzon (G. N.), Problems of the Far East. New ed. 8. London, 1896. Dallet, Histoire de l'église de Corée. 2 vols. Paris, 1874. [This work contains much accurate information concerning the old political and social life, geography, and language of Corea], Gale (J. S.), Korean Sketches. Edinburgh, 1898. Griffis (W. E.), Corea: the Hermit Nation. 7th ed. New York and London, 1904. Gundry (R. S.), China and Her Neighbours. London, 1893. Hamel (Hendrik), Relation du Naufrage d'un Vaisseau Holandois, &c., traduite du Flamand par M. Minutoli. 12. Paris, 1670. [This contains the earliest European account of Korea. An English translation from the French is given in Vol. IV. of A. and J. Churchill's Collection, fol., London, 1744, and in Vol. VII. of Pinkerton's Collection. 4, London, 1811]. Hatch (E. F. G.), Far Eastern Impressions. London, 1904. Korea Review. Published monthly. Seoul. Laguérie (V. de), La Corée, Independante, Russe, ou Japonnaise. Paris, 1898. Landor (H. S.), Corea, the Land of the Morning Calm. London, 1895. Lowell (P.), Choson: the Land of Morning Calm. London. Miln (L. J.), Quaint Korea. London, 1895. Oppert (E.), A Forbidden Land. London, 1880. Tayler (C. J. D.), Koreans at Home. London, 1904. Vautier (C.) et Frandin (H.), En Corée. Paris, 1904. Whigham (H. J.), Manchuria and Korea. London, 1904. Wilkinson (W. H.), the Corean Government: Constitutional Changes in Corea during the Period July 23, 1894-June 30, 1896. 4. Shanghai, 1896. |