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Early American Perceptions of Korea and Washington’s Korea Policy, 1882-1905

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This study explores the cultural and ideological factors that conditioned U.S. policy in Korea during the early period of U.S.-Korean relations (1882-1905) and Washington’s de facto pro-Japan policy. Key officials in Washington possessed negative perceptions of Korea that influenced their policymaking on an ideological level. These men perceived Korea to be a backward country averse to progress and generally believed that Japan should guide Korea to civilization. This article suggests that Washington’s perceptions of Korea were firmly rooted in a cultural discourse on Korea, which was shaped largely by dominant representations of Korea in popular texts of the period. Representations of Korea in newspaper articles and commercial texts were influenced by Americans’ early hostile encounters with the “hermit nation,” colored by ethnographic descriptions of Korea’s “backwardness,” and informed by racial stereotypes and the ideologies of imperialism prevalent in the West. It was also mediated by Japanese information channels. These texts generated a popular discourse on Korea that likely impacted Washington’s perceptions of Korea and conditioned its pro-Japan policy. They help to explain the perceptual rift that developed between policymakers in Washington and the American diplomatic community in Korea. In focusing on the nature and origins of the early American discourse on Korea, the purpose of this article is to contribute to scholarship on early U.S.-Korean relations by exploring how cultural facts may have conditioned U.S. foreign policy in Korea. It also aims to start a conversation about public awareness of Korea during the period and the importance of public opinion as a political force in the United States.

Abstract

This study explores the cultural and ideological factors that conditioned U.S. policy in Korea during the early period of U.S.-Korean relations (1882-1905) and Washington’s de facto pro-Japan policy. Key officials in Washington possessed negative perceptions of Korea that influenced their policymaking on an ideological level. These men perceived Korea to be a backward country averse to progress and generally believed that Japan should guide Korea to civilization. This article suggests that Washington’s perceptions of Korea were firmly rooted in a cultural discourse on Korea, which was shaped largely by dominant representations of Korea in popular texts of the period. Representations of Korea in newspaper articles and commercial texts were influenced by Americans’ early hostile encounters with the “hermit nation,” colored by ethnographic descriptions of Korea’s “backwardness,” and informed by racial stereotypes and the ideologies of imperialism prevalent in the West. It was also mediated by Japanese information channels. These texts generated a popular discourse on Korea that likely impacted Washington’s perceptions of Korea and conditioned its pro-Japan policy. They help to explain the perceptual rift that developed between policymakers in Washington and the American diplomatic community in Korea. In focusing on the nature and origins of the early American discourse on Korea, the purpose of this article is to contribute to scholarship on early U.S.-Korean relations by exploring how cultural facts may have conditioned U.S. foreign policy in Korea. It also aims to start a conversation about public awareness of Korea during the period and the importance of public opinion as a political force in the United States.

참고문헌 (19)

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  2. Baldasty, Gerald J., "The Commercialization of the News in the Nineteenth Century" (1992), The University of Wisconsin Press
  3. Chang, Gordon H., "Whose ‘Barbarism’? Whose ‘Treachery’? Race and Civilization in the Unknown United States-Korea War of 1871", Journal of American History, 89(4) (2003)
  4. Coleman, Craig S., "American Images of Korea: Korea and Koreans as Portrayed in Books, Magazines, Television, News Media, and Film" (1990), Hollym
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  8. Hawley, Samuel, "America’s Man in Korea: The Private Letters of George C. Foulk, 1884-1887" (1887), Lexington Books
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  10. Kim, Key-Huik, "The Last Phase of the East Asian World Order: Korea, Japan, and the Chinese Empire, 1860-1882" (1882), University of California Press
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  12. Larsen, Kirk W., "Tradition, Treaties, and Trade: Qing Imperialism and Chos˘on Korea, 1850-1910" (1910), Harvard University Asia Center
  13. Lee, Yur-Bok, "Korean View of Korean-American Relations, In Korean-American Relations, 1866-1997", pp.11~34 (1999), State University of New York Press
  14. McCune, Shannon, "American Image of Korea in 1882: A Bibliographical Sketch, In U.S. Korean Relations 1882-1982", pp.141~156 (1982), Kyungnam University Press
  15. Nagata, Akifumi, "Miguk, hanguk-eul beorida: Theodore Roosevelt-wa hanguk (America, You Forsook Korea: Theodore Roosevelt and Korea)" (2007), Kiparang
  16. Swartout, Robert R., Jr., "United States Ministers to Korea, 1882-1905: The Loss of American Innocence", Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch, 57, pp.29~40 (1982)
  17. Underwood, Horace H., "Bibliography on Korea" (1931), Literary Department, Chosen Christian College
  18. Weems, Benjamin B., "Reform, Rebellion, and the Heavenly Way" (1964), University of Arizona Press
  19. U.S. Department of State, "Notes from the Korean Legation in the United States to the Dept. of State, Sept. 18, 1883–Apr. 24, 1906" (1906), National Archives

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