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Politics2 July 1896 – December 1898

Independence Club

Seo Jae-pil founded the Independence Club with officials and intellectuals; it raised the Independence Gate and held mass assemblies calling for national sovereignty, civil rights and self-strengthening reform.

Invitation from the Independence Club, in Seo Jae-pil's name, to the groundbreaking ceremony of Independence Gate
Invitation from the Independence Club, in Seo Jae-pil's name, to the groundbreaking ceremony of Independence Gate

Seo Jae-pil · Public domain · Source

As the powers grabbed concessions after the king fled to the Russian legation, Seo Jae-pil launched The Independent and in July 1896 founded the Independence Club. Many high officials joined at first; the club raised the Independence Gate on the site of the Yeongeunmun, where Chinese envoys had been received, and turned the Mohwagwan pavilion into Independence Hall. Through debates and lectures it grew into a political movement of ordinary people.

The club opposed Russia’s demand to lease Jeolyeongdo and the Korean-Russian Bank (sovereignty), championed security of person and property and freedom of speech and assembly (civil rights), and sought a parliament (reform). At the 1898 joint assembly it adopted the Six Articles and tried to turn the Privy Council into a legislature.

When conservatives spread anonymous placards claiming the club meant to depose the emperor and found a republic, Gojong dissolved it in December 1898 using peddlers of the Imperial Association and troops. Seo had already returned to the United States that May.

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The map in 1896

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States and rulers at the time
Joseon — Gojong
Korean Empire — Gojong
Places
Independence Gate

People

  • Seo Jae-pil (Philip Jaisohn)1864 – 1951

    leader · Joined the 1884 coup, lived in exile in the US, then returned to found The Independent

  • Gojong1852 – 1919

    monarch · Twenty-sixth king of Joseon and first emperor of the Korean Empire

3 parts of this event

  1. 1
    1896 – 1897Independence Gate Built

    With public donations the Independence Club built the Independence Gate where the Yeongeunmun had welcomed Chinese envoys; the cornerstone was laid in November 1896 and the gate finished a year later.

  2. 2
    1898Manmin Gongdonghoe (People’s Joint Assembly)

    The Independence Club held its first mass rally at Jongno, demanding the recall of Russian military instructors and financial advisers and rejecting Russia’s bid to lease Jeolyeongdo.

  3. 3
    1898Joint Assembly of Officials and People and the Six Articles

    Ministers and citizens met together at Jongno and adopted the Six Articles. Gojong accepted them and reorganized the Privy Council, but the Independence Club was soon dissolved.

Before and after

Earlier
1896 The Independent founded
Later
1897 Gwangmu Reform

Themes that include this event

  • The Opening of East Asia1839 – 1901

    From the Opium War to the Boxer Protocol — sixty years in which China, Japan and Korea, forced open by Western gunboats, each tried to reform and went separate ways