“The loss of Korean national sovereignty was not a sudden catastrophe that began with the 1910 Annexation Treaty. It was a calculated, multi-stage erosion that took place over fifteen agonizing years—engineered by Imperial Japan and facilitated from within by key ministers, bureaucrats, and mass political organizations of the late Korean Empire.”

1. The Twilight of Empire: From the Eulmi Incident to the Russo-Japanese War (1895–1904)

Following the brutal assassination of Empress Myeongseong in 1895 (the Eulmi Incident) and King Gojong's subsequent proclamation of the Korean Empire (Daehan Jeguk) in 1897, the Korean state sought desperately to modernize its military, fiscal, and diplomatic apparatus while maintaining perilous neutrality between Russian, Japanese, and Western imperial interests.

However, Japan's decisive victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) eliminated the last foreign counterweight on the peninsula. In February 1904, Japanese troops occupied Seoul and forced the Korean government to sign the Japan-Korea Protocol of 1904, granting the Imperial Japanese Army military transit rights and stationing garrisons across strategic points. This marked the definitive beginning of pre-colonial collaboration among factions within the court who concluded that national survival could only be achieved through alignment with Tokyo.

2. The Eulsa Treaty of 1905 and the “Five Traitors” (Eulsa Ojeok)

On the night of November 17, 1905, Japanese Special Envoy Itō Hirobumi, backed by armed imperial troops surrounding Jungmyeongjeon Hall in Deoksugung Palace, presented the draft of the Japan-Korea Protectorate Treaty (Eulsa Treaty). The treaty stripped Korea of its diplomatic rights and established the office of the Resident-General (*Tōkan*), effectively reducing the sovereign empire to a protectorate.

Emperor Gojong adamantly refused to affix the imperial seal, declaring the treaty null and void. However, five of the eight cabinet ministers capitulated to Japanese coercion, sealed the pact, and became universally condemned in Korean history as the Five Eulsa Traitors (을사오적 / 乙巳五賊):

The Five Signatories of the 1905 Protectorate Treaty

  • Lee Wan-yong (李完用, Minister of Education): The primary orchestrator who argued that resisting Japan was futile and that submission was the only path to national preservation.
  • Park Je-sun (朴齊純, Minister of Foreign Affairs): Affixed the official ministry seal to the treaty document.
  • Yi Ji-yong (李址鎔, Minister of the Interior): A member of the imperial royal clan who received massive financial rewards from Japanese authorities.
  • Lee Geun-taek (李根澤, Minister of Military Affairs): Placed the Korean armed forces under Japanese command.
  • Gwon Jung-hyeon (權重顯, Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry): Endorsed the transfer of economic concessions to Japanese syndicates.

The signing triggered immediate nationwide outrage. Royal Chamberlain Min Yeong-hwan (閔泳煥) committed suicide in protest, leaving a searing final testament to the twenty million Korean people: “I die, but the spirit of twenty million compatriots shall never perish!” Throughout the countryside, Confucian scholars and disbanded soldiers formed the Eulsa Righteous Armies (Eulsa Uibyeong), launching guerrilla warfare against Japanese garrisons.

3. The Iljinhoe (一進會): Mass Collaboration and the Rhetoric of Pan-Asian Reform

Pre-colonial collaboration was not confined to high court ministers. In August 1904, Song Byeong-jun (宋秉畯) and Lee Yong-gu (李容九) founded the Iljinhoe (一進會 / Advance in Unity Society).

Claiming a membership of over 100,000 peasants, clerks, and former Donghak adherents, the Iljinhoe framed its ideology around Pan-Asian solidarity (*Dongyang Pyeonghwa-ron*) and modernizing reform. In reality, the organization operated as an intelligence and logistical arm of the Japanese military:

  • Military Logistics: Mobilized tens of thousands of Korean laborers to construct the Gyeongbu and Gyeongui military railways for Japanese troop movements during the Russo-Japanese War.
  • Suppression of Resistance: Actively tracked and betrayed anti-Japanese Righteous Army units to Japanese military police (*Kempeitai*).
  • The 1909 Annexation Petition: In December 1909, the Iljinhoe submitted a formal petition to Emperor Sunjong and Resident-General Sone Arasuke demanding the immediate, unconditional merger of Korea and Japan (*Hapbangcheongwon*), providing Tokyo with a propaganda pretext that Koreans themselves desired annexation.

4. The 1910 Annexation Treaty and the Creation of the Colonial Peerage (Joseon Gwijok)

On August 22, 1910, Prime Minister Lee Wan-yong and Resident-General Terauchi Masatake signed the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty, extinguishing the sovereign state of Korea and transferring all governing authority to the Empire of Japan.

In October 1910, the Japanese Emperor Meiji promulgated the Joseon Peerage Ordinance (Imperial Edict No. 309), creating a colonial aristocracy to cement the loyalty of the former Joseon elite. A total of 76 Koreans—including royal relatives, cabinet ministers, and high-ranking officials—were granted noble titles (Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron) accompanied by astronomical monetary grants (*Eonsageum*):

“By granting noble peerages and vast financial subsidies to seventy-six high officials of the former court, Imperial Japan successfully neutralized the traditional yangban ruling class, transforming potential leaders of resistance into vested stakeholders in the colonial apparatus.”

5. Historical Legacy: The Unhealed Trauma of Pre-1910 Treason

Understanding pre-1910 collaboration is critical because it reveals that colonization was not merely imposed by foreign force—it was facilitated by the moral collapse and political opportunism of domestic elites who traded national sovereignty for private titles and wealth.

This pre-colonial betrayal remains one of the darkest chapters in Korean history, directly informing modern South Korea's ongoing legal, political, and constitutional struggles to define anti-national acts and enforce restitution.