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held the same view as Tai-in-kun, only the Minister of Right, Bokkeiziu, and the Chinese interpreter Yo-kei-yaku strongly represented the inevitable necessity of opening up the country, and the danger of attempting to avert it by force of arms. On the 12th the Coreans asked for a delay of ten days, which was granted. On the 20th the question was still unsettled, and the Japanese mission announced the intention to depart on the 22nd. At the end of the ten days the Coreans asked for the delay of several days more, but the Japanese Commissioners refused to comply, and betook themselves to the ship and remained there for some days, when on the 26th the Corean Government accepted the treaty, and signed it on the following day. It is said that the advocates of opening up the country finally prevailed on the leading members of the Queen’s party, including the Presiding Minister Li-sai-wo, who went over to the new policy for the purpose of depriving the party of Tai-in-kun of political power. Thus, in Corea the question of seclusion or opening the country was mingled with the struggle for power amongst contending factions in the Court.
The treaty of the 27th of February, 1876, called the Treaty of Kokwa, is the first diplomatic document ever signed by Corea with modern nations, and is remarkable in many ways. The first article, which is really a manifestation on the part of Japan against China’s claim to suzerainty over Corea, runs as follows:
‘Chosen (Corea), being an independent State, enjoys the same sovereign rights as does Nippon (Japan).
‘In order to prove the sincerity of the friendship existing between the nations, their intercourse shall henceforth be carried on in terms of equality and courtesy, each avoiding the giving of offence by arrogance or manifestations of suspicion.
‘In the first instance, all rules and precedents that are apt to obstruct friendly intercourse shall be totally abrogated, and, in their stead, rules, liberal and in general usage, fit to secure a firm and perpetual peace, shall be established.’
The second article refers to the exchange of Envoys, and the third fixes the Chinese language as the medium of intercourse between the two Governments. The fourth and the fifth articles confirm Sôrio in the port of Fusan as the Japanese settlement and place of commerce between Japan and Corea, and promise to open two new ports within a stated period, Genzan and Ninsen being the ports opened in consequence of these articles in 1880 and 1883 respectively, though considerably later than the time first fixed upon. The sixth article refers to the aid to be given to the Japanese vessels entering Corean ports and the Corean vessels entering Japanese