Queen Min's death and Joseon's failed future

Gyeongbok Palace in 2016. Hyangwonjeong is in the foreground and Geoncheonggung is in the background. / Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

Purported to be the only authentic image of Queen Min (with her servant) in the mid-1890s. / Harrisburg Daily Independent

In the late 19th century, Korea, like most of the world, was a man's country. Everything centered on and revolved around men. Women were usually invisible in men's writing, but when they were described in newspapers and magazines, they were portrayed as belonging to their husbands or assisting male counterparts. Fortunately, not all Western journalist who visited Korea were men.

There were several women who wrote about Korea and provide us with an interesting perspective of the country during the late 19th century. One of these women was Canadian-born Margherita Arlina Hamm who traveled to Korea and did something few men could ― she wrote rather personally and in depth about the Korean queen.

According to Hamm, Queen Min was "the most interesting of all the Asiatic royal heads, having more intelligence, diplomacy, beauty and intrigue." The queen's subjects and her foreign guests showered her with praise for her accomplishments and abilities.

The description that follows is even more noteworthy because Hamm included in her 1894 article an extremely rare sketch or portrait of the queen.

"To begin with, she is a beautiful woman, as you can tell from the portrait, said to be the only authentic one in existence. She has the high, intellectual forehead which belongs to the Tartar race, the smooth, beautiful olive brow, the long nose, the energetic expression and the strong chin, jaw and high cheek bones. Her hair is a soft brown, as are her eyes. Her mouth is rather large, but full of character. Her nostrils dilate when she talks as do those of a high bred horse when running a great race. Her movements are as graceful as those of a fawn, and she rejoices in one of the sweetest voices I have ever heard. Her ideas of dress are purely antiquated."

Hyangwonjeong in Gyeongbok Palace near the royal chambers, circa early 1900s / Robert Neff Collection

Apparently, when Hamm met the queen, the monarch was wearing "a rose colored costume, with petal draperies, lemon trousers and petticoat deeply embroidered in white. The dress was very simple and loose fitting, but her gorgeous hair was elaborately dressed and ornamented with clasps of jadestone. She wore earrings and bangles to match."

In her article she went on to describe the clothing in a more intimate manner which naturally arouses curiosity as to how she came by this knowledge:

"The principal articles of her costume are inner and outer tunics of various lengths made of silk, satin, velvet or grasscloth. In some there is a lapel at the top, which fits tightly to the neck and is gorgeously embroidered. In others the tunic is long, draping to the ankle, and is there fluted and ruffled like a new style petticoat. The sleeves of the gowns are much wider and longer than the arms and have no cuffs or facings. In the inside are various pockets, where the queen carries her scented handkerchief, cut in the shape of a star, instead of square, like ours; her snuffbox, her eyeglasses with tortoise shell ornamentations, her rice powder and puff and her eyebrow pencil. The sleeve is just the same to the aristocratic Korean court lady as the pocket is to the average American woman."

The queen was said to be quite fond of tobacco ― especially American cigarettes ― and some accounts seem to imply she smoked excessively.

Geoncheonggung, the royal residence where the queen was murdered. Circa early 1900s. Robert Neff Collection

In her travels, Hamm had the opportunity to meet many powerful women in Asia (her husband was an American diplomat) and she readily compared them in her article. She noted that "unlike the empress of Japan, whom I have seen, [Queen Min] refuses utterly to add foreign ornaments to her person, and she relies almost wholly upon Korean products for the articles of her toilet."

True to the stereotype of the time, Hamm was fascinated with shoes ― especially the Korean queen's.

"The queen's slippers, shoes and boots are made up in hundreds of patterns ― butterflies, humming birds, ricebirds, blackbirds, snakes, royal hats and gloves."

She also pointed out that the queen's footwear was not as large as the empress of Japan or "as small as the as the No. 1 wife of Li Hung Chang. They are a happy medium, a cross between those of a Chicago and New York maiden."

Looking about the Korean court, she observed that "the court ladies seem to take as much interest in thinking up odd designs for shoes in Korea as the women of our own country do for chatelaine ornaments." She was especially intrigued with one style of shoe that had "parts made and fitted for each toe just like a glove." She denounced the shoe at first as rather being strange, "but after one gets used to it it is more artistic than grotesque."

The queen also, according to Hamm, treated her court ladies well and took "a strong and affectionate interest in their love affairs and [gave] a fair dowry to them when they [married]." She was also more tolerant than her peers. Unlike in China, subjects, officials and others who did not pay her the proper homage were not beheaded.

The tomb of Empress Myeongseong (Queen Min) circa 1910. Robert Neff Collection

Hamm's insight into Korean politics ― despite being in Korea for only a short time ― was especially astute. She confided in her article that a British diplomat had told her that in "his estimation the future of Korea lay in the brains of this little but intelligent queen." She agreed but also worried that it could endanger the queen.

"[The queen's greatest weakness] I fear, is attracting and fascinating too many royal members of the court. It was whispered when I was in Chemulpo [modern Incheon] that the real reason of the internal rebellions in Korea was brought about by the intrigues of the queen. The only way in which this could be credited, however, was by conversations which she had with foreigners in which she is said to have given out that she was tired of Chinese and Japanese interference with her country, and she hoped to live to see the day when Korean would be a thoroughly independent kingdom."

Hamm's concerns were well-founded. About a year after her article was published, the queen was dead ― brutally murdered in her palace by a mob said to be comprised of disenchanted Koreans, Japanese soldiers and Japanese in civilian clothing. According to The Korean Repository ― an English-language magazine published in Seoul ― the Japanese troops took command of the palace compound and the "white coated Korean troops" were stationed near the royal chambers but were excluded from the violence that followed.

"Just at the beginning of the alarm sounds as the smashing in of a gate were heard in Her Majesty's quarters, and later on the reports of two shots were heard, but as to what really transpired, there are many conflicting reports. But a ready entrance had been found and a mad search for Her Majesty, the Queen began. Ruffians, probably soshi who seemed to have joined the insurgent troops, led the way. The report is that they seized women by the hair of the head and dragged them about to make them lead the way to Her Majesty. But the likely work was done in one of these two storied structures where it is now admitted the Queen had taken refuge. Here was found the Minister of the Royal Household Yi Kyong-jik, who was cut down and killed. In the upper story a number of ladies were fond and the first one to be seized was the Crown Princess who was dragged about by the hair, beaten, wounded with a sword and thrown down the stairs. It was difficult to discover which one among the women was the Queen and in the hope of making sure work four women were brutally murdered. A Palace maid says one of them was Her Majesty, and that she was knocked down, [trampled] and jumped upon and finally dispatched by the sword."

Gyeongbok Palace in 2012. Hyangwonjeong is in the foreground and Geoncheonggung is in the background. Robert Neff Collection

However, there is some question as to whether or not the queen was actually dead when kerosene was poured over her body and then set afire. It has also been suggested that the queen ― prior to her immolation and as a final outrage ― may have been sexually assaulted while she lay dying.

In his diary, Yun Chi-ho wrote:

"I would be the last man in the world to admit that the Queen's reign was a good one. I may even advocate her deposition, if she could not be in any other way made to give up her intrigues and evil favorites. But I am the last man in the world to approve her cruel murder committed by Japanese assassins. Foreigners without an exception are disgusted with the parties, Corean and Japanese, who committed the deed."

Her death was another step towards the end of the Joseon Kingdom.

My great appreciation to Diane Nars for her invaluable assistance.

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books including, Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.