A Study Of Ito Hirobumi And The Evolution Of Japan’s Policy Towards Korea(1875-1909)

Since the Meiji Restoration,when Japan became powerful,it gradually embarked on a path of foreign expansion.Focusing on Ito Hirobumi,this article examines what role he played as a central figure in the Meiji government’s foreign policy decisions on Japan’s invasion of Korea in the modern era,and explains the underlying philosophy and causes of his diplomatic activities.As Japan’s springboard to the mainland,Korea has suffered many Japanese invasions throughout its history,as well as in modern times.Soviet diplomacy between Joseon and the Qing government had been going on for more than 200 years before Japan launched the Ganghwa Island Incident.In the face of the deep-rooted clan diplomacy,Ito Hirobumi flexibly used international law and worked with the powers to gradually dismantle the traditional diplomatic order in East Asia,eventually dismantling the clan relationship between China and Korea through the Sino-Japanese War and making Korea an ’independent’state under the modern international system.After the First Sino-Japanese War,Russia became the greatest obstacle to Japanese control of Korea,and Ito Hirobumi,in view of Japan’s strength and Britain’s attitude,actively advocated a coordinated policy towards Russia and went to Russia himself to negotiate.However,Russia did not agree with Japan on the Korean issue and Ito’s negotiation strategy failed,and Japan and Britain formed an alliance.After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War,Ito Hirobumi actively supported the Meiji government’s approach to the war and went on a mission to Korea to force the Korean government to sign the Treaty of Eumi.After the Russo-Japanese War,the Korean peninsula became Japan’s sphere of influence and Ito became the Korean governor in order to strengthen his control over Korea.Ito tried to reduce the cost of Japanese rule in Korea by introducing various reforms in order to make Korea spontaneously subservient to Japan.However,Ito’s reforms failed in the face of fierce opposition from the Korean people,and Ito eventually agreed to the annexation policy of Yamagata Arigato and others,seeing that it was hopeless to be gentle.Ten months after Ito’s assassination by the Korean assassin An Chong Gun,Japan formally annexed Korea.From the perspective of Japan’s actual power and the complex international situation,Ito Hirobumi argued that Japan’s expansion in Korea should match Japan’s own strength and that it should always keep an eye on changes in the international situation in the process of expansion.In this sense,Ito was no different from the hardliners who strongly advocated foreign aggression and expansion;they differed only in their means.Ito was therefore not the weak representative that the Japanese hardliners claimed him to be,but rather a far-sighted and clever aggressor.