The United States signs first treaty with the Koreans?
Eleven years after the conflict with the merchant ship General Sherman, the Kingdom of Joseon (now known as Korea) and the United States signed the Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce and Navigation. This was Korea’s first treaty with a Western nation. Known as the Shufeldt Treaty, it was named after Commodore Robert W. Shufeldt, who negotiated the treaty on the U.S. side.
The treaty was signed on 22 May 1882 in the city of Chemulpo (now called Incheon). In part, it stated the U.S. would come to the aid of the Kingdom if it were attacked.
The Treaty Covered a lot of Ground
- Article 1 – Perpetual peace and friendship between the President of the United States
and the King of Joseon and their peoples - Article 2 – Exchange of diplomatic and consular representatives
- Article 3 – United States vessels wrecked on coast of Korea
- Article 4 – United States authority over its citizens in Korea
- Article 5 – Duties paid by merchants and merchant vessels
- Article 6 – Reciprocal rights of residence and protection of citizens of both nations
- Article 7 – Prohibiting export or import of opium
- Article 8 – Export of “breadstuffs” and Korean ginseng
- Article 9 – Regulating importation of arms and ammunition
- Article 10 – Reciprocal rights to employ native labor
- Article 11 – Students exchanges
- Article 14 – The most favored nation status clause
A Secret Agreement with Japan… an Act of Betrayal
After 23 years, the United States became a signatory of the Taft-Katsura agreement. As a result, Article 1 (the intervention clause) of the Shufeldt Treaty was nullified.
The Taft-Katsura agreement was actually a memo between U.S. Secretary of War William H. Taft (later, the 27th U.S. President) and the Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro. In reality, this was not a formal treaty, but a secret exchange between the countries. It acknowledged Japan’s dominion over Korea in exchange for U.S. control over the Philippines. The treaty with Japan was signed on 29 July 1905. Its existence was not known until 1924. This act was a betrayal of Korea by the United States.
When the Japanese annexed Korea in 1910, the result was 35 years of cultural suppression and forced labor for the Korean people. The U.S. did nothing. It wouldn’t be until the end of World War II that Korea people would be freed from Japanese control.