Lee Wan-yong

Lee Wan-yong (Korean: 이완용; pronounced [iː wɐȵoŋ]; 17 July 1858 – 12 February 1926), also spelled Yi Wan-yong or Ye Wan-yong,[2] was a Korean politician who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Korea. He was pro-Japanese and is best remembered for signing the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, which placed Korea under Japanese rule in 1910.

Ye Wanyong
7th Prime Minister of Korea
In office
11 August 1910  29 August 1910
MonarchSunjong
Preceded byPak Che-soon
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born(1858-07-17)17 July 1858
Kwangju, Kyonggi, Korea
(now Seongnam, South Korea)[1]
Died12 February 1926(1926-02-12) (aged 67)
Keijō, Japanese Korea
(now Seoul, South Korea)
Korean name
Hunminjeongeum
Hanja
Revised RomanizationI Wanyong
McCune–ReischauerYi Wanyong
Art name
Hunminjeongeum
일당
Hanja
Revised RomanizationIldang
McCune–ReischauerIltang
Courtesy name
Hunminjeongeum
경덕
Hanja
Revised RomanizationGyeongdeok
McCune–ReischauerKyŏngdŏk

Early life and education

Lee Wan-yong was born into the Ubong Yi clan (우봉 이씨, 牛峰李氏) to a poor aristocrat family in 1858, but grew up with a lot of support after he became the adoptive son of Yi Ho-jun, who was a friend of Heungseon Daewongun and an in-law. He learned English and theology at Yookyoung Park, went to the United States to live as a diplomat, and returned to Korea to serve as a pro-Russian politician until the 1896 Agwan Pacheon incident, where King Gojong and his crown prince took refuge at the Russian legation in Seoul. As Japan grew stronger, he became a pro-Japanese politician.[3]

Lee was a founding member of the Independence Club established in 1896 and belonged to the "reform faction" which wanted to Westernize Korea and to open the country to foreign trade.[4][5]

Career

Lee was a prominent government minister at the time of Eulsa Treaty of 1905, and was the most outspoken supporter of the pact which made the Korean Empire a protectorate of the Empire of Japan, thus stripping it of its diplomatic sovereignty. The treaty was signed in defiance of Korean Emperor Gojong, and he is thus accounted to be the chief of five ministers (including Park Jae-soon, Lee Ji-yong, Lee Geun-taek, Gwon Joong-hyun) who were later denounced as Five Eulsa Traitors in Korea.

Under Japanese Resident-General Itō Hirobumi, Lee was promoted to the post of prime minister from 1906 to 1910. Lee was instrumental in forcing Emperor Gojong to abdicate in 1907, after Emperor Gojong tried to publicly denounce the Eulsa Treaty at the second international Hague Peace Convention. In 1907 Lee was also chief amongst the seven ministers who supported the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907, which further placed the domestic affairs of Korea under Japan's control, thus completing the colonialisation of Korea by Japan. Lee is therefore also listed in Korea amongst the Seven Jeongmi Traitors. In 1909, he was seriously injured in an assassination attempt by the "Five Eulsa Traitors Assassination Group".

Japanese rule

General power of attorney to Lee Wan-Yong signed and sealed by Sunjong.

In 1910, Lee signed the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty by which Japan took full control over Korea, while Korean Emperor Sunjong refused to sign. For his cooperation with the Japanese, Lee is also listed in Korea amongst the eight Gyeongsul Traitors. He was rewarded with a peerage in the Japanese kazoku system, becoming a hakushaku (Count), in 1910, and was raised to the title of kōshaku (Marquis) in 1921. He died in 1926.

Legacy

Lee’s name has become a byword for "traitor" in contemporary South Korea.[2] Despite this, Seo Jae-pil's Dongnip Sinmun (Independence Newspaper) never published any criticism against him.[6]

The South Korean Special law to redeem pro-Japanese collaborators' property was enacted in 2005 and the committee confiscated the property[7] of the descendants of nine people that had collaborated with Japan when Korea was annexed by Japan in August 1910. Lee is one of those heading the list.[8]

Family

  • Grandfather
    • Ye Gyu (이규,李圭)
      • Adoptive Grandfather - Yi Sik (이식, 李埴) (1777 - ?)
      • Adoptive Grandmother - Lady Hwang of the Changwon Hwang clan (창원 황씨, 昌原 黃氏); daughter of Hwang In-do (황인도, 黃仁燾; 1740 - ?)
  • Father
    • Ye Ho-seok (이호석, 李鎬奭) or Ye Seok-jun (이석준, 李奭俊)
      • Adoptive father - Ye Hyo-jun (이호준, 李鎬俊) (1821 - 1901)
  • Mother
    • Lady Shin (신씨, 辛氏) (? - 1893)
      • Adoptive mother - Lady Min of the Yeoheung Min clan (여흥 민씨, 驪興 閔氏); daughter of Min Yong-hyeon (민용현, 閔龍顯; 1786 - ?)[9]
  • Wife and children
    • Lady Jo of the Yangju Jo clan (양주 조씨, 楊州 趙氏); daughter of Jo Byeong-ik (조병익, 趙秉翼)
      • Son - Ye Seung-gu (이승구, 李升九)
        • Daughter-in-law - Im Geon-gu (임건구, 任乾九) of the Pungcheon Im clan (풍천 임씨, 豊川 任氏)
      • Son - Ye Hang-gu (이항구, 李恒九) (1881 - 1945)
        • Daughter-in-law - Kim Jin-gu (김진구, 金鎭九) (? - 1933)


References

  1. Songnam city was carved out of Kwangju, Kyonggi in 1971.
  2. Sang-Hun, Choe (2008-06-12). "An Anger in Korea Over More Than Beef". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-24.
  3. "이완용". terms.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  4. Keith L. Pratt, Richard Rutt (1999). Korea: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary. Psychology Press. p. 186. ISBN 9780700704637.
  5. Kim, Jinwung (2012). A History of Korea: From "Land of the Morning Calm" to States in Conflict. Indiana University Press. p. 309. ISBN 9780253000781.
  6. English JoongAng Ilbo August 30, 2001
  7. Committee OKs Seizure of Collaborators’ Property The Chosun Ilbo, December 7, 2005
  8. South Korea: Crackdown On Collaborators The New York Times, December 24, 2007
  9. He is the 4th great-grandson of Queen Inhyeon’s father, Min Yu-jung
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