About this episode
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Korea's brief but significant period as an empire and its transformation towards modernity.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Korea's brief but significant period as an empire as it moved from the 500-year-old dynastic Joseon monarchy towards modernity. It was in October 1897 that King Gojong declared himself Emperor, seizing his chance when the once-dominant China lost to Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War. The king wanted to have the same status as the neighbouring Russian, Chinese and Japanese Emperors, to shore up a bid for Korean independence and sovereignty when the world’s major powers either wanted to open Korea up to trade or to colonise it. The Korean Empire lasted only thirteen years, yet it was a time of great transformation for this state and the whole region with lasting consequences in the next century… With Nuri Kim Associate Professor in Korean Studies at the faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Wolfson College Holly Stephens Lecturer in Japanese and Korean Studies at the University of Edinburgh And Derek Kramer Lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield Producer: Simon Tillotson Reading list: Isabella Bird Bishop, Korea and her Neighbors: A Narrative of Travel, With an Account of the…
People in this episode
Host: Melvyn Bragg
Guests: Nuri Kim, Holly Stephens, Derek Kramer
Topics covered
- Korean Empire
- Joseon monarchy
- King Gojong
- First Sino-Japanese War
- Korean independence
- modernity
- transformation
Keywords
- Korean Empire
- King Gojong
- Joseon dynasty
- First Sino-Japanese War
- Korean independence
- modernity
- transformation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, University of Sheffield
Books & works: Korea and her Neighbors: A Narrative of Travel, With an Account of the Recent Vicissitudes and Present Position of the Country, Imperialism, Resistance and Reform in Late Nineteenth-Century Korea: Enlightenment and the Independence Club
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