A Pawn in the Great Game: Chosŏn’s Rapprochement with the Russian Empire Amidst the British Seizure of Kŏmundo, 1884–1886

Abstract

The paper examines the Chosŏn government’s rapprochement with the Russian Empire performed against the backdrop of the British seizure of Kŏmundo (1885– 1887). Two attempts of Russo-Chosŏn rapprochement, carried out in the summer of 1885 and summer of 1886, are analyzed separately and against the wider geopolitical situation in Northeast Asia and on the Korean peninsula of the time. To do so, the author relies on the analysis of Russian, Korean, and English primary sources to reveal the Russian and Chosŏn government’s standing at that time, and the geopolitical reasons behind the failure of Russo-Chosŏn rapprochement.