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Outright control by Japanese began on February 1, 1906. The Resident-General was invested with full authority in regard to Korea's diplomacy, domestic administration and military affairs. Through the Council for Improvement of Korean Administration, he pressed the Korean government to accept Japan's aggressive policy in the fields of finance, banking, agriculture, forestry, mining, transportation, education, culture, jurisprudence, internal security, local administration and the royal household. In order to cover up their coercive actions, the Resident-General sent Stevens, paid by the Korean government, to the United States to advance Japanese propaganda. Upon his arrival in San Francisco, Stevens, who was said to have received several tens of thousands of dollars from the Japanese, made a false statement that the Korean people in general welcomed the Korea-Japan treaty. Infuriated by this canard, Korean emigrants Chang In-hwan and Chon Myong-un assassinated him in March 1907. When Emperor Kojong dispatched an emissary to the Peace Conference at the Hague in June 1907 and exposed to the world Japan's aggressive policy, the Office of the Resident-General forced the monarch to abdicate the throne, and the third Korea-Japan Agreement of July was forced upon Korea, which provided a legal basis for Japan's appropriation of Korea. A large number of Japanese officials penetrated the executive and judicial branches of the Korean government, accelerating the Japanese scheme of complete Korean overrule. The Korean armed forces were disarmed and disbanded and the judicial system was reorganized to serve Japanese aggression. Moreover, in a secret memorandum attached to the Korean-Japan agreement, it was stipulated that Korean military forces would be dissolved and that courts, newly constructed prisons, and the police would be turned over to Japanese management. This enabled the Japanese to assume actual judicial and police authority. |
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