을사조약 이후 일본의 ‘보호국’ 인식

Abstract

In this article, obtaining better understanding of the so-called ‘protectorate (Protecting States, -Etates Protecteurs) stage’, which was one of the steps Japan had taken in their efforts to annex Korea, is pursued. Japan first made Joseon into a protectorate state before it totally annexed Korea in 1910. Previous studies did not distinguish the state of being a ‘Protected entity’(Etats Proteges), from the state of being a completely colonized country. But there was a reason to Japan’s turning Korea into a ‘protectorate’, and there was a significant difference between the aforementioned both states. At the time, immediate annexation of Korea was not possible for Japan due to its both domestic and foreign reasons. And the Japanese scholars who majored in international laws argued that making Korea a ‘Protectorate’ and managing it in specific fashions would produce results similar to Japan’s annexation of Korea. Before Japan would be able to establish the direction for its Korea policy as full annexation of Korea, they argued that Japan should secure its own interests by running Korea as a protectorate for the time being. Yet factions which supported hard-line policies regarding foreign issues were strongly dissatisfied with the protectorate policy even from the very beginning. They were hearing opinions from hard-liner international law scholars that ‘protectorates’ may well become ‘independent entities’ any time, so they continued their efforts to establish and garner support for the general argument calling for the complete annexation of Korea.