Komura-Weber memorandum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Komura-Weber Memorandum ( Japanese. 小 村 ・ ウ ェ ー バ ー 協定 , Komura-Wēbā Kyōtei ) or Komura-Weber Agreement was the first of a series of agreements that sought a balance between the Japanese Empire and the Russian Empire . The agreement was signed on May 14, 1896 in Seoul by the Japanese envoy to Korea Komura Jutarō and the Russian envoy Carl von Waeber and regulated the number of troops stationed in Korea by the two rival powers. The Komura-Weber Agreement also served as preparation for the Yamagata-Lobanov Agreement , which was concluded in Moscow just a few weeks later between the former Japanese Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo and the Russian Foreign Minister Alexei Borissowitsch Lobanow-Rostowski .

background

Japan had after winning the First Sino-Japanese War on the Chinese Empire tried in vain a protectorate over the Korean Peninsula to build. Russia, in whose hands the Korean King Gojong found himself after his flight to the Russian legation, rose to become the dominant power in Korea between 1896 and 1898, supported by the pro-Russian faction in the Korean government. In order to find a modus vivendi in Korea, the ambassadors of the two powers in Korea negotiated the Komura-Weber memorandum, which marked the final end of the Japanese plans to further expand its dominance over Korea.

content

Japan had the political status quo in the agreement, so. recognize the pro-Russian cabinet and thus Russian dominance in Korea. It was also agreed that the Korean king would remain in the Russian embassy until his security outside could be guaranteed.

The question of the stationing of troops was also regulated in the agreement: the Russian side was allowed to station four companies on Korean soil. As a counterweight to this, Japan was also allowed to maintain four companies in Korea, two of them in Seoul. In addition, the agreement stipulated the stationing of 200 Japanese gendarmes to protect the telegraph line between Seoul and Busan .

meaning

The Komura-Weber Memorandum and the Yamagata-Lobanov Agreement, concluded shortly afterwards, confirmed Russia's political supremacy, but the agreement also created a military balance between the two rivals on the Korean peninsula. In the years that followed, both states vied for influence in Korea, which culminated in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Janet Hunter (ed.): Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History , Berkeley 1984, p. 100
  2. ↑ Peter Duus: The Abacus and the Sword. The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910 , Berkeley 1995, p. 120
  3. ↑ Peter Duus: The Abacus and the Sword. The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910 , Berkeley 1995, p. 120
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Komura is the family name, Jutarō the first name.