Exposing the hypocrisy and illusion of the 'unlucky reformist monarch'!

South Korea is currently filled with anger and frustration.
A lost leadership, a collapsed economy, skyrocketing taxes, and a diplomacy without direction…
These are words that express our current situation.
In the midst of such 21st century history, Emperor Gojong was summoned.
The reason is that the situation at the end of the Joseon Dynasty, which was in decline and eventually came to an end, overlaps with the current state of the Republic of Korea.
Emperor Gojong, known as the 'unlucky reformist monarch', is a figure whose evaluations have been sharply divided.
Reporter Park Jong-in, who has been working to uncover hidden history based on the belief that “only the history of truth can create the future,” has uncovered the truth about King Gojong.
After extensive research and verification of vast amounts of domestic and international historical materials and records, he was confronted with the fact that the image of King Gojong we had learned was all an illusion.
And we were also able to discover the reason why Joseon, with its long history, had to fall repeatedly and disappear without fighting a single battle.
He wrote a book titled “Traitor Gojong” in which he fully explained why Gojong must be held responsible for the tragic history and why he must be firmly called a “traitor.”

“The emperor, the worst and most cowardly of all those who wear the crown, cowers in his palace and causes suffering to others through his own wrongdoings.
The Emperor instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs to sign the treaty, and then instructed him to say that he had not given the order.
So the foreign minister took all the blame.”
- US Vice Consul Willard Straight

Who defends Gojong?
No, not only is there no defense, but who praises Gojong as a reformist monarch who often desired independence?
The Gojong regime did not even think of 'fighting to face the situation coolly and set the right direction.'
It was because of King Gojong that the country was taken over by Japan, which had modernized at the end of the Joseon Dynasty, and it was also because of King Gojong that the country fell behind in modernization.
It was also because of King Gojong that the national economy collapsed to the point that foreigners visiting Joseon would click their tongues at the poverty and pity it was there.
Gojong is the root of all evil.
Until then, the Joseon Dynasty had been in a state of weakness for 400 years, but Gojong kicked away any opportunity to recover and overcome the illness.
He abandoned his country solely for his own life, power, and wealth.
So, Gojong is a traitor.
I wrote this book to specifically reveal why Emperor Gojong was a traitor.
The manipulation must be exposed before the fabricated myth turns into belief, turns into religion, and solidifies into fact.

---From the "Preface"

Qing Dynasty Minister Xu Shu-bung said:
“In less than ten years since the Qing Dynasty began selling off government officials, the world was in chaos and the dynasty was in danger.
However, even after 30 years of selling off official positions, the throne still remains intact.
“How could it be so if the fortune was not good and the customs were not beautiful?” When Emperor Gojong burst out laughing and showed no shame, Seo Su-bung went out and said to the people, “The Korean people are a sad people.”

---「Part 3.
From “Making Joseon into Scrap”

Where did all that money go?
It all went into King Gojong's pocket.
In that absurd beggar-state, the king was strangely wealthy.
The Ministry of Finance was the government office that took charge of national finances during the Korean Empire, replacing the old Ministry of Taxation.
The following year, in 1902, while the Ministry of Finance was spending endless amounts of money from the national treasury on the reconstruction of Gyeongungung Palace (now Deoksugung Palace), an incident occurred where they were unable to pay the salaries of government officials for August of that year.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance quickly borrowed 80,000 won in silver from the Ministry of Finance to cover the expenses.
Then, the Ministry of Finance demanded that the taxes be repaid immediately as soon as they were collected that year.
In this way, Gojong was a king who was ready to recoup the money he had lent to the country at any time.
Like a debt collector, Gojong was a man who insisted on the nation's debts being repaid quickly.
Maecheon Hwang Hyeon said, “Emperor Gojong regarded the Ministry of Finance as tribute and the Naejangwon as his personal property, as if he had no relation to the Jin and Yue dynasties.”
---「Part 3.
From “Making Joseon into Scrap”

Gojong said.
“There are precedents for each country borrowing military forces from other countries.” The conference room became noisy as if a hornet’s nest had been stirred.
As if waiting for the answer of the opposing ministers, Emperor Gojong opened his mouth.
“China has borrowed British troops before,” Prime Minister Jeong Beom-jo refuted this directly.
“Is this something we should emulate in China?” Even Gojong did not give up.
“I said this not because I wanted to borrow from other countries, but because I could use the Qing army,” Jeong Beom-jo retorted again.
“Even if they are Qing soldiers, how could it be better than not using them in the first place?” Gojong changed the subject, ordering, “If they won’t listen through persuasion, discuss it in the State Council and eliminate them.”
The meeting ended in shock.

---「Part 3.
From “Making Joseon into Scrap”

On April 4, before the fall of Jeonju Castle, a meeting was held with all current and former ministers in attendance.
Left State Councillor Jo Byeong-se asked King Gojong directly.
“The people were suffering and aggrieved, so they gathered together to appeal, and this is how things ended up like this. When was there ever a time when you eliminated even one evil or corrected even one suffering to respond to the people’s situation?” King Gojong answered as if it were someone else’s story.
“It is because I cannot endure the greedy and cruel government,” said Left State Councillor Jo Byeong-se.
“The people are extremely pitiful today.
A person with a four-room thatched-roof house pays about 100 nyang a year, and a person with five or six majigi of land pays more than four seok in taxes, so they are in dire straits and cannot even make ends meet.
If the people were settled and enjoying their livelihoods, why would they run around and make a fuss? Without major reforms and measures, it won't be effective."
---「Part 3.
From “Making Joseon into Scrap”

A crisis situation that determined the fate of the nation was also an opportunity.
If, as leaders and those in power, they had sacrificed their lust for power and used the resources they possessed for the good of their country and community, they would have achieved more powerful power.
But Gojong did not give up power until the end.
The crisis failed to turn into an opportunity and ended as a crisis.
Foreign powers targeting Joseon were merely tools for King Gojong to maintain his power.
Regardless of the fate of the nation, Gojong chose countries that would help him maintain and strengthen his royal authority as partners.
For this purpose, gold, silver, treasures, and trees on the land were sold to foreign countries.
The granary was empty, and finally the safe in the royal palace, to which Emperor Gojong himself held the key, was also empty.
The politics that began with taking power 'solely for the people' have completely regressed over the past 31 years, and the country has become a piece of junk, a piece of scrap metal that is too good to be sold off.

---「Part 5.
From "Selling Off Junk"

On November 11, 1905, six days before the signing of the Eulsa Treaty, Gonsuke Hayashi, the Japanese Minister to Korea, executed a confidential fee of 100,000 won in accordance with Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Confidential Notice No. 119.
The full text of this Japanese embassy record is available in the National Institute of Korean History's 'Korean History Database'.
The document even contains notes calculating the amount spent.
In short, Emperor Gojong received 20,000 won from the Japanese minister six days before the treaty was signed.
According to statistics, five years later, in 1910, the daily wage for a skilled carpenter in Seoul was 1 won.
Assuming a carpenter's annual salary is 200 won, 20,000 won is equivalent to the carpenter's annual salary for 100 years.
As of 2010, the average annual salary of a South Korean worker is 25 million won, so 100 times that is 2.5 billion won.
The 2.5 billion won was said to be for entertainment expenses for Hirobumi Ito, and the reason was 'the lack of internal funds.'
It is a bribe that takes advantage of the plight of the other party to the treaty, and it is a bribe that sells the country that Emperor Taejo had worked hard to build.
---「Part 5.
From "Selling Off Junk"

The incense burning at Jongmyo Shrine continued until 1945, when the Japanese imperial family was disbanded due to defeat in the Pacific War.
The Imperial House was renamed the Yi Royal Family, and the direct descendants of Emperor Sunjong were treated as members of the Imperial Family, and their brothers were treated as members of the royal family.
The status of the royal family was equivalent to that of the Japanese imperial family.
It was higher than the Japanese royal family.
The wealth was enormous.
According to the treaty, the country was abolished, but the old imperial family continued to receive royalties from the following year.
According to the 'Statistical Yearbook of the Government-General of Korea', the annual salary was 1.5 million yen from 1911 to 1920.
And the 1.5 million yen increased by 300,000 yen from 1921 and remained at 1.8 million yen until 1945.
The expenditure budget of the Government-General of Korea for the fiscal years 1911-1913 was 50,469,000 yen.
Two percent of the colonial expenditures were paid annually to the families of the former rulers, who made up less than one-hundred-thousandth of the 20 million Koreans.

---「Part 5.
From "Selling Off Junk"