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The establishment and administration of the police at the treaty ports in Korea from 1884 to 1896

  • The Review of Korean History
  • 2012, (108), pp.101-143
  • Publisher : The Historical Society Of Korea
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

Min Hoi Soo 1

1서울대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Even before the introduction of the modern police system to Korea during the Reform in 1894, the police system had existed at the treaty ports and open markets in Korea. This ‘Policeman(警察官)’ was first introduced to Inch’on Port in 1884 for the duty of patrol around the settlement(租界) under the control of the Gamri(監理), the Superintendent of the treaty ports, which had been influenced by the police system that Japan had introduced to Korean treaty ports and the plan for the introduction of the modern police system made by the Enlightenment Party (開化派). His role was not specialized in the duty of patrol which had been the object for introduction at the beginning, and he accomplished various works on the settlement and assisted the business of the Superintendent Office(監理署), such as various transport services and so on. But as the role of the Superintendent Office grew larger and its constitution bigger, the police system also underwent the process of expansion and independence which resulted in the separation of the police station(警察署) from the Superintendent Office. And the duties of the policeman at the treaty ports also became more specialized in that of the public peace, such as the surveillance of the ships and maintaining the order of the commercial transaction, more similar to those of the modern police. When the Official Regulations for the Police Agency(警務廳官制) was made in 1894, which means the introduction of the modern police system to Korea, the police system at the treaty ports also included in the new system. And its relationship of command and control with the Superintendent office disconnected formally as it became under the control of the Police Agency in Seoul, but continuing practically. Passing through the establishment of the new Official Regulations for the Police Agency,the reform of the local government system and the abolition of the Superintendent Office in 1895, the police system at the treaty ports again went under the command of the local administrative organization, later being controlled by the Superintendent just like before 1894 after the reconstruction of the Superintendent Office in 1896. Checking on the process in the above mentioned, we can make sure that the police system at the treaty ports are connected to the modern police system after 1894, completely in form and partly in substance, getting a new clue for the beginning of the modern police system in Korea.

Citation status

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