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| Gwanghwamun and its protectors ― mortal and immortal ― in the early 1900s Robert Neff Collection |
By Robert Neff
On the night of February 23, 1885, Seoul was visited by one of its most dangerous adversaries ― a fire! George C. Foulk, the American representative in Seoul, reported that a large "conflagration broke out" in a Korean government-owned lumberyard and warehouses just to the north of the American Legation. The buildings and a "quantity of valuable timber" were destroyed.
The fire caused great unease amongst the Korean population, as well as the small foreign community. Fires, especially those at night and aided by a breeze, had a tendency to spread quickly from house to house and could easily destroy a large part of the city. It was expected that everyone capable of rendering aid would participate in fighting the fire ― not only was it a neighborly act, but also one of self-preservation.
This fire, however, did not appear to be accidental and was believed to be the work of an arsonist. Foulk explained that "fires are not infrequently started as signals, or to draw people together as preliminaries to acts of violence in Corea." He did not mention it in his report but two months earlier, someone started a fire to signal the start of an attempted coup.
Foulk and his Korean neighbors were not the only ones worried about the fire being a tool for political change. As soon as the fire had been detected, the commander of the Japanese soldiers stationed in Seoul immediately sent a squad of soldiers to help guard the American Legation. It was a gesture much appreciated but unnecessary as the Korean government dispatched several hundred soldiers and the fire was "subdued in an orderly manner."
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| The haetae guarded the palace from fire but could not guard themselves from the impertinence of children in the early 1900s. Robert Neff Collection |
Foulk assumed that the fire was in connection with the planned move of the royal family from Changdeok Palace to Gyeongbok Palace in just over a week. Perhaps it was an attempt to keep the royal family in the old palace or maybe it had nothing to do with politics and was simply an act of a disgruntled employee ― or the capriciousness of Mother Nature. Undoubtedly, punishments were meted out by senior government officials to lesser government officials for carelessness and dereliction of duty. Those without political power or money surely paid a price but it is unclear if the person or persons truly responsible for the fire were ever caught and punished.
Not only did the fire destroy a lot of valuable timber, it also exacted another toll ― that upon the queen. Horace N. Allen, an American missionary doctor who lived near the American Legation, wrote in his diary:
"This [fire] will have a very depressing influence on the superstitious Queen, because [Gyeongbok] Palace was destroyed by fire a few years ago and this material for its rebuilding was in the track of the Fire God, who lives in the large mountain to the south and just west of Nam San. It was known that [Gyeongbok] Palace was in this track for one that was built there formerly burned down and [Heungseon Daewongun] in building the new and elegant one thought to keep off the Fire God by placing huge stone dogs [haetae] outside the gate and by planting a large turtle in the lake in which the pavilion is built."
Allen's entry seems rather benign until he added something he probably heard from one of Min Yong-ik's servants:
The precautions Heungseon Daewongun had taken might have worked "but the Japanese poured molten copper into the lake and killed the turtle (so they say) and the stone dogs could no longer resist the evil influence hence the fire which destroyed the King's house a few years ago."
Allen was referring to the fire on Jan. 27, 1874, which damaged a large part of Gyeongbok Palace and forced the pregnant queen and the rest of the royal family to move to Changdeok Palace on Feb. 6 that year. As for the Japanese pouring molten copper into the lake, he provided no clues as to when this event supposedly took place.
Regardless of the loss of the lumberyard and timber, the queen, according to Allen, was very eager to leave Changdeok Palace because she associated it with death. She believed it was "filled with the spirits of the dead Chinese, Japanese, and Coreans, who [called] out [to her] 'Why did you murder me?'"
The queen's desire to vacate Changdeok Palace was answered a little over a week later when, on March 3, the royal family moved to Gyeongbok Palace ― the subject of tomorrow's article.
Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
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