in Korea,[1] and the press laws did not prove effective for the control of his papers. The Japanese authorities complained: "There was no means of examining the contents of these publications until they had been printed and actually delivered to their subscribers, so that offending copies had nearly always reached the public before it was possible for the authorities to issue orders forbidding their sale and distribution."[2]
Furthermore, Bethell's papers were very widely circulated as compared with other papers published in Korea. In 1908, the Korean Daily News circulated 120 copies in Seoul, 280 elsewhere in Korea, and 63 in foreign countries. The Chinese-Korean edition of the Taehan Maeil Simbo circulated 3,900 in Seoul and 4,343 elsewhere in Korea; the Korean edition 2,580 copies in Seoul and 2,070 elsewhere in Korea.[3]
The Koreans regarded Bethell's papers as the only mouthpiece through which they could voice their complaints.[4] Some rebel leaders who were captured and imprisoned stated that they took up arms against the Japanese because they became indignant at Japanese rule after reading Bethell's papers; some of the rebel leaders used the papers in support of their instigation of rebellions and disturbances in favor of the "righteous" cause.[5] The Japanese authorities charged that Bethell's alleged and irresponsible statements were the cause of riots and bloodshed upon the abdication of the Korean Emperor in 1907.[6]
The Japanese authorities did all they could to stop Bethell and his papers. They tried to win him over and secure his silence with no success.[7] They kept track of the regular subscribers to his papers.[8] Also, according to Frederick A. McKenzie, who was in Korea at the time: "The Japanese were making his life as uncomfortable as they possibly could, and were doing everything to obstruct his work. His mails were constantly tampered with; his servants were threatened or arrested on various excuses, and his household was subjected to the closest espionage."[9]
The Japanese authorities started their own official papers.[10] The
- ↑ (Police Inspector-General to Director General in the Office of the Residency-General), related to (Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs), July 2, 1906, JA(Korea) 336, pp. 192-196.
- ↑ Annual Report (1908-1909), 89.
- ↑ "Kenki (Gendarmery Secret Report)," 1908, JA(Korea) 327, pp. 9-11.
- ↑ Frederick A. McKenzie, Tragedy of Korea (London, 1908), 214-215.
- ↑ Matsui to Nabeshima, July 4, 1908, JA(Korea) 327, pp. 21-28.
- ↑ Annual Report (1908-1909), 85.
- ↑ McKenzie, op. cit., 213.
- ↑ Ibid. Also see "Editorial" of Korean Daily News, [?] December, 1906, cited in ibid., 217.
- ↑ "Taehan Maeil Simbo Shobatsu ni taisuru Chiho Minshin no Jokyo (Local Public Reaction to Japanese Legal Action on the Taehan Maeil Simbo)," 1908, JA(Korea) 306, pp. 130-133.
- ↑ "Editorial Comment: The New Seoul Press," Korea Review, VI (1096), 428.
