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영어

In 1876, Korea forcedly opened its ports to foreign trade. Like as other East Asian countries, opening a port was accompanied by the introduction of modern technologies and the Western civilization as well and necessarily followed by the conflict between the old and the new regime. As a part of autonomous to reform the old systems, the Joseon Dynasty founded the Korean Empire in 1897. However, the Korean Empire became a protectorate of Japan after the Russo-Japanese War and eventually was annexed as a colony in 1910. Especially during 1905 to 1910, there were big changes of Japanese military reservations or military base in Seoul. These military changes could be understood as the colonization by the empire of Japan and affected urban and architectural changes in early colonial period. In order to get a detail on the facilities in Seoul during 1905-1910, the old documents produced by the Government of the Korean Empire and the director-general of the Japanese army were reviewed. As these facts overlapped on 1912 Seoul cadastral map, the urban and architectural changes of Seoul during colonial period will be shown physically. The military facilities existed in Seoul during the Korean Empire period had a large scale land and were located in the important spot of the Seoul. As these locations were suitable for the need of the Qing’s and the Japanese army, they were planned as their permanent military reservation. The First Sino-Japanese War (淸日戰爭, 1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (露日戰爭, 1904-1905) had a big influence on the architectural and urban changes of Seoul. Through these two wars, foreign army started to be stationed in Seoul. Though there were many government offices with a large scale land in those days, the Qing’s army and the Japanese army for permanent stationary always used the former military reservations not the sites of government offices. After 1904, the stationary process of the Japanese army is divided into the reutilizing step of former military facilities and the expansion step to the southwest Seoul. By the political circumstances, Japanese army occupied these and expanded to the large government offices in southwest of Seoul. Big changes in land use pattern of Seoul was occurred during 1907 to 1909. By the construction of Yongsan military reservation(1908), the disbandment of Joseon army(1907), and the abolition of the Military(1909), the Japanese protectorate authorities had a lot of large scale lands where the modern facilities could be located. Finally, the process, “Settlement-Expansion- Remove”, of the Japanese military facilities in Seoul played an important role as the locations of the colonial government facilities and it can be understood by the basic process of the urban structure formation during the Korean Empire period.