You will observe that in this treaty as published there is no mention of the
$550,000 indemnity which Corea covenanted to pay to Japan. It is reported
that this Government in consideration of the poverty of Corea has remitted
the indemnity, or postponed for a term of years its payment.
[Inclosure in No. 1595.]
The Corean treaty.
Their excellencies Saujo, prime minister, and Inouye, minister for
foreign affairs, conjointly issued a notification on the 22d instant to
the effect that friendly treaties have further been concluded and
interchanged between Japan and Corea as follows:
I, the Emperor of Japan, who, by the blessing of Heaven, ascended the
throne of an unbroken imperial line, having examined the friendly
treaties concluded at Saibutsuho, Corea, between the Japanese envoy,
Hanabusa, and the two Corean ministers, Ri Yugen, chief commissioner,
and Kin Koshin, vice-commissioner, on the 30th of August, in the 15th
year of Meiji (1882), and finding that they exactly correspond with my
ideas, hereby ratify all the items.
In the year 2542 after the accession of the Emperor Jimmu Teuno (30th of
October, in the 15th year of Meiji).
Given under my hand and seal, at my palace in Tokio.
In order to consolidate mutual friendship and facilitate commercial
transactions between Japan and Corea, the two following clauses have
been supplemented to the treaty:
1. The treaty limits to be observed in Won-San, Pusan, and In-chhön,
will for the present be extended to fifty Corean ri (about 12 miles), and after two years (from the date of
ratification) the said limits will be extended to a hundred ri in all directions.
Note.—After one year from date Yau-hwa-chiu
will be opened to commerce.
2. Permission will be granted freely to Japanese envoys, consuls, and
their subordinates to travel in the interior of Corea.
The foreign office will provide such travelers with passports in
which the exact destination is mentioned, and the local authorities
must, on examination of passports, take measures to convey their
holders to their destination.
We, the special commissioners of the two countries, have framed the
above two clauses according to the instruction of our sovereigns,’
and have affixed our seals. We will apply for a special ratification
and interchange the treaty within two months in Tokiyo, Japan.
August 20, fifteenth year of Meiji, July
17, the year 491 (Corean era).
- HANABUSA YOSHITADA,
Japanese
Envoy,
- RI YUGEN,
Chief Commissioner of
Corea.
- KIN KOSHIN,
Vice-Commissioner of
Corea.
