New Editorial: From Kanghwa to Shimonoseki: The Disputes over the Sovereignty of Tributary Chosŏn Korea
From the 1830s to the 1890s, the traditional Confucian, international legal order in East Asia—roughly China, Japan, and Korea—faced radical transition in the encounter with Western international law. Ranging from the First Opium War in 1839–42 to the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894–95, a series of events marked a great transition in the region’s international legal order. The treaties concluded in this period take a special position as they left traces of interim terms, which revealed the nature of this transition from the East Asian to the European traditions of international law.
Image credit: The landing of the forces of the Un'yō at Ganghwa Island. Japanese woodblock print. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. View a larger version.
