Karl Ivanovich Weber

Infobox East Asian
title=Karl Ivanovich Weber
sort=russian1
hanja=韋貝
hangul=위패
mr=Wip'ae
rr=Wipae
cyrillic=Карл Иванович Вебер

Karl Ivanovich Weber (5 July 1841 - ?) was a diplomat of the Russian Empire and a personal friend to King Gojong of Korea's Joseon Dynasty. He is best known for his 1885-1897 service as Russia's first consul general to Korea.cite journal|url=http://221.150.168.65/DLiWeb20/components/searchir/viewer/FullTextViewer.aspx?bid=22396&vol=0&issue=28&page=108&type=SE|pages=97–121|last=Gang|first=Gwang-sik|title=英國의 對韓半島政策 展開樣式에 관한 硏究 (On the method of development of England's policy towards the Korean peninsula)|editor=Hwang Seong-mo|date=Spring 1986|journal=정신문화연구|issue=28|publisher=Academy of Korean Studies|language=Korean] cite journal|issue=23|last=Volkov|first=M.|title=Русские в Корее- имена и судьбы (Russians in Korea - Names and Fates)|date=May 2004|url=http://www.korusforum.org/PHP/STV.php?stid=34|journal=Korusforum Journal|publisher=Center for Contemporary Korean Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences|language=Russian] He was born to a middle-class family, and expressed an interest in the history of Asia from an early age. He graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1865, and joined the diplomatic service the following year. His first overseas posting was in Beijing; he was named Russian Consul in Tianjin in 1882. He signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Russia and Korea on 25 June, 1884, and moved to Seoul in April of the following year as Russia's first official representative to Korea. During these years, he developed his friendship with King Gojong; when the Russian government made known their intention to transfer him onward to another posting, King Gojong wrote a letter of protest to Nicholas II of Russia, dated 2 July 1895, in which he praised Weber's wisdom and asked that he be allowed to remain in Korea longer. His request was fulfilled when Alexei Speyer, Weber's intended replacement, was instead posted to Tokyo, Japan.

After the 1895 assassination of Queen Min, Weber personally offered King Gojong refuge in the Russian Legation building in Jeongdong (modern-day Jung-gu, Seoul), where he lived between February 1896 and February 1897. This time marked the height of Russian influence in Korea; Weber was able to persuade King Gojong to appoint a new cabinet consisting of a "pro-Russian faction" led by Yi Wan-yong, Yi Beom-jin, and Yi Yun-yong, and in May 1896 signed the Komura-Waeber Memorandum with his Japanese counterpart Komura Jutarō, granting Russia the right to station four companies of troops in the Korean peninsula, and requiring the Japanese to recognise the new cabinet. However, Speyer finally arrived to replace Weber in September 1897, whereupon he returned to St. Petersburg.cite book|title=The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895-1910|last=Duus|first=Peter|publisher=University of California Press|date=1998|id=ISBN 0520213610|pages=pp. 118-121] Weber would again visit Seoul in an official capacity in April 1903, on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, for further talks with King Gojong. He was a recipient of the Order of St. Andrew, Russia's highest order of chivalry.

Publications

* О корейском языке и корейском чтении китайских иероглифов, 1908.
* Пробная транскрипция всех городов Кореи, 1908.

See also

* Russians in Korea
* First Sino-Japanese War

References