Korean Empire: Photos Of A Unified Nation Before It Was Torn In Two

By Mark Oliver | Edited By John Kuroski

Published September 13, 2017

Updated September 14, 2017

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A strange fashion trend that caught on in the early 20th century: The baskets on the girls' heads are meant to act as umbrellas.

Seoul. Circa 1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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In Pyongyang, the same fad was all the rage.

Here, a wealthy Korean girl walks down the crowded streets of the city, her face covered with a basket.

1904.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Porters make their way over the mountains, a mass of pottery strapped to their backs.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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The Flying See-Saw Girls put on their stunt act in Japanese-occupied Korea.

Circa 1900-1905.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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A public school in the Korean Empire.

Note the boy peering through the bars on the left. For misbehavior, he has been in locked inside of the school's prison.

Seoul. 1903.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Boys look down from atop the city wall.

Seoul. 1904.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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The streets of Pyongyang, calm in a united Korea.

Circa 1910.Wikimedia Commons

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Men hard at work in a sawmill in Sinuiju, today a part of North Korea.

Circa 1914-1918.Wikimedia Commons

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The Emperor's royal procession carries a noble across a bridge.

Seoul. 1904.Wikimedia Commons

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Kids play on the Seoul city walls.

1904.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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A wedding in Seoul, where many of the attendees have painted their faces.

Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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In Seoul, a wealthy woman sits in the palace, her hair done up in a ceremonial bun.

Circa 1900.Wikimedia Commons

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An upper-class woman stands surrounded by her coach bearers.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Tyo-Pyong-Sik, president of the Council of Ministers for the Empire of Korea.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Wikimedia Commons

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A wealthy group of Korean girls smoke and gamble.

Circa 1900-1910.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Two Korean dignitaries sit in royal dress.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Wikimedia Commons

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An old Korean general in his traditional costume.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Wikimedia Commons

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A class in an all-girl's school in Sonchon, today a part of North Korea.

Circa 1915-1920.Library of Congress

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A boy's school in Seoul.

1903.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Men make their way down the main streets of Pyongyang.

Circa 1915-1920.Library of Congress

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Locals go about their day in a small town near Seoul.

Circa 1904.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Charcoal carriers hard at work.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Junk boats along the Han River.

Yongsan. Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Men load a shipment of lumber into their boat.

Sinuiji. Circa 1914-1918.Wikimedia Commons

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A chicken seller carries his live wares on his back.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900. Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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A man at work grinding beans on the streets.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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A Korean porter wearing a horsehair hat.

Seoul. Circa 1891.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Archers practice in the Old Mulberry Palace of Seoul.

Circa 1899-1900.Wikimedia Commons

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Koreans gather to worship the Sindo gods.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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A man eats his meal outside of a restaurant on the streets of Seoul.

Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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A crowd eats their meals.

Seoul. Circa 1899-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Despite the flags, this is a picture of Korea — not Japan. The Japanese have raised their flag up high, letting the Koreans know who's in charge.

Seoul. Circa 1897-1900.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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A Korean porter puts down his load a moment to pose for a photo at the request of a Japanese man in a suit.

1912.Wikimedia Commons

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A company of Korean rebels prepares to fight against their Japanese occupiers.

1907.Wikimedia Commons

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One of the first electric trolleys to make its appearance in Korea. Most were set up by the Japanese to make better use of their annexed territory.

Seoul. 1903.Wikimedia Commons

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By the harbor, a road divides the Japanese and Chinese districts of the city of Chemulpo.

1904.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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A young boy serves tea to a Western visitor.

Sinuiju. Circa 1914-1918.Wikimedia Commons

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A policeman stands in the street while wearing a cone-shaped umbrella hat.

Circa 1910-1935.Okinawa Sobo/Flickr

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Girls carry buckets of water to their homes. The taps at home no longer work.

Seoul. 1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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Children play with a barbwire fence behind them.

1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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A Korean mother carries her child on her back.

Seoul. 1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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Tea service inside of a teahouse.

Seoul. 1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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A man takes his horse and cart down the roads of Seoul.

"I don't recall seeing any Korean civilian cars," the photographer, an American World War II veteran, recalled.

1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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Locals wash clothes in the Han River.

Seoul. 1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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The people of Korea put up a sign welcoming in the American army.

Seoul. 1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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A group of Koreans eagerly wave American flags as the troops parade into the city.

Fusan. 1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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People parade down the streets, celebrating the creation of the Republic of Korea.

Seoul. 1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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As the plans of American and the USSR become clear, posters start to fill the walls of Seoul calling for someone to stop the "trusteeship" plan that would soon tear the country apart.

1946.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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In their final days, the flags of South Korea, North Korea, The United States and the Soviet Union fly together over the capital of a free and united nation.

Seoul. 1945.Don O'Brien/Flickr

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Rare Photos Of The Unified Korea Before It Was Torn In Two

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There was a time when Korea was a free and united nation. Long before North Korea rose and the Korean War tore a nation apart, the people of north and south lived together in peace.

However, this free, united Korean Empire only existed for a short time. For a brief period starting in 1897, Korea was an independent nation, left alone by other world powers. The Korean people had gained their freedom from Russian rule, formed their own empire, and finally won the opportunity to develop and revel in their own culture.

But nearly as soon as Korean had won its freedom, the Japanese swept in and took it away. By 1905, Korea was a protectorate of Japan and, by 1910, they were completely annexed by the Japanese Empire. Now, a foreign power was systematically crushing the Korean identity, abolishing their currency, doing away with their Emperor, and bringing in a new infrastructure of their own.

For 40 years, the people of the former Korean Empire struggled under Japanese rule. Time and time again, the Korean people raised rebellions only to see them get squashed. And they wouldn’t win their freedom again until the whole world broke out into war.

When the Allied armies defeated the Japanese in World War II, it seemed, for a brief moment, like there would be a free and united Korea once more. But the Soviet and American armies that rolled down their streets were more worried about keeping each other’s power and ideology at bay than they were in liberating a country.

Instead, the Soviets and Americans carved up Korea, with the U.S. claiming every part of the nation south of the 38th parallel and the Soviet Union claiming every part to the north. They justified it as a “five-year trusteeship,” promising that Korea would be reunited and given its freedom when they were ready for it — but that would never happen.

With the world’s superpowers feeding their ideas and armies into the two halves of Korea, it didn’t take long for an all-out war to break out. In 1950 — a mere five years after the nations had been divided — the country descended into civil war. Korea’s fate to be divided by hatred and conflict was sealed.

But there was a time, before the Korean War, before North Korea and South Korea, when the nation was united. A time before the country had been turned into a pawn in a game between two foreign powers.

See what life was like inside the Korean Empire and the decades that followed in the photos above.

After this look at the Korean Empire, check out these picture of Iran before the Islamic Revolution and China before the Communist Revolution.

author

Mark Oliver is a writer and teacher, and father whose work has appeared on The Onion's StarWipe, Yahoo, and Cracked.

editor

John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.

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Oliver, Mark. "Rare Photos Of The Unified Korea Before It Was Torn In Two." AllThatsInteresting.com, September 13, 2017, https://allthatsinteresting.com/korean-empire. Accessed February 23, 2025.