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| Kim Hong-nuik, circa 1895-1898. |
By Robert Neff
While waiting for Kim Hong-nuik's return to Seoul, efforts were made to extract confessions from Kim's wife, Kong Hong-sik, and Kim Jong-wha.
There were many, especially among the diplomats, who thought the accused might be innocent.
The Russian representative, Nikolai G. Matunine, wrote a passionate letter of protest to the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he noted that the accused (Kim Hong-nuik and Kong Hong-sik) had previously been employed by the Russian legation in Seoul and were "devoted to the person of His [Korean] Majesty, and could not be guilty of the crime."
He further denounced the torture of the men and Kim's wife as it would only bring about a false confession, allowing the real criminal to escape and continue to pose a threat to the emperor. He said that torture had been abolished in Korea by imperial decree.
The Korean Minister of Law, Sin Kui-sun, vehemently denied that torture was being used but noted Korean law clearly stated "that a stroke of a lash may be administered to any person who refuses to tell the truth at a criminal investigation." It was not considered "excessive or illegal" when used on someone who declined to be submissive.
The threat of the "stroke of a lash" might have been too much for Kong. Having discovered a nail in his cell, he attempted to commit suicide, supposedly due to his deep remorse for his act.
Rumors, however, circulated that his injury was the result of an unsuccessful attempt to "destroy the mouth" and protect the identities of the real culprits.
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| The "stroke of a lash" to ensure submissiveness, circa 1900s. |
Eventually, Kim Jong-wha confessed that Kong had hired him to put the poison in the emperor's foreign food and that when he was in the kitchen "he put the drug in the coffee pot which he found on the stove."
Kong confessed that he met Kim Hong-nuik ― just before his exile ― outside the West Gate and was given a package containing the "deadly drug" and told to ensure it was placed in the emperor's food.
All the authorities needed was Kim Hong-nuik's confession, which they obtained shortly after he arrived in Seoul on the evening of October 7.
He claimed that he had found the drug in his hand bag by accident (it was the remaining medication he had used to treat his dyspepsia) and upon seeing it, "the thought of treason was suddenly awakened in his mind." He corroborated Kong's confession and sealed his fate.
On October 10, Minister Sin sent a memorial to the emperor begging him to reintroduce the law of decapitation, saying that "to simply hang a traitor is not sufficient to vent the anger of men and gods and to terrify the hearts of rebels." But no answer was received.
That evening, with "indecent haste", a trial was conducted and the accused were all found guilty.
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| Capital punishment carried out in the streets of Seoul, circa 1900s. |
The men were strangled or hanged and their "bodies were tied together with a straw rope and handed over to the populace, who dragged them to a public square in the center of the city, where they were exposed in a disfigured and mutilated condition."
A passerby who objected to the mutilation was in turn set upon by the crowd who believed him to be one of the accomplices. He managed to escape with his life.
According to Horace Allen, Sin had "insisted that the bodies be mutilated and laid in the streets, but [the emperor] refused permission for the barbarous course." Because of Sin's disobedience, he and the vice minister of law were soon dismissed from office.
As to Kim Hong-nuik's wife, she was the only one of the accused who did not plead guilty. Sin denounced her persistent denial as "cunning and wicked" and said "it was against reason that she should have been ignorant of the plot."
Taking into consideration that she was "heavy with child," he sentenced her to be "beaten with 100 blows and then banished."
The emperor apparently took pity on her and, by imperial decree, she was spared the beating and banished to an island for three years.
Were they guilty of the crime?
John N. Jordan, the British representative to Korea, wrote: "The general feeling amongst the [people] is that Kim Hong-nuik merited his fate, if not for the crime with which he was finally charged, at least for the many misdeeds he had previously committed."
Kim had "not too wisely identified himself with the promotion of Russian interests," which gained him "greater prominence than ever, and doubtless paved the way for his ultimate downfall" when Russian influence ebbed in Korea.
The Machiavellian and "once all-powerful interpreter of the Russian legation" had fallen victim to his own game of corruption and intrigue.
