A view of Jemulpo in the late 19th or early 20th century / Robert Neff Collection

When Sir Harry Parkes visited Jemulpo (modern-day Incheon) in the spring of 1883, he had almost nothing positive to say. The port, he observed, was nothing more than a collection of “wretchedly-built huts,” and there were no signs of trade or industry. He noted, “the surrounding country yields barely sufficient rice for the consumption of its small population.”

The Japanese, however, saw potential in the port and were busy constructing a consulate on a hill — the building material was carefully guarded by Japanese sailors and marines. These uniformed military men, he remarked, “gave a little life to an otherwise miserable spot, to which the low mud flats left uncovered at low tide give an additional dreary aspect.”

The only things Parkes found of value in Jemulpo were the “bracing” weather and the fine shooting. Apparently, he, like many of the early visitors to the port, enjoyed bird hunting.

However, in late summer, another visiting Englishman provided a more favorable view. He acknowledged that it could hardly “be called a model settlement, but it may possibly have a great future in store.”

He noted that the “Japanese have built a considerable number of shanties, and offer for sale a most heterogeneous mass of commodities. They seem to have settled down determined to cast in their lot with the place, and it may only be a few years before some of these men who are at present........

© The Korea Times