The Diplomatic Strategy of the Great Korean Empire and the Red Cross: From Accession to the Geneva Convention (1903) to the Geneva Convention Revision Conference (1906)

In 1903, the Great Korean Empire acceded to the Geneva Convention (the Geneva Convention of 22 August 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field), and in October 1905 it established the Red Cross Society (the Korean Red Cross). Soon thereafter, however, the Korean Empire was deprived of its diplomatic sovereignty by the Eulsa Treaty, and the Korean Red Cross was absorbed and merged into the Japanese Red Cross Society in July 1909, one year prior to Korea’s annexation. This article examines how the diplomatic strategy of the Korean Empire was pursued through the International Red Cross and how the loss of national sovereignty resulting from the Eulsa Treaty affected that strategy. It analyzes the stance of the Korean imperial government from its accession to the Geneva Convention to the convention’s revision conference, the characteristics of the Korean Red Cross, and the relationship between the loss of diplomatic rights under the Eulsa Treaty and the Review Conference of the Geneva Convention.