Queen Min was assassinated by figures working with the Japanese government in 1895. Queen Min was the wife of King Gojong, who later went on to declare Korea an independent empire. But did the newly minted Emperor Gojong take another wife? And was she American-born?
1. What is the story of Emily Brown?
2. What do we know about the life of Emily Brown?
3. What was the empress' wedding like?
4. How was the story of Empress Emily Brown popularly received?
5. What eventually happened to Emily Brown?
6. Was the story of Emily Brown true?
7. What other famous international marriages were there in Korea's history?
1. THE INITIAL STORY
In the late 19th and early 20th century, the picture that Europeans and Americans had of Korea was of a closed society—it had been famously called a “hermit kingdom.” It was also widely known that Korea was mostly ethnically homogenous in spite of its occasional influx of foreigners from trade, missionary work, or educational and medical missions. Perhaps it was this view of Korea as such a strange and exotic land that got early 20th century Americans and Europeans interested in a woman named Emily Brown, an American missionary, who was supposed to have been Emperor Gojong's new bride. The big question was: Was Emily Brown an American-born empress of Korea?
In 1903, there was no question. On January 29, a little newspaper in Wisconsin called the Daily Telegram ran a story the Telegram said was a reprint from the Japanese Gazette. It reported that the daughter of an American missionary who had been working in Seoul was just crowned the new Empress of Korea and was due to wed Emperor Gojong. The woman's name was Emily Brown, and the report stated that she was going to change her name to “Om,” which meant “Dawn of the Morning.” According to the paper, representatives from Japan, Great Britain, and the United States were to be in attendance.
This news of Emily Brown, the American-born empress of Korea was soon to captivate Americans and Europeans for the next 10 years.
The Daily Telegram reported that Emily Brown was born in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1860. Her father was Reverend Herbert Brown, a Presbyterian missionary. The Telegram went on to say that when Emily was 15 years old, Reverend Herbert Brown, along with his wife and his daughter, Emily, went on a missionary trip to Korea. They settled in Seoul.
In Seoul, they established a missionary church, where Emily Brown sang. The Daily Telegram tells of Emily Brown's knack for the Korean language. She became so proficient in Korean that she became an intermediator and interpreter between the church and the Korean government.
In her dealings about town through the church, we learn from the newspaper that Emperor Gojong came to learn of Emily Brown. He became enamored by her beauty and asked her to become part of his harem. She refused.
Emily Brown said she would, however, consider a proper marriage to the king. When she was about 17 or 18, Emperor Gojong took her into the palace. For several years, Emily Brown kept company with Emperor Gojong and she became a confidante to the emperor and one of his best friends. After she bore him a son, the emperor agreed to marry her.
3. NEWS OF THE WEDDING
After the initial story in the Wisconsin Daily Telegram and the run of Emily Brown's biography, several Europeans and Americans became fascinated. The story of Emily Brown was the hot topic among upper classes at least for the next two months.
In October, news in the London Daily Mail described what the wedding was like. According to that article, all the houses in Seoul were closed by royal decree. As the royal wedding procession passed, the citizens were required to kneel at their doors and hold a new broom in each hand, which was supposed to symbolize their subservience to the emperor and empress.
The Boston Sunday Post published an even more elaborate account on 29 November 1903. In that report, we hear that the emperor's palace doors were blocked by the imperial guard, several squadrons of men holding hatchets. And they were told to make way when they heard the signal.
Finally, a trumpet was blared, the imperial guard made way, and a 1000 or so of the emperor's bodyguard wearing 500 year old army bounded out. They were followed by attendants in fine silk. And at the end of the procession were two chairs upon which were seated Emperor Gojong and Empress Emily Brown.
According to the Boston Sunday Post, “Never before had a civilized being been appareled as she was. From head to foot she was covered with gems and silk so think that they fell in folds like heavy woolen cloth.” Held above the emperor and empress was a 14-foot banner of a flying dragon. The article went on to report, “Under the banner was an immense red parasol, indicating to the people that their monarch had shared his power and throne with the woman by his side."
4. RECEPTION OF EMILY BROWN
Young American women especially became enamored by the news of Emily Brown. News of the new empress was sold as a romance: a young American women living in a 400-year-old palace with 500 guards and with 2000 servants onhand.
Many of these young women sent letter after letter to the American embassy in Seoul. They wanted to apply as brides for the Korean nobility.
The Salt Lake Tribute reported on 1 May 1904 that even though the emperor had between 10 and 100 wives, the female applicants were not deterred. They continued to write letters and send photographs.
Perhaps, too, the women were enticed by the possibility that if they could not receive audience with the emperor, they might be able to with someone else in the royal family or who was close to the emperor, given reports of the emperor's son's predilection for foreign women. It had been rumored, for example, that Emperor Gojong's fifth son, Prince Euihwa, had been studying in the United States and, despite being already married, was proposing marriage to several young American women.
5. THE FINAL DAYS OF EMILY BROWN
News continued to circulate about Emily Brown. Not long after the report of her wedding, a Russian newspaper talked about a plot on behalf of some Korean officials to assassinate her. Over the next 10 years, there would continue to be stories throughout Europe and the United States of assassination attempts on Emily Brown's life.
According to the continued reports, when Emperor Gojong abdicated his throne in 1907 to his fourth son, Crown Prince, Sunjong, Empress Emily Brown was expelled along with him. She apparently was forced to ride away from the palace on a donkey. And she died anonymously in 1912. Still, some other accounts had it that she was assassinated when the emperor abdicated.
6. THE ORIGINS OF THE STORY
The truth is, none of this ever happened. And there was no Emily Brown. People in the know had been denying it for years: the American minister to Korea, advisors to the Korean government, and missionaries living in Korea. The Presbyterian Church and the expatriate community in Korea denied her existence as well. Yet the story continued to circulate.
An American expatriate living in Korea in the early 20th century named William Franklin Sands reported that the story was fabricated by a bored American journalist. His stated goal was to create an international incident, according to William Sands. Other blame was laid on an unscrupulous American missionary in Japan and alternatively on an Austrian newspaper.
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| Syngman Rhee with wife Franziska Donner |
There were some cases of famous international marriages in Korea's history, but Emperor Gojong wasn't one of them.
One of the famous international marriages occurred with a man named Seo Jai-pil. He founded Korea's first newspaper in both Hanguel and English, which was called The Independent. He married an American women named Muriel Armstrong and eventually moved to America with her.
Another famous marriage was Syngman Rhee and his wife. In 1934, he married the Austrian woman Franziska Donner. As opposed to the fictional Emily Bron, Franziska Donner's life truly was tragic. After Syngman Rhee passed away, she tried to live by herself in Austria, but only stayed there for five years. Then returned to Korea in 1970, where she stayed until her death in 1992.
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