Russo-British-Korean Relations Over the Komundo Incident in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Korea: [ in Korean ], 1987. 1st edition. Octavo in white boards; 269p; color and bw photo plates; text in Korean, with English footnotes. About fine in same jacket. Hardcover.

Inscribed by the author. Uncommon.| The Komundo Incident (also called the Port Hamilton incident or Geomundo Incident, 거문도 사건) refers to the British Royal Navy's occupation of the Geomundo Islands — a small group of islands off the southern coast of Korea that the British called Port Hamilton — from April 1885 to February 1887.The context was the "Great Game" rivalry between Britain and Russia. During the Panjdeh crisis of 1885, when war between the two empires seemed likely over Afghanistan, Britain seized the islands preemptively to deny Russia a naval foothold near Korea and to threaten Vladivostok, Russia's Pacific port. The occupation was carried out without the consent of the Joseon (Korean) government, which protested, and it complicated the diplomatic situation since China's Qing dynasty claimed suzerainty over Korea.The British eventually withdrew in February 1887 after China, negotiating on Korea's behalf, secured a Russian pledge not to occupy Korean territory. The episode is often cited as an example of how Korea became a pawn in great-power rivalries in the late 19th century, foreshadowing the struggles over the peninsula that followed.