Japan cooked up the Jongmi seven-point treaty on July 24 1907 in order to reduce Korea to its complete colony.
After depriving the feudal Joson dynasty of diplomatic rights by fabricating the Ulsa five-point treaty in 1905, it buckled down to seizing the rights of home administration of the Korean feudal government which remained in form.
Before concocting the seven-point treaty, Japan hatched a plot to dethrone Emperor Kojong of feudal Joson dynasty.
Because as the emperor mounted a strong resistance to its seizure of Korea’s sovereignty, Japan had been unable to attain its desired end smoothly. Just at that time, an emissary incident occurred in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Korean emissaries appeared at the venue of the Second International Peace Conference to disclose the illegality and invalidity of the Ulsa treaty and injustice of Japan’s colonial rule over Korea.
Picking on the Korean emperor over the incident, Japan forced him into abdicating his throne to incapable Sunjong in order to proclaim the Jongmi seven-point treaty with ease.
However, the emperor refused to do so until August 27 1907.
Under such circumstances, the Japanese imperialists made resident-general Ito Hirobumi and traitor Ri Wan Yong sign the treaty without Emperor Kojong’s sanction, signature and seal.
Ito and Ri signed the treaty even without a commission of full power.
According to international law, a treaty stipulating such important issues as the transfer of the rights of home administration should be discussed and signed by the representatives entrusted with full power from heads of state of relevant countries.
The seven-point treaty is also invalid in the eye of the law as it was signed between the Korean feudal government, which had already been deprived of its diplomatic rights and had no authority to conclude a treaty under the five-point treaty, and the resident-general who was unqualified for making a treaty.
The Jongmi seven-point treaty geared to the transfer of the rights of home administration of the Korean feudal government to Japan, ranging from judicature to legislative power, administrative power and right of personal management, is evidently a forged document that failed to go through elementary treaty-making formalities.
To do sincere soul-searching over the past crimes and make a heartfelt apology and atone for them is what Japan has to do before anything else to be a normal state.
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