Ideas on Political Reform in the Early Period of the Korean Empire's Journalism

The early period of the Korean Empire (1897-1904) was a turbulent era during which the Independent Club promoted the establishment of a legislature.The Independent (Tongnip Sinmun) circle and the Cheguk Sinmun (Imperial Post) circle were influenced by liberal internationalism and advocated for establishing a constitutional form of government with a legislature. The Independent circle believed that the public should not directly control politics and supported an upper house-centric constitutional monarchy. In contrast, the Cheguk Sinmun circle argued that the public should play a significant role in politics, thus favoring a lower house-centric constitutional monarchy.Meanwhile, the Hwangsŏng Sinmun (Capital Gazette) circle viewed international politics through a lens of realism and did not emphasize the role of the legislature. They believed that the scholar-gentry class should lead politics and, influenced by the ideals of Neo-Confucian political theory, advocated for a government-centric constitutional monarchy.