Mapping Russia with Korean Eyes: The Aguk Yeojido Revisited

Aguk Yeojido 俄國輿地圖 (“Map of Russia”) is a rare late-nineteenth-century Korean manuscript of considerable significance for understanding border interactions among Russia, Korea, and China, as well as the early history of Korean settlement in the Russian Far East. Produced at a time when the Joseon court sought alternatives to Chinese suzerainty, Japanese expansion, and Western pressure, the map reveals Korea’s strategic engagement with shifting imperial frontiers. This study interprets the manuscript through the lens of critical cartography, treating it not as a neutral geographic record but as an ideological instrument of statecraft and intelligence. By combining close reading of its cartographic and textual elements with a historical-philological methodology – cross-referencing annotations against newly identified archival materials from Japan and Taiwan – the analysis demonstrates that the map was compiled between 1883 and 1886, most plausibly by Kim Gwanghun and Sin Seonuk. Functioning as a hybrid cartographic–textual genre, the Aguk Yeojido recorded military installations, border conditions, and Korean settlements in the Primorskii Region, while simultaneously conceptualizing Russia as a strategic counterweight in Korea’s evolving foreign policy. Ultimately, the manuscript exemplifies how late Joseon cartography operated as a dynamic tool of geopolitical negotiation and intelligence gathering.