INTRODUCTION

At the end of October 1883, Sir Harry Smith Parkes, long the doyen of British diplomats in East Asia, arrived in Seoul to complete the negotiations for a treaty which was to replace that negotiated in 1882. That had aroused widespread opposition and had finally been abandoned. The negotiations in Seoul were successful, and a new Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation was signed in the Kyŏngbok Palace on 26 November 1883. Parkes left Seoul the next day, before the Han River froze for the winter, but he was to return the following April to exchange ratifications.

Thus began formal relations between Korea and Britain. To mark the anniversary, numerous events were planned. The first ever official visit by a member of the British Royal Family took place in May, when His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester came at the same time as the Royal Ballet. There was a second Royal visit in October, when the Duke of Kent led a British Overseas Trade Board mission to Korea. Other British visitors to Korea included the novelist Iris Murdoch, the playwright Arnold Wesker and the economist Professor Frank Hahn. From both countries, there were ministerial and other official exchanges. If the Royal Ballet is the major British cultural manifestation to mark the centenary, the exhibition of Korean art in london from February 1984 is a fitting reminder of Korea's cultural importance. In addition to these high-level contacts, there have been numerous others, covering the whole range of contacts between the two countries.

This paper traces the history of British interest in Korea from long before Parkes's treaty to the present. It seems particularly appropriate that such a paper should be given to a Royal Asiatic Society audience, for the British in Korea were very much in the forefront of the move to found the RAS, and were certainly in the forefront of its activities until the Pacific War. Since then, the changes in Britain's position in East Asia have been reflected in the RAS, no less than in other fields.

The paper does not claim to be a piece of original research. Others have covered the ground, sometimes indeed in front of RAS audiences. But it does include some new material, and attempts to bring the story up to the present, which has not been done before.