Gwon Jung-Hyeon

Gwon Jung-hyeon ( November 27, 1854 – March 19, 1934), also spelled Kwon Jung-hyun, was an Imperial Korean Lieutenant General and Politician. He was the Minister of Justice from 1899 to 1910 and the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry from 1905 to 1910. He is best known for being one of the Five Eulsa Traitors who signed the Eulsa Treaty of 1905 which made the Korean Empire a protectorate of the Empire of Japan. Because of his involvement in the Treaty, he was an unpopular figure in Korea and faced an assassination attempt in 1907 by an assassination group led by .

Biography Gwon was born on November 27, 1854, at Yeongdong. Having learned Japanese from an early age, he joined the Gaehwa Party which was a pro-Japanese political party. In 1883, he became the secretary of the Toei Supervisory Office, and then the secretary in Japan. In 1891 he became the Customs Officer at Incheon and was involved in the signing of the Austria–Korea Treaty of 1892 with Austria-Hungary. In January 1905, Gwon was appointed as the Minister of Military.

On September 26, 1905, he was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry as a member of Han Kyu-seol's cabinet. On November 17, 1905, Gwon signed the Eulsa Treaty with four other ministers. He had previously opposed the signing of treaty, but when Han Kyu-seol was taken away by the Japanese because he also opposed the treaty, Gwon changed his stance and assented the signing. The five bureaucrats, including Gwon Jung-hyeon were shunned as later generations retrospectively title them the Five Eulsa Traitors. In 1912, he received the Korea Annexation Commemorative Medal and was promoted to Senior Fifth Rank .

In 1919, he submitted his resignation and resigned as an advisor to the Central House, but after that he requested the governor-general of Korea, Makoto Saitō, to return, and in 1925 he was appointed as an advisor to the Korean History Compilation Committee. He was reinstated as an advisor to the Central House during the period of Governor-General Hanzō Yamanashi.

Legacy Gwon's legacy remains heavily controversial among the Korean populace as he was known as a collaborator with the Japanese forces. He was listed in the Korean History Compilation Committee's along with the other four Five Eulsa Traitors in 2002. He was also listed in the List of Pro-Japanese Groups by the Institute for Ethnic Issues in 2008 and in the by the . In 2007, the seized his property along with the property of his adopted son. In a survey conducted on the lineage of nobility in 1960, his grandson was working at an Antique Art Association.