I read that Koreans were afraid of Russia’s deploying their troops in the north of Korea. But why didn’t they ally with Russia against the threat of Japan? Looks like a sensible solution.
Did Russia have a reputation of a strong European empire that would genocide East Asians? Because to me, it seems silly - even before 1905, everybody could have seen that Russia could not be a strong force with a single railroad.
Or is this exactly the rationale - allying with the failing Russia would have meant even more destruction at the hands of the Japanese?
To understand Joseon politics, you need to understand the factional purges between the Confucians schools.
Confucianism was strong during the beginning and end of the Goryeo Dynasty. They gained power over the Buddhist nobles when Taejo, the first Joseon king and a prolific general, decided to go with Ming China rather than the faltering Mongol Empire. The Confucians then tried to wipe out Buddism, redistribute lands held by the nobles equally among the populace, and curtail the powers of royals and their kin.
The Hungu faction came to support conservatives like Taejong (3rd) and Sejo (7th). While the Sarim, being hardcore Confucians ie leftists, gained power under the likes of Sejong (4th), Munjong (5th) and Seongjong (9th).
Yeonsan (10th), who was surprisingly decent in his early reign, started killing scholars indiscriminately between the Sarim and Hungu. Then with the Confucians out of the way, he started setting up brigades of geishas, which eventually got him overthrown by the Hungu. The Hungu lived off of this feat throughout the reigns of Jungjong (11th) and Queen Regent Munjeong. The latter was very much into reviving Buddhism and started placing her family in government posts, which is a big Confucian no-no. Myeongjong (13th), her son, brought back the Sarim and basically wiped out the Hungu for supporting his mother.
Then the First Japanese Invasion came and Seonjo (14th) ran away, leaving his son in charge until the Chinese land forces could help drive out the samurais. While Prince Gwanghae was praised for his bravery, Seonjo was ridiculed for abandoning the kingdom and became resentful of his son. So the Sarim split into the Western, Southern and Northern factions, all with different takes on the succession question. The Northern faction was basically wiped out due to their support of the prince.
Then Injo (16th) went through the Jurchen Invasion, with Hyojong (17th) and his brother getting taken hostage to China. Thereafter, Hyojong and Hyeonjong (18th) died, leaving the factions to fight over how many years their funerals should be; the Western and Southern factions each got a point. Sukjong (19th) ascended to the throne as the 19th king and he forsook his first wife of the Western faction for one of the Southern faction. Then he changed his mind and went back to his first wife, purgins the Southern faction for "leading him astray." The Western faction gained dominance and divided further between the Soron faction, backing Gyeongjong (20th) the son of the mistress, and the Noron, who backed Yeongjo (21st). The Noron called it right and they eventually broke down into the Byeokpa and Sipa over the choice to support or oppose the execution of Prince Sado respectively. The Andong Kims, prominent within the Sipa faction, gained an edge during the reign of Prince Sado's son, Jeongjo, which they leverage into dominance of the royal in-laws. This effectively ended the era of Confucian factions as well as the Confucian kingdom itself. The Kims' power reached its peak when they manage to place an illiterate, bastard puppet king to the throne.
TL;DR- Instead of a meritocracy measured by the metric of governance, Confucian factions gained and lost power over how good of a Confucian they pretended to be with regards to royal decorum, becoming more and more dependent on China.
Now, to answer the actual question, we need look at the reign of Gojong, the last king.
When the bastard king died without an heir, Gojong was put in his place after a hurried search, and his father- Heungseon- became regent. As regent, he gathered the support of the Southern faction to oppose the Kims by promoting how much of a better Confucian he is with his love for China (or rather blanket isolationism with slight deference towards China, leaving Manchurian trading posts open). Furthermore, inspired by what happened during the Opium Wars, HS boycotts Western and Japanese trade and ratchets up the persecution of Christians. This culminated into the French, Americans and Japanese all taking a shot at Korean ports, leading to multiple coups and rebellions, driving national sentiment in Korea still deeper into isolation. Queen Min was all about Western Enlightenment and Russia, but she was a bad standard-bearer in her exorbitant spending, corruption and fire-sale of national resources. Japan eventually killed Min and China lost the First Sino-Japanese War. Gojong ran away to the Russians but they got their asses handed to them as well in the Russo-Japanese War.
In short, Heungseon and the population wanted to bury their heads in the sand as they had fallen victim to all parties involved at various points. If all else failed, they still had China backing them against the Japanese, who- until the Brits- had no real military feats under their belt. They did go to Russia in the end but Russia lost.
Hey there,
Just to let you know, your question is fine, and we're letting it stand. However, you should be aware that questions framed as 'Why didn't X do Y' relatively often don't get an answer that meets our standards (in our experience as moderators). There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, it often can be difficult to prove the counterfactual: historians know much more about what happened than what might have happened. Secondly, 'why didn't X do Y' questions are sometimes phrased in an ahistorical way. It's worth remembering that people in the past couldn't see into the future, and they generally didn't have all the information we now have about their situations; things that look obvious now didn't necessarily look that way at the time.
If you end up not getting a response after a day or two, consider asking a new question focusing instead on why what happened did happen (rather than why what didn't happen didn't happen) - this kind of question is more likely to get a response in our experience. Hope this helps!