민영휘 閔泳徽

Central politician of the Min in-law faction in late Joseon, founder of Whimoon Uisuk, received a Japanese viscount title, classified as a pro-Japanese collaborator

Life & career

Min Yeong-hwi (1852-1935) was a late Joseon politician, originally named Yeong-jun, with courtesy name Gunpal and pen name Hajeong; he changed his name from Min Yeong-jun to Min Yeong-hwi in 1901. From Yeoheung, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Min Gwang-hun and a fifteenth-degree nephew of Empress Myeongseong. His father was Min Du-ho, Minister of the Interior, and his mother was of the Cheongsong Sim clan.

He passed the 1877 special examination and rose through posts including Geomnyeol, Juseo, Jeongeon and Busuchan to Dongji Gyeongyeonsa and Jidonnyeongbusa. Although his kinship with Empress Myeongseong was distant, as a leading figure of the clan he drew public resentment and his house was wrecked in the Imo Mutiny. As a core of the conservative faction close to Qing, in the 1884 Gapsin Coup he joined in using Qing troops to drive out the radical reformers and drew close to Yuan Shikai. He later served as Governor of Pyeongan, Magistrate of Ganghwa, minister and Mayor of Hanseong, and in 1893 held the posts of Naemubu Dokpan, Tongyeongsa and Seonhyeah Dangsang, being called head of the Min faction.

In 1894 during the Donghak Peasant Movement he is said to have asked Qing for troops to check Japan; he fell with the Min faction during the Gabo Reforms, was exiled to Imja Island in Sinan, escaped to Qing, and returned in 1895. He backed the founding of the Korean Empire, served as President of the Privy Council and Minister of the Attendant Office, and in 1906 founded Whimoon Uisuk, forerunner of Whimoon High School. In 1910, however, he received a viscount title and a grant from the Japanese government, bought government bonds, and was counted the richest man in Korea under colonial rule. He was named in the list published in 2007 by the Presidential Committee for the Investigation of Pro-Japanese Collaborators, and the same year the property committee decided to return his assets to the state; his descendants are said to have sued against the decision. He is a figure assessed both for founding a school and for his collaboration with Japan.

Core of the In-law Faction

Under Empress Myeongseong's government he acted as a conservative close to Qing. With Min Yeong-ik of the same clan he was one axis of in-law politics in the open-port era.

Whimoon Uisuk and the Collaboration Debate

He is credited with contributing to modern education by founding Whimoon Uisuk in 1906, yet received a Japanese viscount title just after annexation and became a major capitalist, making his collaboration a matter of dispute.

Grave

The location of his tomb could not be confirmed in this research.

Other 여흥 민씨 figures