Tiger at the Tea Party: Korea and Zionism at the Hague (1899, 1907)
Part of "big sky/넓은 하늘" (December 2025)
Three Koreans and a Zionist walk into the Hague. Both parties seek an audience with imperial powers. Both find a platform in the salons of western pacifists. But whereas Zionism is supported, the Koreans are turned away. The year is 1899 and 1907. The Hague Peace Conferences have been convened in the Netherlands to set the limits of lawful warfare, including a ban on bombing by air. The differing treatment of Korea and Zionism at these events reveals much about the inner workings of international law, and why - despite prohibitions pre-dating the invention of the airplane - international law has failed to prevent the normalization of aerial bombardment, from 1899 to 2025.
Theodor Herzl, the 'father' of modern Zionism, attended the First Hague Peace Conference of 1899. Viewing the event as an opportunity to "[bring] Zionism to the attention of assembled Europe," Herzl would later rely on his connections from the Hague to defend the Jewish Colonial Trust, asking an authority in Russia to "maintain a benevolent inactivity" over "the surely praiseworthy tasks of Jewish colonization." Interestingly, one of Herzl's main accomplishments at the Congress was the undermining of opposition to the Court of Arbitration. Herzl remarked that states who oppose such a Court would become "others - a kind of outlaws under international law." The Zionist state is, in many respects, such a pariah today.
The Korean delegates Yi Joun, Yi Sang-sol, and Yi Wi-jong arrived at the Hague under different circumstances. Travelling in secret from Japanese authorities, they tried to participate in the Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907 as delegates of an independent Korea. They were refused. But, though their efforts, awareness of Korea grew. Not all who listened were sympathetic. One Dutch newspaper commented that Korea was rightfully excluded, stating that the recognition of Korea would lead to the recognition of "all the countries that were swallowed," including "Congo, Aceh, the Philippines," and "British India." Others decried the hypocrisy of the Conference participants, stating that Korea was a "skeleton at the party" exposing "the smile...of world peace" as "confirmation of the odious slogan: 'Might is right!'" Shortly after the Korean delegates' departure, the Eighth Zionist Congress would be held at the Hague in August 1907.
This zine features excerpts from the published diaries of Theodor Herzl and contemporaneous news articles about the Hague Secret Emissary Affair. By placing these archival sources side-by-side, this zine asks who international law serves, how it can be mobilized to seek justice, and whether a truly just international law can emerge from a foundation of colonizer pacifism.
Segment 1:
[translated from Dutch]
DE VRIJE SOCIALIST 6 July 1907)
Social Political Overview:
...Some delegates who were excluded lodged a protest, which was simply thrown into the wastepaper basket.
Just imagine if all the countries that had been swallowed up showed up with representatives! What Korea demands, Ireland can demand; what Ireland obtains is fair for Finland and Georgia. What Finland obtains cannot be denied to the South African republics. And where would that lead? They would then admit delegates from the Congo, Aceh, the Philippines, British India, and who knows what else, and then the peace conference would end with a thrashing of the delegates, with oppressors and oppressed alike rolling around the parquet-covered Hall of Knights like rascals. The gentlemen understand this, and they reject the requests of such spoilsports out of hand...
I have come here because Suttner is here and may be able to put me in touch with the Czar's people.
The very first evening she introduced me to the Russian Councillor-of-State Bloch, the man who put the Peace Conference into the Czar's head.
...
In the evening, dinner at Suttner’s with Léon Bourgeois and others.
Bourgeois made, if anything, an unpleasant impression. Poseur et phraseur sans distinction [charlatan and phrase-maker without distinction], a faithless radical with unctuous manners, a freethinker’s popishness. Toward the end of the dinner I heard Frau Suttner talking to him about Zionism. He agreed with her and said he liked the idea. But I deliberately refrained from listening more closely, not wanting to open a discussion at this table.
...
Then we all went to the concert at the Casino. There was, at any rate, something curious about seeing the representatives of all civilized nations, and those who would like to become so, all dressed up and listening to music.
June 16, Scheveningen
...
And today there is before the Conference a declaration by the German delegate, Zorn, to the effect that the Court of Arbitration is contrary to the sovereign rights of monarchs and the independence of nations.
I said that two blocs would form then: Etats de l'arbitrage [Arbitration States] and Outlaw* States...
New proof of the "might is right" adage that this Conference will not dispel is the exclusion of the Korean envoys from the deliberations...
Japan did not want Korea to participate in the Hague Peace Conference... Nevertheless, three Korean delegates appeared in The Hague, but they were not admitted to the Knight's Hall. Japan spread the rumor that these delegates did not have authorization from the Korean Emperor. But in a meeting held last night in The Hague, the Koreans proved that they were indeed provided with such authorization...
Isn't it true, might is right?...Prince Yi sits like a silent, incessant reproach at the entrance to the temple of peace. He is...the smile of the world peace they seek to ensure, the sad indictment and simultaneous confirmation of the odious slogan: "Might is right!"
IMAGE: Blurred out and double-vision version of the tea party from Alice in Wonderland, showing the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit alongside a cutout of a tiger and her cub from a Korean traditional painting. The tiger has fierce, wide eyes and an open mouth, showing her teeth.
Baroness Suttner wrote me, asking me to persuade the Neue Freie Presse to send her to the Peace Conference at The Hague with a “partial subsidy” of 1000 guilders. The publishers refused. So I offered her 1000 guilders to go there on behalf of the Welt. She was to interview the chief figures at the Conference on the subject of Zionism. She accepted. In this way we shall have brought Zionism to the attention of assembled Europe without irritating Turkey or infringing on her rights.
I will go to the Hague myself in June and try to meet the peace people at the Suttner salon.
...
June 13, The Hague
Vredensconferentie [Peace Conference].
If I were fresher in the movement, these days at The Hague would surely furnish me a good deal of material for my diary. But I have grown weary, blasé, through all the struggles and adventures.
...
Paris, June 19, Hotel Castille
...
On the morning of my departure (two days ago) Bloch came to my room and begged me to stay on, because the German delegate Zorn had been called back to Berlin, perhaps in consequence of my letter. But I didn’t want to stay any longer, although he called my attention to the historic significance of the occasion. J'avais produit mon petit effet [I had had my little effect] and didn’t wish to be waiting in vain for a wire from the Grand Duke.
We understand that yesterday morning, several Koreans approached the secretariat of the president of the Peace Conference, who wanted to protest to the chairman against Korea's refusal to be invited to the conference and on the other hand, against Japan's violation of Korean sovereignty. Mr. Nelidov did not receive the delegation...The president of the Peace Conference informed them that he could not receive the delegation, since he could not admit other delegations provided they had an official letter of introduction of the Dutch government.
Zionist Congress
...the Jewish residents of The Hague, which will undertake to greet and welcome the eighth Jewish Congress, which will meet in The Hague next August...
...I have a request to make today. I have been informed that Witte is not very favorably disposed toward the Zionist Bank which is in process of formation (it is called The Jewish Colonial Trust [Jewish Colonial Bank], London). Please write him a few words of explanation, saying that it is a matter of a perfectly loyal enterprise, one designed to carry out the surely praiseworthy tasks of Jewish colonization. Therefore he should put no obstacles in the path of the subscription in Russia, but only maintain a benevolent inactivity. I don’t require any support or money from him. I probably don’t need to tell you that I have no personal and material interests whatever in this Bank. I am not even on the Board of Directors, but only on the Council, honoris causa [as an honorary member]...
...During the Peace Conference at The Hague I once had occasion to act for the Czar’s interests, and this was reported to H.M. by Ambassador von Stahl, as I was informed by Councillor-of-State von Bloch, since deceased.
Proof of this must still be in the Hague files.
Also, a Grand Duke once had the kindness of favorably mentioning my endeavors to the Czar.
The purpose of the audience would be to request H.M.’s good will for our movement. It would make the greatest impression, and would in particular be a salutary stimulant for our young people, who so easily go astray politically, as well as encouragement to persevere with the Zionist ideal...