Sontag Hotel - 'consultation center for diplomatic conspiracies'

A view of Sontag Hotel and its staff circa 1910 Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

One of the greatest obstacles for Westerners visiting Seoul prior to 1900 was a lack of accommodations. With no suitable hotels, visitors were forced to impose themselves upon friends or family or throw themselves upon the mercy of foreign residents of the city or even their legations and consulates. However, in 1900, things began to change.

In a letter to his sons in September 1900, Horace N. Allen, the American minister to Korea, described the recent developments in Seoul:

"[Ms.] Sontag is about to build and run a fine first class hotel in Chong Dong (Jeong-dong). You know it will be good if she runs it, and we will at least take our Sunday dinners with her when she gets it started. [Kalitzky] and Mrs. Emberley and a Korean are also preparing little hotels, so Seoul will be supplied at last. You would hardly know the place now."

It turns out Friedrich A. Kalitzky (a German citizen of Polish heritage) did not establish a hotel but instead started a general store. Mr. and Mrs. Emberely did quickly establish "a cheap one near the R.R. station" (aptly named Station Hotel) and, at about the same time, a French hotel was established in Jeong-dong. However, Sontag's hotel (which was declared to be an imperial hotel) was not constructed quickly and shoddily ― it was well-built and very expensive. According to Allen, the Korean emperor provided the money.

Finally, in 1902, Sontag's hotel was open for business, but not for everyone. In a letter to one of his former subordinates, Allen complained, "[Sontag's] hotel is now her private house. She is very exclusive and even you would find it hard to get meals at her house now."

Many famous and influential visitors stayed at the hotel while in Seoul. Many of them were businessmen and gold miners but there were also newspaper correspondents and writers ― including Jack London. However, despite the many claims, Sir Winston Churchill was not one of them. The Churchill Archives Center in Cambridge ― in a correspondence with Dr. Sylvia Braesel in 2015 ― confirmed Churchill had never visited Korea.

The hotel also served as a sanctuary for those who fell from grace in the Machiavellian world of Korean politics, including Yi Yong-ik, Yi Hak-gyun and Hyeon Sang-geon.

The veranda of Sontag Hotel circa 1909-10 Robert Neff Collection

Politics were a part of Sontag Hotel and diplomats often dined at her table. According to Braesel:

"[The hotel] became a culinary magnet and at the same time a business and political information exchange for various travelers, experts and diplomats. Ms. Sontag was kept informed about the predilections of the imperial family as well as the moods of powerful ministers, the continual court intrigues and cabals ― and thus was herself an important source if one attained her favor."

As she "preferred social interaction with the world of men," it is not surprising that many of her guests were Russian, Belgian and French diplomats and attaches in Seoul. Braesel dismisses "the repeated speculation that Ms. Sontag worked as a Russian agent or perhaps even double agent." She insists there is "no corroboration for these speculations that [Sontag] was some kind of Mata Hari without the erotic exoticism."

There may not be any solid proof but there is circumstantial evidence to suggest Sontag was more than just a casual observer.

It is no stretch of the imagination to assume Colonel Leonid von Raaben (the Russian military attache) and his wife were frequent guests at Sontag's table. Raaben's role was not only to report on military matters but also to establish a spy network ― an effort to check Japanese intrigue on the Korean Peninsula. He apparently managed to persuade Adhemar Delcoigne (a Belgian adviser to the Korean government) in late 1903 to provide intelligence to the Russian government. Delcoigne seems to have been spying for everyone; according to Adrien Carbonnet, the Belgian adviser's "personal correspondence reveals that he was secretly commissioned by the Emperor Kojong to provide him with accurate information relating to the ongoing Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]."

Raaben also managed to recruit Korean spies in Wonsan, Busan, Incheon and in the Korean military including "the head of the cadet school" ― this may have been Yi Hak-gyun ― "(the only educated Korean general) and … the Chief of the Royal War Chancellery."

John Jordan, the British representative, did not seem to be too fond of Sontag and readily expressed his opinions of her intrigue. In a report to his government in October 1904, he wrote:

"The paper [Daehan Ilbo ― which was extremely critical of Japanese activities in Korea], I have good reason to believe, is subsidised by the Emperor, who supplies the funds through a Miss Sontag, a woman who was formerly housekeeper in the Russian Legation and who now keeps a hotel here, which forms the headquarters of the Pro-Russian party in Seoul."

It is little wonder that a Japanese official would later declare Sontag Hotel as being "a consultation centre for diplomatic conspiracies."

Yun Chi-ho, a prominent Korean official, echoed Jordan's sentiment when he described the hotel as "a rendezvous for all pro-Russian persons in Seoul." Yun was very well-acquainted with Sontag and in his diary (Jan. 2, 1905) expressed his frustration that politics had dampened their friendship.

"Went to see Miss Sontag. It amuses as well as hurts me to notice the efforts she makes to show me how indifferent she is to the struggle between Russia and Japan; that she has not heard any news from or of the Waebers; that to her the Japanese is the same as the Russian, etc. Does she suspect that I am a Japanese spy? or that I am pro-Japanese to the extent of hating everybody having the least sympathy with Russia? When I told her of the surrender of Port Arthur ― as I heard of it from General Hasegawa this afternoon ― Miss Sontag seemed to be sick. She quietly left the room and did not return. I fully understand her feeling and have sympathy for her mental sufferings."

Yet, despite her apparent suspicions, when Sontag learned of the death of Yun's wife, she quietly reached out to him with sympathy and a rather strange proposition ― she wanted to adopt Yun's daughter, Laura. According to Yun's diary entry for June 2, 1905 (he writes as if he is communicating with his deceased wife):

"I called on Miss Sontag in her room. Her words of sympathy were so tender that I could not help having a good, though suppressed, sobbing. She was in tears too. She kissed me on my forehead first and then on my cheek. She asked me to give her our Laura to be her adopted daughter. She said she would take the best care of Laura. 'I want someone to whom I may leave what I have,' she said.

My Darling, show me what to do. I dread to marry our Laura into a Korean home. It means sure slavery. There is no school in Korea for her. If I were sure of the constant love and care of Miss Sontag, I would let her have our girl. But Miss Sontag being French, she may have said all that in a moment of impulsive kindness."

Yun decided eventually against giving Laura up for adoption ― perhaps he felt rushed by Sontag's impending departure or perhaps he could not bear to be separated from his daughter.

According to several sources, including Braesel, Sontag sold her hotel to J. Boher, a French hotelier, at the outbreak of, or during, the Russo-Japanese War and prepared to return to Europe. The official reasons she gave for her trip to Europe were "personal affairs and an inheritance" but Braesel implies politics were to blame.

"Since Antoinette Sontag was considered an outspoken opponent of the Japanese influence in Korea, her withdrawal from the declining Korean imperial court would appear to have been based on a realistic insight into the political situation there…"

If politics drove her away in 1905, what brought her back the following year? I tend to believe "personal affairs and an inheritance" were the main reasons she left Seoul and the politics were secondary. There is also a question as to when she sold Sontag Hotel but that is the subject for our next article.

I would like to thank Dr. Sylvia Braesel for her invaluable assistance and for her article:

"Marie Antoinette Sontag (1838-1922) 'Uncrowned Empress of Korea,'" Transactions, Royal Asiatic Society Korea, Vol. 89, 2014.
Dr. Braesel's book, "Photos of a diplomatic life between Europe and East Asia: Carl von Waeber (1841-1910)" is now being translated and should be published in Seoul within a couple of months.

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.