This event is still cited in Korea as proof the United States can’t be trusted with Korea’s sovereignty. It’s referred to by its discoverer as “President Roosevelt’s Secret Pact with Japan.”
But all that happened was a conversation between Defense Secretary William Taft and Japanese Prime Minister Count Katsura Tarō. The only record of the event is a memorandum, not a formal contract. Yet the effects are still felt today —so what happened?
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