# Katsura–Taft Agreement
The Katsura–Taft Agreement (桂・タフト協定) was a secret exchange of views between Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Tarō and [William Howard Taft](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-howard-taft), the [United States Secretary of War](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-secretary-of-war), held in Tokyo on the morning of 27 July 1905 and recorded in an agreed memorandum dated 29 July 1905.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) • [2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0066158) Its central content was mutual recognition of American rule of the Philippines and Japan's establishment of a protectorate over Korea.[2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0066158) • [3](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A1%82%E3%81%9F%E3%81%B5%E3%81%A8%E5%8D%94%E5%AE%9A-3147460) President Theodore Roosevelt approved the memorandum, and Japan treated it, together with the Second Anglo-Japanese Alliance, as Anglo-American approval for forcing the Eulsa Protectorate Treaty on Korea in November 1905.[3](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A1%82%E3%81%9F%E3%81%B5%E3%81%A8%E5%8D%94%E5%AE%9A-3147460)
| Fact | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Date of meeting | Morning of 27 July 1905, Tokyo[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) • [2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0066158) |
| Date of memorandum | 29 July 1905[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) • [4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0) |
| Participants | Katsura Tarō, Prime Minister of Japan; William Howard Taft, US Secretary of War[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) |
| Core content | US rule of the Philippines and Japan's suzerainty over Korea mutually recognized[2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0066158) • [3](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A1%82%E3%81%9F%E3%81%B5%E3%81%A8%E5%8D%94%E5%AE%9A-3147460) |
| Roosevelt's approval | Telegram of 31 July 1905: "I confirm every word you have said"[4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0) |
| Made public | 1924, by historian Tyler Dennett[2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0066158) • [4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0) |
## Background and causes
Taft sailed on 4 July 1905, and an undisclosed goal of the trip was to prepare for the final negotiations of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty that Roosevelt would broker in September to end the [Russo-Japanese War](https://www.edgepedia.org/russo-japanese-war).[5](https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/lookingeast/the-1905-mission-to-asia/index.html) He arrived at Yokohama on 25 July 1905.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) • [6](https://contents.history.go.kr/front/tg/view.do?ganada=&levelId=tg_004_0020&pageUnit=10&treeId=0204)
The meeting formed part of Japan's international-law diplomacy toward the Western powers aimed at making Korea a protectorate.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310)
## Course of events
On the morning of Thursday 27 July 1905, Taft held a secret meeting with Prime Minister Katsura in Tokyo.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) • [2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0066158) According to the memorandum summarizing the discussion, their conversation had three parts.[4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0) Taft said that in his personal opinion the establishment by Japanese troops of a suzerainty over Korea was justified, while cautioning that he had no authority to give assurance of Roosevelt's concurrence.[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) • [4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0)
Taft summarized the conversation in the agreed memorandum dated 29 July 1905 and wired it to Secretary of State Elihu Root, who forwarded it to Roosevelt at [Oyster Bay, New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/oyster-bay-new-york).[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) • [4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0) On 31 July Roosevelt replied: "Your conversation with Count Katsura absolutely correct in every respect. Wish you could state to Katsura that I confirm every word you have said."[4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0)
## Outcome and consequences
The memorandum remained essentially unknown until 1924, when Tyler Dennett, then a professor in the [Johns Hopkins University](https://www.edgepedia.org/johns-hopkins-university) history department, found it while examining [Theodore Roosevelt](https://www.edgepedia.org/theodore-roosevelt)'s private records and diplomatic documents at the Library of Congress and published it in Current History as "President Roosevelt's Secret Pact with Japan."[1](https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310) • [4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0) In Japan it was not made public at that time, and its existence was revealed only after World War II.[7](https://y-history.net/appendix/wh1403-044.html)
Its political effect was immediate even while secret. Japan, claiming through this agreement and the Second Anglo-Japanese Alliance that it had secured British and American approval for the establishment of protective rights over Korea, forced the Eulsa Protectorate Treaty on Korea in November 1905, making it a colonial protectorate.[3](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A1%82%E3%81%9F%E3%81%B5%E3%81%A8%E5%8D%94%E5%AE%9A-3147460) • [6](https://contents.history.go.kr/front/tg/view.do?ganada=&levelId=tg_004_0020&pageUnit=10&treeId=0204)
## Historians' assessment
Whether the document was a binding secret treaty or merely a memorandum of a conversation is disputed.[4](https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0) After Dennett's publication it became near-consensus in the United States and Japan that the two countries had made a diplomatic quid pro quo.[2](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0066158) Japanese historians often view the memorandum as an informal agreement, while American scholars tend to downplay it as a side conversation.[8](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-07-29/englishStudy/bilingualNews/The-KatsuraTaft-agreement-and-its-enduring-lessons-KOR/2363636)
In Korean historical memory the memorandum carries a different weight. For generations of North and South Koreans it has been emblematic of the US decision to support the Japanese annexation of Korea, and in [North Korea](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-korea) it is treated as evidence of American perfidy justifying vigilance against dependence on outside powers, while in South Korea the dominant narrative is of America falling short of its good ideals.[9](https://read.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-korean-studies/article/19/1/59/160984/Simple-Conversation-or-Secret-Treaty-The-Taft) Kirk W. Larsen and Joseph Seeley note that scholars have periodically objected to the popular trope of a backroom treaty that dictated Korea's fate, but these objections have had little impact on Korean popular memory, where textbooks, comic book histories, and political editorials matter more than scholarly articles.[9](https://read.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-korean-studies/article/19/1/59/160984/Simple-Conversation-or-Secret-Treaty-The-Taft)
## References
1. 일본, 미국에게 러일전쟁의 전리품으로 한국을 요구하다, 우리역사넷. https://contents.history.go.kr/mobile/kc/view.do?levelId=kc_i400310
2. 가쓰라-태프트 협약, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0066158
3. 桂タフト協定, Kotobank (Nihon Daihyakka Zensho and other dictionaries). https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A1%82%E3%81%9F%E3%81%B5%E3%81%A8%E5%8D%94%E5%AE%9A-3147460
4. TWE Remembers: The Taft-Katsura Memorandum, Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/articles/twe-remembers-taft-katsura-memorandum-0
5. The 1905 Mission to Asia, Looking East, University of Cincinnati Libraries. https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/lookingeast/the-1905-mission-to-asia/index.html
6. 가쓰라-태프트 밀약, 교과서 용어해설, 우리역사넷. https://contents.history.go.kr/front/tg/view.do?ganada=&levelId=tg_004_0020&pageUnit=10&treeId=0204
7. 桂＝タフト協定, 世界史の窓 (after Yamabe Kentarō, 日韓併合小史, Iwanami Shinsho, 1966). https://y-history.net/appendix/wh1403-044.html
8. Roh Jung-tae, The Katsura-Taft agreement and its enduring lessons, Korea JoongAng Daily. https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-07-29/englishStudy/bilingualNews/The-KatsuraTaft-agreement-and-its-enduring-lessons-KOR/2363636
9. Kirk W. Larsen and Joseph Seeley, Simple Conversation or Secret Treaty? The Taft-Katsura Memorandum in Korean Historical Memory, Journal of Korean Studies 19:1 (2014). https://read.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-korean-studies/article/19/1/59/160984/Simple-Conversation-or-Secret-Treaty-The-Taft
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › Japan › Meiji and Taisho Japan (1868 to 1926) › Wars, uprisings, and diplomacy*
*Initially written Sep 24, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*
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