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52-636: The name Jangchung-dong originated from the Jangchungdan that was located in this area. Established in 1900, Jangchungdan was a place where ceremonies honoring loyal subjects and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country during the Eulmi Incident (the assassination of Empress Myeongseong) were held. On 1 October 1946, during the process of changing the Japanese-style neighborhood names to ones with deep Korean roots, this entire area

104-640: A Japanese community near Webster , and Kichimatsu Kishi who would establish a colony in Orange County, Texas . As emigration controls to the United States and Canada were gradually introduced, Uchida, in his new role as Japanese Minister Plenipotentiary in Brazil, successfully lobbied for an expansion of Japanese migration to that country. In 1907, on Uchida's recommendation, the Brazilian and

156-508: A Japanese officer. According to sōshi Kobayakawa, the road became littered with abandoned caps, weapons, and uniforms. The American military advisor to Korea William McDye attempted to rally several dozen troops to fight, but they disobeyed. Around 5 am, the collaborating Korean Vice Minister of Agriculture advised the queen to stay put for her own safety, and that the Japanese would not harm her. Gojong awoke and became alarmed by

208-444: A bet running on who could find the queen first. Orbach reasoned that this probably contributed to the eventual brutality of her killing. The assassins began frantically searching for the queen, beating the people in the palace for information, and dragging everyone outside of the inner hall. Women were beaten and dragged by the hair and thrown out of windows and off verandas, with some falling around two meters (around 7 feet) onto

260-488: A fierce rivalry. Her gender also played a role in how she was perceived; in both Japan and Korea at that time, women were expected to be relatively secluded and it was uncommon for them to hold significant political power. The combination of these factors made her the target of retaliation. Both the Daewongun and the Japanese became involved in efforts to suppress her power. Assassination attempts were made against her in

312-647: A number of great powers competing for influence over it. Powers included the Empire of Japan , Qing China , the Russian Empire , and the United States. The strength of each of these powers in Korea changed frequently. Within the Korean government, various politicians, departments, and military units acted according to independent interests and alignments. One prominent faction was led by the father of King Gojong :

364-400: A soldier, Miura was aggressive by nature, and therefore chose to act violently. According to Orbach's analysis, Miura privately despised his superiors, and acted despite their wishes. Miura later wrote of his role in the plot: This was a matter I decided in the space of three puffs on a cigarette... I made my decision and resolutely carried it through. I was surprisingly unconcerned about

416-403: A time. Then, when we looked under the bedding, there was someone dressed exactly the same as the other court ladies, but quite self-possessed, not making a fuss, looking like somebody important, and this told us it was [the queen]. Grabbing her by the hair, we dragged her from her hiding place. Just what you'd expect, she wasn't in the least bit ruffled... I swung my sword down on her head. Nakamura

468-595: Is clear to myself that when the fateful night came, a month later, their reliance on this assurance led them to omit certain possible precautions, and caused the Queen to neglect to make her escape at the first hint of danger. Around 19 September 1895, Miura met with Adachi. According to Adachi's testimony, Miura euphemistically asked Adachi if he knew of any young men available for a "fox hunt" ( 狐狩り ), and Adachi enthusiastically agreed. He wrote that "his heart leaped with joy" when Miura shared his plan. Adachi cautioned that

520-432: Is written in at least four languages: English, Korean, Japanese, and Russian. For over a century now, scholars from various countries have analyzed varying portions of the body of evidence and have reached differing conclusions on significant issues. Evidence has continued to emerge even into the 21st century, which contributes to ongoing debate. Since its forced opening by Japan in 1876 , Korea had been subjected to

572-526: The Kanjō shinpō . This newspaper and its employees later became central to the assassination plot. Around 1894, Korea suffered from significant internal instability. The Donghak Peasant Revolution and First Sino-Japanese War for control over Korea concurrently took place on the peninsula. Around this time, the Japanese trained their own battalions of Koreans on the peninsula: the Hullyeondae . Much of

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624-563: The Heungseon Daewongun . The Daewongun, wanting a submissive and obedient wife for Gojong, selected an orphan of the prestigious Yeoheung Min clan for the role, and she became Queen Min. She was widely agreed to be politically savvy and sharp, and she began consolidating power. According to observers, she came to wield even more political power than her husband. The queen forced the Daewongun into retirement, and replaced his allies with her own. The Daewongun and queen developed

676-675: The Kanjō shinpō Adachi Kenzō described the queen as "that bewitching beauty, who cunningly, ubiquitously, and treacherously manipulated virtuous men for over a generation". They romanticized the male Daewongun as "the old hero", and juxtaposed him to the image of an evil feminine queen. Adachi and others at the Kanjō shinpō referred to her in writings as a "fox" or "vixen", and began frequently commenting to each other that she should be killed, which they described as hōru ( 屠る ; lit.   ' to slaughter an animal ' ). Calls for her killing reportedly increased over time. In summer of 1895,

728-427: The Kanjō shinpō staff were gentle by nature, and that he wanted to recruit others for the plot. Miura rejected this, and asked that Adachi use all of his employees in the interest of secrecy. Adachi recruited all of the Kanjō shinpō staff for the task, and a group of other sōshi . The men were reportedly greatly excited about the coming attack. Journalist Kobayakawa Hideo reportedly almost burst into tears when he

780-551: The 1882 Imo Incident and 1884 Gapsin Coup . In 1894, the Daewongun struck a deal with Japanese military leader Ōtori Keisuke to purge the queen and her allies, but the plot failed, and the queen regained her influence. Beginning around the 1860s, groups of young men called sōshi  [ ja ] ( 壮士 ) emerged in Japan and engaged in political violence. They were seen in Japan as violent thugs and looked down upon. They were

832-493: The Daewongun a series of conditions in exchange for power. How the Daewongun responded is not known; one man later testified during his trial that the Daewongun happily accepted the conditions. Okamoto testified that the Daewongun initially rejected them, but eventually relented. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture does not mention whether this meeting took place, and claims that, overall, the Daewongun did not participate in this plot willingly. They originally planned to execute

884-407: The Daewongun's residence at Gongdeok-ri. They arrived around 2 am, and the leaders went inside to speak with the Daewongun. The negotiations took several hours, and the Japanese negotiators grew impatient. They potentially employed force in getting the Daewongun to agree or move quicker. They boarded him onto a litter , and began carrying him to the palace. On the way, the Daewongun stopped

936-534: The Hullyeondae were loyal to Japan, and developed a strained relationship with the other Korean security forces. This led to a number of violent clashes between them. The sōshi became fixated on the politically-active Korean queen. According to historian Danny Orbach, a mix of sexism, racism, and political agendas led to members of the Kanjō shinpō taking the lead in plotting her assassination. They began to romanticize her killing; in his memoirs, founder of

988-469: The Japanese Legation on 3 October in a meeting between Miura, Sugimura Fukashi  [ ja ] , and Okamoto Ryūnosuke  [ ja ] . There is disagreement as to what kind of role the Daewongun had in the plot. According to historians of Japan Orbach and Donald Keene , on 5 October, Okamoto met with the Daewongun and implied that an uprising was imminent. Okamoto offered

1040-498: The Japanese government replaced its envoy in Korea Inoue Kaoru with Miura Gorō. Miura had previously been a soldier and military commander, and he privately professed to loathing politics and politicians. A number of scholars have argued that the reason for Miura's appointment is uncertain. He professed to having little interest or experience in diplomacy, and the post was difficult and important to Japan. He refused

1092-401: The Japanese government's involvement mainly comes from historians of Japan. It further argues that the Japanese government had the incentive to kill the queen, as she was significantly damaging Japan's position in Korea. It points out the odd choice of the inexperienced and militant Miura as the new emissary, and notes that Miura visited Japan for some reason on 21 September, several weeks before

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1144-532: The Japanese governments signed a treaty facilitating Japanese migration. The first Japanese immigrants, 165 families, a total of 786 people, arrived in Brazil on 2 June 1908 on the Kasato Maru . Mostly farming families destined to work in the coffee plantations, they had travelled from the Japanese port of Kobe via the Cape of Good Hope . Uchida also served in senior diplomatic posts as envoy to Sweden during

1196-561: The Japanese would be welcomed into the region. Uchida was impressed with the land of the Gulf Coast of Southeast Texas for its rice farming potential. Uchida's reports back to Japan of the agricultural conditions in Southeast Texas led to the migration of a number of Japanese businessmen and the development of rice cultivation in that region. Some of the better known of these migrants included Seito Saibara , who established

1248-456: The assassination comes from a variety of sources, including the memoirs of some of the assassins, the testimonies of foreigners who witnessed varying parts of the attack, the testimonies of Korean eyewitnesses, investigations conducted by Japanese emissaries Uchida Sadatsuchi and Komura Jūtarō , and the verdicts of the trials of the assassins in Hiroshima. Evidence for the assassination

1300-470: The assassination. Miura's visit reportedly led to rumors in Seoul that the queen would be assassinated. Also, the article argues that the broad involvement of the Japanese consular police and military in the plot makes the isolation of the plot implausible. According to Orbach, a historian of Japan and other places, Inoue and his superiors in Japan were hesitant about assassinating the queen. Orbach provided

1352-485: The court disregarded evidence from Japanese investigators, who had recommended that the assassins be found guilty. The defendants were acquitted of all charges, despite the court acknowledging that the defendants had conspired to commit murder. Miura went on to have a career in the Japanese government, where he eventually became Minister of Communications. The killing and trial sparked domestic and international shock and outrage. Sentiment shifted against Japan in Korea;

1404-417: The government at home... Whether my behavior was right or wrong, only Heaven can judge. There is disagreement as to whether the mainstream Japanese government had any role in planning the assassination. The South Korean Encyclopedia of Korean Culture , which has been described as one of the most frequently-used encyclopedias for Korean studies , has an article on this incident that claims that denial of

1456-417: The ground. Russian advisor Afanasy Seredin-Sabatin feared for his life, and asked to be spared by the Japanese. He witnessed Korean women being dragged by the hair and into the mud. According to the official Korean investigation report: The Japanese sōshi , numbering thirty or more, under the leadership of a head Japanese, rushed with drawn swords into the building, searching the private rooms, seizing all

1508-476: The hair and thrown down stairs, off verandas, and out of windows. Two women suspected of being the queen were killed. When the queen was eventually located, her killer jumped on her chest three times, then cleaved her head with a sword. Some assassins looted the palace, while others covered her corpse in oil and burned it. The Japanese government arrested the assassins on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Non-Japanese witnesses were not called, and

1560-455: The king fled for protection in the Russian legation and anti-Japanese militias rose throughout the peninsula. While the attack harmed Japan's position in Korea in the short run, it did not prevent Korea's eventual colonization in 1910. The assassination is highly contentious in Korea, where it is remembered as a symbol of Japan's historical atrocities on the peninsula. Information about

1612-412: The king's father the Heungseon Daewongun , the pro-Japanese ministers of the court, and the Korean army regiment that had been trained by Japan: the Hullyeondae . Weeks before her death, Japan replaced their emissary to Korea with a new one: Miura Gorō. Miura was a former military man who professed to being inexperienced in diplomacy, and reportedly found dealing with the powerful queen frustrating. After

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1664-465: The main south Gwanghwamun and north ( 신무문 ; Sinmumun ) gates followed. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture , around 300 to 400 guards were stationed at the palace. Limited gun fights occurred, and the palace guard abandoned their posts for their own safety. A Korean Hullyeondae commander loyal to the queen, Hong Gye-hun , confronted the attackers. He was shot to death by

1716-467: The men and asked to receive their word that the king and crown prince would not be harmed. They were joined by around sixty men on the way. Among those men were around thirty sōshi , Korean civilians, Hullyeondae, Japanese army officers, and consular policemen. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture writes that the Daewongun and his son were kidnapped ( 납치 ) at this meeting and taken to the palace. According to Orbach, Korean collaborators neutralized

1768-582: The murder in mid-October, but officers of the Hullyeondae, especially the Korean commander of the Second Battalion U Pŏm-sŏn  [ ko ] , warned the plotters that the queen was about to take action against them. On the 7th, the Korean war minister advised Miura that the court had ordered the disbandment of the Hullyeondae. As the war minister had no authority to disband it, he asked Miura to do it. In reply to this request, Miura reportedly angrily yelled, "You fool, never!" and forced him out of

1820-459: The noise outside. He dispatched a confidant to alert the American and Russian envoys. The assassins surrounded the inner chamber of the palace and blocked all exits. According to historian of Korea Sheila Miyoshi Jager , Miura nor any of the agents knew what the queen looked like, as they had never seen her before. Jager wrote that Miura testified that a screen had always been erected between

1872-470: The palace and negotiate a peaceful solution. Sugimura and Miura reportedly gave an evasive reply, writing, "[W]arnings will not be effective. The situation is very dangerous, and it is difficult to know when an incident will occur". According to Orbach and Keene, in the early hours of 8 October, Okamoto, Deputy Consul Horiguchi Kumaichi  [ ja ] , Police Inspector Ogiwara Hidejiro ( 荻原秀次郎 ), and an armed group of men in civilian clothing went to

1924-473: The palace guards ( siwidae ). Soldiers were quietly reassigned from their posts or convinced to allow the plot. No guards were stationed on the path to the queen. Around 5 am, as the sun was beginning to break, some of the Japanese policemen climbed the walls of the palace using folding ladders and opened the gates from the inside. The northwest gate ( 추성문 ; Ch'usŏngmun ) and northeast gate ( 춘생문 ; Ch'unsaengmun ) were opened first, then

1976-487: The palace women they could catch, dragging them round by the hair and beating them and demanding to know where the queen was. Two court ladies were suspected of being the queen; they were both slashed to death. The Minister of the Royal Household Yi Kyŏng-chik ( 이경직 ; 李耕稙 ) moved to block the ladies' quarters, where the queen was. His hands were sliced off, and he bled to death. The crown princess

2028-485: The post thrice, and by his own admission thought it complicated and confusing. He felt as though he was being pushed to Korea, and reluctantly accepted the position. When he arrived there, he wrote that he found the queen to be intelligent and condescending to him. Orbach wrote that Miura "felt clueless and helpless" in dealing with her, and that Japan was in fact in a position of weakness in Korea due to Miura's poor performance in his role. Scholars have reasoned that, as

2080-485: The product of groups such as the shishi and rebel Satsuma Army . Beginning in the 1880s, a number of them moved to Korea. In Korea, they had the right of extraterritoriality and were thus unbound by Korean law. They, in nationalist groups such as Tenyūkyō  [ ja ; ko ] and Kokuryūkai , acted with impunity especially in the countryside. A number of the sōshi became journalists, and became associated with various Japanese newspapers in Korea, namely

2132-481: The queen and outside visitors. They had heard the queen had a bald spot above her temple. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture , British diplomat Walter Hillier testified that the assassins had a photo of the queen. The assassins needed to search for and deduce who the queen was. According to sōshi Takahashi Genji, the two main sōshi factions there, the Freedom Party and Kumamoto Party, had

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2184-421: The queen began to align Korea with the Russian Empire to offset Japanese influence, Miura struck a deal with Adachi Kenzō of the newspaper Kanjō shinpō and the Daewongun to carry out her killing. The agents were let into the palace by pro-Japanese Korean guards. Once inside, they beat and threatened the royal family and the occupants of the palace during their search for the queen. Women were dragged by

2236-520: The queen, so they brought a number of women over to examine the body. The women mourned and collapsed in anguish at the sight of her, which the assassins took as confirmation. They then took the body of the queen into a nearby forest, poured gasoline over her, and set her on fire. Sadatsuchi Uchida Sadatsuchi Uchida ( 内田 定槌 , Uchida Sadatsuchi , born in February 12, 1865 in modern-day Kokura , Fukuoka Prefecture – June 2, 1942)

2288-399: The reasoning that Inoue had previously offered the queen Japan's protection if she ever felt that she was in danger. However, British explorer Isabella Bird , who was in Korea around this time, wrote of this assurance: The Korean sovereigns would naturally think themselves justified in relying on the promise so frankly given by one of the most distinguished of Japanese statesmen... and it

2340-408: The room. Miura felt that they needed to act quickly, as the Hullyeondae was critical to their plot. He felt that the queen was going to assassinate pro-Japanese Korean politicians to align Korea with Russia. They decided to kill her on the next day, 8 October. According to Orbach, Inoue Kaoru reportedly made a final attempt to stop the assassination. Inoue telegraphed Miura and asked him to visit

2392-594: Was a Japanese diplomat. Assigned to postings in the United States and Brazil, Uchida was instrumental in facilitating improved Japanese trade relations and emigration to both countries. Uchida also served as the first consul in Korea. A law graduate of the Tokyo Imperial University , Uchida joined the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1889. He was appointed as an Eleve-Consul to Shanghai in 1890, Consul to Seoul in 1893 and in 1902

2444-499: Was holding her by the hair, so his hand got slightly cut. I let her have it from the head, so one blow was enough to finish her. The others criticized me saying I was too reckless, killing her before we had identified that it was [the queen], but later on it turned out it really was. According to the testimony of the Korean crown prince , the killer threw her to the floor, jumped on her chest three times, and slashed her with his sword. It wasn't yet clear to them that they had killed

2496-406: Was initially told to stay behind, and later claimed that he felt like he was among "heroes of a novel" during the assassination. Hirayama Iwahiko  [ ja ] reportedly told Adachi's wife that she "must be sorry [she was] born a woman", because she could not join the assassins. According to the verdict of the preliminary court in Hiroshima, the plan was formally approved in a meeting at

2548-464: Was named 'Jangchung-dong'. This Seoul location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Eulmi Incident [REDACTED]   Japan [REDACTED] Korea [REDACTED] Gojong [REDACTED] Min   X Around 6   a.m. on 8 October 1895, Queen Min , the consort of the Korean monarch Gojong , was assassinated by a group of Japanese agents under Miura Gorō . After her death, she

2600-467: Was posthumously given the title of "Empress Myeongseong". The attack happened at the royal palace Gyeongbokgung in Seoul , Joseon . This incident is known in Korea as the Eulmi Incident . By the time of her death, the queen had acquired arguably more political power than even her husband. Through this process, she made many enemies and escaped a number of assassination attempts. Among her opponents were

2652-688: Was reassigned to serve as Consul General in New York City . In 1902, Uchida toured the Gulf Coast region of the United States. At the time, overpopulation and the limited usable land for farming was affecting Japan. In the United States, rice farming was still in its infancy, and local rice production was falling short of its full potential. Consul General Uchida met with officials from the Texas Governor’s office, business owners in Houston , and other community leaders who gave him confidence that

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2704-478: Was thrown down the stairs, and the crown prince was similarly threatened. It is not known who killed the queen. Several people boasted of the achievement, with Keene evaluating some testimonies as unconvincing. It was possibly sōshi Takahashi Genji (alias Terasaki Yasukichi) or a Japanese army lieutenant. Takahashi later testified: We went on inside. When we got into [the queen's] room there were some 20 or 30 court ladies in there. We flung them off one at

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