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 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 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 Hullyŏndae. 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 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 possibly also 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 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 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; 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.
Historiography
The assassination is highly contentious in Korea, where it is remembered as a symbol of Japan's historical atrocities on the peninsula. Information about 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 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.
Background
Since its forced opening by Japan in 1876, Korea had been subjected to 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: 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 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 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.
Sōshi and the Kanjō shinpō
Beginning around the 1860s, groups of young men called sōshi (壮士) emerged in Japan and engaged in political violence. They were seen in Japan as violent thugs and looked down upon. They were 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 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 the Kanjō shinpō. This newspaper and its employees later became central to the assassination plot.
Instability and the Hullyŏndae
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 Hullyŏndae. Much of the Hullyŏndae 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.
Developing the plot
Sōshi advocacy for the assassination
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 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.
Miura Gorō
In summer of 1895, 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 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 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 the government at home... Whether my behavior was right or wrong, only Heaven can judge.
Japanese government involvement in the assassination
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 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 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 the reasoning that Inoue had previously offered the queen Japan's protection if she ever felt that she was in danger. 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 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.
Creating the plan
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 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 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 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 the Japanese Legation on 3 October in a meeting between Miura, Sugimura Fukashi, and Okamoto Ryūnosuke.
The Daewongun's role in the plot
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 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.
Accelerating the timeline
They originally planned to execute the murder in mid-October, but officers of the Hullyŏndae, especially the Korean commander of the Second Battalion U Pŏmsŏn, 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 Hullyŏndae. 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 the room.
Miura felt that they needed to act quickly, as the Hullyŏndae 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 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".
Assassination
Convincing the Daewongun
According to Orbach and Keene, in the early hours of 8 October, Okamoto, Deputy Consul Horiguchi Kumaichi, Police Inspector Ogiwara Hidejiro (荻原秀次郎), and an armed group of men in civilian clothing went to 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 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, Hullyŏndae, Japanese army officers, and consular policemen.