Queen Min Assassinated: Korea's Imperial Tragedy
Japanese operatives and soldiers stormed Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul before dawn on October 8, 1895, hunting Queen Min, who had been working to align Korea with Russia rather than Japan. They found her in the inner chambers, stabbed her multiple times, then burned her body on the palace grounds to destroy evidence. Japanese minister Miura Goro had organized the assassination, but when the international outcry proved devastating, Japan tried and acquitted all 56 suspects in what historians regard as a sham trial. Queen Min, later given the posthumous title Empress Myeongseong, had been the most powerful political figure in Korea and the primary obstacle to Japanese domination. Her murder removed that obstacle and accelerated Korea's path to becoming a Japanese protectorate by 1905 and a full colony by 1910.
October 8, 1895
131 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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