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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 prominent foes 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 Hullyeondae. Weeks before her death, Japan replaced their emissary to Korea with a new one: Miura Gorō. Miura was a former military man who was inexperienced in diplomacy and 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 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 verands, 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. The trial has been consistently criticized since. Non-Japanese witnesses were not called and the court ignored 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 sparked domestic and international shock and outrage, and has since been characterized by modern historians of Japan as "brutal" and "barbaric". Sentiment shifted against Japan in Korea; Gojong 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. Wanting a submissive and obedient wife for Gojong, the Daewongun selected an orphan girl of the prestigious Yeoheung Min clan, who became Queen Min. However, she was widely agreed to be extremely sharp, and she quickly consolidated 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 came to despise each other. 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, roamed the countryside and committed atrocities with impunity. 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 Hullyeondae 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 battallions of Koreans on the peninsula: the Hullyeondae. Much of 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. 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.... Discover the Danny Orbach popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Danny Orbach books.