Qualla: Assassination of Empress Myeongseong

Assassination of Empress Myeongseong: Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. It was still dark on October 8, 1895, when a group of Japanese soshi -- hired thugs -- along with soldiers, consular police, and Korean collaborators forced their way into Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul. Their target was Empress Myeongseong, known in the West as Queen Min, a woman whose political acumen and resistance to Japanese influence had made her a threat to Tokyo's ambitions on the Korean peninsula. What followed was one of the most brazen political assassinations of the nineteenth century, carried out not by rogue actors but under the direction of the Japanese Minister to Korea, Miura Goro.

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Assassination of Empress Myeongseong: A Queen Who Refused to Yield

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Empress Myeongseong had spent years maneuvering against Japanese encroachment, cultivating relationships with Russia and other foreign powers to counterbalance Tokyo's growing grip on Korean affairs. Her husband, King Gojong, relied heavily on her counsel. The Japanese saw her no...

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Assassination of Empress Myeongseong: Dawn in the Inner Palace

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The attackers breached the palace grounds with roughly sixty men. Inside the queen's quarters, they encountered court ladies whom they seized by the hair and flung from windows, demanding to know which woman was the queen. A Russian architect named Afanasy Seredin-Sabatin, on dut...

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Assassination of Empress Myeongseong: A Trial Without Justice

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. International outrage forced Japan to recall Miura and put the conspirators on trial. The civilian proceedings in Hiroshima ended in acquittal, the court ruling that there was insufficient evidence the defendants had known about the plot to kill the queen. A separate military tri...

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Assassination of Empress Myeongseong: Aftershocks Across the Peninsula

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The assassination destabilized Japan's position in Korea for years. In February 1896, a terrified King Gojong fled with the crown prince to the Russian legation for safety, ruling from within its walls and ordering the execution of four pro-Japanese cabinet members he branded the...

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Assassination of Empress Myeongseong: Memory and the Palace Grounds

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Today, Gyeongbokgung Palace stands restored around the site where these events unfolded. The building Gonnyeonghap, in the western section of the inner palace, marks the location of the assassination. Visitors walk through courtyards that once echoed with the chaos of that Octobe...

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