General Sherman Incident

General Sherman incident
Part of the events leading to the United States expedition to Korea
Date 9–24 July 1866 Location Taedong River, Pyongyang, Joseon Result Korean victory
Belligerents
United States	Joseon
Commanders and leaders
Captain Page	Governor Park Gyu-su
Strength
1 schooner	Land: unknown land forces
Casualties and losses
20 killed, 1 schooner sunk	7 killed, unknown wounded

The General Sherman incident (Korean: 제너럴셔먼호 사건) was the destruction of an armed merchant marine side-wheel steamer that visited Korea in 1866. It was an important catalyst to the end of Korean isolationism in the 19th century. After passing the Keupsa Gate without permission from the Koreans, the United States merchant ship was attacked and fought over for several days before finally being destroyed in Pyongyang.

In the mid-19th century, the Great Powers were eager to open up new trade in Asia and began consolidating trade in China and southeast Asia. Japan was also opened up to trade after Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Uraga Harbor near Edo (modern Tokyo) on 8 July 1853, and under the threat of force Japan signed the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. As early as 1832, discussions of opening up Korea to trade were made by the captain of the Peacock, Edmund Roberts, yet in 1844 a draft by the United States Congress was shelved due to lack of interest.

The first contact between the US and Korea was not hostile in any way. In 1853 the gunboat South America visited Busan for 10 days while en route to Japan; her officers dined with local officials. Several Americans who were shipwrecked in Korea in 1855, 1865 and 1866 were treated well and sent to China for repatriation. However, the Joseon Dynasty court which ruled Korea was well aware of the displacement of the traditional ruling classes of China as a result of the First and the Second Opium War and maintained a strict policy of isolationism, forbidding any of those they ruled to trade with the outside world to avoid a similar fate.

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