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Japan
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North Korea
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South Korea
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There have been disputes between Japan and Korea (both North and South) on numerous issues over the years.
Korea was ruled by the Imperial Japanese government (Korea under Japanese rule) from 1910 until 1945. South Korea refused to trade or open diplomatic relations with Japan until 1965, after which trade links expanded dramatically. Today, Japan and South Korea are major trading partners, and many students, tourists, entertainers, and business people travel between the two countries, whereas North Korea's political and economic relations with Japan are not developed.
With the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876, Japan decided the expansion of their settlement, the addition of the market and acquired an enclave in Busan. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, Japan defeated the Qing Dynasty, and succeeded in released from the tributary system of the Qing China in Korea by concluding the Treaty of Shimonoseki that compelled Qing to acknowledge Yi Dynasty Korea as an independent country. Japan encouraged the modernization of Korea. However, the Min clan, including the Queen Min, took precautions against Japan of which dominating power was further increasing in Korea. In 1895, Queen Min was assassinated by Japan after seeking to promote Russian influence and oppose reform. In 1897, Joseon was renamed the Korean Empire (1897–1910), affirming its independence, but greatly gravitated closer to Russia, with the King ruling from the Russian legation, and then using Russian guards upon return to his palace. Japan declared war on Russia to drive out Russian influence, and ended the war by imposing the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905. Korea became a protectorate of Japan, a precursor to its annexation. Ito Hirobumi, who was the first prime minister of Japan and one of the elder statesmen, was Resident-General of Korea and was opposed to the annexation of Korea. However, the power balance of the Japan domestic grew in favor of the annexation, because an influential statesmen objecting to the early annexation disappeared due to the assassination of Ito Hirobumi by An Jung-geun in 1909, On August 22, 1910, annexing the Korea by signing the Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty.